Trev’s Virtual Cassette Library 259
https://open.substack.com/pub/trevlad/p/trevs-virtual-cassette-library-259
Good day listeners, wherever you are. Trevor here.
Welcome to the Virtual Cassette Library. Episode 259. A 12 track virtual tape with a metaphysical flip at the half way mark.
If you make music, or are a label, and would like to be featured, send your file links or Bandcamp codes to trevlad@gmail.com. I’d love to hear what you’re working on.
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A gentle, seasonal, and introspective ambient journey through light, warmth, cold textures, and personal discovery.
Side A moves from first light and summer flames into quantum bindings, center-finding, and dated reflections. Side B shifts through cold textures, controlled growth, bubble fragility, speaking pebbles, and small waves.
Overall mood: Serene, contemplative, and quietly wondrous with a strong connection to nature and emotion. Perfect for deep relaxation, morning listening, or peaceful reflection.
I’ve gone back to doing more podcast style episodes but I’ll do all the talking now in the intro as I’ve put a lot of love into making seamless segued mixes. There is just one break halfway through the episode to give the “virtual cassette” title a meaning. The shows are free for the first week and then go to my very few subscribers who get to enjoy the 259 episodes plus the 821 other shows whenever they like all for the price of… I actually don’t know what you can buy for 3 quid. It used to be a coffee.
This episode is based on the wonderful modular bubblings in “Bound by Weak Interaction” by Glasgow based music maker Fraser Rowan aka “Ty Lumnus” from the release “Resonances in the Hidden Field” and that’s out on Astral Discs.
On this episode you’ll be aurally pleasured, once again, by Adam Filip and the Future Sound of London vibe, pre-Christian Slavic ritualistic track “Summer Flame” from his release “The Returning Circle” and that’s out on the every present Cyclical Dreams label.
Stoke On Trents own Phil Heeks is back with his unmistakeable retro sci-fi adventures as The British Stereo Collective in “Bloodrush” from his latest release “ProtoSynthesis”.
Then the shortest piece for today comes from a rework of a Raúl Cantizano & David Cordero piece by Japanese artist, Haruhisa Tanaka with “Mi centro vine a encontrar” ‘I came to find my center.’ From the album ‘Even if the morning comes’. Aunque llegue la mañana · Refracted.
Ending the A side is composer and founder of Hylé Tapes, Richard Francés with some nice intimate sound diary with deep bass drones in the track “14 Octobre 2023 II” from the album “Afterwork II (Octobre 2023)”
Starting off Side B with some distorted drone blisters is the second choice from the Connection: sculpting silence compilation on Richard Francés Hylé Tapes label. This one from Berlin based, French artist, kritzkom titled “Texture of Cold”.
St. Cloud, Florida based Olio Flux brightens the view in “It’s All About Control (Instrumental)” from the NYP release “Selected Frequencies”.
Channel friend, Estonian artist, Paul Beaudoin soothes us with the micro sounds of “10th Cultivation” from his album “spores.dat” out on Audiobulb.
The third choice from the Connection: sculpting silence compilation comes in the form of cassette bliss “Shabondama” by Japans own Hiro Nakamura, aka, Tokyo Bedroom Orchestra
Then the penultimate piece for today comes in the form of the french ambient composer and improviser Tom Leclerc and a rather hopeful piece “the pebbles speak” the final choice from the Connection: sculpting silence compilation.
Finishing us off is the ever drifting wash of ´small waves’ Petites vagues from French Canadian artist Mathieu Lamontagne aka Arbee from his latest from the Chitra Records sub label Ambient Cat, Titled En vain.
But first, to set the vibe is modular sound artist, Milan based, Francesca Pavesi aka IDRA and the piece “First Light” from the compilation album that’s dominated this episode “Connection: sculpting silence” from the latest channel supporting label “Hylé Tapes”. Go check them out.
So settle in, turn it up a bit, and let’s see where it takes us. I hope you enjoy it.
One side flip, just the music.
Side A
00:00:00 IDRA – First Light
Gentle, dawn-breaking ambient with soft, emerging light and hopeful, early-morning textures. Serene and uplifting.
00:09:38 Adam Filip – Summer Flame
Warm, flickering summer ambient with passionate, flame-like glow and seasonal heat. Radiant and lively.
00:13:20 The British Stereo Collective – Bloodrush
Energetic, rushing ambient with pulsing adrenaline and retro-futurist drive. Dynamic and thrilling.
00:18:08 Ty Lumnus – Bound by Weak Interaction
Subtle, particle-physics-inspired ambient with weak, binding forces and delicate, quantum elegance.
00:25:11 Haruhisa Tanaka – Mi centro vine a encontrar
Introspective, Spanish-titled ambient with a sense of finding one’s centre and warm, personal discovery.
00:26:43 Richard Francés – 14 Octobre 2023 II
Date-specific ambient capturing a personal October moment with reflective, diary-like intimacy.
Side B
00:35:49 Kritzkom – Texture of Cold
Crisp, cold-textured ambient with icy surfaces and wintry, tactile chill. Stark and immersive.
00:41:44 Olio Flux – It’s All About Control (Instrumental)
Structured, control-themed ambient with precise layers and a sense of managed flow. Focused and thoughtful.
00:45:32 Paul Beaudoin – 10th Cultivation
Patient, growth-oriented ambient evoking his 10th stage of cultivation with deep, nurturing resonance.
00:51:24 Tokyo Bedroom Orchestra – Shabondama
Delicate, bubble-like ambient with Tokyo bedroom intimacy and shimmering, soap-bubble fragility.
00:54:08 Tom Leclerc – the pebbles speak
Gentle, pebble-talking ambient with natural, riverbed conversation and quiet, earthy wisdom.
00:57:06 Arbee – Petites vagues
Small, wave-like ambient with delicate, French-titled ripples and soft, lapping motion. Peaceful and charming.
Also in the works, the latest compilation titled Quiet Figures which will be released September 26.
Uncover the narratives whispered by the silent, ever-present figures that shadow us, through compositions that unravel their hidden mysteries.
Does that trigger a creative thought?
Send entries to trevlad@gmail.com
Include artist name, track name and link to other work.
Tracks due by September 24.
All the best,
Trevor
Evening Embers Rise
Slowly building layers create a sense of quiet ascension and hopeful emergence.
Good day to you listeners, wherever you are. This is Trevor.
Welcome once again to one of these spontaneous episodes – music from all over the world, sparked by a single track that appears somewhere inside the set itself. This episode titled Evening Embers Rise is based on the track Rise by The Peace Race, from the album Shelter, which comes out on July 1 via the fantastic Mortality Tables label. All the other tracks happened to just fit the vibe.
So settle in, turn it up a bit if you can, and let’s see where it takes us. I hope you enjoy it. If you can subscribe, even if it’s just for the month it would be a great help.
Right then… here we go.
00:00:00 haruka nakamura – 彼方
A tender, shimmering piano-led piece from the Twilight era. Delicate melodies drift like distant memories across a soft, glowing haze—intimate, melancholic, and quietly luminous Japanese ambient at its most poetic.
00:03:00 NOT WAVING – Emotion 1.7 Cleanse
Cool, immersive electronic ambient from the Futuro project. Clean, spacious synth layers and subtle rhythmic undercurrents create a detached, cleansing atmosphere—minimal yet emotionally resonant.
00:08:52 Hollie Kenniff – Embers
Warm, glowing ambient with soft, flickering textures and gentle melodic fragments. Like the last light of a dying fire, it feels comforting, introspective, and healing—perfectly suited to its compilation’s mental health theme.
00:11:18 Rhucle & morimoto naoki – Kubomi
Subtle, layered ambient with intimate field recordings and warm tonal washes. “Kubomi” (hollow/depression) evokes quiet introspection and nostalgic reminiscence through delicate, overlapping soundscapes.
00:13:35 Tom Leclerc – Ker Diary #3
Gentle, diary-like ambient improvisation. Soft synths and organic textures unfold with a personal, reflective quality—peaceful and slightly wistful.
00:15:41 Slow Dancing Society – Do You Remember Me Like I Remember You
Nostalgic, emotionally charged ambient/post-rock drift. Swelling drones and distant melodic echoes explore memory, longing, and the bittersweet ache of recollection.
00:20:53 theAdelaidean – Deep Dreams at the End of the Earth
Vast, cinematic ambient that feels isolated and dreamlike. Deep, resonant tones and airy textures paint a picture of remote, otherworldly solitude.
00:45:14 JICS – monsoon evening
Humid, atmospheric ambient capturing the quiet tension and relief of a monsoon night. Warm drones, subtle rain-like textures, and gentle nostalgia blend into a reflective mood.
00:46:28 Oora – Un Giorno
Flowing, windswept ambient from Vento (“Wind”). Light, breathy textures and organic movement evoke a single day carried on gentle breezes—ethereal and meditative.
00:51:15 Omni Gardens & Zen Monk Jogen – Lifestyle Slow Motion
Laid-back, meditative ambient with slow-evolving tones and a peaceful, almost playful serenity. Perfect “meditation tonality” that invites deep relaxation.
01:10:26 The Peace Race – Rise
Uplifting yet restrained ambient/drone work. Slowly building layers create a sense of quiet ascension and hopeful emergence.
01:13:17 Stray Wool – Skins
Textural, intimate ambient focused on organic layers and subtle shifts. Feels raw and vulnerable, like shedding old layers in sound form.
01:15:46 Volker Rapp – Out of my Mind
Synth-driven, cinematic ambient with a futuristic, slightly dystopian edge (from a Blade Runner 2099 tribute). Immersive and atmospheric.
01:16:25 Richard Norris – Grains Of Light
Delicate, shimmering ambient from the Deep Listening series. Tiny grains of glowing sound accumulate into a beautiful, meditative whole—precise and luminous.
01:18:36 Émérance – Dans une telle immobilité
Still, contemplative ambient exploring deep immobility. Sparse, resonant tones create a profound sense of presence and quiet suspension.
01:26:59 Loopatronica – Helen Of Four Gates part 1
Long-form, evolving drone/ambient with hypnotic, looping structures. Mythic and immersive, it slowly unfolds like an ancient, unfolding ritual.
01:56:25 Luke Sanger – Snow In Spring
https://lukesanger.bandcamp.com/track/snow-in-spring
Delicate, wintry ambient with soft melodic touches. Evokes the surprise and beauty of unexpected snow during warmer days—gentle and bittersweet.
01:59:38 Minimal_drone grl – At the Edge
Sparse, edge-of-perception drone work. Minimal textures hover at the boundary of sound and silence, creating tension and deep focus.
Trevlad Sounds 