Tag: tape

Staatseinde K7

Staatseinde released a second tape on their own Ende Der Zukunft Recordings label. The first one was an overview of past to present never released tracks. This new tape is one filled with tracks they did with various other artists… the funny thing is that this release feels much more coherent as the previous one… despite all the different collaborations which are showcased here…

You get 11 tracks by Staatseinde teaming up with the likes of Sololust, Lovaratrax, Arpatle, Butsenzeller, Wout Waanders and more…

Stand out tracks are the three featured did with Dutch poet Wout Waanders… the tracks are great music wise… but the spoken word kind of vocal delivery also really adds something… the pieces are quite dark and have a great flow… so I hope Staatseinde will be doing more in this style in the near future…

You can check this tape on the Staatseinde Bandcamp webpage here…

Solid Space

I have to be honest… I never really was into the Solid Space tape album… of course I loved “Tenth Planet” and “A Darkness In My Soul”… these tracks I have been listening for years and years… they are absolute classics in the field of minimal (synth)… but the rest of the album ‘Space Museum’ never really did it for me…

Recently Dark Entries released the tape on vinyl (for the first time officially, so not as bootleg) and of course I wanted to have these two tracks at last on vinyl… this as the two tracks alone make this record worthwhile to have…

But… I have been playing this LP now several times and I quite like most of the other tunes on it as well as it seems… funny how things sometimes can change over time… still “Tenth Planet” and “A Darkness In My Soul” are the absolute highlights of this record but you will hear some other nice songs in case you get this record…

I have a few copies for sale in the webshop…

FOQL – Lower Your Expectations

FOQL is no stranger I hope to people checking this website and blog… this Polish producer released an 12″ EP on Gooiland Elektro and contributed tracks to compilations both as FOQL as with the Osty project she is part of…

Recently a new album was released on cassette by Always Human Tapes… this album is entitled “Lower Your Expectations”… but unlike the title maybe suggests the music is top notch…

FOQL never really does one thing nor copy cats herself so to speak… so expect some new sounds from her… still recognisable… but this album is quite divers… ranging from minimal electronics to acid and to harsh techno… the louder and freaky techno and acid pieces are my favourites but the complete album is worth checking out…

Below my two favourites tracks and here you can listen to the complete album…

Zandvoort & Uilenbal

Just before Christmas I got a tape from Elektrovolt… it was a project he did  with Legowelt under the alias of Zandvoort & Uilenbal… this project is all about the Harmonium… electronics and Harmonium that is… somewhat like the Ocean Floor album… oh they also use a Trautonium… something I never heard about before… which is an early electronic instrument… you should look it up on internet… it looks great!

This tape entitled “Geruis Uit Somberdorp” (something like “Murmur From Sadville” if translated) features music from a concert originally  commissioned for Concertzender…

Rather liker Ocean Floor’s album the music is a sort of ambient / drone / psychedelic soundscape kind of thing… simply great trippy and dreamy stuff… subtle electronics and a prominent Harmonium do the trick to get you into a trance like state… it is better to listen to this music as to write too much about it… so below is one of the pieces from the tape… the 12 minute long “De Ark Van Somberdorp”… just click “play” and close your eyes…

Europ Europ taped

eewaaahawadRecently two tapes found its way to my cassette player… one a split tape from one of my favourite labels out there… Etch Wear… run by one of the Europ Europ musicians… the other one a tape by Den Nya Borgen on the label from blog Repartiseraren blog…

The split tape on Etch Wear features Europ Europ and We Are All Alone Here And We Are Dead (WAAAHAWAD) and is all kinds of awesome… Europ Europ delivers primitive electronic rhythms and lo-fi noises and sounds which all built up in trippy way… truly trance indulging…

WAAAHAWAD on the B-side serves two long tracks of improvised electronics… they have created soundscapes which are at times haunting but at other times are playful… rather psychedelic but not in a way you will often come across…

The other tape by Den Nya Borgen came to me as two remixes are featured on the tape by Enfant Terrible bands… Europ Europ and Neugeborene Nachtmusik… Den Nya Borgen is a new band and this tape is their debut… it is a thematic piece centred around Jeanne d’Arc… three variations on the same theme are delivered but done in a very different way… from a post-punk influenced noise track to a more sci-fi noisy soundscape and finishing with a bit more melodic piece…

The B-side consists of remixes of which the Europ Europ and Neugeborene Nachtmusik are standing out… but also the Michael Idehall and the Ascetic: remixes are superb… but to be honest all six remixes are… the B-side is my absolute favourite of this tape… it is more diverse as the A-side and has more depth in sounds and is more melodic orientated without forgetting to pay tribute the minimal noise side of the original pieces on the A-side…

Below is the Europ Europ remix and below that is a Europ Europ track from the split tape with WAAAHAWAD…

Demo tape

Artifecal_demoMost demo’s today are send as mp3 files or are links to a private Soundcloud page… and when I started with ET I received demo’s on cd-r… but in the old days demo’s were submitted on tape… and guess what… I received a real demo tape recently…

I do not accept demo’s in general but this demo is from a musician I already work with… maybe you remember the 7″ by Artifecal released in 2011 on the now defunct Hex sublabel… so the musician behind this project sent me this tape (60 minutes long I believe) filled with demo recordings from various of his projects… and a lot of the stuff is really great… non-typical minimal synth, post-punk and new wave sounds which will appeal to all who really like the obscure side of these styles…

These are real demo’s meaning not final recordings… often without vocals still… so I am curious to get the final versions… as I am quite sure a nice record could be moulded out of these demo tracks!