Cookie Tongue - Orphan Arms

Past the massive stone walls of the Gormenghast castle, out through the ornately decorated gates, keep following the path to the inviting glade. There on a small hill, trees towering in a circular pattern, a small group of musicians gather. The sounds about to be played have been outlawed, sparking the consciousness is something the collectors can not condone. Having people think, and the most heinous crime, being creative, undermines the structure of the current state. These thoughts hide in unspoken corners as dusk slips away unnoticed, a fire beings to take long lasting form. The back flaps are opened on a horse drawn covered wagon. A vibrantly dressed player turns and outward waving one hand down as the other begins manipulation of a small traveling piano. The fanfare has begun for the night.

Cookie Tongue is not of this realm. Current music trends have paved over their world. Orphan Arms reaches out, grabs a hand a pulls us to hear. Drawing listeners through the structures minds have created. Someone singing, a banjo playing, drums made from skins, these things have been forgotten. Rhythms gain intensity, Cookie Tongue plays with a cyclic fever, a wax and wain faster then the cycle of the moon above. "When your dancing shadows reign, we are the colors tonight - When your dancing out of light, we are the colors tonight". A song to make your "Rubber Hard Thumb". These words ring in listener's thoughts through the night. Bodies swaying to the musical sparks, the unencumbered glow with creativity and delight.

Orphan Arms holds moments of good spirited fun, then squeezing harder to free subdued introspection. The backing drum always hinting to Native America, a connection bridging physical and spiritual. Stringed instruments surfacing passed down genetic memories of folk songs across Europe, Asia and Africa. The depth of the night is tethered by the unpredictable beauty of each and every song.

Released last year on compact disc, still available from Cookie Tongue's bandcamp page. Orphan Arms has been re-released on cassette by the super eclectic label Eh? Records. You can order a copy from Eh? or straight from Cookie Tongue. The closest and best comparison i could make for Cookie Tongue is another album with similar beauty, Where Snakes & Seers Go by Laughing Eye Weeping Eye. Not the same in sound only in free spirit.

Links
Public Eyesore / Eh? site
Cookie Tongue - bandcamp - facebook

Nagual - Florida

In a past journey, Nagual made their way through Florida. Like the thick humidity in every part of the state, their sounds saturate the entire listen spectrum. Two tracks on this compact disc, one recorded live in Miami the other live in Gainesville. These populated nodes becoming focal points for wildly glowing energy from ancient times.

For the selected piece from the Miami show, Nagual is pulling from the early Cenozoic period, channeling life from a dense Florida land mass. Murky heat waves of sound oscillate in a steady rhythmic cadence. Air buzzes with ancient vitality, creatures breathing in the tropical density. This is Florida before humans existed, vast amounts of time droning beneath the sun.

What was included on this compact disc for the Gainesville session stays in a similar realm, but has an entirely different tone and feel. Middle Jurassic period, the south Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico begin to form. Florida has separated from Gondwana and the land mass begins partial development as a peninsula. Beginning it's two hundred million year continental drift. Nagual has compressed this energy into the Gainesville piece. Massive drone seeping out of oceanic riffs. The force behind Florida's current geological position.

Nagual's Florida compact disc was released on the Miami's HologramLabel. In an edition of one hundred, available from Nagual's bandcamp page or the HologramLabel bandcamp page. These are live recordings with some final processing to make them ready for release. Excellent sounds on both tracks and a great recording to get involved with both Nagual and the HologramLabel. Have been a fan of David Shapiro & Ian McColm for a long time and Florida is another example of why.

Links

Nagual site - bandcamp - facebook
HologramLabel - bandcamp

Bird Songs - In & Of

A world of reporting, important information relayed across molecular space. Life's moments captured, dialogue potentially never heard again. Stored somewhere on magnetic tape and now digital memory. Bird songs has spliced the reels, fed history across metallic heads, brought back moments time has buried. This process requires a soundtrack, In & Of is the complete resource. Ambient guitar landscapes backing forgotten people washed upon the shore. A delicate balance, augmented by some very choice field recordings.

In & Of starts off with heavy political reporting, Weather Underground launching a bombing campaign across the us in the late 1960's. Bird Songs creates an AM radio buzz while playing solemn melodies in accompaniment. The effect is very intriguing, nostalgic and relevant simultaneously. The second track seems a little more modern, and very tenuous. There is more fervor as the harmonies concur in magnitude. Sounds return to social struggles in the same time frame as the first track. The venue is the 1969 National Revolutionary Conference for a United Front Against Fascism. Another heavy, tying In & Of together. The finale is the most colorful, titled "Hope", showing everyone we need as much as possible.

Released in April in an edition of forty on Rok Lok Records. Bird Songs is Andrew from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He has created a moody composition, that remains solid across all five tracks. There are a lot of details in these recordings and the aural tones make this one to repeat many times. Copies are currently available from Rok Lok Records.

Links
Rok Lok Records site - bandcamp - facebook
Bird Songs - bandcamp

Greening Lambourne - Thought LEADER & Thought PARTNER

The heat of the summer is lapping at the consciousness. A season for time off, family vacations, and unfettered relaxation. For many, the summer remains constant with responsibilities that will not go away. The temperature melts in, forcing forth memories of school breaks and grand plans. Cool it down, insert Greening Lambourne into the cassette player, these sonic vibrations will gain volume and pressurize the continual monotony aside. The most refreshing aspect, when you finish the first cool listen of Thought LEADER, your aural tumbler gets filled again with Thought PARTNER.

Music and time are interwoven. For centuries melodic sounds have been created. What is heard now is a slow evolution from forgotten times. Created sonic beauty is relevant to both the past and future but remains most poignant to the present. Greening Lambourne is hear with us, expressing absolute emotion, showing us allure in tones. A tangible relationship to what has been before and what will be. The charm of these two cassettes is how refreshing the energy is. Henry Miller said "Music is a beautiful opiate, if you don't take it too seriously". Greening Lambourne fits this thought perfectly.

Thought LEADER, taking genres and folding them so tightly the seams disappear. Some comparative thoughts drew near, then were quickly stranded as clefs drifted away. Grooves from distant transmitters changing in an instant to electronic delight popping in delicate fashion. Deeply consuming baselines backing a nighttime light show parade. There are moments of sonic reflection, crystallizing tones causing thoughts to meander in cadence with the physical world around us. And within this natural space, Greening Lambourne plays like soundtrack for creatures moving in rhythmic like fashion. Amusing dances to homo sapiens, life or death actions for insects and animals. Then a rocket launch fanfare, the aural fabric leaves the planet in some Flash Gordon-ish rock anthem, homage to color saturated comics and an undiscovered universe. Drifting on, the ambient melodies are sustained in the last three tracks. Taking listeners to the companion cassette Thought PARTNER.

The transcription of sound has become more subtle. Furrowed out beats and rhythms have mutated to an ambient showcase of prismatic arrays. Thought PARTNER takes off, soaring in the between altitudes. Surface and space equal distance, the gravity of harmonic heaviness pulling on the relaxed consciousness. The vast distances above remain as dreams for the future. The longest track on this cassette, "E Lower Wacker" is a very good example. Sounds sustained in non measurable mediums, time has lost any known value. Audio clarity in peak splendor then phasing to distorted spiritual haze. Each track on Thought PARTNER, a reflection of sentiment fueled by earthly certainties. Genres and styles seem distant, like memories from very early youth. The mind cherishes these meditative impressions, nostalgic comfort cooling down the current climates.

Released by Greening Lambourne from Oxford in the United Kingdom. A relationship to Bloxham Tapes from London is there, but details are still ambiguous. With this connection, there is certainty of the creative quality in both sound and the delivery medium. For Greening Lambourne, cassettes with vibrant artwork by Rebecca Pearson. These are extremely limited, twenty editions of each tape. As alluded to in the start, perfect melodies for the summer.

Links
Greening Lambourne - bandcamp - soundcloud

IMPERIVM LVCIFERI

Saw tooth sound waves generated under fifty hertz, IMPERIVM LVCIFERI has found resilience in the molecular density. Working with heavy tones, like steel rails vibrating miles from the locomotive source, IMPERIVM LVCIFERI conducts each listeners passage. From ancient times, through and on to distant futures, this is the soundtrack always playing. An under current of surface life, vast tunnels stretching to where no living soul has gone. This is the journey we all have taken and will all take again. Darkness slowly pulsating, breathing on you shoulder, it is always there.

This compact disc is divided into two roughly twenty minute tracks. "LVCIFER'S FALL" is the first, a sonic sink into droning quicksand. There is struggle, a fight to stay one with breathable air. The harmonics keep pulling, until light and oxygen disappear. Heartbeats become louder and the mind rationalizes if this is real or a dream that can be escaped. Maybe these are hallucinations, IMPERIVM LVCIFERI has become the only constant and sole comfort. "REGENCY OF CHAOS" is beyond this realm. If the previous track was thought of as dark or embodied with some aspect of the other life, "REGENCY OF CHAOS" bellows more than truly comprehensible. There is no struggle anymore, only a massive molten flow, white hot rock moving in an unknown direction. These sounds are the heaviest drone, shallowly breathing as souls fall into the thickest current.

IMPERIVM LVCIFERI was released in an edition of fifty on Deivlforst Rec out of Germany. This compact disc came out almost a year ago and is sold out. Not usually in the habit of posted older releases, especially ones that are sold out, but this was sent to Lost in a Sea of Sound just recently. Started listening and really felt depth and emotion in these sounds. Followed the path back to the label and found many cool releases that are sold out or on the threshold of being unavailable. So the intention with this post is to share a very good heavy drone composition by IMPERIVM LVCIFERI and to direct any interested listeners to the Deivlforst Rec label. Worth the attention on both accounts. Hope you enjoy this one. 

Links
Deivlforst Rec - facebook - bandcamp

Endurance - Shade Terrarium

Endurance is a saturated cloud, releasing heavy ambient droplets over the past few years. Just a little over two solar revolutions ago, Lost in a Sea of Sound described City of Signals. Saying Endurance has come a long way since this early Illuminated Paths release, would be inaccurate. If you have seen the diagrams of the multiple Earths, layered slightly askew and on top of each other, all representing different but parallel words, this is where Endurance is now. In unreachable locations, alternate Joshua Stefane's have been composing sounds and transporting them to various labels around the world.

Constellation Tatsu, with their vast experience of mining the cosmos for illusive exquisiteness, has secured the transmission frequency for one of the latest Endurance releases. Shade Terrarium is a lengthy fifty minute recording, spaced out over seven tracks. Each track like nebulousities, absorbing evaporated cultural tones around altered planes of existence. Once these billows of sonic haze are imbued with the maximum amount they can take in, a gentle ambient rain begins to fall on all listeners. Each track like a passing cloud, bestowing a slightly different tone and feel. A good sound illustration of this is the track "Mercurian Umbra", there is a Gamelan undertone resonating like breathing spirits. Tracks like "Embran" and "Fluminam Ductur" have captured ambient and lost communication airwaves. Both in foreign languages from English, interwoven in the tranquilizing molecular density. "Itineranturum" must have cast shadows on City of Signals, making tones in similar aural fashion. Shade Terrarium allows fine details to be heard, the scorching solar radiance of sounds have been subdued.

Released in the middle of May, Shade Terrarium is part of the Constellation Tatsu Spring Batch. Four cassettes, each in the top of the line up in ambient splendor. For this release, Joshua Stefane contributed both the music and artwork. The mastering was done by Sean Conrad and of course design and layout by Steven Ramsey. A very talented group making the framework for Shade Terrarium. Many of Joshua's tapes have sold out, and with the Constellation Tatsu Spring Batch being so solid and popular, do not wait to long.

Links
Constellation Tatsu site - twitter - bandcamp - facebook
Endurance - bandcamp - facebook

naps / lung cycles

Find a moment and recharge the consciousness. Absorb the sound radiance, letting the mind rest from daily responsibilities. Simple and pure energy, diffused and saturating the world around us. Bright like the color of our star, Lily Tapes and Discs has provided sonic recuperation for all. A beautiful split cassette between Jason Calhoun as Naps and Ben Lovell veiled as Lung Cycles. The A and B sides perfectly balanced and fantastically rejuvenating. 

The sustained tones on the Naps side are rich with depth and emotion. There is nothing dark or looming, only a feeling of being focused in the center. Amazingly there are many adverse reactions to drone music. On brief samples, the sounds are the same, the journey does not go anywhere, and this composition is not music. All things said when this genre is being played. If only more people could understand, depart from thoughts and let these low cycle per second sound waves permeate their spirits. There is a softly fluctuating allure to Jason Calhoun's sound. Like the motion of celestial bodies, still when looking, but moving more than most can grasp. This is the connection that remains elusive. It is very gratifying to know these melodies are being created.

This is equally true for Ben Lovell and Lung Cycles. His approach is more grounded in the physical. Using an improvised pipe organ, his three tracks conjure images of the homage to spirituality. An instrument dating back over a thousand years, played with an evolutionary understanding. Like Naps, Lung Cycles uses melodic drone, bathing the consciousness in cathartic hertz. Small changes in frequency, creating an ancient story of so many living throughout our time. Ben's side is slightly more haunting, a touch more lonely. A delightful foray into the spiritual framework.

Released on Lily Tapes & Discs in a hand numbered edition of seventy five. Printed by Jeremy Ferris on Brad Paks from Stumptown Printers. Art work by Benjamin Torrey. The mastering was done by Lucas Knapp. As described, sounds by Jason Calhoun and Ben Lovell. A lot of work by talented people went into this release. The final product really exudes this.

Links
Lily Tapes & Discs site - bandcamp - facebook

Chihei Hatakeyama - Scene

Chihei Hatakeyama is like peridotite in the world of ambient serenity. The heavy for creating the most weightless tranquilities. With a massive amount of material including compact discs, cassettes and vinyl, this is Chihei's second cassette for Constellation Tatsu in the last few years. When the label decided on the mood and feel of the 2018 Spring Batch, Chihei Hatakeyama must have been the clean up batter for the line up.

This composition titled Scene, delivers forty minutes of  controlled molecular settling. Four beautiful and ethereal tracks, with all boundaries removed. Even though these sounds warm the heart, in the crevasses of this sonic blanket, there is a sensation of sadness. Extremely difficult to explain how or why this emotion exists, but it is there. The sublime caliber of Hatakeyama's work on Scene, is the gentle brushing of sentiment form distant spirits. Forgotten souls with full lives, now disintegrating memories as time churns forward. These tones hold strength, the knowledge of all who were here before and those to follow. Our moments are precious, and Scene exposes how fragile existence truly is.

As noted above, Chihei Hatakeyama's Scene is part of the Constellation Tatsu Spring Batch. Recorded on clear cassettes and housed in artwork by Robert Hruska. This composition arrived in the middle of May. Many copies and batches have sold already, but both of these are still available. Do not wait....

Links
Constellation Tatsu site - twitter - bandcamp - facebook
Chihei Hatakeyama site - bandcamp - facebook - twitter

MANAS - Live At

MANAS is live on this recording from late last summer. Recorded at Fresh Produce records in Macon, Georgia. The label curator for \\NULL|ZØNE//, Michael Potter, is noted as the person capturing these sounds. This makes sense since the \\NULL|ZØNE// headquarters is just an hour and a half away in Athens, Georgia. MANAS is the combination of Tashi Dorji and Thom Nguyen. Both artist talented in creating sounds on the thresholds of what listeners understand. It is difficult to describe music on the fringe, and in this case, a live recording only heard on cassette. Especially one so intensely performed.

The best way to make a connection with these sounds is to keep a simple focus. Live At is a shattering performance utilizing percussion by Thom Nguyen and some form of strings by Tashi Dorji. Through the course of the thirty minutes recorded on this cassette, sounds take on all perspectives. From sustained heavy rhythms and crashing patterns of stringed riffs, to an inferno of cacophony. There are moments when the aural landscape quiets. Heard from somewhere in the distance an old bell ringing or some loose piece of metal colliding in a repetitive manner against a resonating source. Then listeners are transported to the cause, what was intriguing now becomes close to terrifying. So adjacent to the origins of creation, the sound wave fervor bestows effects causing paralysis. Like sonic predators, Tashi and Thom emit hypnotic pulses, causing thoughts to recoil and hide deeper within the consciousness. The process cycles and those with fortitude inch forward to a different enlightenment.

As noted before, cassettes are released on the Athens label \\NULL|ZØNE//. In an edition of one hundred, copies are still available from the label's bandcamp page. MANAS has vinyl out there on Feeding Tube Records and a few previous cassette releases. Tapes seem harder to come by.

Links
\\NULL|ZØNE// - facebook - bandcamp

Somnoroase Păsărele - AUTO¹

AUTO¹ is a confluence. A myriad of experiences funneling through eight tracks. Listening back on previous Somnoroase Păsărele accomplishments, it is easy to tell we have not been here before. This aural landscape is dense with sound thickets. Somewhere behind this new flourishing growth is a substantial resonating source. Origins of rhythms and irregular beats need to be verified. Music scholars are amassing an exploratory party in hopes of further deciphering these foreign signals.

Each track in AUTO¹ is simply titled AUTO and then a number. Even though there are starts and stops and with a nomenclature of separation, AUTO¹ is not really a compilation of tracks. This release is one fluid source. As the body of work deepens, more tributaries of sound augment the flow. AUTO¹ holds feelings of intensity. The melodies are crystalline, every angle in sound can be heard in definition. Most of this revolves around Gili Mocanu's creativity and experience. Both the recording and production are also of a new high standard. Clearness and precision in sound is something noticed on other labels with releases this year, and AUTO¹ could be the best example to date. Miru Mercury works with Gili organizing the multitude of details for each new label release. Together they cross continents with deliveries on some of the best labels out there. For this newest body of work, the production should be noted as spectacular.

Somnoroase Păsărele uses sounds with an impressive clear understanding, like a dictionary is just casual reading. The rhythmic eddies spin with articulated velocity. Small sound currents emerging from the immense surge, gently colliding with rhythmic rotations already in existence. Gradual and almost undetectable, the melodies disperse, leaving space for the process to continue. AUTO¹ is an utterly mechanical other world, but from obvious distant origins, this is a natural system.

Almost ended this description without a word on how creative the artwork is on AUTO¹. Maybe this should have been at the beginning or included at each juncture, but will adhere to saving more goodness for last. Each of the fifty cassettes produced have individual covers. All of the cassettes together make a whole piece. A poster of the entire picture is included with each purchase. Every cassette owner will be able to see what portion of the picture they have on their tape cover. This vibrantly captivating drawing was created by Katri Virtalaakso. The artwork and music are tangled, elevating each other to become something greater. Starting off this description was the word confluence. This holds true as all of the individual sounds by Gili flow seamlessly together with the intricately diverse drawings by Katri.

Released on the impressively cool label OTA from Portugal. AUTO¹ was in a small batch run of fifty editions. Many of the OTA releases are in this quantity, but some with only thirty. The quality of artists is high and limited number of physical releases for each is low. Together, making a very good chance for the cassette you have had your radar on, to be gone before you know it. Most Somnoroase Păsărele releases sell out quickly, so do not wait on AUTO¹.

Links
OTA - bandcamp - facebook
Somnoroase Păsărele - facebook - soundcloud
Katri Virtalaakso site - instagram