Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Cassette Review:
M/S/T
"M/S/T"
(Moon Villain)


$7 //
http://moonvillain.com/album/m-s-t //

This cassette begins with drums.   Drums are banging, drum rolls and then the drum sticks are clicking together.   This just becomes a full onslaught of drumming fury.    As cymbals come crashing in, a saxophone joins in a trill type of manner.    This is loud, this is noisy and yet it sounds kind of like a butterfly.    Deeper sounds come in now that make me feel like that initial flutter was the flute and now a saxophone has actually joined up.   This feels like traffic.  This is chaos.  This is destruction. 

While this reminds me of something Joe Hess would be a part of or Awkward Geisha, it does manage to have a sound all its own as well and this could be some kind of instrumental thrash jazz, if that's a thing.    After this one loud cymbal crash, everything quiets down and comes back up with a flute as if we're in a kung fu movie.    The cymbals seem to be taking on a more traditional jazz feel now (Though still, for *jazz*) as little bee-doops come out of the saxophone.

This turns into a saxophone solo and then it begins to resonate as if we are left alone in some dark alley.    The sounds slowly begin to filter back through, a drumming coming from off in the distance.    I'm hopped up on Mountain Dew and Reese's Pieces but it's the only way to live.    Though it feels like it's raining, this takes on a softer feel now, like that Bob Seger song about being on the road again that Metallica covered.    A softer, somber feel now but also it still remains dangerous.    It really starts to take on this 1980's feel, like John Cusack in that restaurant scene from "Better Off Dead". 

It also feels as if a storm is brewing behind this sax.   The flute really takes off now as there is this darkness washing over the background.   Percussion remains a focal point of this cassette and if you've ever wondered why it is so important to music let this serve as a reminder to you.    As this all seems to boil to a head it hits this place and just seems to stop as if perfectly timed to end Side A.    Drum rolls pick up things right where we started on Side B though.   A flurry of cymbals and the sax just goes wild.    This is thrash jazz if I've ever heard it.  Let's get on the floor and dance.

Frantic, we continue to grow and expand as the music takes us back into that realm of utter chaos.   It slows, quiets now and the drumming is still fast paced but it's grown more sporadic.   Horns come honking through and for a moment it sounds like we're about to whirr off into space.    Once again, we reach that big climax and everything goes "BOOM!".    A solo sax comes through quieter now, like something out of "Lord of the Rings".    Drums return and I feel like I can hearing talking buried behind these electric droplets of water.

Flutes and more banging of the drums join into the sound and then we somehow become reduced to the sax again.    A drum roll now, as if a military style (Like Johnny comes marching home) brings out a drone, which eventually begins to change sax notes and this is just so powerful.    A loud back and forth of notes blare out with the drums and this is just a force you cannot mess with.    Finally, it all just seems to burst at the seams as this comes to its end.   I suppose of a lot of this cassette can feel like that: a dam holding back water, sometimes it is added more frequently than other times, but it is always on the verge of collapse.








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