NNA049: Deciumus – ‘Glass Tetany’ C43
New tape from the solo project of NYC’s Pat Murano of No Neck Blues Band, aka Decimus. Pat has been hard at work the last few years crafting his series of self-titled epics on his own Kelippah imprint, and ‘Glass Tetany’ continues the legacy onto NNA. This release is a disorienting journey through the rolling dunes of far away desert, leaving the listener feeling isolated on unfamiliar terrain. Carrying the tradition of psychedelia into the next age, Decimus weaves dizzying melodies between synth and guitar, ranging from tender to gritty, creating a dense mass of multi-fidelity atmospheres that seem to score a tale of otherworldly travel. Chopped up alien beat work and bionic vocals cut through vapor, disembodying the mind from the physical form. Original cover artwork by the artist.
NNA052: Belarisk – ‘On Amorphous Dawn’ C36
Belarisk is a project of Lee Edward Tindall, a fresh Providence, RI resident by way of Massachusetts. Lee has been steadily performing solo and with others over the years, with his various projects Zerfallt, Mutation In The Gryd, Aphid Palisades, Astronaut, and more. As Belarisk, Tindall taps into the more melodic side of experimental electronic music, applying his expert-level technical skills to digital and analog synthesizers and effects. The result is a bold, Americanized interpretation of German school electronics, that not merely repeats the past, but uses its essence to look forward. Belarisk paints with sound in the full spectrum of grey; forging overdriven frenetic malfunction with spacious, tonal glory. Sawtoothed synth lines are tessellated to reflect infinitely, where the sound of electrical current is dissected and manipulated in real-time. Mournful, dark formations of sound occasionally dissipate to reveal the radiant light of possibility. Original cover artwork by the artist.
NNA053: Howard Stelzer – ‘The Lonely Astronaut’ C26
Few are more committed to the exploration of the cassette tape than Cambridge, MA’s Howard Stelzer. For years, Stelzer has been creating his own unique tape music both by himself and with a reputable cast of collaborators, much of which has been documented on his own Intransitive Recordings label. What separates Howard’s work from the bulk of traditional tape music is that he manipulates not only the phenomena of sound committed to magnetic tape, but goes deeper into the exploration of the physical mechanics and inner workings of the cassettes and players themselves, amplifying them in order to let the “instrument” become part of the music. The compositions on “The Impossible Astronaut” seem to create a void; a vacuum where trapped sounds are desperate to be released. Textural nuances and multi-dimensional field recordings are saturated beyond recognition, while lurching hiss and hum become anti-matter, simmering in tension. From subtle and quiet to loud and burning, sounds are presented in their raw form, and mixed to perfection.