lander 5 - epiphyte hall - draft tapes - cass - 6$
Over the past year, Operative founder Scott Goodwin has unveiled a continuous stream of new projects, including his duo VEPA with Pete Swanson, the polyrhythmic house project Polonaise, and his latest solo outing Lander 5. Epiphyte Hall showcases Goodwin's gift for creating innovative, rhythmic synthesizer music that feels as rooted in classic minimalism as it does house music. Constructed with analog and digital FM synths, digital effects and a sequencer, Epiphyte Hall delivers two analog-heavy cuts that gallop and scramble through an array of pulses and abstract timbres. [20 min / pro-dubbed & imprinted]
geoff mullen - tropical contact high / live @ la casa - draft tapes - cass - 6$
Providence-based musician Geoff Mullen's newest release, Tropical Contact High / Live @ Casa, takes the form of concrete-soundscapes that hint at the sub-aquatic realms of 20000 Leagues Under the Sea. Recorded last summer, Mullen documents his "beach bum" explorations of the various coastlines and natural environments of the Northeast by collaging field recordings with various tape improvisations. Jagged fragments of prepared guitar, bubbling synth textures, and cyclical passages of sun-faded tape loops emerge in this beautifully crafted aural-vacation. [32 min / pro-dubbed & imprinted]
matt carlson - particle language - draft - lp - 15$
DRAFT is pleased to announce the release of Matt Carlson’s solo debut LP release, Particle Language. Following up his stellar solo works for Gift Tapes, including Stereo Face and Gecko Dream Levels, Carlson advances his signature electronic compositions, venturing into weirder, tweaked realms of morphing synthesis and bent perception. Particle Language guides the listener through an effervescent cauldron of unstable energies and molten, robotic detritus into a shifting stereoized vacuum-space. Sounds effortlessly arch and skim this reflective pathway, propelling us into the depths of our unconscious minds. Embedded with outsider music reference points and metaphysical undercurrents, Carlson’s modular synthesizer mastery and ingenious use of tape and vocoder has unearthed grey-void atmospheres overflowing with otherworldly aural apocrypha—a uniquely warped vision.
Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk.
40 min / DMM Pressing / Full Color Jacket & Labels with Insert
greg davis - states(3) :- draft tapes - cass - 7$
Greg Davis' spate of recent works for modular synth have been a DRAFT favorite over the past year, beginning with a completely mind-blowing performance we witnessed in Seattle last August during his Summer 2010 West Coast tour (modular synth and processed voice!). Since that time he has released a significant body of solo work, for labels Agents of Chaos, Ekhein, Goldtimers, Cassauna, and now DRAFT. States (3) is the third tape in a series of works; States (1) was released on Cassauna in July 2011 and States (2) was released on Goldtimers in May 2011.
States (3) stands out in the series as an extremely concise set of spaces that cut and morph through time. Using a computer to control his modular synthesizer, Davis crafts an architectural atmosphere of intricate sonic detail and psycho-acoustic phenomena. Form and structure take precedence, as synthesized textures spiral and dissect an emerging three-dimensional soundworld.
Recorded, edited & mixed in Burlington, Vermont, between February & June 2011 using a computer controlled Eurorack / Doepfer modular synthesizer system.
[C26 TAPE :: pro-dubbed, imprinted, edition of 200]
j hanson - new ruined maps - draft tapes - cass - 7$
Over the past few years, Portland resident Josh Hanson has developed his own completely unique voice, crafting beautiful music with a Blacet modular synthesizer and tape loops. Josh Hanson follows up last year’s Gift Tapes release with his latest album, New Ruined Maps (Collected 2009-2010), is a collection of compositional ideas wound together to form unfamiliar terrestrial landscapes that feel as futuristic as they do ancient. Taking inspiration from '70s synth music and ethnic musics, New Ruined Maps travels through melodic passages, soft timbres and moments of complex rhythmic patterns like a lucid dream. Captured in pristine fidelity and professionally mastered to tape by Timothy Stollenwerk at Stereophonic Sound.
atlantic triangular trade - velvet satellite - draft tapes - cass - 7$
Tulsa-based Digitalis head Brad Rose has been an insanely productive artist over the past few years, releasing tons of music on his label and still managing to create a constant stream of solo work as North Sea, Charlatan, and Ajilvsga, on top of seemingly endless collaborations. Now add to that list his new project: Atlantic Triangular Trade.
Velvet Satellite is a strictly digital venture. It's an immersion of computer electronics, MIDI sequencing and VST processing, melding both computer generated techno and distanced soundscapes into colorful lights and carnival melodies. In this odd universe, fragments of data intersect amidst an undercurrent of techno pulses and spinning beats. These wandering circular shapes create a definable dizziness within the auditory cortex.
joel brindefalk - a rough patch - draft tapes - cass - 7$
Swedish composer Joel Brindefalk has been working in the realm of electronic music since the early 90’s, creating techno, sound art and electroacoustic music. Among the many aliases he has operated under over the years, his early techno project Ü and more recent cutup noise collage works as C.P.U. (Contemporary Punk Unit) are often cited as some of his best work, released on labels such as Börft and Ideal Recordings. He is currently focused on creating computer music, sound art and installation while pursing an MFA at the Gothenburg University.Brindefalk’s recent explorations in the areas of generative music have yielded his beautiful new work, A Rough Patch. Created with an extensive MAX/MSP patch while under the influence of painkillers (prescribed for back pain), Brindefalk has woven gestural fields of electricity into a rich sonic environment. Heavy arcs of gray matter resonance cut through the icy freeze-frame reverberations of an abandoned warehouse. This is music for collapsing concrete structures, a wholly original vision and fresh approach to computer music.
[C30 TAPE :: pro-dubbed, imprinted, edition of 100]
frak - dry vanadis / tournament city - draft tapes - cass - 7$
Swedish electronic music project FRAK has been releasing experimental music since 1987. Back then, their first release jump started Börft Records, initiated by Jan Svensson. Twenty-three years later, in homage to Börft, FRAK's most recent release launches DRAFT.
Bouncing back and forth between techno, electro, and sound collage, FRAK approaches dance music from an alien perspective. As experimentalists and DJs in their own right, FRAK tends to teeter on the edge between minimal beat driven music and frenetic tendencies often associated with noise music.
Essentially two tapes in one, FRAK offers up a tape of underground, schizoid dance music, produced by the classic FRAK lineup: Birre, Zwarre and Sture. Keeping true to the DIY tradition of recording to 4-track, FRAK's tape is a hybrid of analog and digital recording: side A's Dry Vanadis was recorded to a 4-track analog cassette recorder, while side B's Tournament City was recorded to a 4-track digital recorder.
[C60 TAPE :: pro-dubbed, imprinted, edition of 150]
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a. diller - still life - draft tapes - cass - 7$
Still Life is an outsider's sampling of half forgotten urban environments, cracked electronic soundscapes that form abandoned cities replete with radioactive fallout. Brooklyn-based Adam Diller leans toward his more experimental side, creating his first cassette release from a variety of sound sources: field recordings, synth, electric piano & sampling keyboards. Layered synth passages, textures, and melodies seamlessly mix, often making it difficult to distinguish the source. The result is a truly innovative soundscape work.
Diller's diverse background consists of free improvised music (BNSF on Locust), ultra minimal acoustic improv (Doublends Vert on Line/12K), deformed free jazz/hip hop fusion ($.99 Dreams, self-released CDs & LPs), and audio production.
[C60 TAPE :: pro-dubbed, labeled, edition of 100]
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kplr - voltaic fits - draft tapes - cass - 7$
KPLR takes synth music and electronics to a new extreme. This San Francisco based duo blends analog electronics with digital processing to create an odd cutup of semi-random, sometimes harsh, particles of sound. KPLR ventures into cold, uninhabited, automated realms that seem to shift focus from one second to the next. Voltaic Fits moves like a free jazz drummer at maximum speed, but sounds like a computer OD'n on amperes.
KPLR (pronounced Kepler after the Kepler Mission) is Dexter Brightman and Jair Espinoza.
[C30 TAPE :: pro-dubbed, labeled, edition of 100]
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