This
cassette serves as my introduction to Telecaves, though it is also my first
time actually hearing Walter Gross on cassette. I often times don’t feel as if an artist has
truly been experienced until they have been experienced on cassette, and so
this almost serves as a completely new release to me in that aspect.
Telecaves
dominates Side A with “Line Fracture” and what begins with that heavy fog feel
brings out some industrial qualities and darker strings. Some audio on this is screamed, but not in
the I Like You, Go Home sort of way.
There are laser blasts and then it just makes me wonder whether or not
this is harsh static, or at least a slightly less heavy version of it. (What is not as harsh as harsh?)
There
exists a certain element to this being at sea, and then the rain comes down and
all I can think of is someone being lost at sea in a storm. Yes, this does bring to mind “Life of Pi”,
but only for a moment. The side ends with
ringing and all I can think is of being lost at sea. I imagine someone being on a life raft or in
a small boat, whatever, just floating alone at sea, surrounded by nothing but
whatever. And then the storm comes and
it’s all over.
On
the flip side we have Walter Gross presenting “Trigger” and I’m never entirely
sure what goes into these split cassettes as far as who knows what and who
doesn’t. Did Walter Gross and Telecaves
discuss this split cassette before it was released? Did they plan their sides to sound this way? I’m better off not knowing, but they could complement
each other more perfectly if they tried.
Walter
Gross starts with beats within an ambient hiss drone, the thunder within clouds
if you will. There are psycho tones and
vocals that bring us closer to hip hop.
I made a mention that this reminded me of murder music and I don’t say
that in the sense of my being a serial killer or having a fetish about them or
anything, so much as perhaps you could hear it as the soundtrack to a violent
killing spree within a movie or such.
The
music takes this heavier turn which reminds me of that one Filter song “(Can’t
You) Trip Like I Do”, but then it gets
slower and just all around less engaging.
What I like about that is that you feel this sense of satisfaction at
the end of the Walter Gross side, and it’s sort of a sense of fullness if you
will. Because you see, as much as Side
A by Telecaves is about someone being lost at sea and consumed by a storm, I
feel like Side B is just as much about that same story only being told from the
vantage point of the storm. Yes, in
effect, Walter Gross is the storm.
As
a writer, I’ve always been curious. I have
the power of observation and I’m always wondering how things work and why. I would love nothing more than to ask either
Walter Gross or someone else involved in this cassette if this pairing was on
purpose or if I’m just hearing things.
And that natural curiosity of mine eats at me and wants to know, but at
the end of the day I just feel like I’m better off not knowing and only hearing
what I want to hear. Whether this was
intentionally designed to tell the same story from two different views is
irrelevant when it’s all that I can hear.
This is one of those rare instances where knowing would quite possibly
ruin it for me, so please, no one tell me.
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