Virtual mixtape radio for the sonically adventurous. 20 artists. Drops about three times a week. No schedule, just a passion for independent music.
Welcome to Trev’s Virtual Cassette Library, Episode 185, your virtual mixtape radio for the sonically adventurous. As per usual we’ll dive into 20 artists. All the shows have three word subtitles for places that have some meaning for me personally. These are also used as names for the background music in show intros and outros. This episodes’ subtitle is If you’d like to be featured on the slowest growing show on the internet then send files or codes to trevlad@gmail.com This episode has a bunch of artists from releases on the driftworks and whitelabrecs compilations ‘This Burnished Land’ and ‘An Ambient Decade’. Also a couple of tracks from the wonderful Passed Recordings label who were nice enough to write a Substack post about me. There has been a break in the Virtual Cassette Library series. The last one was a whole week ago since then I’ve been busy working on the Chord Confessions series. And please do send in your stories about a piece of music that has been pivotal in your life. You can record it yourself or I can tell it for you while promoting you and playing the most important music on the planet. A win, win, win concept. I’ve also done a couple of Krautrock inspired sets and a couple of Female artist sets celebrating International women’s day. AND, I’ve started a new idea of mixing story telling with DJ sets where I do a story based on the tracks in the set. All these while doing 5 part time jobs. A shout out to my one new follower this week ‘Citizens of Sound’ who are a dynamic podcast production agency that brings shows to life with gravity, handling everything from conception and branding to editing, mastering, management, and distribution for creators seeking impactful audio storytelling. They also seem to be involved with live events too. Great stuff…
We start with a couple of friends of the show who I believe made contact after appearing on the same compilation I released last December ‘Resonances from the Depths’ This is the New South Wales / Vancouver collaboration CommsBreakdown + Socool – My Brain Feels So Good (CommsBreakdown Mix) filtered guitar flickers like neon through rain-smeared windows, bass hugs the ribs, oh the snare snaps dopamine straight into the bloodstream, feet move before the mind catches up, so good so good so good…
That was My Brain Feels So Good by CommsBreakdown together with Socool And now whitelabrecs label curator Harry Towell – The Arrival from the album Infinite Light. horizon line shimmer gold, birdcalls echo on porch wall, lungs fill with warm arrival, everything settling into place like dust finally deciding to land
That was Harry Towell with The Arrival. Now from a label who’s been growing to new heights daily Passed Recordings. Here is one of their more beat oriented artists. Unruly Disturbance – Winter Chorus (from The Ghost of Christmas Passed) icicle voices overlap in the chimney throat, old tinsel ghosts harmonize with wind through cracked panes, memory frost blooming on the inside of eyelids, shivering carols no one saw.
That was Manchester based artist Unruly Disturbance with Winter Chorus. Now from winter vibes direct to California beaches and funky indie pop joviality with Ginger Root – Neighbor from the album City Slicker elevator soul hums through thin walls, city lights smear like lipstick on glass, who’s next door living my alternate Tuesdays, smooth keys slide under skin, pretending not to notice the shared vibes.
That was Ginger Root with Neighbor. Next a good mate of the channel Asha Patera – The Light From Within from the album Ocean Compilation 2 out on the extremely prolific label Sounds for the Soul Records. A great label to get a track on if you want to get noticed. golden thread unspools behind the sternum, breath catches on warm filament, everything inside glowing quiet, no edges, just soft radiance pooling where shadows used to sit
That was Asha Patera with The Light From Within. Asha will also appear on my upcoming compilation Puzzles of the Psyche. There are still a few day left to send in a piece. Now Lingua Lustra – Cloudsong from the album Essence from 2017 and recently released on a compilation featuring Lingua Lustras most notable tracks. drifting white shapes swallow the sky, tones float weightless like exhaled thoughts, higher, softer, dissolving into pale blue nothing, I am only vapor now
That was Lingua Lustra with Cloudsong Next up a couple of artists I’ve played a few times on the channel get together here. Dogs Versus Shadows & Nicholas Langley – ‘Slapdash And Bouldered’ from the album 16mm out on Spanish label Strategic Tape Reserve. The shortest track of the show. wonky tape warble stumbles over mossy rocks, slap echo bounces erratic, head full of loose marbles rolling downhill, laughter distorted through pine needles, gloriously off-kilter
That was Dogs Versus Shadows & Nicholas Langley with ‘Slapdash And Bouldered’. Now a balearic vibe and some more birds Sweatson Klank – Ultra Marine from the album Aureolin Winter compilation out on Los Angeles, California’s Friends Of Friends label. deep cyan pulse underwater cathedral, synth tendrils curl like bioluminescent kelp, body suspended, heart knocking slow against infinite blue pressure, beautiful drowning.
That was Sweatson Klank with Ultra Marine. Next staying with the birds. I do miss my old mix show For The Birds where all the tracks featured birds. One beautiful day when some more of you subscribe I’ll bring it back. Anyway here’s another collaboration. This time Graham Seaman, Mosaicist and Noctilusense – Pastures Green from the album This Burnished Land available through the Driftworks label. emerald blades bend under invisible feet, distant bell tone ripples through dew, mind wanders fence lines that aren’t there anymore, green green greener until the color swallows itself.
That was Graham Seaman, Mosaicist and Noctilusense with Pastures Green Now Michael Grigoni – Nod from that fantastic whitelabrecs compilation ‘An Ambient Decade’ slow eyelid curtain falls, world softens to charcoal smudge, breath syncs with low tide hum, nodding deeper into velvet dark, yes, yes, keep going.
Next, to end the A side, we stay with whitelabrecs and An Ambient Decade. This is Mosaicist, Simon Hall, Neil McRoberts, Percolator and Marjorie Dawson with Jack from (au·tay·uh·row·uh) Aotearoa – Waiting For Rain. dry earth cracks whisper upward, sky heavy with unshed silver, fingers trace dust on windowsill, clouds gather like forgotten promises, any second now the first drop.
B Side –
We open Side B with yet another collaboration. This time Israeli artists Nitai Hershkovits & Daniel Dor – Elsewhere – Found & Found. This is one of only two tracks available to listen to on the pre-order of the album which will be released on April 24. ‘Found & Found’ is their second outing together. Back in 2024 they released one of my favourite albums of that year ‘The Garden Suite’. What we hear here is promising. piano keys wander off the map, somewhere between memory and tomorrow, notes drift like lantern paper across black water, we aren’t here anymore, are we.
That was Nitai Hershkovits & Daniel Dor with Elsewhere. Next a piece of my own as Trevlad – Hill Roving Slicer from the album TVCL 10 which is the 10th album of collected backgrounds from the Virtual Cassette Library series. If leaving tips or subscribing to the Mixcloud is not your thing then maybe you could consider grabbing a copy of one the back catalogue albums. Anyway… wind slices grass blades sideways, modular blades carve hill contours, body tumbling through frequency grass, roving, slicing, alive in the shear
That was me, Trevlad with Hill Roving Slicer. Now from the East coast of Sweden to the West this is Datasal – Besök from the double A side single Observatoriet / Besök out on Gothenburgs finest Höga Nord Rekords. A wonderful mix of synth and guitar here. Swedish twilight creaks open, footsteps on wooden dock over dark lake, visitor arrives without knocking, air thick with pine and unsaid words, welcome, stay
That was Datasal with Besök. Next Mr Harry Towell is back with his alias Glåsbird – Days of Iron and Steam, another featured track from the compilation An Ambient Decade. Wonderful ambient tones and sparce piano. rusted pistons sigh in fogged morning, iron veins pulse slow heat, steam ghosts rise from cracked boiler hearts, industrial lullaby grinding toward dusk.
That was Glåsbird with Days of Iron and Steam. Now another couple of friends of the channel here in the form of Exit Chamber & Ed Herbers – Loathing (from SELF-) out on that fantastic label Passed Recordings that keep insisting on being included in the shows by being the best. nails on chalkboard nerves, mirror cracks inward, loathing coils like smoke in the throat, self staring back with borrowed eyes, heavier every loop
That was Exit Chamber & Ed Herbers with Loathing Next the longest piece og the episode, clocking in at 10:17 by the artist JSF – The Opening Gate (Splendid Seas of Canopus) from the album ‘Astral Airways’ out on a label that’s been catching my attention lately ‘The Dream Journal Institute’. cosmic gate creaks on star hinges, Canopus light floods the corridor, splendid seas roll in vacuum waves, sailing weightless toward unknown shore
That was JSF with The Opening Gate (Splendid Seas of Canopus) Now yet another collaboration. Julia Gjertsen and Gustav Davidsson – ‘Afterglow’ from the album ‘Wandering Mind, Drifting Weather’. Norwegian piano meet Swedish trombone. last ember glows behind closed lids, piano traces fading sunset lines, bodies still humming from earlier touch, quiet warmth lingers, refuses to leave
That was Julia Gjertsen and Gustav Davidsson with Afterglow. simon mccorry – in the feint of moonlight – ‘all the important things are now connected’. On whitelabrecs. A listening party on the 16 of March with the official release set for 21 March. moonlight feints through bare branches, cello bow breathes almost inaudible, silver outline of everything almost disappearing, almost here, almost gone
That was simon mccorry with the penultimate track of episode 185, ‘in the feint of moonlight’. To end the show I give you Visible Cloaks – Disque (ft. Motion Graphics) from the album Paradessence. Available through RVNG Intl. prism refractions dance on wet pavement, synths bloom fractal petals, motion graphics flicker inside the mind’s eye, disque spinning endless iridescent now. Thanks for listening… echoes fold into themselves, last tone hangs like breath in winter air, silence returns, softer than before, carrying everything we heard… cheerio…
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 drifted into. This is Trev’s Virtual Cassette Library, episode one hundred and seventy-two. I’m Trevor, sifting through the reels once more, turning the dial until something faintly human—or faintly inhuman—comes through.
These cassettes still carry the promise of two sides, a flip in the middle. Twenty artists tonight, drawn from various corners: some from the damp fields of field recording-touched ambient, others from the slow-burn electronics of Glasgow’s Bricolage or whitelabrecs quiet corners, a few from Portland’s soft tape worlds, and further out to the looped, patient rhythms that refuse to hurry.
No rush here. No hooks to grab you by the collar. These are pieces that breathe, that unfold like fog over water, that let time stretch until it forgets its own name.
The Wild Hunt Die Wilde Jagd – Gleiß K – Convenanza – Höganord Rekords A motorik pulse wrapped in dark-leaning kraut electronics, voices half-buried in the machinery, building without ever quite arriving. So Headphones on, let time dissolve and let the frequencies claim you.
Now one of the shortest entries on the show Ann Annie – lupine – El Prado (Deluxe) – available through Nettwerk label. Portland piano atmospheres drift in gentle layers, carrying a meditative hush, like rain on greenhouse glass.
blochemy – Eim – Islas Calm Cloud – whitelabrecs. Sorry for the mispronunciation in the last episode. Minimal tape wonk and electroacoustic patience, tones that hover and slowly modulate, a quiet study in restraint and space.
And now clap along with Nu Era – See Are Seven (Bonus Track) – The Second Circle – Neroli Records Deep, enveloping electronics with a touch of kosmische drift, layers folding inward, unhurried and expansive.
Next Saya Gray – PUDDLE ( OF ME ) – Saya – Dirty Hit Intimate, watery textures, voice and instrumentation blurring into something fragile and reflective, almost confessional in its slowness.
Check the reverb on the rimshots. Robohands – Oranj – Oranj – Bastard Jazz Recordings Wonky Rhodes and guitar-led loops that circle and evolve, warm and understated, letting small repetitions reveal hidden depths over time.
Now panic inducing mud flaps. Sophie Sleigh-Johnson – Chaldean Acts – Nuncio Ref – Crow Versus Crow Sparse, ritualistic soundscapes, field edges and processed resonances evoking ancient, unspoken acts.
Back to some pop phrasings and a bassist at work Flora Hibberd – Auto Icon – Swirl – self-released Delicate, swirling arrangements, voice and instrumentation caught in gentle eddies, intimate and quietly hypnotic.
And now a recent mate of the channel brings some pigeons CommsBreakdown – In The Heart Of Spring – Dadtronica Ambientus – self-released Spring-like modular pulses and soft drones, a sense of renewal threaded through the circuitry. Lovely stuff.
Now to end Side A with a stomping track from one of my fantastic supporting labels Bricolage Black Lupus – Fractal Particles – Paradigm 10 Year Label Sampler – Bricolage Glasgow Granular electronics from Glasgow, particles scattering and reforming in fractal patterns, precise yet organic.
Tape flip.
The cassette turns. Side B.
Starting off Side B Vancouver based Active Dark Filament – Song for Moritz – (NYP) – Lost Axioms Excerpts – self-released Dedicated drift, dark ambient threads that pull slowly across an 80s vibe stereo field.
And now for something special from David Soulscorch here as Rural District Lo-Fi Recording Project – Disenchanting. Nice Work If You Can Get It – Jolly Johnny and His Oompahing Oomlahs. Lo-fi pastoral wanderings, disenchanted yet oddly affectionate, cassette warmth intact. This album made me happy.
Next is from a label I’d love to play more of as they release some of the best sounds out there. Unfortunately I can’t afford to play as much as I’d like and I respect that they won’t send me stuff for free, but every now and then something lands on my decks for which I’m grateful. This is one of those times. Here’s Kayla Painter – Anicca – Tectonic Particles – Quiet Details Shifting, impermanent textures, tectonic plates of sound moving beneath the surface, calm on top.
And now to the label who has championed the channel for many a year and a release by James Adrian Brown – Generator – Generator – Colin Morrisons Castles in Space Generator hums and harmonic overtones, a machine dreaming its own slow song.
Speaking of great labels here’s another one worthy of your attention storyinsoil – Spin Glass – Distillation – Ingrown Glassy, spinning drones, crystalline and distilled, turning in perpetual motion. Release date is set to February 3rd, so go grab a copy.
Now there’s this wonderful Russian artist NDORFIK who I’ve had a bit of contact with over the past few weeks. He’s a great guy and good at promoting his mates here is one of them in Local Gods label curator Alexander Lvov as Man as island – Haikei – AN. This has yet to get an official release date so you are a lucky bunch. Isolated, island-bound reveries, spacious and solitary, awaiting their proper tide.
Now an oldie I think I discovered through an instagram post by dream.weasel. I recommend you checking her out. This is Andy Stott – Luxury problems – Modern Love Heavy, dubbed-out pressure, bass weight and smeared atmospheres from the Manchester shadows.
Now my favourite middle eastern groove outfit Sababa 5 – Allô – C A VA C A VA – set for release on Batov records on 20 Feb. Psychedelic-tinged grooves, loose and sun-bleached.
The penultimate track and another super supporter of the channel. Label curator Harry Towell & Guy Gelem – Esplanade – Islas Calm Cloud – Whitelabrec. Calm, esplanade-length drones, coastal in feel, minimal and modern classical in poise.
And now, as the tape nears its end, a few words before the leader tape rattles through. Thanks for staying with it. These libraries aren’t built for playlists or algorithms; they’re for the ones who still turn the dial by hand. Support the artists if any of this lodged somewhere inside you—buy the tapes, the files, the vinyl where it exists. Whisper their names when the room is quiet. It matters. This episode streams on Mixcloud for a short while, links and credits at trevor.se and in the comments below. Say something if the mood takes you. Or say nothing. Silence has its own frequency. The final piece is the shortest of the episode but is a gem by Kure – Moon Acid – Another from Paradigm 10 Year Label Sampler – on Glasgows finest Bricolage label. Acid-touched moonlit electronics, another Glasgow echo, warped and lunar. Until the next reel spins—stay resonant, stay adrift.
Welcome, sonic wanderers. You’ve arrived at Episode 140 of The Virtual Cassette Library.
Trunk Stubbed Wiser is the episodes subtitle, as well as the track you’re hearing in the background and it’s geographical location which I’ve filmed and can be experienced on YouTube.
I’m Trevor and I curate these 90-minute genre bending drifts through frequencies from around the globe. No commentary. No interruptions. Just pure sonic immersion. Two, 45 minute mixes, 15 tracks per side with a side change in the middle.
Picture the listening experience like being at a music festival where the artists play on a rotating stage. Each act is allotted time for their piece and as it ends the next act takes over rotating into view.
Styles for this episode range from ambient to post-rock, from eurorack modular to folk. The musical keys in focus are F sharp major D flat major and D sharp minor, E flat minor.
This episode contains some household names like Hainbach, Loula Yorke and Matthew Halsall. Some friends of the channel like HDRF, Apta and Bryan Rohmer as well as some supporting labels like Third Kind Records, Mystery Circles, Moolakii Club Audio Interface, DiN records and many more. All the artists and labels are the soul of this show.
There is one exclusive track on this episode from the Argentinian trio of OdNu, Mi Cosa de Resistance and friend of the show mRn. The track, Regalo de Adios, comes from their upcoming album, Southern Lands, which drops November 29th on Sheffield based label, Audiobulb.
If you’d like to be included on future episodes send your art to trevlad@gmail.com. Links to all the tracks are illuminated at trevor.se and marked in each episode’s Mixcloud timeline.
Pre-order the 7th TVCL album on Bandcamp. It drops when we hit 16 tracks. Also the first channel compilation with 45 tracks so far will drop today the 8th of November, pre-orders are available. Subscribe and unlock 871 archived shows.
Remember, every comment, every like, every follow, subscription and, album purchase keeps the frequencies flowing.
So now—secure those headphones. Let time dissolve, and let the frequencies claim you.