As mentioned in my review of the 2nd Annual RVA Noise Fest, I picked up the initial releases by the Richmond Tape Club. It is a cassette/digital series curated by Jonathan Lee of Anduin and Souvenir’s Young America.
As mentioned in my review of the 2nd Annual RVA Noise Fest, I picked up the initial releases by the Richmond Tape Club. It is a cassette/digital series curated by Jonathan Lee of Anduin and Souvenir’s Young America. The concept? 20 minute EPs highlighting RVA’s top up-and-coming electronic artists. The first four tapes, reviewed here, include artists that performed during day one of the RVA Noise Fest at Sound of Music studios.
You might be wondering, “Why tapes? Only hipsters with unkempt neck beards and Buddy Holly glasses care about a dead medium.” Well, that may be, but for my own practical purposes, I care. Especially since my car, a 94 Buick Century, has a tape deck. I might be a hipster. Fuck it.
Tape one is by Negative Gemini. Of the four songs here, three of them stay in a sort of contemplative synth heavy downtempo dream-pop realm. The vocals are heavily layered with delay and seem to serve as more of a texture than delivering a message. The exception to this is the upbeat last track. It sounds like a similar scene, but with a pulsating house-like beat and a distorted synth that wouldn’t be out of place on an Orgy record. Also, the vocal effects seem to be turned down, so you get to hear the repeating line, “All I ever wanted was to feel ok.” Uplifting. But I’ve got three more tapes, so let’s move on, shall we?
The next one is five songs from husband-wife duo Slow News Day in the Vampire World. They’re billed as an ambient dub project, and I can’t say I disagree. Big beats and spaced-out atmospherics, ranging from sampled vocal abstraction to different bleeps and bloops–and that’s just the first song! I was surprised when the next three songs had little to no beats in them. They felt more like tripped-out mood pieces with the occasional outer space-like flourishes. Maybe Goblin-esque, if I may say so with my limited knowledge. They were completely unexpected. Upon rereading the info, I learned that some songs were featured in an Irish horror film called Portrait of a Zombie. I like this because it takes me back to the 90s, when electronic music wasn’t afraid to have some leftover stank from its organic origins.
RTC 3 is from Chesterfield resident Michael Duane Ferrell, performing as Elian. I am not sure what his game is, but right off… naming your 2 tracks “Christopher Lee” and “Peter Cushing” already makes me like it. And is Elian a reference to the kid that got deported last decade? HA! Ok, Right. The music.
So imagine if you will that you are having a sunny day in the park. The air begins to feel charged, and you expect the worst electrical storm ever. Dark clouds roll through and you can smell the rain before a drop falls. This does nothing to prepare you for the coming onslaught. You are unsettled. When the sky delivers its swirling, massively distorted clusterfuck, your sorry ass is done. The clouds then move along, but not so far that you stop seeing them. And then they come back, and pummel some more. At some point, you realize that the tension causes release when you stop fighting and let it wash over you. You have won. And hopefully discovered a badass drone artist to ease the headache your mother-in-law gives you during those delightful home visits.
The last one to review is Jonathan Lee’s own ambient dreamscape project, Anduin. Last I heard it, the LP I bought, 2009’s Abandoned in Sleep, sounded like the soundtrack to a movie I have never seen. I could even conjure images in my mind. They were mostly horror, but that’s because I am a fear freak. I mention this to explain that Anduin has such vivid music. It doesn’t ever seem to get in the way, but aids in the development of your imagination.
This release contains the first new tracks from Mr. Lee since 2012’s Stolen Years LP, and features contributions from Jimmy Ghaphery (New Loft), Graham Scala (Souvenir’s Young America), and Noah Saval (The Guild). Some of the sounds and themes were developed from a series of installations titled “Sketches of the Lesser Death.” Sonically, it is no different in its effect, but I feel like the imagery is kind of different. Something more passively thrilling. Some hope springs up here in the form of whale call-like guitar bends on “Sleeper,” and then gets more ominous with sharper drones in “Fever Dream.” Continuing on with the triumphant sounding “Strangers” and ending with “First Life,” you have reached the end of this dream. I hope you wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day.
Catch an Anduin solo performance on Sunday Aug 25th at Gallery 5 and a collaboration set between Anduin and Elian Friday August 30th, also at Gallery 5.
Check out the links below, where you can stream the releases so far, buy them digitally, or order the cassettes. You can even subscribe to the series and get them all as they are released. Next up on the release schedule are tapes by Mutwawa and Stephen Vitello, coming out on August 22nd.
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