Namo - Only Human​.​.​. Only Machine

The west coast, specifically southern California, is factory headquarters for avant-garde sounds in hip-hop, downtempo, or what ever you want to classify this style as. Previously i have connected with Bonding Tapes from San Diego. A label leading me down a new path in completely fresh music listening. Now arriving in Long Beach at the industrial roller door of Dystopian Caveman. A label shrouded in mystery and the foreshadowing of the unraveling of society. Preparing a soundtrack of music for the forthcoming world of AI consciousness.

For this edition, DCM has let the recording machine run it's full course. Capturing a full dosage of NAMO and titling this behemoth Only Human​.​.​. Only Machine. The connecting fibers holding the start to finish of this composition together have a poker-faced purpose. There is an underlying seriousness in construction, taking a vintage hip hop tone and drop kicking these beats far into the future. There are moments when you are hypnotized by nostalgic riffs, then pushed of the couch by a whirl of sonic flurry. This reminds me of an album from the past titled Project: Funk the World by Craig Mack. Both Namo and Craig Mack have a rhythmic industrial resonance that embodies the automated future. For Only Human​.​.​. Only Machine, side A takes grip and pounds your thoughts with an unending gale of beat trickery. And with the operators realizing the white knuckled response, Side B enters into cruise. At least in my listening experience, there is a feeling the tape seems to let you chill more towards the end. Enjoy this preview because the mechanoid exterminators of the human race will be blasting Only Human​.​.​. Only Machine as their weapons fire in genocidal harmony.

As mentioned before, this is a Dystopian Caveman release. This was released at the end of December last year. Not sure how many of these there are or if there are any tapes at all. My suggestion is to contact the label and inquire about a physical copy. You can purchase the digital from their bandcamp page.   

Links 
DYSTOPIAN CAVEMAN site - bandcamp - tumblr

Mytrip - Filament

Follow the roots down through the murk. Becoming smaller and permeable, functioning to absorb nutrients for the mass above. Mytrip has gathered these life sustaining molecules, compressing them with massive force. Creating a dense environment where sound lies heavy across the listening spectrum. Drone music that never hears the melodies of the world above. Alien to a culture built on three minute pop songs with sing along cadence. A sonic world composed in tones of separation and complete forlornness.

Yes it is beautiful. Listening through the mind Angel Simitchiev, a journey without light. Grandiose sound textures holding thoughts in stasis. There is no float or drift in cosmic expanse, only the magnificence of the singularity. Six tracks connected by the pressure Filament resides in. An ambient landscape where sound does not swirl, only microscopic explosions sustained in a rich pure blackness. Amplified for consciousnesses to connect and experience. The consistency consumes directions, paralyzing the body in motionless serenity. This is a droning heavy weight for the understanding few. The world separated and moving as far away as possible.

Filament is released both on cassette and vinyl. The tape version constructed in combination with Amek Collective and Serpent Eve Records, while the vinyl produced by Amek Collective on it's own.
One hundred editions of the cassette, now down to three. Two hundred and twenty pressings on black vinyl. Both available from the bandcamp page. Angel Simitchiev resides in Bulgaria as well as Amek Collective and Serpent Eve Records.   

Links
Mytrip - bandcamp - facebook -twitter
Amek Collective site - facebook
Serpent Eve Records site - facebook

colin andrew sheffield & james eck rippie - essential anatomies

How many times have i listened to these tapes..... Words seem like a useless tool for describing these sounds. Colin Andrew Sheffield & James Eck Rippie have joined forces and created Essential Anatomies. There are two cassettes. They are named the same but in the description of the most recent cassette released on January 20th, the words second volume are included. To help differentiate these releases, the man/woman ballerina cover is the first in the series, released in June of last year, also cataloged as eeaoa41. The woman with flowers and birds cover was just released this year and is cataloged as eeaoa42.

Both releases contain side long tracks averaging about twenty three minutes each. All total, this series is over ninety minutes, and it is an astounding journey. The ambient world Colin and James have created seems reminiscent to the deepest ocean depths. Darkness and almost immobilizing pressure grip your senses. There is a new freedom though, you are listening to something yet to be discovered. Sounds undulate into focus and individually reveal themselves. Electric disbursement of unknown processes combined with an architecture taking millions of years to create. Most astonishingly, there seems to be very little patterns. This world of sound changes completely over the course of both tapes, yet never seems to change tone or texture. A droning backdrop is persistent while the most delicate dazzle of creativity dances across the canvass. Your thoughts will be pushed and pulled until eventually submitting the fact understanding is beyond comprehension. So i tried to tune this composition in with the equivalent of a flat head screw driver. The sides are pried open and the magical creations are slowly seeping out.

Both in editions of one hundred from the beautiful Elevator Bath label in Austin, Texas. If you want to pick up both cassettes, do not delay, eeaoa41 is down to five left. There is more to read about Colin & James but i will leave that for the label to describe. Get these tapes. They sound better and better after each listen. Years from now, when one finds the cozy home in your player again, you will be proud to have purchased these.  

Links
elevator bath site - bandcamp - facebook - twitter

jim haynes - flammable materials from foreign lands

Listen to the hidden world above. Radio waves in an infinite sea undulating in the negative fathoms above the planets surface. An ocean of expanding frequencies lost in the currents of time. Silent and forgotten, sonic swells crashing and corrupted by the the varying pressures of molecules above. Haunting when heard for the first time, becoming mysterious then magical as we listen on.

Flammable materials from foreign lands absorbs then exposes an entirely new dimension of sound. Like crackling fire of an atmosphere asunder. Jim Haynes is the conduit for this blanket of energy we move underneath for our entire lives. Tapping in and adjusting the knobs brings these foreign sounds into focus. Like the tiny creatures living and feasting on human skin, physical bodies are being pummeled with frequencies each and every moment, without feeling or understanding. With Jim Haynes artistic and technical skills, he has created the pathway for this vibrant world to reach into your consciousness. Now what once was deflected has a new route into the spirit. The feelings created rely upon individual appreciation for pushing thresholds and our patience for artistry to develop. Any single segment of flammable materials from foreign lands is an almost blistering sound pill to digest. But taken as one complete infinite course, the composition is a ancient white dwarf of wisdom.

The first side consistent of three tracks bending the spectrum from almost violent abrasiveness to a beautifully crafted field recorded drone. These sounds can not be pinned by time or place, existing in adjacent physical dimensions but unheard till now. The second side is one long track titled "electric speech: nadiya". Stirring voice across desolate drone. Like the Cosmonaut lost on a space walk. Detached from the tether and rotating on a six or so second revolution, facing earth and then empty space. As the planets reflection brightens the doomed souls visor, sounds are captured by the linear antenna. Not mission control chatter, but a nostalgia gone for ever, disrupted as the direction turns towards the abyss of space. There is no way around, this is a deeply lonely offering, touching on the briefness we all experience.

Flammable materials from foreign lands was released in November of 2016 on the label Elevator Bath. A heavy hitter from Austin, Texas with a massive catalog. For this release, combining with Jim Haynes, the The Helen Scarsdale Agency proprietor, and prolific artist/musician. My version is the black vinyl. Fitting for these darker tones. Elevator Bath is going to help you through with clear vinyl and posters while they have them.

Links
elevator bath site - bandcamp - facebook - twitter
jim haynes/The Helen Scarsdale Agency - bandcamp - facebook

TIME - S​/​T

Sounds from TIME coerce your thoughts across the decades and through many genres. Michael & Madhava Collins have rooted their music in the ritualistic sound pixelization of spirituality. Heavy tones and introspective lyrics create a world of hazy pathways illuminated by aura of the deities. Time is an emotional connection to civilizations past and future, a journey for some to understand and for others to never get.

Five tracks spanning just under a half hour. Sanskrit lyrics for three tracks and thoughtful inspiring English language lyrics for the other two. The best positioning for description would be to use the genre synthpop. Although this is really only the framework. With foundations in Krishna consciousness, TIME has weight and meaning beyond the late night club or discotheque. Michael & Madhava share vocals throughout the composition, delivering a tandem energy equivalent to a highly choreographed Mumbai cinema production. This orchestration combined with origins in beliefs dating back thousands of years make TIME completely unique.

Michael & Madhava Collins are from Gainesville, Florida. Their cassette was released last year on the prolific Illuminated Paths label from the space coast of Florida. Lost in a Sea of Sound is also based out of Florida. Yeah sunshine, humidity and lightning! These cassettes are available for purchase from the label's bandcamp page or TIME's bandcamp page.

Links
Illuminated Paths - bandcamp - facebook - twitter
TIME - bandcamp - facebook

Bloxham Tapes - Newest Cassettes!

Bloxham Tapes with their third and fourth releases. Presentation maintaining perfect orbit. Expertly printed on folded boxes, housing clear plastic gems. Nino - EGG was released in December of last year and MZK - iSetSail! is scheduled for a February 14th debut. Please take note, these are all really limited at thirty five editions each. Not that i want to stress any one out. Links are in the text, or scroll on down for words on each.

Links
Bloxham Tapes - bandcamp - twitter

MZK - iSetSail!

This could be a first, having a cassette and writing about it before being released. Thank you Bloxham Tapes. This is their fourth release and the groove is starting to show. Aptly titled iSetSail! and expertly crafted by Michał Zygmunt Kruszyński (MZK), BT04 pushes off into a slightly more accessible world for even more listener's taste. Taking a step away from mysterious ambient civilizations, cryptic spoken word and the depths of rumbling drone, iSetSail! crosses into the pulsating ambient smokiness. Shimmering tunes for the motion of life.

MZK has recorded ten tracks on this release. Sounding more akin to one long composition as this plays in full on each side of the tape. iSetSail! is completely captivating, maintaining excellent flow and changing with enough creativity to always be intriguing. There really is a lot in this composition, Michał Zygmunt Kruszyński has very sweet talent. The tones tilt towards a futuristic world of yet to be understood creations. Moving in cadence to rhythms we recognize and rhythms we don't. Seeming like the cassette was almost transported from future to past, sounds almost damaged in the energy needed for displacement. The melodies dance in your digital cerebral cortex then seamlessly become something else. A nice introspective thinker for sparking personal space change.

Yes Bloxham Tapes! Thanks for sending this before everyone else gets to hear it. I feel fortunate and will always handle this edition with sentiment. And thank you Michał, because this is a most outstanding composition.

Links
Bloxham Tapes - bandcamp

Nino - EGG

Like the site of humans here on earth, we see in the light spectrum where definition is created. Moving into infra-red or ultra violet, lines become distorted. The world of Nino has no definitive edges. Sounds are amorphous. Swirling electronic currents sometimes clashing to cause a vibrant energy expansion. This is the best style of drone, a live and freely improvised journey of consciousnesses, connecting with universal impulses, channeling this array for everyone to hear. 

Two side long long tracks just coming in at a half hour in total length. EGG travels through space, sounds guided by specs of brightness light years away. This live composition breathes cosmic particles as the infinite drone is harbored below the surface. Aliyah Hussain & John Powell-Jones are the artists in control of this flight path. Guiding the composition through the strain of gravity, notes being pulled and elongated then disappearing into the light less abyss. Nino delivers a beautiful patient performance, vividly organic and densely textured. The tones float your thoughts and dangle their mysteries for minds to absorb.

Did i say Bloxham Tapes yet? Lost in a Sea of Sound described Wingéd Ma'at back in July of last year. This was the first release for the label. Nino takes the third spot and was released in December of 2016. Thirty five copies boxed and ready like cassette gifts. Bloxham Tapes is going to gain tons of speed this year. Get any tapes while you can.

Links
Bloxham Tapes - bandcamp

Expo Seventy - America Here & Now Sessions

Tightly woven sound tapestry. Resting in majesty, adding life to the immense density. Expo Seventy is the fabric of music. The details worked on meticulously. Time drifts on and listening to the quality of this craftsmanship is forever appreciated. Singularly a juggernaut of a composition combined with a body of work extending like silk threads from a spider's web. Expo Seventy has complete authority to work your spirit, pushing towards revitalization of the every day.

America Here & Now Sessions is divided into three movements, looming around the hour mark. The sounds bask themselves in the dense low rumble of primordial drone. Snake like grooves only showing their patterns in the filtered light. Theses sessions fall into the ambient abyss, percussion crashing in symbolic harmony as the notes thump against the steep descent of the aural escarpment. Pageantry in a glorious procession towards inner conceptions. Expo Seventy is a heavy weight prize fighter and America Here & Now Sessions will knock you down without hesitation.

Have been listening to Expo Seventy since first discovering them on the Sonic Meditations label. America Here & Now Sessions is released on Essence Music. A label from Brazil specializing in making music as beautiful to hold as to listen to. This release exemplifies the standards of Essence Music. There are three physical options, a compact disc version in an edition of two hundred, a long play version with one hundred and sixty on black vinyl and one hundred and forty on gold vinyl, and the sold out special edition of one hundred and nineteen copies. This write up and pictures are obviously for the cd version. For all Expo Seventy fans and any new to this project, get this, start here, and certainly check it out.  
  

Links
Essence Music site - bandcamp
Expo Seventy site - bandcamp - facebook

Monte Burrows - The Concentration of Brown Owls

The sounds of industrial man can be both distracting and mesmerizing. Sudden shrill sounds, loud noises or the drone of mechanical processes. Monte Burrows has tapped into the later, taking consistence and subtle ambient domain, composing a landscape where organic tendrils have infiltrated the conduits and circuitry.

The Concentration of Brown Owls is what seems like two side long tracks, but actually is partitioned into eight pieces. Creating sonic vistas for the mind to absorb. Each side uses field recordings of birds (owls). The first more industrial, crafted in a manner to balance both nature and complex mechanics. The second side slightly more melodic, with the avian world hauntingly adding lyrics. The entire cassette pushes music to the precipice. Excellent in maintaining disintegrating harmony and distancing these tones from sheer noise. Diversity throughout while adhering to a well formatted framework. Making The Concentration of Brown Owls a composition that will strengthen with each listen.

The use of birds in this context is very well thought out. These flying creatures are the most abundant animals coexisting with man. Having the ability to lift themselves away from problems, birds have infused themselves in man's most harsh human environments. Busy city streets, factories and stadiums filled with people. Monte Burrows has exposed this in sound and crafted a unique listen into a world that many times goes with out notice.

In an edition of one hundred on the Dinzu Artefacts label. This is the first release for the label and is available for purchase. There are many artists to explore on Dinzu Artefacts. Everything revolving around the hub of music on the fringe.

 

Links
Dinzu Artefacts site - facebook - twitter
Monte Burrows - facebook - bandcamp - twitter

Bus Gas - Live On Leave Us

An all out foray into the vast expanse. Sound traveling from the xyz axis on an infinite journey. Strings bending and sustaining with the drone from notes in synthetic fields. Paralleling a natural grassland with electronic winds causing blades to sway. An ocean of ambient current, rolling across the landscape with the most beautiful energy.

Two side long tracks make up Live On Leave Us. The first, "Top Ten Funerals" slowly heats up as sound vibrates with the transference of consciousness. Sparseness interrupted by cosmic debris trails then dissipating into the infinite continuum. Like a giant pipe organ being torn from it's foundation and spun into space with pipes still playing. A radio antenna picking up distant signals as time goes on. The second side is titled "Infinity Cymbals", an oracle perched on some remote planetary peak, emitting homage in sound. The culmination of sentience in the solar system, thoughts projected into the universe in harmonic epiphany. Densely textured sounds woven from centuries of a civilizations existence.

Have been a fan of Bus Gas for six years now. The new release Live On Leave Us on Spring Break Tapes was so nice to see and even better to listen to. This was released in an edition of one hundred in January. Available from Spring Break Tapes site. Physical copies will be gone, like all releases on the label. So do not wait too long.

Links
Spring Break Tapes site - bandcamp - facebook - twitter
Bus Gas site - bandcamp - facebook