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. 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 quiet, city-tinged ambient journey through perpetual urban grids, eternal depths, and the soft machinery of passing years. Side A locks everyday Koenji sounds into rhythm, then opens through cello harmonics, Saturn wings, impenetrable fog, Manchester distance, and autumn-orange strings. Side B settles into shed-piano birdsong, moments held in arms, calm pieces, inner recovery landscapes, laundry-line breath, and a paper machine marking quiet growth. Overall mood: Contemplative, gently textured, and intimate — blending urban observation with personal stillness and soft analogue warmth. Perfect for focused listening, late evenings, or sitting with the ordinary as it slowly transforms. 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.
00:03:28 Nonturn – Perpetual Koenji fragments lock onto a 96 BPM grid. Nonturn – Perpetual. Traffic signals, footsteps, air conditioners and passing cars become rhythm and texture. The everyday city turns into a private miniature world of repeating surfaces. 00:10:03 Jupi/ter – 13 (feat. Henrik Meierkord, Sole Gipp Ossler) Thirteen rises with cello and additional voices. Jupi/ter – 13 (feat. Henrik Meierkord, Sole Gipp Ossler). Tones stretch and interweave across open harmonic space. 00:15:58 Brannan Lane – Wings of Saturn Wings of Saturn fold space for instantaneous travel. Brannan Lane – Wings of Saturn. Vast evolving soundscapes open for relaxation, focus and faster-than-light passage through distorted fabric. 00:18:28 Field Lines Cartographer – Eternal Depths Eternal depths descend in impenetrable fog. Field Lines Cartographer – Eternal Depths. Blackness holds the gaze. Helicopter noise drifts overhead while a mug shatters like a pistol shot in the eclipsed room. Secrets remain unanswered. 00:25:22 Dark Fidelity Hi Fi – Distance Distance opens in colourful cascades of keys and pads. Dark Fidelity Hi Fi – Distance. Crystalline percussion and radiant bass carry melodies of love, memories and acceptance across a Manchester skyline. 00:27:59 Trem 77 – Autumn Orange Spectrum (Strings Mix) Autumn orange spectrum paints with treated strings. Trem 77 – Autumn Orange Spectrum (Strings Mix). Sandpaper distortion and powdery modulated dust turn sound into tangible grain. Forms stay in perpetual transience while Henrik Meierkord’s strings leave the final auditory thought.
The cassette reaches its midpoint and turns.
00:36:34 Josaleigh Pollett – Shed Piano, Birds Shed piano and birds gather in Salt Lake and Osaka light. Josaleigh Pollett – Shed Piano, Birds. Voices layer across folk-tinged electronic pop. Experimentation and songwriting open spaces for the listener to enter. 00:38:26 mRn – Cada Momento En Tus Brazos Cada momento stays held in your arms. mRn – Cada Momento En Tus Brazos. Soft currents of presence move without hurry. 00:41:36 Calm Pieces – Dodes’ka-den Dodes’ka-den arrives as calm pieces. Calm Pieces – Dodes’ka-den. Quiet motion settles into patient listening. 00:44:30 survey channel – Inner Landscape Inner landscape traces a cycle of recovery. survey channel – Inner Landscape. Atmospheric exploration breaks free from feedback loops toward genuine stillness. 00:49:37 Hiroaki Yamamoto – Breath Breath moves between laundry lines. Hiroaki Yamamoto – Breath. Sheets, shirts and socks hang as an alphabet of ordinary things. Wind brushes the threads. A leaf has not yet decided where to fall. Day and night leave their scent on the bare lines. 00:52:22 hershel – paper machine for the passing years A paper machine marks the passing years. hershel – paper machine for the passing years. Processed guitars, piano and cassette recordings blur into fluid forms. Small silent steps carry personal growth and quiet realisation.
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 288. Travel safely between the tracks. I’ll meet you on the other side of the next spool.