Cassette Review: Johannes Geiss "Chords" (Froh & Munter Records)

€2.40 //
Edition of 6 //
https://frohundmunter.bandcamp.com/album/fm047-chords //

This opens up with some funky guitar riffs in a rhythm is somewhere between electronic and rock but makes me want to get up and dance.    Organs come in with the tones and electronic looping on the second song.    It can turn into this driving force which for some reason always tends to make me think of the soundtrack to some old cop movie.  ("Old" being from the 1980's/1990's haha)   Percussion comes in and seems to provide a voice for this song now.    It's really breaking down into the '80's/'90's synths now, like some combination of a video game and "Rock Me Amadeus".

Our next track really sounds like instrumental hip hop over all else.    As pianos come through it takes a turn into the slower, quieter sound now.   There is this scraping type of sound in here now which I cannot place but it makes the pianos feel all too eerie.    Strings come in to give this a more serious feel but then these big synths come stomping in and it reminds me so much of a Peter Sellers movie.   The idea of these strings which have an uplifting and soundtrack appeal to them take over for a while.   It's like the part of the movie where the main character finally gets it all together and is moving forward with their life.

On the flip side we begin with these uplifting ambient tones which bring about some drums and it just has this Primitive Radio Gods feel to it.   Pianos are here as well and this just has a glorious sound to it.    Keys come through ringing with drums joining them and then a voice which has this sort of tribal chanting feel to it.    Slower, more minimal electronics come out now.   The beats take over and for some reason I immediately thought of Naughty by Nature the first time I heard this.   It can shift into something like "Alias" and then grow even quieter, the tempo on this one picking up at times and other times dropping.

Whirrs do circles around the drums now.   When it gets so quiet for long enough that you think the cassette is over, a voice comes through and it all comes back with this magical feel to it.   What I particularly enjoy about this cassette is that there is a final track on Side B which is exclusive to the cassette and as such cannot be streamed or downloaded.   Many people are lazy and would likely prefer the convenience of streaming/downloading music to having to buy a cassette, wait for it to arrive in the mail, put it into a tape deck to play, etc.   But this is what cassettes are all about.   You buy this cassette and you have it forever.