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.
Welcome to Trev’s Virtual Cassette Library, Episode 180—your flickering beacon in the haze, where forgotten reels spin secrets and new ghosts whisper through the virtual cassette heads. We pause the fast-forward and let time stretch thin: imagine a single worn cassette shell cracked open on a sun-bleached dashboard at dusk, magnetic tape spilling like ribbon across cracked leather seats. Trev’s Virtual Cassette Library, for the sonically adventurous, wherever it finds you. You’ve hit play so, let the tape hiss, and drift with us through these captured breaths. Subscribe to the channel to hear these shows whenever you please. Subscribers also get mix versions of the episodes without all my babbling. Just a quick shout out to the latest followers Edge Effect who you should check out on Bandcamp and fellow Irish person A New Forest who is a resident DJ on Dublin Digital Radio. Also a new subscriber that has me dangling in the edge of the channel getting a payout from Mixcloud imilleryes
We open with the song Sunshine Grove by SubDan. Golden afternoon light spilling through leaves onto a quiet wooden porch swing, where acid-tinged synths ripple like warm breezes and gentle breakbeat grooves sway in lazy contentment, capturing pure, unhurried joy suspended forever in a glowing breath. This is Sunshine Grove by SubDan from the album Moments of Joy out on Nottingham, UK’s Remnants label.
Now, The track time, running away from you by HUNGER A lone figure standing motionless on an empty midnight highway as the taillights of a departing car stretch into vanishing red threads, while slow, decaying synth drones and fractured rhythmic pulses chase each other in futile pursuit, freezing the ache of irreversible loss in a single, elongating breath of experimental electronic melancholy. This is HUNGER with the track time, running away from you from the album declined out on Leipzig, Germany’s Adventurous Music
Next, The track Tripping Soldiers 2 by Dark Fidelity Hi Fi (from Bricolage’s underground Glasgow electronic label) A squad of spectral soldiers marching in slow, hallucinatory lockstep through a fog-choked, neon-lit alley at 3 a.m., their boots echoing into warped, stuttering breaks and gritty, acid-flecked synth stabs that bend reality like melting film reels, freezing the surreal vertigo of a chemically unraveling night patrol in a single, looping breath of shadowy, tripped-out dubbed melancholy. This is Tripping Soldiers 2 by Dark Fidelity Hi Fi from a couple of places one of them being Bricolage’s Paradigm (10 Year Label Sampler)
Now Akira Film Script, Graham Seaman, Mosaicist, Percolator and Justin Amphlett – This Burnished Land The collaborative expanse of This Burnished Land A vast, sun-scorched prairie at golden hour where ancient mosaic fragments embedded in cracked earth glow like buried memories, while layered drones and subtle field-recorded winds weave a slow, collective breath of timeless, burnished serenity suspended in amber light. This Burnished Land by Akira Film Script, Graham Seaman, Mosaicist, Percolator and Justin Amphlett from the, must have, compilation album This Burnished Land out on whitelabrecs
Next aug16 by ff8282 A deserted summer rooftop at dusk in late August, empty cassette tapes scattered like fallen leaves as faint, lo-fi synth pulses and fragmented tape warbles drift upward into a fading orange sky, capturing the quiet, nostalgic drift of a single fleeting day dissolving into static eternity. From the stable of 4000 Records label ff8282 and the track aug16 from the album No Statue.
“A Wound Kisser by Dunya A dimly lit apartment at midnight, where soft ambient tendrils curl like gentle fingers tracing an old scar on pale skin, the slow-healing ache blooming into hushed, shimmering layers of forgiveness frozen in an intimate exhale of wounded light. From Vilnius, Lithuania’s Amulet of Tears label I give you Dunya with A Wound Kisser from the album **Pay It Forward **.
**Take Me There – Totte (a reflection on childhood) originally from the album *Nine Reflections: Music For Cats* “Totte (a reflection on childhood)” A sun-dappled backyard sandbox long abandoned, where a child’s forgotten toy cat sits amid drifting dandelion seeds and gentle, nostalgic drones that lap like warm summer memories against the porch steps, freezing the soft pang of innocence receding into quiet feline contemplation. This is Totte (a reflection on childhood) by Take Me There from a fantastic, and recommended, compilation The Passed Year 2025 out on Passed Recordings.
Land of the Endless by joe nora An unbroken horizon of rolling golden dunes under a perpetual twilight, where sparse, piano motifs and subtle string horizons stretch outward forever, locking the serene vertigo of boundless solitude in an unresolving breath of eternal drift. This is Land of the Endless by Joe Nora from the album Puzzle Face available through Los Angeles, California’s Friends Of Friends label.
uami step by raays A bioluminescent jungle clearing at cosmic dawn, where shimmering synth pads and off-kilter jazz-inflected beats pulse like fireflies in slow-motion syncopation, freezing the euphoric fusion of earthly roots and weightless space jungle levitation in glowing stride. This is raays with uami step from the EP Plaays out on LEAVING RECORDS.
desert ambient by applecore A lone saguaro silhouette against a blood-orange sunset over endless sand, where minimal, heat-warped drones and distant wind howls ripple like mirages across cracked earth, capturing the austere, meditative vastness of isolation distilled into scorching breath. applecore with desert ambient from the album contact at the deep bottom out on Bulgaria’s Mahorka label.
We end the first half and first side of this virtual cassette with Monolit K by Gelbart A colossal black obelisk rising from cracked concrete in an abandoned Eastern European industrial yard at dawn, its surface humming with deep, resonant modular synth throbs and metallic echoes that reverberate into infinity, freezing the enigmatic weight of forgotten futures in an unyielding pulse. Gelbart with Monolit K from the album Gelbart-TK-745 out on Berlin, Germany’s Kitchen Leg records. Catch you on the flip side.
Starting us off this half “Transmission 18 by Wojciech Golczewski A derelict satellite dish pointed skyward in a snowy midnight field, receiving faint, crackling cosmic signals through swelling retro-synth waves and distant static bursts, suspending the lonely vigil of interstellar longing in a glacial sweep. Wojciech Golczewski with Transmission 18 from the album End Of Transmission 3 available through Marseille, France’s Data Airlines label.
Väntan by Gustav Davidsson Frost-covered birch trees standing silent along a frozen Swedish lake at first light, where sparse, glacial ambient tones and soft harmonic swells drift like breath on glass, freezing the quiet anticipation of spring’s distant promise in a crystalline pause. This is Gustav Davidsson with Väntan from another great whitelbrecs compilation celebrating their 10-year anniversary Shades.
Pollinator Project Pt. 4 – Entomophily by Loopatronica. A sunlit wildflower meadow alive with bees in ecstatic slow-motion orbit, their wings blurring into intricate looping rhythms and organic electronic pulses that hum in symbiotic harmony, locking the vibrant dance of pollination into a nectar-drenched view. This is Loopatronica with Pollinator Project Pt. 4 – Entomophily from the album Pollinator Project out on Moolakii Club Audio Interface.
Let Me by Djrum Rain streaked city windows at 4 a.m., reflecting blurred neon as intricate breakbeats and soulful piano fragments plead through dense, atmospheric layers, capturing the intimate ache of unspoken desire suspended in rain-lashed heartbeats. This is Djrum with Let Me from the albumUnder Tangled Silence out on London, UK’s Houndstooth label.
Movement Implies Convergence by Substak + LR Friberg Converging railway tracks vanishing into a misty horizon at twilight, where pulsing modular sequences and converging field drones pull forward in relentless gravity, freezing the philosophical inevitability of paths uniting in a forward-leaning flow. Substak + LR Friberg with Movement Implies Convergence from the album The White Between Words another great release from the Mahorka label.
Blanket Song by Kikagaku Moyo A threadbare wool blanket spread under stars on a summer hillside, where psych-folk guitars wrap around soft, wandering melodies like shared warmth, capturing the simple comfort of stargazing companionship in an enveloping sigh. Kikagaku Moyo/幾何学模様 with Blanket Song from the album Masana Temples out on Fukuoka, Japan’s Guruguru Brain label.
Office Olympics by Dolphins of Venice Fluorescent-lit cubicles transformed into a surreal arena at after-hours, where quirky synth bounces and playful beats turn staplers into javelins and printers into hurdles, freezing the gleeful rebellion of corporate daydreams in a single, mischievous leap. This is Dolphins of Venice with Office Olympics from the album Captains of Industry another great Mahorka label release.
The penultimate track of the show now. Sub-Aura (2025 Remaster) by Ian Boddy & Chris Carter Underwater aurora lights shimmering through deep ocean currents at midnight, where vintage analog modular synth waves undulate in slow, hypnotic layers, locking the submerged glow of hidden electromagnetic realms in a breath of cosmic tranquility. Ian Boddy & Chris Carter with Sub-Aura (2025 Remaster) from the album Caged (25th Anniversary Edition) out on Ian Boddy curated label DiN.
So just one track to go and, before you do go, I need you to send me your stories for the Chord Confessions series. I need a song or piece of music that has meant something special to you for some reason. I’ll play the music and say nice things about you and tell your tale on the airwaves.
Spontaneous Reduction by Hverheij A falling snowflake caught mid-descent in a vast white void, where sparse, reductive tones and micro-shifts in texture gradually simplify into near-silence, capturing the elegant inevitability of everything distilling to essence in a vanishing exhale. Hverheij with Spontaneous Reduction