CASSETTE REVIEW: Laura Luna “Isolarios” (Baba Vanga)

http://babavanga.bandcamp.com/album/laura-luna-isolarios

            Laura Luna is the epitome of opposing sounds coming together to form something beautiful.   What begins with sharp distorted manipulation that should be harsh on the ears finds its way into a more melodic tone which reminds me of Endless Melancholy.   The fact that these two sounds can converge here and sound appealing is somewhat remarkable as you would think that the “Ow! My ears!” would prevail over the “Aww, pretty”, but they somehow just mesh so well.

            Through some sort of carnival, Jay Peele and maybe an accordion there is a decent amount of back and forth going on here.  It’s steady holding loops and then they enter the static void with some sort of talking.   Birds whistle and it reminds me of Mary Poppins for some reason.   Elongated whirrs ends Side A.

            Side B has some space wave modems with beep melodies and it is quite layered.   I haven’t really established a theme to this cassette in terms of it being able to paint an image in my mind while I listen to it, but rather I just sort of relax and let it take me where my mind wanders and as such it is usually at night so it is dark and quiet otherwise.    As easily as it can become eerie it can also seem psychedelic.  It’s dreamy, yet there are jumbled up computer audio bits. 

            So what you have to imagine is someone using that sharp feedback sound with radio station surfing and all of that which comes up under the genre of noise (and it’s somewhat typical of how you think of noise, but it is being displayed here above the norm for sure)   Then you grab that sort of peaceful sound that verges on ambient and even FNL and combine it with the first. 

 

             If you asked me before I heard this if it would work I would have said no and probably laughed at you.   The two are different and in some ways the very notion of it reminds me of when ska was combined with hardcore (see: Folly).   But this is why I don’t get asked these questions or make assumptions about music and just listen to it.  This works so well in the way that it has two seeming opposites working against each other almost, yet they become whole and create something so genuine and unique that it simply cannot be denied.