CASSETTE REVIEW: soma / underwaterescapefromtheblackhole split (5cm Recordings)

http://5cmrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/split

            While one of the artists on this split cassette has “water” in their name, would it be too cliché to state these songs border on seapunk?

            Okay, so maybe Soma (who I will capitalize in the review for clarity) is not completely seapunk, but they are certainly on the verge of it.  They have more than just their feet in the ocean, amidst these drum machine beats, constant loops, beeping and sonar sounds.  On the second song there are sort of some vocals, but it could just be an audio clip because it is all jumbled up.   What I believe to be some sort of piano section has a lot of undertones in it that make me think of a submarine for some reason, and so rather than seapunk I do think of this as being how submarines would make music if they could, which as it turns out is not really bad after all. 

            As we flip to Side B, we hear underwaterescapefromtheblackhole, or UEFTBH, and despite that actually being the name that has “water” in it, the music doesn’t really sound like seapunk at all.   There are much more ambient tones on this side, which could account to almost anything, but it kicks in fairly loud at one point as well and thus channels something which could be described with a genre that ends in –gaze.  I especially love the acoustic sounding piano elements on this side from UEFTBH and though not seapunk this does make me want to swim.

            When I first began to like instrumental music (Because I didn’t for a while, but that was back in the 20^th Century) one of the first instrumental bands I really enjoyed was The Cancer Conspiracy.  I used to love putting their CD on and swimming by myself.  There was something so relaxing about it; like I could float forever or sink to the bottom and it didn’t matter either way.  UEFTBH brings out those feelings from way back then and I must admit that is somewhat of an accomplishment because most music doesn’t take me back that far but rather only to within these last few years when I have quite possibly been listening to instrumental music more than music with vocals.

            I enjoy both the sounds of Soma as well as UEFTBH, and though they might sound too similar, they are both good enough that you will not mind them sharing a cassette and once you listen to this a few times through you’ll come to truly appreciate why and how they are together.   This is a damn near perfect cassette.