Sound Frequency Manager

Posts tagged “long-form ambient”

Trev’s Virtual Cassette Library 326

Cosmic Drifter

Hello there, listeners. It’s me. Trevor.

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 pearl filed under ocean, then a periphery that still has a centre.
Side A keeps the grit and the glow in the same shell, lets the resonant field keep answering after the question has sat down, finds time for a blue event on the fast lane, sets an extra place for a postcard from the future, prefers the slow lane for recovery, and measures restraint in sixty-four fluxes content to hold still. Side B files the spirit of gravity with the soil, deepens into the moment before the moment, drifts with Berlin-school manners since the late seventies, walks a quiet figure down to the reservoir, counts time by the stars, and holds the rim so the centre can rest.
Overall mood: Contemplative, slightly cosmic, and quietly patient — full of unlatched doors, extra places, and clocks the stars prefer. Perfect for dusk listening, fields still ringing, or sitting still while the next spool still waits.


Mood mist: a pearl filed under ocean, a field that keeps ringing after you leave, a blue event on the fast lane, a postcard from the future introducing itself, a recovery that prefers the slow lane, restraint measured in sixty-four fluxes.

00:00:00 Ærebus – The Pearl
https://passedrecordings.bandcamp.com/track/the-pearl
Album: Passed Oceans. Label: Passed Recordings
Passed Oceans keeping the grit and the glow in the same shell.
00:08:06 Vivid Stars Forgotten – The resonance
https://vividstarsforgotten.bandcamp.com/track/the-resonance
Album: The Resonant Field. Label: EC Underground
The field still answering after the question has sat down. EC Underground leaving the door on the latch. Good to have you in the library, and on the subscriber list.
00:11:49 Petridisch x Jude Kerr – Blue Event VI (Breach of Trust Mix)
https://rakurecords.bandcamp.com/track/blue-event-vi-breach-of-trust-mix
Album: 7 Days in the Fast Lane. Label: Rakū Records
Seven days in the fast lane, and still time for a colour. Rakū keeping the lane open.
00:16:47 Mirai No Hagaki – presenting myself
https://camembertelectrique.bandcamp.com/track/mirai-no-hagaki-presenting-myself
Album: [VA #46] – SOURCE UNKNOWN. Label: Camembert Électrique
A fine way to arrive. Camembert Électrique setting an extra place.
00:20:43 KapTep – Recovery
https://chitrarecords.bandcamp.com/track/recovery
Album: Slow Down. Label: Chitra Records, Ambient Cat
The instruction and the album. Chitra and Ambient Cat sharing the chair.
00:24:40 Mantris – Passive Restraint
https://mantris.bandcamp.com/track/09-passive-restraint
Album: 64 Flux. Label: Hi Scores
Sixty-four fluxes, and this one content to hold still while the others rush. Hi Scores counting them all.


Mood mist: gravity with a spirit, a deepening that knows it is about to arrive, a drifter from Leeds who has been sequencing since the late seventies, a quiet figure walking to the water, time counted by the stars, a periphery that still has a centre.

00:30:12 Alien Alarms x Aura Mae – The Spirit of Gravity
https://meansmag.bandcamp.com/track/the-spirit-of-gravity
Album: MEANS 7: Grass Roots. Label: MEANS
Grass roots, the pull under the lawn. MEANS filing Newton with the soil.
00:33:43 Heavens Spin Gray – Deepening
https://heavensspingray.bandcamp.com/track/deepening
Album: Imminence.
Imminence, the moment before the moment. The grey already spinning.
00:43:34 Tim Stebbing – Cosmic Drifter
https://tim-stebbing.bandcamp.com/track/cosmic-drifter
Album: Cosmic Drifter.
Title of the hour. Berlin-school manners, chilled hands, the long orbit.
00:52:04 CommsBreakdown – To The Reservoir!
https://trevlad.bandcamp.com/track/commsbreakdown-to-the-reservoir
Album: Quiet Figures. Label: Trevlad
Quiet Figures, the compilation. Trevlad walking the figure down to the water.
00:55:41 The Light Dreams – Sidereal Time
https://thelightdreams.bandcamp.com/track/sidereal-time
Album: Málverk.
The clock the stars prefer. Málverk, the painting that knows which night it is.
01:01:14 Fonolabe – Bor Eas
(Exclusive)
Album: Essens Periferion. Label: Ethereal Projector, Ambient Cat
https://etherealprojector.bandcamp.com/album/essens-periferion
The essence at the edge. Ethereal Projector and Ambient Cat holding the rim so the centre can rest.

This has been The Virtual Cassette Library, episode 326.
Travel safely between the frequencies.
I’ll meet you on the other side of the next spool.


Trev’s Virtual Cassette Library 295

www.mixcloud.com/djsofabed/tvcl-295/

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. 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.
A breathing, slightly cosmic ambient journey through mantra rooms, sunset light, and machine-soul plasma.
Side A keeps a Brighton pulse, then moves through cadmium starling chambers, seaside sunsets, remixed inner-galaxy weather, a slowed descent, and a last-page fin. Side B opens with Glasgow fairy wonk and oxide walk-film, then finds a 2016 first track, Plantasia homage, Gadigal beach light, and new-age retro plasma leading into the bright.
Overall mood: Warm, communal, and quietly expansive — full of shared rooms, analogue vignettes, and light that keeps arriving. Perfect for late mornings, deep listening, or sitting with the last page while the next reel still waits.
The shows remain free for the first week, then slip quietly into the hands of my Mixcloud subscribers, who currently have over eleven hundred 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.

The tape unspools its visions.


00:01:18 Hill Collective – Keep Breathing
Hill Collective – Keep Breathing. A devotional pulse settles. Vocals move from scat into mantra. Congas, double bass and piano hold Brighton’s Sea Breeze rooms while the horns stretch outward.
00:11:26 LOULA YORKE – Sister Fledge
LOULA YORKE – Sister Fledge. A borrowed Make Noise Shared System lights obsidian chambers in cadmium and gold. Starling chicks and caregiver calls score eight June sessions.
00:15:25 NOUVELLES LECTURES COSMOPOLITES – Seaside Sunsets
NOUVELLES LECTURES COSMOPOLITES – Seaside Sunsets. Julien Ash’s devices and Wolf City’s guitar colour twenty-five minutes of previously unreleased light.
00:18:28 Wahn – Phase Memory (Abdicant + Nonima Remix)
Wahn – Phase Memory (Abdicant + Nonima Remix). Mahorka’s five-hundredth release gathers the inner galaxy. Dub-infused pulse and tactile sub-bass transpose Echo Mist Light into new signature weather.
00:23:42 Willebrant – Deep.
Willebrant – Deep. Electric basses, synths, slowed and reverb. A mix holds the descent.
00:30:29 Subordinate Clause – Fin
Subordinate Clause – Fin. Vocal samples from spouse and friends sit in the mix. Stonegate mastering seals the last page.

The cassette reaches its midpoint and turns.


00:36:08 The Foot & Leg Clinic – Music for Baby Fairy
The Foot & Leg Clinic – Music for Baby Fairy. Wonk rock from Glasgow studios. Harp, saxophone, strings and Poppy the Cat share Crikey and Green Door air. In memory of Santiago.
00:39:23 Trevlad – Saves Lend Held
Trevlad – Saves Lend Held. Episodes 157 to 171 plus Expansive Waves 22 return as walk-film and oxide.
00:41:09 Albin – Första banan
Albin – Första banan. Four-track cassette from 2016 finds new life on Paltunes. Cover painting by Magnus Gustavsson.
00:44:39 Bluetech – Nebulous Cosmid
Bluetech – Nebulous Cosmid. Homage to Mort Garson’s Plantasia. Analogue lines weave cosmic and microscopic vignettes.
00:47:58 Gavin Sherrington-Blane – Gadigal Beach
Gavin Sherrington-Blane – Gadigal Beach. Planet Trip’s solo voice arrives on SLIT ART.
00:51:13 Suncastle – New Age Retro Plasma (feat. Simon Walklate)
Suncastle – New Age Retro Plasma (feat. Simon Walklate). Arps lead into the light. EQ becomes another instrument on Platformer’s buoyant machine soul.

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 295.
Travel safely between the tracks.
I’ll meet you on the other side of the next spool.