Smokey Emery - Soundtracks For Invisibility Vol. III: Qui Mal Y Pense

Heavy mystics from Smokey Emery with Soundtracks For Invisibility Vol. III: Qui Mal Y Pense on Holodeck Records. Visions of ghosts dreaming of shaman that roam the ether between stereo channels. Waking from dreams of firewalking you don't remember, burns on your feet you and can't explain. Indiscernible instrumentation that echoes within a massive shifting soundscape. Layer upon layer of cyclical guitar rumbling and howling recycled and degraded into ash. Alive, raw, looping passages that expand and recede, tighten and restrict. Flickering light and shadow. This is the third in the incredible Soundtracks series on Holodeck, and the most challenging yet.

Edition of 200, pro dubbed on white shells. Double sided 4 panel jcard, download included. Super professional physical product as always. Stream in full and grab from the Holodeck Bandcamp.

Symbol - Online Architecture

Wow is this good. Swirling ambient dirt from Symbol with Online Architecture from Holodeck Records. This one has a toe on the spacey synth ambient side of the line, and the other on the earthy damaged side, heels directly on top of said line, greedily grabbing the best of both. Hissing twisting static running ragged on top of some high speed arpeggio stuff that dashes back and forth inside your closed eyelids. Funny that even though a lot of this is moving at breakneck speed, it feels slow. Spinning so fast the image blurs and becomes a continuous cycle. Wonderfully damaged to the point of near post industrial classification, but held back, just. And of course with 6 tracks over almost 40 minutes of tape, there are moment of wonderful actual slowness, where melodies appear, show themselves and recede into the background. As always, hard to properly describe things that sound good when describing noise, but this does. Measured, thoughtful intensity.

Edition of 200 (you know you're a big time label doing runs of 200)! Pink tapes, pro dubbed and imprinted. Not sure where I can find a pink track to run on, but I suggest you grab a copy of the tape direct from Holodeck (releases on April 8th) and see if they can tell you.

Ssleeperhold - Ruleth

Engrossing dark synth banger from Ssleeperhold, with Ruleth on Holodeck Records. If this isn't 4 am on the freeway at 90 MPH music I don't know what is. Crystaline, arppegiated snyth, cascading down around vintage 16bit basslines that pulsate with just absolutely otherworldly energy. Echoing drum patterns that smack directly between the eyes pushing, pushing, pushing forward with focus and abandon. This sound dangerous, alive in a way that seems impossible for electronic music to be. A complex sonic palate of samples, hiss, and trance inducing sameness that propels your mind out ahead of you, allowing the present to be interpreted through a haze of memory. Sick.

Edition of 200, pro dubbed on black shells with digital download. Also available on vinyl, which I assume sounds completely massive. Grab direct from Holodeck.

Good Stuff House - Untitled

4am melancholy from the Good Stuff House trio of Scott Tuma, Mike Weis, and Matt Christensen, with a rerelease of untitled work from 2006, on Holodeck Records. These expansive odes to the night sky and high country desert originally appeared on the venerable Time Lag on CD-R, and have now taken shape in both LP and Cassette form. And being that this is most frequently a blog about tapes, that's the format we're talking about here. Massive rambling formations, marrying various strings, both picked and drawn, with soft delicate vocal, inside a whispering breeze of drone. Some of this feels eerie, others parts pensive and remorseful, and yet others, full of humble appreciation. In other words, the best of drone atmosphere colliding right between the L & R on your Grados. A heck of a lot has gone on in the lifespan of drone music in that last seven years of web based micro labels, but based on my first experience with this material, it stands as impressive and fresh as anything that's happened since.

Typically superb presentation from Holodeck. Edition of 200, produbbed and imprinted, digital download included, along with an honest to goodness five panel catalogue of summer releases just like labels used to do. Anyway, grab this one up direct from the label.

S U R V I V E - HDXV

Heads up on pair (see below for the other) of essential tapes from Austin, TX based Holodeck Records.

Swirling, pulsating, seething synth work from the four piece S U R V I V E, with HDXV. Actually a re-release of their debut album, these nine tracks sound as fresh as if their patterns were programmed yesterday. And just like their previously reviewed 2012 self titled tape, it also sounds beautiful, incredibly intense, and somewhat nasty. Like Steve Moore playing Streets Of Rage 2 with the guy from Terrorfakt. Angry and visceral, and yet still fun as heck to nod your head along with. I’m nowhere near qualified to add any insight on the creative process behind these sounds, but of all the tapes I hear, I’d be hard pressed to find one that feels as fully developed and completely ready as this one.

Pro dubbed and printed edition of 200, stream in full on Bandcamp, and then grab the physical at the Holodeck Store.

Dylan C - Samsara: Causes and Conditions

The other monster in this pair (see above for the other), is a patchwork of minimalist and ambient dance beats from Dylan C, with Samsara: Causes and Conditions.

It takes a lot for me to post something (my own pretentious bias) so overtly pleasing to the ear, and heck, so overwhelmingly danceable. But that’s how much fun this one is. A massive c63, the front half, Causes, thumps right into your chest. Beats mixed right up front, swimming over collages of sounds and rhythm. Six tracks that escape the sterile overly digital realm of glitch, and opt for something that feels alive and organic. The back half, Conditions, presents a counterbalance, with washes of ambience combined with eerie reverberating percussion. Otherworldly dance music for ears drawn to obscure sounds. A impressive middle ground that deftly mixes moments of absolute ambience with songcraft and melody. A beautiful statement in modern dance.

Pro dubbed and printed, edition of 100, stream and purchase on Bandcamp, or go straight to the source at Holodeck.

Amasa•Gana - Untitled

Heads up on a pair (see below) of incredible releases in the latest five tape batch from relative newcomer Holodeck Records. Creeping, ominous moments of light and dark from Amasa•Gana on this untitled c30. Heavy, rumbling, rusted moments inch across the soundscape with deliberate patience. Shimmering timbres of slightly distorted warbling bliss that peak out from behind a curtain of noise and then recede back into the moonlight morrass. The front half (Amasa) takes a lighter approach, delivering a haunting melodic journey, while the flip (Gana) devours the ear in a bleak world of echoing noise. Sounds like a spider whispering his nightmares to the trees.

Heavy cardstock jcard, printed front and back, available directly from Holodeck.

S U R V I V E - S/T

The second release in the new Holodeck batch (see above) is a vicious blend of powerful melody and challenging noise. And this previously sold out re-release from Survive is a killer. Piercing, buzzing synth chords that echo with deep, pulsating emotion. Things sound both sharp as a knife, and yet somehow hazed out and elusive. Constantly shifting rhythm and modulating frequencies seduce the first half of the tape directly into the brain, while the flip slinks through a filthy corridor of slowly evolving hiss and grind before emerging into an eerie astral plane. A sinister, darkwave meets horror cinema feel that's hard to explain and easy to enjoy. Sounds like standing in a dark room, starring into a mirror, preparing for the fight of your life.

Incredible blood red tapes, pro printed and dubbed, grab along with the rest of batch #2 over at Holodeck.

Thousand Foot Whale Claw - Lost In Those Dunes

The second release from new comer label Holo Deck is a super focused 2 track synth slow burner. Lost In Those Dunes, from Thousand Foot Whale Claw is just a touch over 20 minutes in length, and uses every bit of it to build layer over layer with massive synth melodies and guitar work. Overwhelming spaced out madness sinking into a bottomless pit of tar, then rising to the cosmos. Most undoubtedly a drone release, yet somehow a touch space rock and a touch desert rock. Side A plays closer to the vest, building a simple rhythm to a towering height, while the flip diversifies with a emotive melodic journey. Nice cohesion through the entire tape and possibly the coolest project name ever. New label, new tape, really good.

I purchased from Discriminate. The entire 4 tape batch is still available there, and directly from Holo Deck.