Grey Ghost is the solo project of Brian Griffith, better known for his work with Very Truly Yours and L’éternèbre. Brian is a self-proclaimed crate digger, and it definitely shows on this album, which is smeared with nostalgia and finely filmed in the accumulated dusts of Time. If you were to return to your childhood home in thirty years, this is what you would play on the decrepit heirloom piano as you reminisce on your former years. 6 gentle piano ballads. Lonely and lovely. Highly recommended. Available from the good folks as the Chicago-based PlusTapes
And while you're at it, peep their "Tapes n Tapes" interview here.
The fifth release from legendary Japanese tape wizards Ginjoha. (They schlepped us their entire discography all the way over the Pacific Ocean!) Yoshihiro Sawasaki is part of a new generation of Japanese ambient producers and he is the mentor of Ken Ishii (the composer for the 1998 Winter Olympics ceremonies), who recommended his first demo to R&S Records. This beautiful C30 has great astrological themes and chill, tranquil tones. Self-proclaimed "Nu Age music inspired by the Onsen of heaven."Side A opens up with the sounds of slowly dripping water and thudding footsteps, then progresses into a warm wash of synthesizer with gentle electronic hissings that grow ever louder. The piece climaxes in gorgeous high-altitude harmony with a re-occurrence of the subtle water droplets. Side B gives us scattered airy downtempo over a rush of outer-space slithering electronica, as Sawasaki returns to the techno roots that first made him popular in 1993.
Quintessential X-perimental spastic freakout recorded by duo Harayama Kohei and Nagata Kentaro using only tapedecks, iPads, and iPhones. It's the kind of stuff you have to hear to believe. Sent to us from our friends at Ginjoha Tapes in Japan. Sputtering sci-fi machinery meltdown. Lots of rapid whirring and crazy blasts of electronica Slapchopped and then blended together. Chaotic but with dark futuristic undertones.
C30 limited to 50 copies.