Quicksails - Spillage c34
TQ72: Edition of 100
A monster percussionist for the furious jazz trio Tiger Hatchery, Chicago's Ben Billington has built an impressive catalog over the past few years as Quicksails by bringing his chops to the solo synthesizer game. Those familiar with the project's kaleidoscopic swirl of synths and hand percussion will find plenty to love on Spillage. With remarkable ability to juggle so many different elements in each composition, what might sound like a mess in less capable hands flows gloriously with Billington at the helm. There are moments of surprise here as well, with certain tracks showing a much more restrained palate than usual and introducing piano as well as vocals by Emme Williams into the mix. Altogether this an extended half hour of beautiful chaos you'll want to pour over you again and again. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle. Comes with a free digital download.
Witchbeam - Shadow Musick Vol. 2 c30
TQ71: Edition of 100
At long last, we're thrilled to share the second volume of Witchbeam's Shadow Musick series. Fans of the first volume will find plenty to love here as Witchbeam explores new realms of dark noise and even ventures into some unanticipated genres along the way. Vol. 2 features an especially potent blend of minimal synth exercises, eerily melodic drones, and pummeling rhythms. The tape is filled to the brim with mysterious sounds that will creep down your spine and disorient you with their delightful use of the stereo field. Shutter the windows, light some candles, pour a glass of your favorite spirits, and let yourself be intoxicated by the sounds of the shadows. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle. Comes with a free digital download.
OLD SVRFERS - Ain't Scared of Shaka c41
TQ70: Edition of 100
OLD SVRFERS is the years-in-the-making collaborative brainchild of Josh Mason and Brad Rose (Charlatan, Altar Eagle). While elements of each musician's signature sound are evident across Ain't Scared of Shaka – such as Mason's fragile nostalgia or Rose's burly synth squall – OLD SVRFERS is its own beast altogether. There's a lot of playful contradiction throughout, with wistful melodies sampled from days gone by dipping right into rhythmic, clanging industrial vibes. At once confounding, familiar, visceral, and relaxing, Mason and Rose have combined their sonic powers to create an unexpected and entirely compelling journey that shreds from start to finish. The boards are waxed. The waves are crashing. SVRF'S VP. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle. Comes with a free digital download.
Charles Barabé - Dates & Confessions c50
TQ69: Edition of 100
Hailing from Victoriaville, Charles Barabé is a unique standout among a crop of incredibly talented rising experimental musicians based in the province of Quebec. Dates & Confessions features an eclectic and ecstatic variety of sounds that add up to one beautifully disorienting release. The cassette consists of four "Dates", which are tightly composed melodic pieces featuring synthesizers, found sounds, subtle acoustic instrumentation, and Barabé's heavily vocoded voice. Six "Confessions" round out the affair with looser, more improvisational and dissonant approaches to synthesis that act as appropriate foils. With the keen ability to combine elements of musique concrète, modern composition, prog, and much more, Barabé continually ratchets up the intensity throughout the release, leading up to a gorgeous, spacious finale that allows you to catch your breath and reflect on all that came before. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle. Comes with a free digital download.
cloudsound - asperatus c38
TQ68: Edition of 100
Though he only began releasing music as cloudsound in 2014, Swedish resident and American expat Lee Boyd has been recording beautiful ambient guitar compositions directly to tape for years now. We're excited to share his latest collection, asperatus, and it's another stellar example of Boyd's singular sound. cloudsound has all the lushness you could ever want from this kind of music, but Boyd's loose, improvisational style feels distinctly homegrown – like a kind of cosmic blues brewed on Earth and then beamed out for the rest of the universe to enjoy. There's just something so intoxicating about the combination of Boyd's washed out guitar tones with the warmth of analog sound. Drink it up and drift away. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle. Comes with a free digital download.
Cenote Glow - Musa Paradisiaca c60
TQ67: Edition of 100
The first release from Cenote Glow in about a year, Musa Paradisiaca blends synthesis and field recordings for a deep tropical journey. With sounds both captured in Mexico and recorded in Brooklyn, the release evokes the enriching warmth of the Yucatán Peninsula at times and the darker heart of the natural world at others. Sonically, found sounds are featured more in the foreground than previous Cenote Glow excursions, as musical passages flow between melodic effervescence, oceanic drones, and hypnotic whirlpools of abstract sound. Come ashore for an hour of memories and interpretations inspired by the uniquely beautiful land known as Quintana Roo. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle. Comes with a free digital download.
Bluesharp - Sinkhole Flora c30
TQ66: Edition of 100
Proprietor of Royallen, member of Perspectives, and regular on labels like Housecraft, Rotifer, and his own Permanent Nostalgia, Joshua Tippery uses the guise Bluesharp for his solo guitar explorations. In the world of Bluesharp, though, the six string is used more for texture and noise than melody. Sinkhole Flora finds Tippery grinding his axe in unorthodox ways to invoke the crunch of the Earth and the murk of the swamps prominent throughout his home state of Florida. It's spare, strange, and challenging at times, yet there's something altogether soothing about this one as it takes you deep down through the sediment and then plunges you right into the marshy waters. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle. Comes with a free digital download.
Tuluum Shimmering - Dark Star c100
TQ65: Edition of 100
With the ability to juggle a bevy of instruments on the fly and combine worldly influences with modern psychedelia, England's Jake Webster has built a strong reputation for himself across many incredible releases as Tuluum Shimmering. Dark Star adds to that very impressive catalog and further showcases Webster's knack for long, sprawling improvisations. Explicitly influenced by The Grateful Dead and employing guitar, hand percussion, and flutes, the piece starts gently and gradually builds upon itself, allowing newly introduced elements to dance playfully over each looped passage. Stretching across two long sides and ending abruptly when the tape runs out, one could almost imagine Webster jamming this one into blissful infinity. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle. Comes with a free digital download.
Hobo Cubes - Memories c24
TQ64: Edition of 100
Montreal's Francesco De Gallo is easily one of the busiest and most prolific musicians throughout the cassette underground. He operates the great Hobo Cult Records and has been a member of many groups including Dozens, Velvet Chrome, and The H, but Hobo Cubes has always been De Gallo's main game. Memories is one of his most personal works to date. The release fuses muted synth passages with field recordings culled from various experiences and locations over the past four years. Like memories themselves, melodies that are both eerie and comforting drift just below the surface, connecting with us clearly at some instances and obfuscated by time and our ability to comprehend them at others. There's a distinct pensiveness present throughout each track as De Gallo uses sound to pour over long lost moments that belong to the past but live on powerfully within the mind. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle. Comes with a free digital download.
Rain Drinkers - Wood Violet c40
TQ63: Edition of 100
Since 2010, Rain Drinkers have skillfully melded genres across incredible releases on Brave Mysteries, Earjerk, Reverb Worship, and their own Shifting Sands Congregation. Wood Violet finds the duo of Xax Mane Krass and Joe Taylor in top form, channeling the creative spirit to seamlessly blend elements of folk, classical, electronic, and psychedelic rock across two new studio tracks and a live recording. Both Krass and Taylor are incredibly adept musicians, weaving violins, synths, guitars, piano, drum machines, and various percussive instruments throughout each piece. There's real drama in each composition as the duo shifts fluidly between moments of pastoral beauty into passages of tense, rousing orchestration and then into smoldering psychedelia. It simply has to be heard to be believed. These two are treading a singular musical path that's deeply and uniquely inspired by the natural beauty found throughout their homeland of Wisconsin. If you're not on board already, this is a great place to dive in. If you already are, you don't need me to tell you that you're in for one hell of a ride with this one. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle. Comes with a free digital download.
Sparkling Wide Pressure - Dream of Windows c40
TQ62: Edition of 100
Sparkling Wide Pressure makes a welcome return to the label. In the three years that have passed since we released Sing What You Remind Me Of, creative powerhouse Frank Baugh's solo project has remained consistently engaging on an almost unbelievable level. Dream of Windows features further excavations into his singular style, which blends the warmth of psychedelic pop with the spaciousness, dissonance, and free-form nature of experimental music. Cascades of acoustic and electric guitar picking meet otherworldly keyboard melodies, confounding cassette playbacks, and low-fi drum machine beats. Baugh's voice regularly seeps into the mix like a mournful ghost singing arcane poetry as he plays with vocal manipulations and syncopation in even more off-kilter ways than usual. Altogether, it adds up to another brilliant piece of an already astonishing catalog that melds the strange and the beautiful in ways that few others can. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle. Comes with a free digital download.
Cliffsides - Headspace 2xc60
TQ61: Edition of 100
Your eyes do not deceive you. This is two full hours of brand new Cliffsides material. After relocating to the Bay Area in 2013, Ryan McGill plunged head first into his solo endeavor and what he came up with is the massive and sprawling achievement that is Headspace. Divided into two distinct sets, "The Fool" features brand new synth work and "The Universe" is made up of material created through sampling various found cassettes and field recordings – a style that began to take shape on last year's Spirit in the Mountain Temple cassette on Hooker Vision. Thematically, the release contrasts the notions of conscious and unconscious thought, logic and dreams, reason and desire, as well as the symbiotic and mutually destructive interactions between man and universe. Sonically, it's everything you want from new Cliffsides and then some. Stunning melodic sequences and progressions segue into ultra-deep drones and abstract passages, while angelic voices and strangely familiar orchestrations rise up from magnetic spools. Altogether, this is a thoroughly fascinating and epic double dose you'll want to take again and again. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle. Comes with a free digital download.
Andreas Brandal - Hidden Rooms c40
TQ60: Edition of 100
Norwegian master of the macabre Andreas Brandal returns with his second release for the label. Hidden Rooms once again showcases Brandal's outstanding musicianship through nine pieces that are brimming with mystery and cloaked in a dense shroud of darkness, but somehow catchy at the same time. Similar to 2012's Turning Point, the release could easily be mistaken for the soundtrack from a lost horror film from the 70s or 80s without being stylistically derivative. While nods to the likes of John Carpenter and Goblin are crystal clear, this music is so much more than a simple throwback. Leaning heavily on synths, acoustic guitar, and bass, Brandal's exceptional compositional skills are on display throughout, and his ability to shift the atmosphere through moments that are full of dread at times, delicate and beautiful at others, and even playful in parts is effective enough to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout. The fact that he isn't getting paid big bucks to soundtrack films seems like a damn shame, but at least we get to enjoy Brandal's work on tape until Hollywood gets it right and snatches him up. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle. Comes with a free digital download code.
Bedroom - Shade & System c44
TQ59: Edition of 100
It's always a pleasure to present new music from longtime friend and label cohort Michael Chau. After a split with Afterlife and two previous full-length releases on the label, Chau delivers another total stunner with Shade & System. The release is built around two long form pieces that were played during live sets throughout 2013. Both compositions find Chau carefully juggling a variety of synths, samplers, and subtly-used drum machines to build toward climaxes that are overwhelmingly satisfying. Chau has proven his ear for beautiful melody on past releases, but this time he takes it over the top. With each new element added to the mix, the emotional impact grows exponentially. The long form compositions are surrounded by five shorter works that chart new territory for the project, using modular synths to chop pop samples and field recordings into hypnotic abstractions and undulating rhythms. It all adds up to Bedroom's strongest release to date and another perfect excuse to turn the volume up and shift your gaze toward the clouds. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle. Comes with a free digital download code.
Glass House - Keeping to the Void c44
TQ58: Edition of 100
After last year's split with Even the Dew is Porous, we've been itching to share more from this excellent Brooklyn/Philadelphia duo. On Keeping to the Void, Ian Collier and Eric Brannon continue to advance their ability to create soundscapes that are paradoxically massive and intimate. Processing a heavy mix of piano, vocals, field recordings, as well as stringed and percussive instruments, each piece has an entirely distinct sound, exploding with both dark imagery and grandiose beauty. There's something distinctly cinematic about this music, which is no surprise given the members' backgrounds in film production. Still, they manage to create pieces that are in no way heavy handed nor emotionally manipulative. Instead, their audio journey through the void invites you to conjur up your own imagery to accompany the magnificent sounds. What will you see when you open your ears and close your eyes? Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle. Comes with a free digital download code.
CASK c91
TQ57: Edition of 100
CASK is a UK drone super group of sorts, featuring the likes of Chris Gowers (Karina ESP), Alex Smalley (Pausal, Olan Mill), Simon Bainton (Pausal), and Katie English (Isnaj Dui) joining forces to help you drift away to the maximum. With a running time that exceeds an hour and a half, their self-titled debut is well suited for lengthy relaxation sessions or even sleep accompaniment. Combining guitar, flute, synthesizer, and vinyl samples, it's clear upon first listen that this is a group of friends and collaborators with history that runs deep and they're extremely comfortable playing with one another. Individual elements of the sound seem to mesh smoothly into one, but a closer listen reveals great detail and tight interplay between each musician. Excellent for both passive and active listening, this is a release that truly earns the "epic" tag, and it's one you'll want to return to continually and experience in brand new ways. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle. Comes with a free digital download code.
Witchbeam - Shadow Musick Vol. 1 c30
TQ55: Edition of 100
As a member of Telecult Powers, Hex Breaker Quintet, and other groups, Witchbeam has been involved in releasing some of the most freaked out and zoned in synthesizer music in recent times. Though he doesn't have many solo releases to his own name, that is no indicator of how productive he has been as a solo artist over the years. Collecting recordings made while Witchbeam lived in New Orleans, LA, Shadow Music Vol. 1 offers up a wide variety of truly stunning and deeply personal work. Buzzing oscillators mix with site-specific sounds ranging from relaxing wind chimes to intense voodoo drumming. Witchbeam is deeply engrained and incredibly knowledgeable about all things occult, and corresponding themes run deep throughout the release, with clever nods to alchemy, UFOs, Discordianism, and more. It's powerful stuff, and though the sounds can be dark and chaotic, Witchbeam's agenda is crystal clear. As the artist himself says, "Hopefully you can use this cassette to smash your ego a bit, get your head straight, and get back to the source." Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Loud & Sad - Whale Fall Volume Two c40
TQ54: Edition of 100
Two accomplished solo musicians in their own right, Nathan McLaughlin and Joe Houpert have been performing collaboratively as Loud & Sad since 2006. The music they make together embodies the powerful adjectives that make up the project's name and so much more. Back in 2010, Digitalis Limited issued the first volume of their five-part Whale Fall series, named after ecosystem that develops on the ocean floor after a whale dies and the carcass decays. Whale Fall Volume Two finds the duo drifting deeper into the state of decay, with an engrossing mix tape loops and synthesizer murk that mix textured drips and deep, cavernous drones with subtly expanding melodies. It's music that is almost felt as much as it is heard. Though it is a logical extension of the previous release in the series, it should also be noted that it can be fully enjoyed and appreciated on its own. This is your opportunity to join McLaughlin and Houpert on their journey all the way down to the abyssal zone. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Seth Graham - Creaky Clumsy c18
TQ53: Edition of 100
The other half of Cream Juice and Orange Milk Records, Seth Graham used to record as Henry Dawson but now goes under his birth name. Creaky Clumsy finds him refining his unique style even more and showcasing a distinct ability to do a lot in a relatively short amount of time. By manipulating samples from both analog and digital sources through modular filters and effects, Graham creates a wondrous world of sound within each track. Moving quickly between moments that are alternately beautiful, gross, hilarious, and confusing, the tracks come together as a whole to convey so many of the conflicting feelings ecstasy and awkwardness that are encapsulated within the human condition. Remarkably, Graham does this without any grand, sweeping gestures, but instead through short, bursting movements that feel intimate, personal, and relatable at once. His music is moving, but, perhaps even more importantly, it's also extremely fun. That's certainly no small feat. Features guest appearances by Foodman and Giant Claw. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Giant Claw - Max Mutant c22
TQ52: Edition of 100
Half of Cream Juice and Orange Milk Records as well as one hell of a visual artist, Keith Rankin has shred his way across many cassetes and several vinyl releases over the past few years as Giant Claw. An unbelievably nimble musician on many different instruments, Rankin applies his techniques and throws some choice genres into a blender on Max Mutant. Dashes of library music, minimal techno, and sci-fi soundtracks are tossed into the mix, but a heavy element of free jazz dominates throughout. Rankin adds sampled and live drums as well as other percussive elements to the synth onslaught for ferocious results. Each track unfolds at a breakneck pace, barely giving the listener a moment to breath as Rankin twists keys and skins together into an intense stampede of sound that can stop and start on a dime. The release couldn't be more aptly named, as this is truly music at its most maxed out and mutated...served up for your pleasure. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Various Artists - Duets II c60
TQ51: Edition of 150
Since the first Duets compilation was well received last year and there are so many other great duos making music within our orbit, a sequel only seemed natural. This time around we have a whole new set of duos for Duets II. Some of the same individuals from the first contributed to this edition, but they appear here in the guise of entirely different projects with unique approaches to collaboration and experimental sound. This is also a slightly shorter dose than the original, but rest assured that it is no less potent and diverse, especially when taken as a whole. Features new and unreleased tracks by Dozens, Glass House, Cream Juice, Roped Off, Perspectives, Nite Lite, Pendulums, Urkas, Coyote Image Revisited, and Morae. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Afterlife - Afterlive c73
TQ50: Edition of 100
From 2010 to 2013, Ryan McGill and Franklin Teagle played shows throughout New York City and a few out of town gigs as a part of some incredible line-ups and through some extremely loud sound systems. Now that the duo resides on opposite coasts, a live show isn't likely to happen again in the near future, but we're happy to share a document of some choice performances from the past three years. Afterlive collects three different sets: One from 2011 recorded by Francesco de Gallo in Brooklyn, NY, one from 2012 recorded by Dave Doyen in Wilmington, DE, and one from 2013 recorded by Mike Griffin in Albany, NY. Each recording features entirely different material as well as different approaches to bringing composed and improvised sound into the live setting, all captured through raw, open air recordings. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle and a photograph by Rachel Evans.
Roped Off - Roped Off Lifts the Invisible Tile c22
TQ49: Edition of 100
From their respective solo work as Vales/Sound Out Light and Wether/Spectrum Tickets to their beloved podcast Tabs Out, Delaware's Dave Doyen and Mike Haley are veritable kings (or perhaps court jesters?) in the realm of experimental cassette culture. Collaborating as Roped Off, they combine their powers through synthesis for intense and riveting results. Roped Off Lifts the Invisible Tile finds the duo in finer form than ever, carefully layering modular synths and keyboards with a distinct focus on texture and minimalist technique. Almost immediately, you're hit with a deluge of dripping, trickling sounds as ominous drones and bleak, Carpenter-esque melodies gradually creep into the mix. At just over 20 minutes, it's like a quick dip into a pool of primordial ooze, but one that's so satisfying you'll want to catch your breath and dive back in as soon as possible. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
The Rainbow Body - Magnetic Highway c35
TQ48: Edition of 100
After two self-released cassettes and one CDR, we're happy to share new music by Providence's Matthew Kattman, who performs as The Rainbow Body. Using the guitar and an arsenal of effects on Magnetic Highway, Kattman collects six equally massive drone soundscapes that teem with melodic beauty and interstellar textures. The shoegaze influence is quite apparent in Kattman's work, and fans of more recent purveyors of the style like Fennesz, Jefre Cantu- Ledesma, and the first Belong album will find plenty to adore here. Kattman puts his own cosmic stamp on the style, though, by allowing deep, rich tones in each piece stretch out and shimmer to the glorious end. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Mr. Matthews - High Pass Heart c39
TQ47: Edition of 100
A core member of essential groups Telecult Powers and Hex Breaker Quartet/Quintet, Mr. Matthews strikes out on his own for his first solo release under his chosen name. Matthews has been playing/building synthesizers and recording music on his own for quite a few years, and now he's generously sharing the incredible fruits of those endeavors with the rest of us. High Pass Heart covers a lot of territory in less than 40 minutes, from melody-driven micro-compositions, to outer space drones, to full-on noise power houses. It's all tied together with carefully selected "found sounds" and track titles that showcase Matthews' sly wit and mordant sense of humor. Rarely do you hear music that is so personal and human from a man who is as in touch with the machines as Mr. Matthews. Imprinted chrome cassettes featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Parashi - Particle Collider c40
TQ46: Edition of 100
Parashi is the solo guise of upstate New York noise head Mike Griffin. Using an arsenal of electronics, synths, and effects, Griffin carefully concocts wonderfully delirious soundscapes. Unlike the monotony that many noise projects succumb to, every piece that Griffin creates sounds utterly unique. Among the four pieces on Particle Collider, there are tracks that are raw, intense, and in-your-face while others are more restrained and subtle. Each one offers you a voyeuristic glimpse into a deeply strange but equally fascinating world of sound. You may get the sneaking suspicion that you're not supposed to be there, but you certainly won't want to look away anytime soon. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Xanthocephalus - sp. c60
TQ45: Edition of 100
Very few solo experimental projects lean heavily on the bass guitar, but Brooklyn's Russ Alderson does it mightily. Combining elements of noise, drone, and free improv, Xanthocephalus is Alderson's outlet for contemplation and destruction. sp. showcases so much of what is unique about this project, from the thoughtfully integrated field recordings, to the hypnotic low end drones, to the carefully controlled bursts of string shredding and feedback. For those who have yet to experience Alderson's work, this is a perfect entry point, and for those already familiar, this is another incredibly satisfying and intense expression of the enticing and dangerous ways of the wild. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Jean-Sébastien Truchy - L'amitié c60
TQ44: Edition of 100
From his work with previous groups such Fly Pan Am to his impeccable label Los Discos Enfantasmes, Jean-Sébastien Truchy has long been a staple of the experimental music scene in Montreal. His recent solo recordings under his own name are at once remarkably challenging and engrossing. L'amitié, his lengthiest release to date, continues that line with a brilliant mix of heavy modular synthesis, vocals, and field recordings. Sparse nature sounds, buzzing synth blasts, and sequenced melodies set the stage for Truchy's incredible vocals, which range from full-on black metal screaming to almost operatic singing. There are elements of pop, musique concrète, and more, but this is truly genre-defying music in every sense of the term. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Afterlife - Surfacing Illusions c54
TQ43: Edition of 100
The first full release since the debut Afterlife LP, Surfacing Illusions finds Ryan McGill and Franklin Teagle diving deeper intro dream states and unknown places than ever before. Built around sounds captured nearby, far away, and even long ago, the duo layers field recordings carefully with dueling synths to take the listener on a journey that's altogether stranger and more varied than any previous releases. From glorious harmonies suited for a cathedral to quiet, uneasy trips into a dissonant void, there's plenty to get lost in this time around. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Bedroom - Trans c40
TQ42: Edition of 100
On his third release for the label, Michael Chau continues to expand Bedroom's horizon and introduce new elements to his sonic palate. The sky-high, dreamy vibrations from previous releases are still ever present, but now drum machines deliver infectious grooves and motorik rhythms. Chau has an excellent ear for melody, causing gauzy drones and laser-sharp arpeggios to stick with you long after the sounds have faded away. Perfect for early morning drives or late night walks, tap in and let this one soundtrack your next journey through life's superhighway. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Adderall Canyonly - From Below We Reach Above c28
TQ41: Edition of 100
The mind behind the Field Hymns label and Tiny Little Hammers design, Portland's Dylan McConnell releases psychedelic soundscapes under the name Adderall Canyonly. From Below We Reach Above finds McConnell straddling a wondrous line between musical beauty and hazy abstraction. Combining synth and guitar in almost equal measures, each track soars and shimmers in its own distinct way, occasionally veering into darker territory or combining with elements of noise to keep you on your toes and help you fully drift away. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Motion Sickness of Time Travel/Imperial Topaz - Split c24
TQ40: Edition of 150
Dig into new night music from two projects near and dear to this imprint. Since we last heard from her on the label with her split with Tidal, Motion Sickness of Time Travel's Rachel Evans has delved a bit further into abstract territory with each new release. Her material on this split continues along the course of expanding her singular sound, with Evans layering spaced out synth improvisations over soothing pads while her gentle vocals seep into the mix like a beautiful apparition. Since we heard from them last, Imperial Topaz underwent a slight line up change and ditched the guitar in the process. Here, Caroline Teagle and newcomer Zachary Zierden cruise far away from the sun-drenched tunes that defined the project's debut in favor of cold, pulsing synth pop. Thumping rhythms accompany neon-lit progressions while Teagle's commanding voice sings evocative stories of souls lost in the twilight. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Kyle Landstra/Subtle Body - Split c40
TQ39: Edition of 100
On this split, two Juno warriors operating on elevated levels offer meditative synth passages to help align your Chakras. Kalamazoo's Kyle Landstra starts off with deep, steady drones that aim straight for the mind's furthest reaches. His sidelong piece drones mightily and shifts subtly, with each slight filter tweak and affectation breathing new life into the proceedings. Subtle Body, aka Asheville's Joe Moresi, answers with three airy and contemplative passages that are a perfect melodic counterpoint to Landstra's burrowing drones. At once sad and uplifting, each piece can be heard as an acknowledgement of the inevitable reality of death while celebrating the complex beauty of the life that came before it. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Millions/Dads Against Vietnam - Split c32
TQ38: Edition of 100
Two Brooklyn stalwarts trade war stories from the front line of the end times on this split. David Suss has been creating works of drone as Millions for more than six years now, and, in that time, has issued more than a few stellar, criminally underrated releases. Here he employs a steady stream of guitar and synth that build to a glorious denouement featuring billowing clouds of feedback and chiming chords. One half of the unstoppable duo Grasshopper, Josh Millrod makes a rare appearance under his solo guide Dads Against Vietnam on the flip side. The name might be funny, but the sounds are as serious as a heart attack, with a bitches brew of looped trumpet melodies that slowly simmer until they give way to a massive wall of noise anchored by a cathartic drone. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Emuul/Hemosis - Split c66
TQ37: Edition of 100
Two long-time Seattle compatriots team up, patch in, and give their modular rigs a workout. Followers of this label should be no stranger to Emuul's Kyle Iman, a household favorite who always offers up something unique and progressive with each new release. Here, Iman digs deeper into harsh territories than ever before, as ultra-deep bass swells build to the point of intense distortion. It's all held together, of course, by the sort of charming, pensive melody that always makes Iman's music so irresistible. On the flip side, newcomer Matthew Kenall unveils his Hemosis project with two distinct serenades. One explores a repeated melody, twisting and deconstructing a catchy tune with filters and effects. The next focuses primarily on texture, allowing looser and more drawn out passages to gleefully bubble and buzz. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Glass House/Even the Dew is Porous - Split c66
TQ36: Edition of 100
This split collects more than an hour of music from two of our favorite new projects from the Northeastern United States. Based in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, Glass House is the duo of Ian Collier and Eric Brannon, and together these two make monolithic ambient music that teems with both warmth and darkness. Distinctly cinematic and glacially-paced, this is music you will have no problem losing yourself in repeatedly. Even the Dew is Porous is Burlington's Tyler Brassard. Brassard juggles analog and digital synths as well as guitar to creating gleaming, amorphous works of sound. Each of the four pieces on this split is bursting at the seams with a life of its own and somehow manages to evoke pastoral and mechanical imagery at once. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Grant Evans - Solos for Muted Transparent c39
TQ35: Edition of 100
Since dropping the Nova Scotian Arms moniker in favor of his own name, Georgia's Grant Evans (Quiet Evenings) has delved even further into the rabbit hole of tape music. As he experiments with longer magnetic spools, Evans' sounds continue to stretch even further beyond the horizon. Solos for Muted Transparent finds Evans dropping a thick cloud of abstract haze on that horizon with two magnificent, side-long pieces. Tones simmer beneath the surface, flirt with harsher textures, and gradually reveal themselves in surprising and beautiful ways. You can only begin to guess where most of the sounds originated, but new ones will continue to reveal themselves with each subsequent listen. It's always a good time to lose yourself in a mystery. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Misner Space - Golorium c22
TQ34: Edition of 100
A tight crew of some of Hamilton, Ontario's finest musicians, Sarah Good, Sean Gadoury, Scott Johnson (Thoughts on Air), and Annie Shaw specialize in beguiling improvisations. At once sprawling and intimate, Golorium is a veritable cauldron of spooks and aural delights. Coventry Music brothers Gadoury and Johnson pour out a bubbling broth of guitar, synthesizer, and electronics that ebb and flow while Good and Shaw relish in the spotlight by adding deliciously twisted vocal incantations. Sounding like a pair of pixies experiencing a psychedelic meltdown, they manage to straddle the distant lines of beautiful, playful, and downright creepy all at once. Always count on Hamilton to remind you to keep it free and weird in the best possible way. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Andreas Brandal - Turning Point c35
TQ33: Edition of 100
Norwegian twilight prince Andreas Brandal is back with more of his signature audio exorcisms. For someone who's so outright prolific, it's simply astounding how thoughtfully and impeccably his work is composed. On Turning Point, Brandal unleashes seven eerie compositions that come together like the soundtrack to the greatest 70s horror film never made. Somewhere between Carpenter, Lynch, and Goblin, each conveys its own distinct mood and otherworldly atmosphere. Brandal is a true multi-instrumentalist, and you'd have a hard time finding a tape that combines synthesizer, acoustic guitar, and jaw harp as eloquently as this one. Shifting between gloomy abstraction and taut melodics, Brandal never lets you off of the edge of your seat. Turn off the lights and go in alone if you dare. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Difference Clouds - Shiro c40
TQ32: Edition of 100
The wonderful city of Asheville seems to be a hotbed for up-and-coming experimental musicians these days, and Zach Smith's Difference Clouds quickly leaped out as a standout project with his self-titled debut on Bathetic earlier this year. Veering away from the hyperspace sequencing that defined that release, Shiro presents a side of Smith's sound world that is subtler and even organic at times. With synthesizers, sourced thumb piano, and other samples, Smith creates works that patiently unfold and offer build ups that are just as satisfying as the sweet spots. Smith is another young mind impressively locked into electronic sound. Tune in now and expect more great work from Smith and his cohorts from the Land of the Sky very soon. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Various Artists - Duets c100
TQ31: Edition of 200
We're ecstatic to present the first-ever compilation on Tranquility Tapes. Clocking in at 100 minutes, this collection shines a light on some of our favorite recording duos currently operating within the broad spectrum of underground music. A tribute to collaboration and camaraderie through sound, each duet brings something entirely different to the table, yet the collection as a whole flows together better than we could have ever imagined. Features new and unreleased tracks by Quiet Evenings, Super Minerals, Velvet Chrome, Brother Raven, Seziki Tetrasheaf, Century Plants, Big Sky, Afterlife, Imperial Topaz, Telecult Powers, Concessionaires, Blood on Tape, Sundrips, Grasshopper, The Circle and the Point, and Coventry Music. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Event Cloak - Reprogramming c54
TQ30: Edition of 100
One half of Montreal's Sundrips, Nick Maturo unleashed his solo guise Event Cloak last year with a stellar debut on Fadeaway Tapes, and it instantly became one of the most promising new synth projects around. Reprogramming delivers on that promise and then some with a release of epic proportions that showcases Maturo's undeniable talent and versatility as an electronic musician. As if scanning the dial on an outer space radio, Maturo weaves effortlessly between bouncing arpeggios, ethereal pads, FM synthesis, and samples sliced and diced to the point of glorious madness. It's staggeringly beautiful at times, extremely strange at others, and always entirely satisfying. Turn it up loud and synchronize your mind with the machines. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Lunar Miasma - Managing the Dream c28
TQ29: Edition of 100
Grecian synth lord Panos Alexiadis has been releasing music steadily as Lunar Miasma over the past three years, ratcheting up the intensity significantly with each new missive. Managing the Dream is certainly no exception in that regard, diving deep into a world of lucid dreams and nighttime hallucinations. There's a real narrative feel to the release, consisting of two dense, long-form pieces in the middle and two short but sweet pieces at each end. Showcasing his impressive abilities as a player, Alexiadis unleashes rapid-fire keyboard solos that dance atop gorgeous melodic loops which sound as though they were imported from another realm. The dream is under your control and the possibilities are endless...what will you do next? Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Albino Groupie - Shadow Bong Synth c31
TQ28: Edition of 100
Over the past few years, Denmark's Mikkel Dunkerley has built a fascinating, singular world of sound with his label D'Artagnan and projects such as Pummeler, Grass Traffic, and Wax Toller. Albino Groupie is perhaps the gentlest of the bunch, combining soothing drones with Dunkerley's signature murk. Shadow Bong Synth finds the project lost in a narcotic haze. Low end, pulsing waves writhe slowly and ultimately give way to subtle and evocative melodies. There's pleasantry to be found deep in the shadows, but the shadows themselves make the whole affair all the more intriguing. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Trailing - Asymmetries c21
TQ27: Edition of 100
Throughout his work with duos Sundrips, Dozens, and Aphid Palisades, Montreal's Ryan Connolly has proven himself to be a mighty collaborator. Recording on his own as Trailing, Connolly's solo work is no less powerful. Asymmetries finds him reveling in the stillness of sound. Clean guitar loops are set forth eloquently, layered carefully, and left to dissipate into a beautiful mist. Remarkably calm and relaxing, it's hard to think of a release in our catalog that embodies the label name more than this one. Let the sounds wash over you repeatedly and you might even believe they have the power to heal. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Imperial Topaz - Imperial c24
TQ26: Edition of 100
You're most likely familiar with Caroline Teagle's visual talent by now, but you should know that she makes great music, too. Her new duo with Jake Pepper (NT, Fergus & Geronimo), Imperial Topaz combines experimental sensibilities with finely-tuned pop, which falls within a warm space between reggae and the heyday of 4AD. Field recordings and improvised passages drop instantly into pop gems, layering Pepper's catchy, reverb-drenched guitar lines and Teagle's ethereal vocals with hypnotic keyboard melodies and drum machine rhythms. Nicely timed for spring, each of the four tracks on Imperial is excellent accompaniment for sunshine and ocean breeze dreams. Like a beach party for everyone the luxury liner left behind. Features Jef Brown on saxophone. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by you-know-who.
Eagle Altar - Cut America c42
TQ25: Edition of 100
The alter ego of Tulsa's Altar Eagle, Eagle Altar is Eden Hemming and Brad Rose's outlet to set aside song structure and allow themselves to ride the electric current of improvisation. The first new release from the project in more than two years, Cut America collects five pieces for synthesizer and drum machine. Blissful, blown out melodies cut through thumping, pulsing rhythms that aren't quite meant for the dance floor, but are no less invigorating. Despite the loose nature of this project, each track is remarkably tight-knit, hitting all the right marks and building toward incredibly satisfying climaxes. Hemming and Rose are ready to take you on bullet train through the heart of our country, which may not always be pretty, but this is a glorious ride from start to finish. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Thoughts on Air - Glow On c53
TQ24: Edition of 100
Hamilton's Scott Johnson is a wonderful soul whose brilliant sounds will always have a happy home on this label. It's a pleasure to share almost an hour of new instrumental recordings from his flagship project, Thoughts on Air. Conceived as an homage to friends and fellow sound travelers, Glow On is comprised of eight new works for guitar and synthesizer. Each extols the lo-fi warmth and intimacy you've come to know and love from the project, but surprising new avenues are explored this time around as well. From riffs fit to fill an arena to rhythmic organ grooves, Johnson is unafraid guide his bedroom star ship to many fascinating realms of the psychedelic universe. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Pierrot Lunaire - As Himself c30
TQ23: Edition of 100
After starting the year with a bang with his first vinyl release on Hooker Vision, California's John DeNizio shares the magical fury that is Pierrot Lunaire in a live setting on As Himself. Working with saxophone, voice, tape, and semi-functional electronics, DeNizio conjures his singular and soulful blend of free jazz, noise, and outsider pop on the fly. The spaces where these recordings were made play as much of a role in the final product as DeNizio and his gear, with sounds echoing off of walls and telling inscrutable tales of all that's happened in each room. A nimble and versatile player, you never know where DeNizio will take you next, but it's always a thrill to behold. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Ghostrider - Voices c33
TQ22: Edition of 100
Germany's Jens Pauly seemed to appear out of nowhere in 2011 with two of the year's best synth tapes on Hobo Cult and Digitalis Ltd. Voices finds Pauly honing his craft even further with seven new meticulously composed pieces. Each track immediately springs to life with vivid, cinematic detail. Pulsing, heavily sequenced numbers call forth images of high-speed drives through neon-lit urban jungles, while more restrained and amorphous tracks bring to mind slow strolls through a foggy hillsides. Steering clear of the slightest bit of excess, Pauly is truly a master at conveying moods that resonate deeply without wasting a single second. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Bedroom - Solipsist c30
TQ21: Edition of 100
After last year's split with Afterlife, Bedroom finally returns with a second missive. Flying solo this time around, Brooklyn's Michael Chau presents two long-form pieces on Solipsist that showcase his ability to make engrossing synthscapes with both maximal and minimal sensibilities. Chau effectively harnesses the power of the Moog in an impressive variety of ways, churning out passages of spine-tingling melody, mechanical sequences, and drones that hover high above the clouds. It all flows together magnificently, and what's left behind is an expressive, complex work that's as sensitive and beautiful as it is muscular and intense. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
The Aloha Spirit - Under Wild Skies c25
TQ20: Edition of 100
Through his thoughtfully curated c60 Radio program, Austin's Brad Barry has been closely affiliated with experimental music and cassette culture for the past several years. Now, with The Aloha Spirit, he's sharing his own personal sounds with the world, and what a wonderful thing it is. Under Wild Skies finds Barry arranging synth loops carefully and confidently, conjuring placid tones and giving them space to gently buzz and gradually intermingle with one another. This is unabashed relaxation music, teeming with positive vibrations and basking in the radiance of the earth. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Shingles/Spectrum Tickets - Split c36
TQ19: Edition of 100
This split collects new directions from two guys who are certainly no strangers to frying brains with sound. Jesse DeRosa (Grasshopper) starts with a little late night music. Armed with little more than his Electronic Valve Instrument, DeRosa layers absolutely gorgeous melodies that swell and move together in dramatic, sweeping fashion. Themes of isolation and mystery run deep through these tracks, yet there is plenty warmth to be found within. Mike Haley (Wether) soundtracks the awakening of sentient cyborgs on the flip side. Haley develops an atmosphere that is colder and bleaker than DeRosa's, but certainly no less engrossing. Synthesized patterns and drum machine rhythms stay locked into one another, plowing forth toward a new technological dawn. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Emuul – Two Studies for Order and Chaos c30
TQ18: Edition of 100
Seattle’s Kyle Iman returns with one of his most charming and minimal works to date. Eschewing much of the subtle darkness that often permeates his work, Two Studies for Order and Chaos finds Iman harnessing his modular synth to bask in the simple glories of melody and soothing drone. Each side-length track gradually builds to its own shimmering climax, but Iman also takes great pleasure in the journey itself. Sequences gently bounce about in playful, lulling fashion, and pure analog tones are unveiled and layered with commendable patience. Not one to tread the same path twice, Iman has added another enthralling piece to an already remarkably consistent catalog. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Dozens/Confused Kundalini – Split c50
TQ17: Edition of 100
Three talented lads offer two zonked out sides on this split. Dozens, the Montreal duo of Francesco De Gallo (Hobo Cubes) and Ryan Connolly (Sundrips), kick off with dynamic psychedelic drifts for guitar and synth. Occasionally channeling their city’s post-rock ghosts, other times locking in on strange melodic passages that sound as though they’re from another dimension, Oulellette and Connolly revel in the joys and bewilderment of improvisation at once. Fort Wayne’s Adam Meyer (Dry Valleys) takes command on the flip side with his new side project, Confused Kundalini. CK takes the new age synth bliss crafted through DV and warps it entirely with the addition of strange field recordings and vocal incantations. Something like a soundtrack for a yoga session in hell, Meyer mixes loops of sublime chord progressions with deliciously bizarre sounds from who-knows-where across five fascinating pieces. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Venn Rain – Place in World c40
TQ16: Edition of 100
Though it doesn’t stray too far from the blissful sonic territory mined by his primary guise, Tidal, loops are the chief focus of Jimmy Billingham’s latest project, Venn Rain. Billingham takes the listener for a whirling ride as he presents each loop and affects it gradually, adding new loops into the mix with careful precision and ultimately building each track to a billowing climax. A wide variety of moods and sounds are explored throughout Place in World, from jangly guitars, to lush Cocteau worship, to infectious synth pop grooves. With only short bites of sound and a relatively simple premise, Billingham crafts four sprawling works that manage to engross and even surprise throughout their duration. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Panabrite – Wind Rider c32
TQ15: Edition of 150
Seattle’s Norm Chambers and his project Panabrite seemed to appear out of nowhere last year, displaying awe-inspiring synth wizardry across a handful of cassettes. Wind Rider builds upon that foundation and expands Panabrite’s horizons even further. Only briefly flirting with the oceanic themes prevalent in much of his work, Chambers instead takes to the skies. Soaring arpeggios mix with warm synth pads and even vocoder to form seven concise, fully realized pieces. It’s simply amazing how many gorgeous melodic passages Chambers is able to unleash in a single track while still managing to keep the composition light and airy. Homage to new age and kosmiche pioneers is apparent throughout, but Panabrite is so much more than a retro synth project. Chambers manages to combine these influences with his own well-developed compositional ability for a sound that’s personal, progressive, and entirely satisfying to the ears. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Pulse Emitter - Forest, Mountain, Valley c50
TQ14: First edition of 150, second edition of 50
It’s an honor to present new work by one of the most talented and dedicated purveyors of synthesizer music working today: Portland’s Daryl Groetsch. Inspired by the environmental majesty surrounding Groetsch’s home in the Pacific Northwest, Forest, Mountain, Valley explores the allure and mystery of nature through three long form compositions. Each movement unfolds with utmost patience, utilizing space brilliantly as they are paradoxically minimal in structure and dynamics, yet bursting at the seams with raw beauty and emotion. Recorded in pristine fidelity and played with precision, synthesizer tones are stunningly present, allowing gorgeous melodies to envelop the ears entirely. In just under an hour, Groetsch takes the listener on an entire journey: from the climb, to the vista, and finally to the descent. Just sit back and let the master be your guide. On pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Sparkling Wide Pressure - Sing What You Remind Me Of c40
TQ13: Edition of 100
Few have a style as singular and consistently fascinating as Tennessee’s Frank Baugh. With a formidable discography under his belt, Baugh has utilized his Sparkling Wide Pressure moniker to explore spaces that are as eccentric and alien as they are beautiful and comforting. Sing What You Remind Me Of finds Baugh pushing the project further into left-field pop territory while retaining the strange, psychedelic glory that has already made believers out of many underground sound eaters. Intricately realized pieces for guitar, bass, voice, and electronics carry sweeping, nostalgic melodies that convey warmth, yet feel as though they could collapse into abstraction at any moment. This combination of compositional prowess, improvisational tendency, and ability to take the listener to realms both familiar and unsettling at once always keeps Baugh’s work deeply engrossing and utterly addictive. On pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Big Sky - Creepy Crawl c27
TQ12: Edition of 100
This shadowy Texas duo concocts an especially potent blend from a wide variety of influences on their debut release. With dub music and cult films on the brain in heavy doses, Big Sky loaded Creepy Crawl with lumbering, skeletal instrumental pieces that constantly teeter on the edge of bliss and gloom. Guitars ring out shimmering, chiming passages while the rhythm section holds down a steady molasses groove. Slowed vocal samples and keys occasionally seep into the mix, infusing the sound with a deliciously warped, experimental pop sensibility. Quite simply refusing to fit comfortably into any one genre or trend, Big Sky is blazing its own sun-baked trail and this is a wonderful start. Try to imagine the flavors of King Tubby, PIL, Slint, and DJ Screw mixed into a vat of cough syrup, fake blood, and jerk sauce and you’re on the right track. On pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Motion Sickness of Time Travel/Tidal - Split c30
TQ11: First edition of 100, second edition of 50
Here, two rapidly blossoming projects from both sides of the Atlantic present deep, complimentary reflections on ethereal beauty. Georgia's Rachel Evans (Quiet Evenings) kicks off the affair via her Motion Sickness of Time Travel project and four distinct ambient pop gems. Synth swells and arpeggios cascade across the ears, while Evans' bewitching voice seeps in like an apparition on the horizon, only to disappear and leave its memory coursing through your veins. Under his Tidal alias, Brighton's Jimmy Billingham continues with three haunting synth pieces. Thoroughly washed out melodies laced with feedback conjure up a dense grey atmosphere, yet an unmistakable warmth radiates from the center of each track. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Christopher Merritt/Reedbeds - Split c42
TQ10: Edition of 100
Acoustic guitar is the common thread on this split, as played by two young gentlemen from both coasts. Over a few recent cassette releases, Brooklyn's Christopher Merritt has quickly proved he's an accomplished alchemist of digital sound. Here Merritt pushes his sound to the next level as he fluidly mixes guitar, synth, and field recordings into a rushing river of glorious euphoria. Sacramento's Carter Mullin (Past Utopia) utilizes a decidedly stripped-down approach as Reedbeds. Armed with a guitar and looper, Mullin crafts two pieces that layer simple, stereo-panned melodies repeatedly to create a tangled, textured web of nostalgic sound. This is surely a perfect soundtrack for springtime, and for springtime dreaming the rest of the year. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Cliffsides/Cenote Glow - Split c36
TQ09: Edition of 100
Consider this Afterlife's DNA split and spread across two sides. Solo treks through self-contained realms of life that exist both beyond and beneath the earth. Ryan McGill brings his (inter)stellar Cliffsides project out of a brief hibernation with gusto. He fires on every cylinder and digs a cosmic rabbit hole utilizing sequencer and MFOS synth. Dizzying filtered sequences dissolve into one another beautifully, each one satisfying and beguiling in its own unique way. Franklin Teagle's Cenote Glow debuts on the flip side. Inspired by travels and the natural world, these synth pieces flow between emotive washes of melody and passages of abstract strangeness. Bubbling odes to transcendent moments and memories forged away from home. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Brian Lavelle/Nova Scotian Arms - Split c60
TQ08: Edition of 100
Here we have richly varied, transoceanic transmissions from a Scotsman and a Southerner. Edinburgh's Brian Lavelle begins the hour-long affair with a beautifully composed set of electronics. Billowing, Voigt-ian clouds of synth and guitar ultimately give way to delicate sequences and organ patterns that swirl majestically around field recordings. Lavelle has been releasing experimental music for more than 20 years and his masterful ability to digitally blend and degrade sonics to the point of perfection is well evidenced herein. Georgia's Grant Evans (Quiet Evenings) answers boldly via his Nova Scotian Arms project with an utterly disorienting curve ball. Dissonance is the recurring theme here, with synth loops and burnt guitar riffs weaving in and out of each other and gradually pushing toward a hazy enlightenment. Like a high gravity brew, these two sides work in tandem to leave you at once blissed and dizzy. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Sundrips/Sound Out Light - Split c20
TQ07: Edition of 100
Though this is the shortest tape of the batch, diminished length doesn't detract a bit of the monolithic power contained within. Montreal's Sundrips (Nick Maturo on synths, Ryan Connolly on guitar) set the tone with two slow motion, analog meditations. The duo builds patiently off one another, carefully layering warm melodies while allowing them the space to rise gently and shimmer gracefully. Delaware's Dave Doyen (Vales) utilizes his Sound Out Light project to add an industrial flair to the proceedings. Buzz saw synth drone builds steadily while oscillations twist about and a clanging drum machine shoots sparks in every direction as this massive track pushes forth relentlessly. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Softlight Reveries/Cyque-Sage - Split c25
TQ06: Edition of 100
The wonderful sounds of Canadian artists Scott Johnson (Thoughts on Air) and Mike Pouw (Knit Prism) just seem meant to be together. This split brings together two of their newer projects which almost act as alter egos to their more prolific ones. Johnson's Softlight Reveries begins with an engrossing subversion of ToA's psychedelic folk aesthetic. Sparkling clean guitar passages unfold and intertwine freely. Shimmering organ creeps into the mix as the piece gradually builds to a cathartic noise climax. Pouw's Cyque-Sage adds a heavy dose of field recordings to KP's "motionless meditation" style. Effected guitar that almost sounds like a synth stays locked into warm, dense chords. Uneffected sounds from the wilderness and pure analog fidelity both play a major role in Pouw's mysterious workings. Tune in and soak up the positive vibrations from these two brothers from the Great White North. Pro-dubbed and imprinted, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Quiet Evenings - Pillars at Night c30
TQ05: First edition of 100, second edition of 50
Straight out of my home state of Georgia, husband and wife Grant (Nova Scotian Arms) and Rachel (Motion Sickness of Time Travel) Evans record together as Quiet Evenings. 2010 has been a landmark year for them musically, with a grip of wonderful releases on Digitalis Ltd. and their own imprint, Hooker Vision. It's a pleasure to present a capstone to their busy year with Pillars at Night. Employing dual synths, guitar, and field recordings, the Evans duo lays down three hypnotic slow burners that evoke the smoldering outdoors on summer nights down south. Showing an impressive knack for minimalism, they utilize repetition and gradual change to allow tones to sink extra deep into your psyche. Whispering melodies creep in, but texture is the clear focus here, resulting in a work that feels distinctly organic and otherwordly at once. Pro-dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Softland City Singers - Parting the Veil of Isis c49
TQ04: Edition of 100
One half of glorious Texas duo Blood on Tape, Kevin O'Sullivan flies solo on the first release from his project Softland City Singers. On both of the lengthy tracks that comprise Parting the Veil of Isis, O'Sullivan is unafraid to let the sounds unfold with utmost patience, utilizing guitar, synth, vocals, and hand percussion. Paradoxically monolithic and subtle at once, perfect harmonies slowly emerge from billowing clouds of gentle feedback, ultimately enveloping the listener and reaching a point of overwhelming beauty. This is an absolutely stunning, refined debut and it's sure to please fans of minimal ambient projects like Stars of the Lid and Marble Sky. Pro-dubbed and imprinted, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Water Lily Jaguar - Digging Up Atlantis c30
TQ03: Edition of 100
With his project Gitche-Anahmi-Bezheu and former excursions as Dream Safari, New York's Ian Najdzionek is no stranger to traversing vividly imagined plains through sound. Where G-A-B tends toward "murky depths," Najdzionek himself describes his new Water Lily Jaguar project as the "shimmering surface" of his creative universe. I can't imagine a better description for the two pieces that make up Digging Up Atlantis. Using sampling keyboards and effects, Najdzionek sends us down a placid river shrouded in vegetation. Trickling keys are looped and gradually molded into soothing drones. Unidentifiable birds call out in the distance, reminding us that we're still in the grips of the wild as we drift enamored through tropical realms. Pro-dubbed and imprinted, featuring designs by Caroline Teagle.
Afterlife/Bedroom - Split c34
TQ02: Edition of 100
Two Brooklyn synth duos send oscillations across the borough in three-part suites. Ryan McGill (Cliffsides) and Franklin Teagle’s Afterlife gets the ball rolling with an epic journey that glides through gentle sequencing, bubbling abstractions, and nostalgic melodies. Steadfastly adhering to the code of repetition and ultra-subtle dynamics, each piece gradually pushes toward deeper levels of entrancement. On the project’s debut, Michael Chau (Liquid Days) and Jeremy Mills’ Bedroom answers from high atop the clouds with pure Eno-inspired tone float. With remarkable focus and a knack for dramatic, sweeping melodies, the duo shifts eloquently from minimal passages to ones dense with cosmic atmosphere. Each piece unfolds like a tale from a distant plane and is packed with intense beauty. Jump into the vortex and stay awhile. On pro-dubbed, imprinted cassettes with artwork by Caroline Teagle.
Charlatan - Romances c34
TQ01: Edition of 100
The lothario has been unmasked and Brad Rose’s (The North Sea, ALTAR EAGLE) Charlatan is free to spread melodic synth glory outside the confines of mystery. On one of the most widely available releases from the project to date, Rose explores and indulges in many avenues of romance and beauty through sound. A brilliant balance is achieved as moods drift smoothly from warm and embraced to pensive and isolated. Some tracks shimmer like finely tuned pop gems, while others contently soak in the ether and allow tones and field recordings to sink in extra deep. All in all, this is the perfect summer excursion, serving some ice cold bliss to help fight the heat. On pro-dubbed, imprinted cassettes with artwork by Caroline Teagle.