Sunday, July 15, 2012

Cube - Bride of Walk Man (self-released)




Crystal covered jams made for the kaleidoscope of life. peace and love to my friends from Humboldt Relief :)

Once these tracks proceed through the filter in your head, there's no turning back.  A few listens of Bride of Walk Man will embed these zoners in your skull for good! Once again, i'm revisiting the archives of Tomentosa.  Recently, Tomentosa has stocked some excellent titles from labels such as Kiks/Girlfriend; Exo Tapes (reissues are in the works!); and Tabernacle Tapes.  One such tape that caught my attention is that by Cube - the project of Adam Keith, formerly known as Cubicle. The caption on Tomentosa's site for Bride of Walk Man describes the tape as the theme to an imaginary television series. The tracks listed below are only a sample of the mind-bending stuff that is contained on this c32.  The arsenal for this tape includes Roland R8; Casio; electric guitar; voice; tapes; and a four-track.  This tape is full of diverse beauty including serene synth hymns, ritualized vignettes infused with voices, and noise jams that sound like a microwave on the cusp of explosion.

 'Arcade Scene' begins the trip in a minimal nature, but then evolves as layers of echoing, placid tones drift through the stereo field. The pastoral beauty of 'Peaches Entrance' gives way to heavy noise and effects indicated by 'Last Night's Venom' - the beast being bludgeoned.  One of the big winners here, however, is the title track, which commences the flip.  'Bride of Walk Man' is the soundtrack for traversing the town on a sweltering day - pulsing and moaning as the sweat descends from your forehead.  'Return to Peach' is a nice contrast in sound, as gentle strings provide one with refuge.  The heavy sounds return with, 'Commercial for Ice Cream'.  Good thing we splurged for ice cream, because 'Marathon Man' disseminates the smooth synth - feels like music from the GTA series.  This is the cassette for a real lover of tapes:  excellent artwork; self-released; eclectic and wild jams.  Most of all, this is a tape that should be repeated - allow those sounds to work on your skull.   It feels novel after each listen. 

Listening to these jams is analogous to getting hash oil on your fingers: good luck in removing the tasty, viscous oil; and, even better luck is required in removing this from your tape deck.  Once Cube does his thing, the tendency is to listen for a few loops/bongs.  Tomentosa has restocked this tape a few times.  One could infer that it is nearing OOP status.  Acquire your copy from Tomentosa.

peace to you , friends :)