Cassette Review: Schoolhouse "Fade" (Bezirk Tapes)

[€7.90 // https://bezirk.bandcamp.com/album/fade]

I often feel like the name of an artist can describe or help explain their music, but with an artist such as Schoolhouse I can only think of the idea of Schoolhouse Rocks! and, well, this doesn't really sound like any of those cartoons from before I was born that wanted to teach me things I'd otherwise learn in school if, you know, school taught me in ways I could dance to while dropping acid.

"Fade" is a rather quiet cassette.  It begins with these background electronics which make you think that something is wrong with the cassette because I had to turn the volume up rather loud to hear it better.   And yes, this is the time when I will obviously point out that this one is better experienced through headphones, which I found out the second time around.    There is a boiler room feel to this and whirrs as well.   It begins to build and grow louder to the point where it takes on this rhythm almost like "Knight Rider" and that is when I realized I have the volume up a bit too high and need to begin adjusting it back down.

A drone buzz takes us through most of Side B with this layered sound coming out that has me thinking of that ringing in my ears.   It grows into a muted pinball sound before it has this overall sense of ticking- such as a bomb- with whirrs as well and I'm not sure what to think of when putting all of these elements together but it feels important and urgent.   I imagine someone racing against the clock such as in an action movie (perhaps starring Jason Statham) but it doesn't have the same electronic beats.   Perhaps it would be better suited as a soundtrack to an Alfred Hitchcock film.

What you will hopefully hear during this cassette is not an experimentation with drone or even ambient music, but rather something which will challenge both your mind and your soul.   It's not something as simple as pressing down one note on a piano and calling it drone-- it has much more depth than that-- and as such it will require only the heaviest of thinkers to fully grasp it.   With the constant dumbing down of our society (and by "our" I refer to the United States) it's okay if you don't get this one.  I understand.   But if you're reading this I just hoped you'd somehow know better.