Rake Kash - Exile

Rake Kash           

Title: Exile

Cthonic Records / 2018

RAKE KASH on this recording is: Alex Boardman, Ben Brodin, Kevin Donahue, L. Eugene Methe, Megan Siebe, Ian Simons, Noah Sterba, and Edmund Wilson.

Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve dipped into the free jazz zone. Rake Kash seems steeped in free jazz on Exile, and that’s a good thing. The opening track “Four Decades” sets a European sounding tone, with keyboard, guitar & drum interplay that is reminiscent of the Greg Foat Group. From there, the cassette meanders through “Exile Poem” and winds up delivering a psychedelic tinged “Ghost of Bacchus” which seems informed by some of the Grateful Dead’s space jams yet is wholly original and wonderful. The entire second side of the tape is an untitled piece that is best heard in the light of day, infused with hauntology and whispery improvisations until it lands in full-on psych dirge territory. I’ll stick with side A for now but eventually will give the untitled piece another listen.

https://chthonicrecords.bandcamp.com/album/exile

Mario D'Agostino - Creatures of Sea & Seashore

Mario D’Agostino            

Title: Creatures of Sea and Seashore

Self Released 2017

What you hear is what you get? This is an oddly affecting collection of five songs that describe sea animals. Crabs! Eels! Protozoa! It’s like having an aural science lesson. Learn while you listen! Fascinating concept cassette that I wish were more musically adventurous. Still – 10 out of 10 for style.

https://mariodagostino.bandcamp.com/album/creatures-of-sea-seashore

First zine review of 2018: Library Excavations #5

Library Excavations #5: A Handbook of Library Ideas

Dale E. Shaffer

38 pages * 1977 / 2017

www.halfletterpress.com

Public Collectors has reissued a significant booklet by library consultant Dale E. Shaffer. A Handbook of Library Ideas collects 156 projects & possibilities for the 1970’s library looking to expand its horizons. Today, many of these ideas are already antiquated (such as creating a VHS collection), yet many are relevant and innovative ways of engaging the wider community.

The typewritten format is true to the original booklet, essentially presented unaltered here. In his preface, Shaffer discusses characteristics of a creative librarian: imaginative, original, fluent in information technology, undaunted by chaos and going with the flow. He writes “Creative librarians are givers. Their minds act as channels through which ideas pass along to others – not as static storehouses. They have thoughts and ideas and carry them into action. They live creatively and productively. Hopefully the ideas presented herein will encourage the reader to try new methods for making the library more valuable to patrons.”

Shaffer mixes practicality with brainstorming and develops concepts that I would love to see in my town library. A health club, guitar jams, soil testing kits, and (at my age) retirement planning workshops. Mr. Shaffer’s love for libraries is evident and his willingness to think outside the box is still refreshing in 2017. We need libraries now more than ever, as we drown in the information / misinformation age. We still need sanctuaries where we can learn, study, play, stretch ourselves and breathe.

Weston Smith - Forest of Reflection

Weston Smith   

Title: Forest of Reflection

Label / Year: Tortoiseshell Tapes / 2017

Do people really make tapes this essential?!? Forest of Reflection is a gorgeous collection of wizardly woods wandering, steeped in the magic of nature. Washes of synths, keyboards, bass & drum bubble through each piece like a trail through the forest, or through the psyche. Gloriously lo-fi, homemade aesthetic with a wistful and quiet melancholy. Forest of Reflection goes to the top of my listening pile for this or any season. 

https://tortoiseshelltapes.bandcamp.com/album/forest-of-reflection

Warm Songs For Cold Weather

Various Artists  

Title: Warm Songs for Cold Weather

Label / Year: Deadplant / 2018

You know a compilation is that good when you listen to it, turn over, listen again, and repeat several times. Warm Songs For Cold Weather is insanely wonderful, exactly the right remedy for the winter blues. Cassette enthusiasts rejoice! Some of the tunes here feature lo-fi tape warble to amazing effect, like on Drug Bugz Seeing Stars, which sounds like Sufjan Stevens recording on a Walkman with a dying battery. Side one seems draped in a folky gauze until Nim Chimpsky rocks out with an alt-70s pop anthem Jelly, Baby. Later on side B, Paddlefish treats us to a psychedelic meltdown on Another Way & the tape winds out on an ambient and poetic piece by Blithe Field. This is the tape for seasonal affective disorder. Throw away those expensive meds & don the headphones.

https://deadplantrecords.bandcamp.com/album/warm-songs-for-cold-weather

Houseplants

Houseplants
Yellow K / 2017

Inaugural recordings often set the tone for what is to follow; with Houseplants, the bar is set in the stratosphere so I have no idea what, if anything, to expect from their next cassette. Tinged with washes of guitar, keys, and female vocals, Houseplants recalls the best work of the shoegaze band Mahogany with some unexpected flourishes a la For Against. The 1990's aesthetic GLOWS from this tape - it is a beautiful sonic journey in six songs into everything dreampop should be - shimmering, mysterious, and succinct. 

https://houseplantssss.bandcamp.com/