Sacred Aviary - Coconut Dot Matrix

Sacred Aviary
Coconut Dot Matrix
Big Ear Tapes / 2018


Future primitive exotica from the year 3000. Music for cruising at midnight; drops emerging from a dream of cool breezes & micropercussion.

http://bigeartapes.com/album/coconut-dot-matrix

Outside the Museum - With Clouds

Ben Catt (Outside the Museum)
With Clouds
Self released / 2010

I was fortunate to grab this cassette from the Lost Sound Tapes cassette sale for $2 which arrived in a clear ziplok with photocopied insert. Mostly acoustic, pensive sonic meditations ranging from quiet to noisy drone - the overall effect is mesmerizing and lovely. All of these tracks are excellent; one that stands out for me is "The Longest Day" in which surreal moments morph into each other in a dreamlike mosaic. Melodically, "The Longest Day" borrows heavily from Bob Dylan's The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll but (dare I say it?) this is a better song. The times, they are a changing. Releases from Outside the Museum are way too hard to track down. I hope they will be reissued for those of us who missed them the first time around.

David Chutka & Stephen Roper

Artist: David Chutka & Stephen Roper    

Title: Collaboration One

Albert Street Records / 2018

Some musicians take risks. Releasing what is essentially a “cassingle” in this day & age is a definite risk. Clocking in at just under six minutes total, these two pieces (known as #21 and #22) are mellow improvisations featuring piano and synthesizer – somber in tone, like soundtracks for a bleak midwinter. While I find the music unremarkable, the packaging is gorgeous, including an insert with four pictures from the recording session. So ten out of ten for style. A bargain at $3. Edition of 100 on gold cassettes.

Links: https://davidchutka.bandcamp.com/album/collaboration-one