Thursday, March 22, 2018

Cassette Review: Kirsty Porter / C. Reider Split (dubbed tapes)


$7 //
Edition of 40 //
https://dubbedtapes.bandcamp.com/album/kirsty-porter-c-reider-split //

When I saw this split cassette from C. Reider I kind of knew I wanted to hear it as I've reviewed the music of C. Reider before.   After some time I ended up on the dubbed tapes Bandcamp page and saw this deal where you can get their previous releases as a bundle (the cassettes which came before this) and such that sort of started this whole adventure of reviewing music from dubbed tapes.    It's just amazing that I often times expect a split to introduce me to a new artist if I already know one of them (which is the case here) and yet this somehow introduced me to an entire cassette label.

This cassette starts off softly with what sounds like a bass guitar.    Guitar notes come through in that wah way, like Frampton.   It can float back and forth between this hollow place and outerspace but remains fairly trippy nonetheless.   I can almost hear a voice now.   There is definite singing now and it just adds to the overall psych qualities of this song.    Hollow, glass-like tones begin to sound as if they're playing scales in space.   There is a definite drum banging now as I also can hear cymbals doing their thing slowly.   This also is combined with another bass riff- different from the one at the start- and this has turned into an almost rock number now, like "Bleach" era Nirvana.

A dog can vaguely be heard barking in the background as the slowed down rock continues.     It's grown into an ambient feel really.   I feel as if we are drifting carelessly through time and space.    After a slight pause the drumming begins to come in quite heavily and I think this is the third song.    It's just this flurry of percussion that makes me feel like I'm drowning now.   Tones are mixed in which also make me think of the "Jeopardy!" theme for some reason, but these banging drums will likely be all you will hear over everything else.    Radio frequency whirrs and other electronics grow to a true sense of loud before it all comes crashing back down into a quieter place.

Acoustics come back in with vocals and these magical keys.   Somehow, as it breaks down, it begins to remind me of The Doors which, yes, means it has brought me back to that trippy place after all the chaos of the percussion.    As this cassette nears the end of Side A (not a lot of dead air on this one) I can only feel like I'm only halfway through, I've only experienced one of the two artists on here, and it already feels like it is worth the time taken to listen to it.

A swirl of electronics begins Side B.   It's this weird almost helicopter whirring sound with these other electronics behind it which resemble owls to me.    A slight beat coming through now, perhaps not a drum but a bass note.    That all fades out as a swarm of bees can be heard now with higher pitched tones that might make a dog run out of the room.   It almost sounds like a modem at one point as the beeping gets heavier.   But then it can also somehow mimic a bird call, which is odd with the sound behind it sounding like bees so it's, you know, the birds and the bees like you've never heard them before!

Louder tones come through now which make me feel like we're somewhere between an electric razor used to cut hair and an airplane.    Higher pitched tones come through the background as well.    Magical tones come through next and it has that MOTU movie keyboard feel to it, even though those higher pitched sounds remain in the void of space still.     It really starts to open up when it sounds as if it could be a field recording of a busy highway with cars passing by and great speeds.    This begins to just turn into the sounds of a giant windstorm.

It all quiets down now.   These whirrs come through in descents, as if some form of electronics is dropping off of a cliff.   This gets into a drone now with a beep that could be sonar.    More beeps make me feel like we're really onto something here.    It grows into this crumbling static sense which then has me feel like we're in some sort of field recording where a lot is going on that we can't see and I'm not sure how to describe it exactly either.   A switch seemingly flips and I can briefly hear the sounds of passing cars outside which means that this cassette has reached the point of its filler.









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