Rags - Belief in an Order of Meaning

Shades of grey and black, light and dark from Rags, with Belief In An Order Of Meaning, on ((cave)). Grinding etherial scrape. Suffocating riffage juxtaposed against massive wailing guitar. Noise elements that coil around the soundscape, forcing you to recontextualize everything. Two side long tracks, the front a more traditional and expertly developed take on tape scene guitar (backed by a field recording of train tracks, yeah thats perfect curation), the later, an overwhelming torrent forming something that feels like Indian's Unquiet Sky and old Expo 70 stuff. I won't spoil the surprise waiting for you on the flip, but it will absolutely bury your mind. I physically got out of my chair to rewind and hear the impact again. This is music for spiritual cleansing. Go make yourself clean.

Edition of 50, full color double sided inserts, B&W labels on clear shells. As of right now this is still available, and it' really shouldn't be. Grab direct from ((Cave)).

Charles Barabé - Adieu Fantôme

Hallucinatory onslaught of looping strangeness from Charles Barabé with Adieu Fantôme on ((Cave Recordings)). Pounding organic rhythm balanced against the chaos and discomfort of spinning the AM dial on a remote country road. Broken and decontextualized elements force themselves abruptly into the soundscape creating disagreement and competition between elements. My minds eye humorously pictures a pair of stately gentlemen loudly arguing the finer points of classic Musique Concrète, concurrently playing samples to outdo and disprove the other. Pieces of symphony overwhelmed by fuzzed out tribal drums and glitch. The front half is chaotic, the flip offers something (chanting, echoing drums) more restrained for a while. How exactly a human mind can conceive of marrying such disparate elements into a single recording is beyond me.

Edition of 50, beautiful collage art from Rob on nice thick stock, B&W labels the whole new batch looks great. Grab direct from ((Cave)) here.

Flowery Dreamcatcher - Hen To Pan

The removal of notions of time, and being. Moments where indiscernible instruments swirl into a fog of hiss and warble. Perceptions of past and future are overwhelmed by a soundscape so firmly rooted in the present as to eliminate the consideration of all others. Hen To Pan from Flowery Dreamcatcher on ((cave)) seems to reference the appeal of vintage New Age soundscapes, but steeps that reference to an era in the absolute perfection of a soundscape so satisfyingly honest and delicate as to eliminate the applicability of any time bound reference point. The flip sounds like outtakes from Bowie's Black Tie White Noise phase were captured to tape, removed from the reels, burned to ash and painted on the walls of a prehistoric cave to be interpreted by your headphones. Sounds crazy I know. But if you're a freak about your ambient soundscapes, you wait for tapes like this. Two single side tracks, no notions of coming or going. Just feel them in the present.

Edition of fifty, I have no idea how this is still available, but lucky you, it is. Grab direct from ((cave))

Dmitri Zherbin - S/T

Whirling, off kilter sound manipulation from Dimitri Zherbin with a self(un?) titled release on ((cave)) Recordings. Heads up, this is one challenging tape, and demands an adventurous mind and close listening. This stuff is profoundly, delightfully odd. Damaged mechanical detritus that I assume to be the results of garbled squealing tape loops. Harsh and howling repeated passages, continuously shifting. It rattles, rumbles, and squeaks without any respite, or mercy for your mental state. It's the kind of tape that makes you question yourself about halfway through, consider hitting stop, but ultimately makes you feel richer when the play button finally clangs to the off position. If you have a taste for something that makes you work a bit this is an incredible example of noise done really interestingly. Sounds like the last tape deck in the world, spinning helplessly as the pinch roller finally fails.

Edition of 50. Jcards featuring Rob's more of Rob's incredible collage work. Grab direct from the label.

Dozens - Born Waiting

Heads up on pair (see below for the other) of essential tapes from San Mateo, California based ((cave)) Recordings.

A strange, confusing journey from Dozens, with Born Waiting. Eerie, mechanical, miniature narratives. Noisy, but not noise. Industrial, but not made of industry or the harshness one would associate. Looped, evolutionary movements that feel improvised and alive. Perhaps the remnants of artificial intelligence in the future ruins of an automaton society. The selection of timbres on display here is just absolute perfection. No where more effectively than the back half which pulls apart the curtain of noise, and opens up into a clean, delicate field of melody. Soft multifaceted whips of synth that glide back and forth, almost closing the tape before being taken up in a brief arpeggiated miniature.

Edition of 50 professionally duplicated c-25's. Nice collage work, and I'm particularly struck by the juxtaposition of full color j-cards and b/w shell labels. Not sure if that's a design choice or printing limitation, but it looks gritty, DIY, and completely slays. Grab direct from ((cave)).

Invisible Path - Cloud Variations

This, second release, in a two part update (see above for the first) covering the new batch from ((cave)) Recordings is quintessential headphone meditation from Invisible Path, with Cloud Variations. Indeed, these are slow, swirling formations of atmospheric mass. Occasionally light, with delicate plucked strings looped and manipulated against the smeared echoes of a distant gong. Other times, heavy, even tumultuous mountains of reverberating bass arpeggio tempered against the muted scream of guitar feedback. In juxtaposition to the sparse, cavernous first half, for me, the centerpiece of the tape is on the flip, particularly the closer . Gently compressed shimmering melody emerges and evolves, growing in depth and density, roughly blocking out everything that came before. Sounds like a buddhist dream of the wind that gently sways the prayer flag.

Edition of 50, double sided jcard, with black and white tape labels. Grab the physical direct along with the rest of the incredible new four tape batch from the ((cave)) store.