Holodecked
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Last month, the hardworking guys at Holodeck Records, one of our favorite new record labels, put out a slew of gorgeous new releases. Representing the finest sounds that Austin, Texas has to offer, the label has been known to unleash several new titles at once before setting to work on the next batch of releases. Hot off a stellar 2012 season, Holodeck is back with six new cassette releases and has certainly showed no signs of slowing down. Read on for a breakdown of the impressive lineup.
HD010: JU4N — Vaporware
Formerly recording under the name VC Childkraft, Austin solo artist Juan Cisneros AKA JU4N has really made a name for himself in the local electronic scene. His latest creation, Vaporware is not only an album full of gorgeously rendered synth creations, but it’s also an album that shows a certain sense of humor. If you frequent the internet music scene in 2013 and you aren’t at least familiar with the name ‘vaporwave’ then you’d certainly have to be living under a rock. Riffing on that name, JU4N has created Vaporware, an album that finds its inspiration in much of the same places as the microgenre trend. But instead of borrowing generously from sampled works and lazily slapping them together or pitch-shifting them, JU4N‘s creations are all his own. This is relaxing, new-agey type stuff. It goes for the nostalgic’s gut in that it most certainly hearken’s back to bygone eras, but it’s also a modern exercise in space and construction.
HD011: Sungod — Contackt
For a bit of a change of pace make sure you check out Sungod‘s most recent album Contackt. For a label that typically deals in electronic, ambient, and drone Holodeck really shows that its broadening its grasp with this one. Incorporating an insane amount of seemingly disparate genre influences, Sungod melds them all into one face-melting meteorite of blistering noise. Krautrock, metal riffs, world music, it’s all fair game and it’s delivered in punch after breathtaking punch. Bleached by the sun and fried by the desert heat, Contackt plays out like musical worship of some unknown ancient deity. Sungod leaves it all out there until every ounce of energy has been spent and the result in an album that is completely exhausting but wholly rewarding. Simply puy, this is music to meditate on, so tune in and zone out.
HD012: Dylan C — Samsara: Causes & Conditions
Stretching their wheelhouse even further, Holodeck has also released the double-album Samsara: Causes & Conditions of electronic dance producer Dylan C (surname: Cameron). Like two different sides of a coin, Causes (Side A) and Conditions (Side B) have their own distinct personalities. For the first half of the album you’ll be treated to tracks that are expertly crafted as they are immediate, fun, and danceable. These somewhat minimal beats operate in the primal parts of the human brain and are a perfect counterpoint for the back half of the album. Utilizing samples more liberally, Conditions is the half of the album that seems more of-the-moment. That’s not to take away from anything Dylan does here and I don’t mean to lump him in with other artists. A listen through Samsara: Causes & Conditions is enough to put that to bed. Just don’t forget your dancing shoes.
HD013: Thousand Foot Whale Claw — Dope Moons Vol. 1
The first of a couple recent re-issues, Dope Moons Vol. 1 is the stunning debut of Thousand Foot Whale Claw (originally released on Monofonus Press). Featuring members of Pure X and Troller, I imagine that Thousand Foot Whale Claw is an outlet for everything non-conventional. The band specializes in lengthy ambient drone pieces that approach the 10-minute mark more often than not. And yet for crafting such large chunks of music, the tones on Dope Moons Vol. 1 go down surprisingly easy. These tracks aren’t self-indulgent noodlings, they occupy a tight arena and understand space and timing. As the label puts it, these tracks are “beat driven, kraut-soaked, four-on-the-floor psychedelic vision quests.” I can’t really put it any better than that, but just know that these tracks definitely have a tendency to hit a groove and unlock something in the brain. Before you know it you’ve been trancing out for almost 40 minutes.
HD014: Smokey Emery — Soundtracks for Invisibility Vol. 2: You Take the High Road
Daniel Hipolito AKA Smokey Emery has graced the pages of PORTALS before for his Quartz EP. This time around Holodeck has released the second volume in Smokey Emery‘s Soundtracks for Invisibility series (the first volume released on Daniel’s own imprint Kiamesha Drive). You Take the High Road builds on the Hipolito’s formula of haunting amalgamations of sampled field recordings, ambient noise, and recorded instrumentation. Breathing raw life into his creations, the resulting constructions become more than simply a sum of their parts. Looping and layering with a deft touch, You Take the High Road is an album that occupies its own space in sort of a suspended animation. It’s dense and challening with its lengthy runtime, but it ranks high up there as some of the more beautiful ambient music you’ll hear this year.
HD015: S U R V I V E — HDXV
Finally, the label has also released the 2012 debut of S U R V I V E (originally released on vinyl by Mannequin Records). The analog-synth quartet is not only a staple of the Austin music scene (well, depending on where you look), but members of the band also run things at Holodeck headquarters. So it makes sense that they would want to give it a loving cassette re-issue. As far as what to expect on this thing, I can sum it up in one word: atmosphere. Dark, dark atmosphere is present in every corner of this dense release. It also skirts the tricky line between sounding almost retro while also intensely modern. At times it also seems wholly alien. Imagine these guys are soundtracking the strangest and darkest corners of The X-Files, following only their own rules. Think of something like that and you’d be getting somewhere close.