Spacebomb House Band: Library Music III: For the Sun and Waters

How many sounds can you pack into a thirty minute cassette? If there were some kind of weird sonic competition, Spacebomb House Band would win, hands down. Library Music III: For the Sun and Waters continues the journey launched via the first two tapes in this series - we begin somewhere left of Saturn & adventure on from there. Sun Ra would be smiling. How to "categorize" this music? Future library? Sci-fi funk? These pieces veer from noisy glitch to neo-classical, some speckled with wordless vocals. If we're fortunate, there will be a fourth tape in this series. And a fifth.

 https://spacebombhouseband.bandcamp.com/album/library-music-iii-for-the-sun-and-waters 

Evan Anderson - Pillow Talk

With it's black & white iron horse photograph on the cover & typewriter font graphics, this cassette is lovely to look at. Evan Anderson has crafted four pieces titled simply 1, II, III and IV. He overlays steel string guitar with some electric leads in places - the overall effect is rambling, melodic,and slightly unsettling: like hopping the rails & finding that your familiar landscape has changed in both beauty and scale. Evan's guitar style is both traditional and inventive - these instrumentals would not be out of place on the Windham Hill label back in the day (please read that as a complement). Pillow Talk is a soundtrack for your next catching out adventure.

https://evancanderson.bandcamp.com/album/pillow-talk

Smooth Cactus: An overlooked gem from 2017

The soundscapes of the mind that echo throughout Smooth Cactus are an excursion through attic rooms full of abandoned VCR tapes, transistor radios, and analogue synthesizers. Smooth Cactus collects artifacts from ephemeral inspirations as diverse as shortwave transmissions & old TV idents & weaves them into a library exhibition from the spacetime continuum. Occasionally, unexpected elements surface to please the inner ear: an acoustic guitar, an oriental riff, a playful nod to Isao Tomita.

Ye olde DJ has recently launched a library music show called At The Tone via The Global Voice (theglobalvoice.info) and Smooth Cactus will flow right into the playlist. Exploring music should be fun - after almost a year since my first listen, this cassette is a wondrous pleasure to re-visit.

https://smoothcactus.bandcamp.com/album/smooth-cactus

Docks - Montseny

Your afternoon drive will be enhanced by this eponymous set of five ambient guitar pieces from Manon Raupp and Daniel Selig who record under the name Docks. Perfect headphone soundscapes for eyelid movies, or following a winding dusty road through the woods. Post-rock, chiming, rhythmic, hypnotic - a wonderful EP from first note to last.


https://docksdocks.bandcamp.com/album/montseny-ep