Sunday, October 9, 2011

No Mind Meditation - Molecular Clock

Ambitious double-album by cassette heavyweight champions No Mind Meditation. It’s taken me a lot of time to wrap my head around this thing—mostly because I’ve been asking and re-asking myself: is there such a thing as a perfect album? If so, this would be a candidate for sure (and a double album at that…)

While reminiscent of their debut Face Skull Spirit, Molecular Clock ramps everything up to unforeseen levels of grandeur: bigger crescendos, more radical departures from the familiar textures in music. There are several "movements" on each of its four sides, which cover a full spectrum ranging from "comfortably numb" to "bold and triumphant." And due to it's fuzzed-out long-play medium it stays for you for a little while, even after the tape has rolled to a stop.

It's inspirational more than anything.


This box set was sent to us by Goldtimers Tapes, packaged in a lovely two-cassette folder with a download card and a hand-silkscreened book of artwork. 50 copies exist.

Brain Syndrome - Disconnect

One of the many minimal synth recordings busted out by 20-somethings in their basements during the 80’s. Sounds like neon. If it was a little more pop-driven, it would fit perfectly alongside volume 1 of the Stones Throw Minimal Wave Tapes series. If it were 90 bpm faster, it would make an awesome workout video soundtrack.

Allegedly, this tape was found at random in a thrift store somewhere in the US. “Brain Syndrome” and “Disconnect” are simply stand-in titles. I can believe that. And I can also believe that there are plenty of other gems lurking out in any of the thousands of thrift stores that pepper lonely highways…where profound musical inspiration is laid to rest in foggy Tupperware crates.

This tape is so good that Sonic Meditations decided to repeat it on the B side so that you can save yourself the wear and tear of pounding the rewind and fast-forward buttons over and over. 100 copies of this sucker exist. If you and your buddy ever had a "radical" late-night recording sesh back in the day you might want to pick it up...this might be you.