lost in a sea of sound

Here are three new sweet offerings by Blank Tapes from Denver, Colorado. All are available and can be purchased as a batch. This is the labels first of hopefully more to come. If you give any of these compositions some time through the speakers, you will understand why Blank Tapes is moving in cultivated directions.

Here are the links to each:
Azaleas - Sapphire Mending - The Narrow Road to the Deep North The Original Flowering Earth / CRESCENT COAST - Elliptical / OVAL DRIP 


Links
Blank Tapes - bandcamp

Blank Tapes from Denver, Colorado with the third release of their first batch. This one is an expansive ambient plane that gently settles like an opened blanket floating down. A split between The Original Flowering Earth and Crescent Coast. Both with one side long track exploring the tranquility our lives seem to speed past. Each composition aloft like a thick sheet of cirrostratus clouds high in the atmosphere. The sun's light, only slightly diffused, similar to consciousnesses being ever so pleasantly nudged.

The Original Flowering Earth's track is titled "Elliptical". Just under twenty minutes of blissful night quietness. Field recordings of droning crickets and cicadas combined with meditative tones. Creating together the sounds that touch on instincts we were born with. One part connecting us to the mortal vessels we reside in and the other to where are spirits will one day go. "Elliptical" is perfectly cooked and beckons repeated listens. Also explore…

The Narrow Road to the Deep North is such a well thought title for this release by Mending. Imagine reflective and clear beautiful vocals with gently patient piano. The sounds winding through an inviting path, the forest surrounding becoming more and more dense. Like the radio is playing nostalgia from home and the landscape is absorbing some of the sweetness. Infused lullabies with organic tendrils. The sounds become crazed like fine pottery from the town Hagi in Japan.

Mending is Kate Adams and Joshua Dumas. Pastoral creations for a world pushing in the opposite directions. The reflective lyrics, like an old photograph album, describing in words memories from the past. The drone of creaking bygones can be heard though out the entire composition. The pages slowly turn as your ears casually discern the details of Mending's enchanting tracks. Finally becoming transfixed on the last lengthy story titled "Another Mile". The road seems to emerge from the woods as sounds beco…

If every label opened up with their first release being this good....
Welcome Blank Tapes and thank you for sharing Sapphire by Azaleas. With a small amount of internet research (discogs), i noticed Azaleas was on the Rainbow Pyramid label with an extremely limited (32 copies) split tape, so very gone. From the sales log, a used copy has never even been sold. So for all fans of the ambient life force built into music, Azaleas is available.

The beauty of Sapphire is it's resting spot on the ledge looking over infinity. A composition in a precarious spot with dangling legs swinging carefree over the unknown abyss. Listening to Sapphire pushes the consciousness far into the cosmic sea. The tethers are strong and hold you securely. These sounds are positive, adventuress and soothing. They touch on the physical world and explode with aural flavor. Diversity across the six tracks is well crafted and the entire listen through is absolutely delightful. There is a hidden groovy vibe fusing…

Here are the most recent releases from Lily Tapes & Discs. A label from Rochester, New York close to five years in existence. Both The National Park Service and Lung Cycles are label regulars, but this batch takes steps towards showcasing both projects. Theses cassettes are also available as a bundle. Please take a moment and give these sounds a listen.

Lung Cycles - On Being Lumpy (2016 Edition) The National Park Service - Secret Wind


Links
Lily Tapes & Discs site  - bandcamp - facebook

This is the second write up for The National Park Service on Lost in a Sea of Sound. The first was for a cassette release on Rok Lok Records titled Winter Clothes. The distance is vast, close to three years from Winter Clothes, to this release on Lily Tapes & Discs titled Secret Wind. Oscillating slightly towards a focused storm of sound, guitars and drums pull at the helm and sail this composition through your thoughts.

This is a lengthy cassette. Almost an hour of well honed melodic ambient soundscapes. With the depth of recorded music on Secret Wind, sinking into an organic pool of droned out goo are steps your ears will take. The National Park Service seems to flip like a vintage coin, two sides of sound, both highly polished and deserving your attention. The fourth track titled "Smooth J" is a good example of the juxtaposition in composition. The start and finish play like an ambient soundtrack to a world passing by outside a vehicle window. Somewhere in the middle…

Technically this could be the first Lung Cycles release as it was recorded long ago from 2010. Originally released on a limited run of fifty CD-Rs in 2011, On Being Lumpy has found a second home on cassette format for the end of 2016. Lily Tapes & Discs from Rochester, New York has also given Lung Cycles a first non split release with previous other staple label mates. Hopefully this explains the (2016 Edition) parenthesization in the tapes title, but unfortunately does little for describing the music within. The next paragraph will hopefully tackle that.

Ben Lovell the musician behind the project Lung Cycles has been making music for a good amount of time. Taking the beauty folk simpleness both in instrumentation and vocals, then combining experimentation in sound. Gently pushing on the boundaries, with crucial diversity in instrument selection and track length across both the ambient and field noise spectrum. On Being Lumpy is a massive en devour with close to forty five minutes…

The most resplendent affair transpires when playing acoustic styled guitar through simple amplified electronics. Like an epoxy resin poured over a favorite collection of insects, the sounds gain a new dimension. Capturing the vibration of strings, picked in various tones and taking on a sheen not present before. Clara Engel pulls from her patience and talent, composing electric lullabies for midday siestas.

Your Halo is a Swarm of Bees is a highly artful and concise foray into introspective creativity. Six tracks gently piercing your thoughts and softly echoing in the mull of your mind's workings. Clara's guitar style has a subtle worldly quality, from almost Indian styled ragas to nomadic African agelessness. Some how reminiscent of John Jacob Nile's strummings from so long ago.  Plugged in, these notes pull you into a crystalline dimension, where beauty has shimmering edges and captivation extends in all directions.

The artwork in the CD-R booklet was done by Clara as we…

Here are three recent cassettes from the Long Island, New York label Rok Lok Records. Amazingly these are release numbers one hundred and eleven through one hundred and thirteen. This is a very diverse group of compositions, having a very good chance to hold a beauty for all listeners. 
Listen, read & explore with these links:

Atariame - Weirdo Goes to the Disco Blueblack - Destroy Soda Lilies - Love Cemetery Tapes

Links
Rok Lok Records site - bandcamp - facebook

Songs strung out with an almost de-tuned quality. Soda Lilies captures a modern charm, creating static filled pop with heavy tones of a late night affair. Sounds fall thick, like time has destroyed the magnetic tape, wobbling in and out of clarity. The energy of  Love Cemetery Tapes burned so deeply, no matter how old, the cassette spools still spin.  A composition that makes you think about how creative musicians are today.

Love Cemetery Tapes takes eight tracks to the grave. Vibrancy of sounds compressed in times crypts and smashed apart to spill on new listeners ears. Like the band Flipper crossed with Jesus and the Mary Chain, there is an enthusiasm heralding to pioneering new genres. Guitar strings loose and buzzing on the frets, raw drums driving sense and reason, making the entire project move through ghostly light. The soft styled vocals almost whispering as to not stir the spirits of the past. If you have read many of the posts on this site, my bias is towards the longest tra…

Fueled and ready, Blueblack speeds along with a fine crafted balance of driving sounds mixed with mesmerizing laid back contemplative gazing. With so much noise being made voluntarily, Destroy could lead thoughts asunder of what these sounds really are, but Blueblack's sound is well honed and tightly articulated. Heavy at times but not without knowing how to lay back and let listeners thoughts rest and catch up.

Seven tracks covering the sonic field with percussive stability. Blueblack does not really upon manipulation of sound like crazy synthesizer or special effects. So straight forward and using this approach, incredibly diverse. The tempo changes and alternations in timing of instrument use, make each track it's on affair. Because of taking the simple, and having the talent to exploit the melody in that context, Destroy is extremely solid in composition. "Branches Broke" is one track that uses spoken word reminding me a little of another New York band "Bong…

Playing from a hazy dreamlike void, Atariame's sound cuts through and roots itself in your thoughts. Weirdo Goes to the Disco contains seven time lost tracks merging multiple genres into one contemporary sound. Glazed pop offerings drenched in an ambient mash of mysterious hypnotic vocals backed by rhythms of futuristic new wave electronics. This composition beckons you to draw closer while the enchantment of prismatic beauty finds aural pathways into your mind.

Most simply conveyed, the allure of Atariame grows with every listen. Being an outsider, these soft-hearted tunes almost seem to wisp by on the first time through. Like you are present but do not have the matured empathetic ability to truly understand. On the second listen, Atariame has shared wisdom and pulled your feelings from the cold night and closer to the flickering flames. The gossamer tones through out Weirdo Goes to the Disco are tethered to times passage with vintage polish of the early eighties. Only drawing fr…

Autumn is a time for contemplation of both beauty and how quickly the world moves with us upon it. The changing color of leaves coupled with cold winds jolting the consciousness from the long humid and hot summer. The world baked for so many long months is now cooling. This process seems to free the mind and allow realization time is moving. Günter Schlienz has composed a pastoral and serene alluring ambient paragon. His sounds subtly mirror this change, pacing organic matter and its decent to the earth below.

Just about an hour, Autumn is arranged in three very distinctive tracks. The first "Oktober" is the longest and most uplifting. Notes played with a gentle sway, tones like light sparking through an ever expanding opening in the forest canopy. Birds seem to whistle in some synthetic speech just as graceful as true field recordings. Life is abundant and this spectacle in sound floats in harmony with the vibrant surroundings. "September" is a little darker. Clou…

Batch number twelve for Cosmic Winnetou is weighted heavier on the darker ambient side. Two thirds cups of whole wheat and one third cup of ground cane sugar. The resulting mix is perfect for cloudy winter nights and crystal clear blue sky mornings. Give these releases your ears and read if you like.

Here are the links if you do not like to scroll.

christophe bailleau - porcelaine ichtyor tides - antapices qadrant marehelm



Links
Cosmic Winnetou site - bandcamp - soundcloud