Rediscovering forgotten problems of the the medium and being gifted a release so rare, noone but me will ever enter it into the Discogs database. Read all about it - and maybe also discover some great music you have missed so far - here in the thirty-seventh edition of my cassette craze chronicles:
THISQUIETARMY - Les Entampes (2024)
I bought this album back in November, when Aidan Baker's and Eric Quach's Hypnodrone Ensemble played onboard the MS Stubnitz in Hamburg. Thisquietarmy is Quach's solo moniker and "Les Entampes" shows us how he spent his time during the pandemic, creating a beautful soundtrack to the void of uncertainty.
Drips of Ambient, layering on top of each other until they become swooshing cascades. There may or may not be some other Electronic elements here and there, but most of this album seems to be built on guitars. Looped and manipulated with effects, clean and clear, mystically nebulous and atmospheric, huge and droning...
There's no need to beat around the bush: Quach really shows off his mastery in his Experimental style here as the album invites you to bathe in its deep sonic splendour. Thisisthisquietarmy at its best.
The cassette has a simple effective design, all about showcasing the artful cover and backcover photography, also done by Quach himself. making "Les Entampes" an all around wonderful release.
Drips of Ambient, layering on top of each other until they become swooshing cascades. There may or may not be some other Electronic elements here and there, but most of this album seems to be built on guitars. Looped and manipulated with effects, clean and clear, mystically nebulous and atmospheric, huge and droning...
There's no need to beat around the bush: Quach really shows off his mastery in his Experimental style here as the album invites you to bathe in its deep sonic splendour. Thisisthisquietarmy at its best.
The cassette has a simple effective design, all about showcasing the artful cover and backcover photography, also done by Quach himself. making "Les Entampes" an all around wonderful release.
PONTE DEL DIAVOLO - TRE - The EP Collection (2024)
Not so wonderful was my first time listening to this compilation of three EPs, which the Italians Ponte Del Diavolo recorded before they released their great debut album "Fire Blades From The Tomb", which I will hopefully be able to experience live in full at Roadburn this year, on Seasons of Mist.
I was not disappointed by the music, quite the opposite. But after side A had finished the tape ripped! So there I had challenge: Opening the shell, which wasn't screwed but glued together without damaging it, fixing the tear, which was unfortunately close to the reel and then of course putting it all back together.
Did it work? Well, there are still some seconds of terrible noise and I accidentily switched the sides, so that A and B are now labeled wrong. Apart from that repair seems to have been a success and stood the test of a couple of spins. Yet honestly I don't really trust my craftmanship in the long term, so I'll probably won't put this into my player too often, just for safety.
It's a shame, because while they don't leave as big of an exclamation mark as the full album yet, the songs here already display the bands boundless exploration of Goth Rock, Post Punk and various forms of Metal between Doom, Drone, Post and Black, which should speak to any fan of Dool, Healythyliving or Messa.
The remastered production is sometimes still a bit raw - but in the best way! The drumming is powerful, the riffs are catchy and fresh and the partly Italian female lead vocals provide even more recognizability to this awesome Post Everything mix. Most of all Ponte Del Diavolo are just sparking with a fearless addictive energy.
The tape's artwork is what it is, fine and simple. It's a great compilation/album, so just don't let my anectdotic grievances with my personal copy scare you from missing out on it!
I was not disappointed by the music, quite the opposite. But after side A had finished the tape ripped! So there I had challenge: Opening the shell, which wasn't screwed but glued together without damaging it, fixing the tear, which was unfortunately close to the reel and then of course putting it all back together.
Did it work? Well, there are still some seconds of terrible noise and I accidentily switched the sides, so that A and B are now labeled wrong. Apart from that repair seems to have been a success and stood the test of a couple of spins. Yet honestly I don't really trust my craftmanship in the long term, so I'll probably won't put this into my player too often, just for safety.
It's a shame, because while they don't leave as big of an exclamation mark as the full album yet, the songs here already display the bands boundless exploration of Goth Rock, Post Punk and various forms of Metal between Doom, Drone, Post and Black, which should speak to any fan of Dool, Healythyliving or Messa.
The remastered production is sometimes still a bit raw - but in the best way! The drumming is powerful, the riffs are catchy and fresh and the partly Italian female lead vocals provide even more recognizability to this awesome Post Everything mix. Most of all Ponte Del Diavolo are just sparking with a fearless addictive energy.
The tape's artwork is what it is, fine and simple. It's a great compilation/album, so just don't let my anectdotic grievances with my personal copy scare you from missing out on it!
夢遊病者 - Delirium Pathomutageno Adductum (2024)
This package came as a huge surprise and it took me a moment to realize what it even was. I have positively reviewed the previous two releases by the international project also known as Sleepwalker, "Noč Na Krayu Sveta" (2012) and "Skopofoexoskelett" (2023). And due to this very column I was probably certainly the only writer specifically targeting the tape versions, which both were quiet different from other formats with a completely alternative artwork.
This most recent EP (with four tracks of exactly 05:40 minutes length each) however was not released on cassette. Well, actually, as you can see it obviously was released. It's just a very limited edition of - this is no typo - 1 (one) copy! Of course with a J-card with a different artwork from vinyl and CD - and with a lovely hand-drawn postcard. How cool is that? Getting attentions like that for this little (still time-consuming) hobby here is just awesome. Thank you very much, dear anonymous Sleepwalkers!
Admittedly this gift feels a little undeserved, because in all honesty "Delirium Pathomutageno Adductum" doesn't appeal to me as much as its predecessors, which had a more accessible atmosphere and were easier to grasp. Or to put it different: This one dials up the chaotic everything is possible at the time time philosophy of the band and condenses it to a point, which effectively makes it a much harder and longer work to adjust and dechiffre what's going on here.
There are a lot of vocals from Black Metal screech to Power Metal siren, instrumentals from all kinds of Metal, Rock, Americana, "World Music" and Classical, including many "exotic" sounds from vibraphone, oboe, french horn, accordion and many more tools. So no, that's not a radical conceptual change. But boy this is just very much stuff presented with a very low-fi approach.
Imagine chosing Pan.Thy.Monium's "Khaooohs", Amorphis' "Tales From The Thousand Lakes", some random Death and John Zorn from your record collection - don't forget to also throw some Eastern European and Asian Folk into the mix - and then recording it all over each other on an old 4 track tape machine! It doesn't work that way, I know. You don't have enough tracks after all, so you need to combine them and feed them into the process again. And after all that downmixing the end result feels kind of blurry and demanding to listen to. Phew...
No, this is not bad music. In fact these tracks are all still growing on me. But boy, it took (and still takes) quite some work to make this click! So this time I'm actually content with the short playing time, because more of this would frankly be too intimidating.
And in case you're feeling complety different and think this is an instantly enjoyable motherfucker like the two longtracks of "Noč Na Krayu Sveta" - maybe I'm just downplaying the release so noone steals my no. 1/1 cassette?
This most recent EP (with four tracks of exactly 05:40 minutes length each) however was not released on cassette. Well, actually, as you can see it obviously was released. It's just a very limited edition of - this is no typo - 1 (one) copy! Of course with a J-card with a different artwork from vinyl and CD - and with a lovely hand-drawn postcard. How cool is that? Getting attentions like that for this little (still time-consuming) hobby here is just awesome. Thank you very much, dear anonymous Sleepwalkers!
Admittedly this gift feels a little undeserved, because in all honesty "Delirium Pathomutageno Adductum" doesn't appeal to me as much as its predecessors, which had a more accessible atmosphere and were easier to grasp. Or to put it different: This one dials up the chaotic everything is possible at the time time philosophy of the band and condenses it to a point, which effectively makes it a much harder and longer work to adjust and dechiffre what's going on here.
There are a lot of vocals from Black Metal screech to Power Metal siren, instrumentals from all kinds of Metal, Rock, Americana, "World Music" and Classical, including many "exotic" sounds from vibraphone, oboe, french horn, accordion and many more tools. So no, that's not a radical conceptual change. But boy this is just very much stuff presented with a very low-fi approach.
Imagine chosing Pan.Thy.Monium's "Khaooohs", Amorphis' "Tales From The Thousand Lakes", some random Death and John Zorn from your record collection - don't forget to also throw some Eastern European and Asian Folk into the mix - and then recording it all over each other on an old 4 track tape machine! It doesn't work that way, I know. You don't have enough tracks after all, so you need to combine them and feed them into the process again. And after all that downmixing the end result feels kind of blurry and demanding to listen to. Phew...
No, this is not bad music. In fact these tracks are all still growing on me. But boy, it took (and still takes) quite some work to make this click! So this time I'm actually content with the short playing time, because more of this would frankly be too intimidating.
And in case you're feeling complety different and think this is an instantly enjoyable motherfucker like the two longtracks of "Noč Na Krayu Sveta" - maybe I'm just downplaying the release so noone steals my no. 1/1 cassette?
