Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Cassette Review: daggers // cloaks • Blue Movies (Personal Archives)



On this split from Personal Archives I wonder why the first artist isn't "cloaks and daggers" in the sense that when you combine those two particular words they are usually in that order and not "daggers and cloaks".     But I am thankful at least that it hasn't been altered into something ridiculoud like "doaks and claggers", which as I type I feel someone has already made as an artist name.   And what are blue movies?  Are they sad?   Do they say a lot of swear words?  Is it a documentary based on The Blue Man Group?  (Sorry, I rewatched "Arrested Development" recently)   Let's find out!

Side A begins with daggers // cloaks and these songs start off with those lightsaber type whirrs, static crashes and, yeah, we go into the full fledged Star Wars.   Feedback and distortion, distortion and feedback.    Chipping through, one bit at a time, with loud bursts which make me think about electronic music for some reason.    Sharpness becomes droid sounds and I'm wondering if I should grab that book about how to speak droid and use it for music.    Electronics, mechanics and frequencies are present before the sound seems to be ending, it seems like we've reached the end of the songs.   But then they come back strong, with an undeniable loudness.

Blue Movies begin with this sort of tone that sounds almost like a horn and it's manipulated inside static and squeals.   This continues in a rhythm which uiltimately finds that bug zapper sound and I do believe that tone that sounded like a horn to me from the start is a saxaphone.   It comes out clearer as the side goes on and I can begin to identify it more clearly.     This comes crashing down, gets sharp enough to chase one of the cats out of the room, and then has this build like a helicopter.      The first time I was listening to this, a loud beeping came from the outside-- I still cannot explain why-- and I had to immediately pause this cassette because it did somehow sound like it could've been coming from here.

This split cassette serves as a reminder to me that sometimes the best artists are the ones you have not yet heard.   Despite what is going on outside (ohmygodineedtostayoffsocialmedia) or in the "mainstream" there are still artists out there making music that I can listen to and appreciate and for that I am thankful.     Plus, the fact that all of this revolves around cassettes is never a bad thing either.


$5 // Edition of 50 // https://personalarchives.bandcamp.com/album/c40-split







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