Wednesday, March 5, 2014

CASSETTE REVIEW: Greg Gorlen “Rotten Tape” (Turmeric Magnitudes)


                One of the first things I really like about this tape is that it leaves a lot to the imagination.  Nothing about the case or j-card insert leads you to believe that this is where this tape came from and there is no such thing as a track listing, contact info, thanks, etc.    It really just helps you to form your own impression as you are left with little to no information on the tape itself.

                Luckily for me and most other people the internet has become an invaluable tool to find out what they need to know, and with that I think a lot of this music is reflected.   There is an overall sense of technology in these songs, but not in an electronic way.

                The first noises that are on a start and stop loop remind me of something like Ghost in the Machine if only because it really sounds like there is a ghost stuck inside my tape player.   Reminders of the movie “Pulse” are dredged up, as I imagine the ghost escaping the tape, taking over my body and killing me.

                There is also a bit of destruction in these sounds, or at least it sounds like he’s messing with the microphone on some level.   It’s kind of like the sounds of trying to plug in an amp to record only with a microphone instead and you find that little bit of static, of friction.

                On a whole other level, which still is the glue that binds this all together though, I can see this as simply being a field recording done inside of the universe that is Tron.   I know I say that it is “simply being”, but there isn’t really anything quite simple about getting inside Tron.

                An accomplishment on every level, perhaps a bit of mystery is sometimes for the best. 






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