You’ve pressed play on another Virtual Cassette Library. Twelve tracks. Two sides. A little plastic ghost that flips itself at the halfway mark, like a polite pancake.
If you make music, or you run a label, or you simply own a shed full of strange noises and would like them filed somewhere warm, send your links or Bandcamp codes to trevlad@gmail.com. I read every one. Promise. I read them with both eyes and, on special occasions, a third one.
The shows stay free for the first week, wandering about with their shoelaces undone. After that they slip quietly into the hands of my Mixcloud subscribers, who currently have over eleven hundred other episodes waiting for them whenever the mood strikes, which in my experience is usually Tuesdays, or during eclipses, or when the kettle boils. Subscribers also receive the expanding series of three-hour adventures titled Veil Frequencies, which is less a mixtape and more a long walk through a curtain that may be sentient.
Now. Each of these episodes is a two-part outing, just like the classic cassette. Unlike mixtapes or playlists, these two sides are curated as proper DJ sets, six tracks segued into one continuous mix, stitched together so carefully you can barely see the thread. Unless you look.
I hope you enjoy the adventure. Mind the flip.
A town happy to say its name twice, then dreams tied up and happy at the dock. Side A points at the same corner until it smiles back, leaves a Sylvian junction open on every side, blows a gemstone rather than cutting it, scores the nights drawing in with a title that has not quite arrived, fills its eyes with moss and lets the ground read along, and finds a lost horizon again at whisper volume. Side B keeps the root when the other two panels have bowed, holds distant blue on a spine with both names, touches the sea once and keeps the salt, draws a bath for someone very small, paginates an inland ocean so you can stop at the paragraph, and moors its dreams with the rope left slack. Overall mood: Gentle, slightly elegiac, and quietly domestic — full of repeating towns, unlit next rooms, and water that agrees to stay inland. Perfect for dusk listening, houses that have agreed to be smaller, or sitting still while the next spool still waits.
Mood mist: a town happy to say its name twice, a junction in the brain, a flute sent out to sea, a score for the nights drawing in, a burial with moss for eyes, a horizon found again at whisper volume.
00:02:19 Nonturn – Indicate https://nonturn.bandcamp.com/track/indicate Album: Repeating Town. Label: Audiobulb Pointing at the same corner until the corner smiles back. Audiobulb letting the loop finish itself. 00:07:39 HDRF – The Sylvian Intersection https://iheartnoise.bandcamp.com/track/hdrf-the-sylvian-intersection Album: IHN019 // Gone in 60 Seconds – Vol. 5. Label: I Heart Noise Gone in sixty seconds, which isn’t enough. I Heart Noise leaving the turning open on every side. 00:08:34 Kirk Monteux Mysoftmusic – Flute Ocean Peace https://cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/track/kirk-monteux-mysoftmusic-flute-ocean-peace Album: Gemstones VII [CYD 0166]. Label: Cyclical Dreams A gemstone from the seventh tray, blown rather than cut. Cyclical Dreams holding the tide at a polite distance. 00:12:55 Oceanographer – The Eternal https://bricolageglasgow.bandcamp.com/ Album: Orctalox. Label: Bricolage Shimmering and cloudy, sprawling and compact, bright and fading. A score for the nights drawing in. Title of the hour. Pre-order from the 9th, the record itself on the 23rd. 00:18:55 Grey Malkin – Burial Song https://fennycompton.bandcamp.com/track/burial-song Album: Label: Fenny Compton, Woodford Halse Our eyes filled with moss, the ground reading along in a kind voice. Fenny Compton keeping the hymn in the shed. 00:20:06 midorinozu – quiet spectrum https://homenormal.bandcamp.com/track/quiet-spectrum Album: lost horizons. Label: Home Normal Lost horizons, found again at a volume the house can sleep beside. Home Normal leaving the lights on in the next room.
Mood mist: a root under a painting in three panels, blue far enough to keep its name, a sea touched once and remembered, a bath drawn for someone very small, an ocean that lives inland, dreams tied up and happy at the dock.
00:26:53 ambalek – Root https://ambalek.bandcamp.com/track/root Album: Triptych. Label: Oskar Karlström The panel that stays when the other two have bowed. The thing under the thing. 00:31:16 David Cordero & Aiko Takahashi – Distant Blue https://homenormal.bandcamp.com/track/distant-blue Album: Night’s End. Label: Home Normal The colour of a window still deciding to be morning. Home Normal keeping both names on the spine. 00:35:16 Nanováros – I Touched the Sea Once https://passedrecordings.bandcamp.com/track/i-touched-the-sea-once Album: Passed Oceans. Label: Passed Recordings Passed Oceans keeping the hand, salt and all, as a keepsake. 00:40:07 Guest Bartender Deborah Toyota – Bathtime https://guestbartenderdeborahtoyota.bandcamp.com/track/bathtime Album: Music for Babies. Label: Mystery Circles Music for babies, which is to say music for the hour when the house agrees to be smaller. Mystery Circles running the tap very quietly. 00:42:21 Eric Angelo Bessel – Chapter https://lorecity.bandcamp.com/album/illusion-of-an-inland-ocean Album: Illusion of an Inland Ocean. Label: Lore City Music An illusion of an inland ocean, paginated. Lore City letting you stop at the end of the paragraph and not the coast. 00:45:44 Almost Random – Dreams moor at that Dock https://cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/track/dreams-moor-at-that-dock Album: Fragments From the Waning World [CYD 0163]. Label: Cyclical Dreams Fragments from the waning world, tied up, not planning to sail. Cyclical Dreams leaving the rope slack.
This has been The Virtual Cassette Library, episode 318. Travel safely between the frequencies. I’ll meet you on the other side of the next spool.
Good day, listeners… or should I say, travellers of the tape. Trevor here. You’ve pressed play on another fragile spool of the Virtual Cassette Library. Episode 285. Twelve-track virtual cassettes that flips themselves at the halfway mark.
If you make music, or run a label, and fancy a place in the library, send your links or Bandcamp codes to trevlad@gmail.com. I read every one. Promise. Tips and subscriptions keep the reels turning. Every little helps the library stay open after dark.
The shows remain free for the first week, then slip quietly into the hands of my Mixcloud subscribers, who currently have 1,115 other episodes waiting for them whenever the mood strikes. Subscribers receive the expanding series of 3-hour adventures titled Veil Frequencies. They also get the ever-growing advance version of the forthcoming compilation Quiet Figures. A grounded yet otherworldly ambient journey through suburban roots, dissolving melodies, secret stones, and unravelled dreams. Side A takes root in overlooked verges and massive voltage, then unfolds along early analogue paths, melting gestures, nights of silver tears, and Leeds-cloud haze. Side B opens into celestial mediumship and the hidden life of stones, then moves through whispering figures, closed-eye warmth, Lovecraftian walking, and a dream seen that day. Overall mood: Contemplative, slightly melancholic, and richly textured — blending organic observation, analogue warmth, and quiet mystery. Perfect for deep listening, late-night walks, or sitting still while the world slowly unravels. The tape unspools its visions.
Side A
00:03:28 ambalek – Roots Overlooked suburban corners reveal themselves in slow photographic light. ambalek – Roots. Nature’s small moments gather among fences and quiet verges, each observation taking root in soft organic colour. 00:07:43 Baldocaster & Prog Mountain – Massive Dynamic Massive shapes pulse with dynamic voltage. Baldocaster & Prog Mountain – Massive Dynamic. Sonic architecture rises in heavy luminous blocks that shift and reassemble under their own gravity. 00:09:38 Analogue Path – Post Rock 001 Early exploratory paths open across analogue ground. Analogue Path – Post Rock 001. Guitar tones and evolving textures mark the first stretches of a long road still unfolding ahead. 00:13:45 Arbee – Se fondre Modular snippets of melody dissolve into one another. Arbee – Se fondre. Unnoticed actions and quiet gestures texture the air. Details surface at their own pace, inviting deep immersion. 00:16:15 TREVØR – Night of a Thousand Tears A thousand tears fall through night-coloured air. TREVØR – Night of a Thousand Tears. Each drop catches and releases light, turning sorrow into a rain of silver points. 00:24:07 Adel Music Club – Melt the Clouds Leeds jams from the early nineties melt the clouds above. Adel Music Club – Melt the Clouds. Assorted tunes recorded in various rooms rise through a photographic slide bought at the outdoor market, the sky itself softening into warm analogue haze.
The cassette reaches its midpoint and turns.
Side B
00:25:19 Aglaia – Mediumship Celestial altitudes open in peaceful hypnotic currents. Aglaia – Mediumship. Processed acoustic instruments and subtle electronics weave a mysterious mandala. Consciousness flies through boundless spaces, receiving rather than transmitting, as sponges, anemones and particle clouds dominate the descent. 00:41:32 Walt Shaw – The secret life of stones Stones keep their secret life among constructed percussion. Walt Shaw – The secret life of stones. Pebbles roll inside bowls and cans. Gongs, springs, saw blades, glass and metal plates vibrate under contact microphones. Accidents become rich textures, blood wiped away, the unexpected harnessed into drones and decay. 00:45:33 Cries from the LTN – Caggy’s Jam Silent figures whisper through Caggy’s jam. Cries from the LTN – Caggy’s Jam. Hidden mysteries unravel in the compositions that shadow us, each narrative rising from the Quiet Figures still gathering. 00:56:12 Six Missing – Eyes Closed Eyes close while vintage analogue warmth holds the listener. Six Missing – Eyes Closed. Synths and guitars chosen for heart and human touch accompany late nights, travel and smaller details. One self passes into another in quiet accepted motion. 00:58:50 Almost Random – I walk whilst the world Unravelled The world unravels while a walker moves through Lovecraftian mists. Almost Random – I walk whilst the world Unravelled. Celephais docks give way to Kingsport fog and forgotten cities in eastern sands. Eurorack voices lead the procession under a lecturer’s gaze. 01:03:29 Silentwave – The dream I saw that day A dream seen that day returns as improvised drone. Silentwave – The dream I saw that day. Soft luminous layers drift in open oneiric space.
The visions complete their circle. The oxide continues its quiet journey until the end of the spool.
Also in the works: the next compilation, Quiet Figures, release date 26 September. Uncover the narratives whispered by the silent, ever-present figures that shadow us, through compositions that unravel their hidden mysteries. Does that stir anything? Send entries to trevlad@gmail.com Include artist name, track name, and a link to other work. Deadline: 24 September.
This has been The Virtual Cassette Library, episode 285. Travel safely between the tracks. I’ll meet you on the other side of the next spool.
Good day, listeners… or should I say, travellers of the tape. Trevor here. You’ve just pressed play on another fragile spool of the Virtual Cassette Library. Episode 277. A twelve-track virtual cassette that flips itself at the halfway mark, whether you’re ready or not. If you make music, or run a label, and fancy a place in the library, send your links or Bandcamp codes to trevlad@gmail.com. I read every one. Promise. Tips and subscriptions keep the reels turning. Every little helps the library stay open after dark. I’m trying something new by not introducing the artists, but instead incorporation their work into an incatation of sorts. The shows remain free for the first week, then slip quietly into the hands of my Mixcloud subscribers, who currently have 1,104 other episodes waiting for them whenever the mood strikes. Subscribers receive the expanding series of 3 hour adventures titled Veil Frequencies. They also get the ever-growing advance version of the forthcoming compilation Quiet Figures. A dreamlike, luminous ambient journey through nameless cities, rising rain, forgotten trails, and golden light. Side A drifts from violet fog and modular labyrinths into voltage nests, Apalachee trails, hauntological villages, deep indigo night, and lost map coordinates. Side B lifts with rain falling upward, vast interlocking machines, Bach-coloured bird calls, sideways golden rays, wide unknowable valleys, and a single golden earring turning in zero gravity. Overall mood: Contemplative, otherworldly, and quietly radiant — full of soft wonder, spectral warmth, and gentle expansion. Perfect for deep listening, late-night immersion, or drifting through imagined landscapes.
Side A 00:00:00 Almost Random – Night at the Nameless city A city without name rises from violet fog. Docks of Celephais stretch into endless water the colour of old mercury. Towers lean at angles that fold inward. Almost Random – Night at the Nameless City. Modular currents braid through the streets. A single lead voice climbs like a pale recorder note, threading the labyrinth where colours bloom outside the spectrum and a lecturer’s silhouette watches from every window at once. 00:05:07 LOULA YORKE – Broody The roof opens. A nest of voltage and feathers pulses with heat. LOULA YORKE – Broody. Shared-system circuits glow amber and emerald. Nestlings open their beaks in perfect rhythm with the rising sequences. The air fills with starling-shaped waveforms that scatter across the studio ceiling and reform as constellations. 00:07:57 Dionisaf – Forgotten Trails of the Apalachee (ft. Liesbet Leroy) Cotton fields unroll under a sky of molten copper. An ageing horse moves through tall grass that whispers in kalimba tones. Dionisaf – Forgotten Trails of the Apalachee. Liesbet’s flute drifts above the restored guitar like river mist carrying the scent of magnolias and dry October leaves. Forest trails glow with soft bioluminescence. Seven years of Mississippi light gather into a single warm horizon that keeps expanding. 00:10:03 Belbury Poly – The People A village appears between the hedges, built entirely of library jingles and children’s television ghosts. Belbury Poly – The People. Minimoog laughter curls through the lanes. Melodica and psaltery ring from open windows. Vines part to reveal Pan’s Garden where the InterCity 125 glides past in slow silver arcs and every face in the square turns toward the listener with the same knowing smile. 00:13:34 Euan Alexander Millar & Henrik Meierkord – Shades Of Night Night gathers in layers of deep indigo and charcoal. Euan Alexander Millar & Henrik Meierkord – Shades Of Night. Cello tones stretch into long translucent ribbons. Spoken words rise from within the drones and dissolve back into them. The entire field breathes at the pace of a single sustained note. 00:17:19 maps and diagrams – Echo.atlas-B2 [lost.wav] A map unfolds made of missing coordinates. maps and diagrams – Echo.atlas-B2 [lost.wav]. Waves of pure signal drift across blank paper, leaving faint luminous traces that rearrange themselves into new continents every few seconds. Side B 00:23:01 Spirituals – Rain Falling Up Rain lifts from the ground in slow silver columns and continues upward into a sky the colour of candle flame. Spirituals – Rain Falling Up. Pedal steel and vibraphone form soft glowing orbs that float beside the rising water. Field recordings and voice memos drift through the air as tiny points of warm light, each one a living candle carried through the open dark. 00:27:18 Dadanaut – Interferenzen Gears the size of towers interlock across a black-and-gold cityscape. Dadanaut – Interferenzen. Workers and superiors move inside the same vast machine. Sparks of freedom leap between the teeth of the wheels. The entire structure hums with the low frequency of relief seeking its shape. 00:32:09 Pointe du Lac – Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf (BWV617) An empty living room fills with the calls of exotic birds that exist only as samples. Pointe du Lac – Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf (BWV617). Simple arpeggios cross and shift like interlocking stained-glass windows. Bach harmonies rise through Sun Ra colours. The ceiling opens into a progressive lake of pure harmonic light. 00:35:04 Timo Kuusi – Crepuscular Rays Crepuscular rays pour sideways across the room in thick golden beams. Timo Kuusi – Crepuscular Rays. Each ray carries its own instructional geometry. The beams expand until the whole space becomes a single radiant exercise in pure illumination. 00:42:39 The Green Kingdom – Vale of the Unknowable Evening settles in airy layers of soft violet and pearl. The Green Kingdom – Vale of the Unknowable. Piano motifs drift through reverb-soaked guitar lines. The landscape opens into a wide still valley where every sound has room to unfold at its own unhurried pace. 00:44:52 Guest Bartender Deborah Toyota – Golden Earring A golden earring turns slowly in zero gravity, catching and releasing light in perfect circles. Guest Bartender Deborah Toyota – Golden Earring. The sound arrives as the first sensation of hearing itself: tender, experimental, shaped for the earliest possible listener. Everything remains open, unguarded, and newly born.
Good day, listeners… or should I say, travellers of the tape. Trevor here. You’ve pressed play on another fragile spool of the Virtual Cassette Library. Episode 277. Twelve-track virtual cassettes that flips themselves at the halfway mark.
If you make music, or run a label, and fancy a place in the library, send your links or Bandcamp codes to trevlad@gmail.com. I read every one. Promise. Tips and subscriptions keep the reels turning. Every little helps the library stay open after dark.
I’m trying something new by not introducing the artists, but instead incorporating their work into a vision of sorts. The shows remain free for the first week, then slip quietly into the hands of my Mixcloud subscribers, who currently have 1,105 other episodes waiting for them whenever the mood strikes. Subscribers receive the expanding series of 3-hour adventures titled Veil Frequencies. They also get the ever-growing advance version of the forthcoming compilation Quiet Figures.