Trev’s Virtual Cassette Library 170
21 January 2026
Virtual mixtape radio for the sonically adventurous. 20 artists. Drops about three times a week. No schedule, just a passion for independent music.
Good evening, or morning, or whatever sliver of the clock you’ve managed to carve out for yourself. This is Trev’s Virtual Cassette Library, episode one hundred and seventy. I’m Trevor, pulling another virtual tape from the imaginary shelf, blowing off the fantasy dust, and sliding it into the dreamed up deck.
Cassette tapes have two sides, of course. We’ll play through Side A, then flip it—virtually, mind you—and carry on with Side B. Twenty artists tonight, drawn from various corners, various decades in some cases, but all of them worth the time. No rush. The show runs as long as the tape does.
Styles drift across ambient swells from northern latitudes, submerged electronics that sound like sonar pings in forgotten wrecks, sparse house pulses, field-recorded quietudes, kinetic experiments, and a few moments of outright joyful confusion. Places echo through too: underwater depths around the MV Creteblock, Japanese winter clear skies in fuyubare which is Japanese and means just that, clear winter skies. We have snow-covered expanses in Stella Rossa territory, and various abstracted laboratories of sleep and decryption.
Side A kicks off with Berlin based, Metric System 1981 – Diffusion – Solar Return: Gollden Hour Mix – out on Toronto based ambient label – Imaginary North.
A slow unfurling of synthetic haze, layers peeling back like morning mist over still water. Patient, golden-hour glow without the need for resolution.
Don’t be fooled by this chilled opening Now we ramp up the party with Oh Mr James – The Acid Riddle – Extracellular Gig Ticket Promo CD I’ve been ranting about on the past couple of episodes – Buried Treasure.
Acid lines twist through a riddle of percussion and odd vocal fragments. Something peculiar and insistent lurks here, half-buried in the mix.
Taking us back down now, to a much darker place is Warmfield – Wreck of the MV Creteblock – Resonances from the Depths – Which is my own compilation album released on the Trevlad Bandcamp page. Pick it up for a buck. It’s got 24 Stellar artists. And a reminder to get your entries in for the next compilation dropping at the end of March.
Deep submersion piece, creaking hulls and distant bubbles. Feels like listening from inside a sunken freighter somewhere in cold northern seas. Warmfield with Wreck of the MV Creteblock
Now we’re entering Electro world with Revok – No Reflection – Mirror – A digital Bandcamp self release.
Mirrors without reflections: stark, echoing electronics that fold in on themselves. Minimal surfaces, maximum unease.
Over we drift to Lawrence – Spark – Spark EP – Ghostly International, which dropped way back in 2004.
A gentle house flicker, warm and understated. Spark as in ignition, but slow-burning, Detroit lineage felt in the restraint.
And now an absolute belter. This will have you on your feet in no time. In fact I featured it on my new series called Alone on the dance floor along with that Revok piece I played earlier. This is Baxter Dury – with the title track from the album Allbarone – Out on London based Heavenly Recordings.
Spoken-edged narratives over loose grooves. Pub philosophy meets off-kilter funk, delivered deadpan.
Shuffling up the genres again now. So how about some psych-surf rock? This is The Hamiltones – Suit Up – In Space – A name your price release on Buffalo, New York based Swimming Faith Records.
Cosmic soul strut, horns and tight rhythms lifting off into orbit. Feels like getting dressed for a mission beyond the atmosphere.
Now for some super fresh Electro stabs from SubDan – You – Moments of Joy – Out on Nottingham, UK based Remnants records.
Quiet joy in electronic form, soft pads and subtle shifts. A moment caught and held.
Now some gorgeous IDM from Djrum – Waxcap – Under Tangled Silence – Out on London label Houndstooth.
Mycelial rhythms, fungal growth in sound. Percussion that breathes, field recordings woven into the undergrowth.
The penultimate track of the A side brings the bliss with Luis Miehlich – 冬晴 (Fuyubare) – Verses – Out on the Dewtone label.
Winter clear sky translated to tones: crystalline, open space, Japanese seasonal precision in ambient form.
We end the A side in field recording teratory Lorebound – Tales of Decryption – AvRPG – Available on South Korean label Prekursor
Encrypted narratives unlocked layer by layer. RPG ambience with cryptic melodies emerging from static.
B Side
We open with some pretty wild jazz from Ljubljana, Slovenia based Etceteral – Minus – Kimatika – Out on Glitterbeat Records.
Subtraction as composition: negative space filled with sparse tones and distant pulses.
Next an old favorite of mine in the form of Benge – Five Fifty Eight – Orgoustic Plus 30.
Modular drift, clockwork precision meeting organic warmth. Time marked in subtle increments.
Now Tom Bragl – Tidal Force – Pielesh – Out on name your price Finnish label Kahvi Collective
Gravitational pull in electronic waves, tides rising slow and inevitable.
Next up Alexander Caminada aka Phonosonic – The Drifting Quiet – Sleeplaboratory60 – Whitelabrecs.
Quiet that drifts rather than settles. Field recordings and gentle drones in a sleep lab haze. I’ve played a lot from this compilation so go grab it on whitelabrecs.
While we’re on this record let’s take another dip with Tides – Light Veils –
Veils of light over water, translucent layers shimmering. Companion piece feel, same whitelabs stillness.
Now we head back to Buried treasure and that amazing Extracellular exclusive this time from Gong Girl – Kinetic Kinetic Kinetic – Extracellular Gig Ticket Promo CD.
Kinetic energy in perpetual motion, circling without landing.
So what’s missing from the episode? Ah, flutes and xylophones I hear you cry. Well I’ve got you covered. Not me personally but Dual Dialect – Conglomerate III – Meme-leak Mosaic – Conglomerate EP – out on Aussie label 4000 records.
Mosaic of leaking fragments, dialect collisions in glitch and rhythm. Chaotic assembly.
Lovely stuff there from Dual Dialect. Now to the penultimate track of episode 170 from mate of the channel. Simon Heartfield – Across The Snow – Stella Rossa – all live hardware stuff zero computers. Featuring a vocal samples by Isle of Wight artist Roberta Fidora.
Snowfield traversal: cold expanse, distant horizons in melodic ambient strokes.
To end this episode we bliss out with two artists I’ve played in previous outings but not together. Well here they are. Anita Tatlow & Runaway Horses – with the opening piece from their 5 track EP – The Shore from Above – The his is – confused and happy – out on Echoes Blue Music.
Shoreline vantage, happiness tangled with confusion. Voices and strings adrift on the edge.
Outro –
And then the tape will wind to the end. Thanks for staying with it. These selections aren’t chasing trends or filling slots—they’re simply pieces I wanted to hear in sequence. Support the artists where you can: Bandcamp pages, physical releases if they exist, or at least send a whisper of appreciation their way. It all travels further than you think.
This episode streams on Mixcloud for a short while, links and full credits at trevor.se, comments open if anything strikes you. Or stay quiet. Quiet has its own frequency.
Until the next tape calls—stay curious, stay listening. Here is Anita Tatlow & Runaway Horses with confused and happy.
Intro – 00:00
Metric System 1981 – Diffusion – 01:36
*Oh Mr James – The Acid Riddle – 04:41
Warmfield – Wreck of the MV Creteblock – 08:06
Revok – No Reflection – 12:36
Lawrence – Spark – 16:21
Baxter Dury – Allbarone – 22:29
The Hamiltones – Suit Up – 26:34
SubDan – You – 29:39
Djrum – Waxcap – 34:43
Luis Miehlich – 冬晴 (Fuyubare) – 39:28
Lorebound – Tales of Decryption – 42:39
B Side – 44:40
Etceteral – Minus – 44:58
Benge – Five Fifty Eight – 48:56
Tom Bragl – Tidal Force – 54:20
Alexander Caminada – The Drifting Quiet – 1:00:02
Tides – Light Veils – 1:03:54
Gong Girl – Kinetic Kinetic Kinetic – 1:08:20
Dual Dialect – Conglomerate III – Meme-leak Mosaic – 1:11:31
Simon Heartfield – Across The Snow – 1:15:29
Anita Tatlow & Runaway Horses – confused and happy – 1:19:54
Outro – 1:23:46
*track is yet to be released at the date of episode recording.
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🎧 Episode background track: https://trevlad.bandcamp.com/album/tvcl-09
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