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 porch that has already sat down, then a future you already remind someone of. Side A cools piano phrases on a veranda still holding salt in the grain, teaches a scrap giant to stay kind while made of girders, paints sand purple-black for as long as you are looking, lets a Finnish sentence glide away, shares rust and wave in a hallway with every door on the latch, and finds winter already standing behind the pane. Side B leaves offerings past the last familiar planet, walks false suns politely in their lanes, keeps the hands through a damp postcard, rings a suburban tram once at a stop that knows your name, continues the second investigation under five triangles, and remembers a future in three parts with sense set aside. Overall mood: Contemplative, slightly seasonal, and quietly kind — full of unlatched corridors, damp postcards, and titles that have already arrived. Perfect for dusk listening, porches after the heat, or sitting still while the next spool still waits.
Mood mist: a porch that has already sat down, a giant made of scrap learning manners, sand painted purple-black, Finnish for something slipping softly off, corridors of rust and wave, a pane with the cold season standing behind it.
00:02:18 Jogging House – Veranda https://jogginghouse.bandcamp.com/track/veranda Album: Really. The porch where the piano phrases come to cool their hands. Salt’s notes still in the grain of the wood. 00:05:59 Mike Dickinson – Iron Man’s Challenge https://mikedickinson.bandcamp.com/track/iron-mans-challenge Album: The Iron Man by Ted Hughes – OST. Ted Hughes’ giant, scored. Scrap learning to be a guest. The challenge is to stay kind while you are made of girders. 00:08:29 Trem 77 – Purple Black Texture (Strings Mix) https://trem77.bandcamp.com/track/purple-black-texture-strings-mix Album: Textural Colour Spectrum Sandpainting. Sandpainting that keeps its colour for as long as you are looking. Henrik’s bow still in the grain. 00:11:25 Aki Yli-Salomäki & Kreeta-Julia Heikkilä – …lipuu pois https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/track/lipuu-pois Album: Viriää- Label: whitelabrecs It glides away. Viriää, the stirring. Whitelabrecs letting the sentence finish in Finnish and in air. 00:17:35 Tewksbury – Corridors https://imaginarynorth.bandcamp.com/track/corridors Album: rust/wave. Label: Imaginary North Rust and wave sharing a hallway. Imaginary North leaving every door on the latch. 00:18:42 Lab’s Cloud – Winter is Coming https://le-mont-analogue.bandcamp.com/track/winter-is-coming Album: Behind the Pane. Label: Le Mont Analogue, DRONARIVM, fonodroom Behind the pane, already. Le Mont Analogue, DRONARIVM, fonodroom, three names for the same glass. Title of the hour.
Mood mist: deities past the last familiar planet, false suns in a kind sky, hands kept through a shower, a tram that knows every hedge, a second investigation, a future you already remind someone of.
00:25:13 Wayside Shrine – Gods of the Outer System https://theastralrealms.bandcamp.com/track/gods-of-the-outer-system Album: Gods of the Outer System. Label: The Dream Journal Institute A shrine by the road, and the road has left the solar system. The Dream Journal keeping the offerings. 00:35:39 Green-House – Sun Dogs https://green-house.bandcamp.com/track/sun-dogs Album: Hinterlands. Label: Ghostly International Two bright companions walking either side of the real sun, polite enough to stay in their lanes. 00:38:12 BVSMV – Holding Hands in the Rain https://tripfm.bandcamp.com/track/bvsmv-holding-hands-in-the-rain Album: Label: TRIP FM, Triplicate Records Space invaders, volume two, and still someone remembered the hands. Triplicate printing the postcard three times, all of them damp. 00:42:29 Calm Pieces – Suburban Tram https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/track/suburban-tram Album: Suburbia, Still. Label: whitelabrecs Whitelabrecs letting the bell ring once, softly, at a stop that already knows your name. 00:45:37 Department of Light – Investigation #2 https://theastralrealms.bandcamp.com/track/investigation-2 Album: ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆. Label: The Dream Journal Institute Five triangles, the case still open. The Dream Journal filing Sofia’s notes under “continuing.” 00:51:40 primeiro – Me hacés acordar al futuro III https://primeiro-segundo.bandcamp.com/track/me-hace-s-acordar-al-futuro-iii Album: Senza Senzo. You remind me of the future, part three. Senza senzo — sense set aside, memory doing the work.
This has been The Virtual Cassette Library, episode 325. Travel safely between the frequencies. I’ll meet you on the other side of the next spool.
Good evening, or morning, or whatever fragment of time you’ve found yourself in. This is Expansive Waves, episode twenty. I’m Trevor—your host, your guide, your occasional sonic conspirator. Tonight’s programme is not for the hurried. Eight pieces, each longer than twelve minutes, each more patient than the last. If you’re expecting choruses, drops, or anything resembling urgency, you may want to try another channel. We begin, as always, not with a bang but with a murmur. The track you’re hearing underneath me is from my own unreleased album, TVCL 08. It’ll be out when it’s ready—sixteen tracks, no sooner. You can find it on Bandcamp under Trevlad, if you’re the curious sort. So, settle in. Let the kettle boil. Let the cat sleep. Let the world spin without you for a while.
Right, we are starting off tonight with a deep dive into primitive droning territories, courtesy of Patrick R. Pärk. He is based in Denver, Colorado, and is clearly a devotee of the kosmische sound. This piece is ‘Music As An Awesome Healing Force,’ which appears on his album Luminous Rainbow Pulse, released on November 7. His sound covers Berlin School, electronic, experimental, drone, and krautrock.
Next up, we travel to Luxembourg for Maxence Dubroca & co, who is an experimental composer and arranger, and the frontman of Projet -> Renard) Ost) the company being Anita Franz & Simon Gris. The work we have here is ‘Counsel: A Roam Is Not Consequent,’ lifted from the Jump Badger Jump album, which saw release on July 16. This is wonderfully slow material, categorized as ambient drone, electroacoustic, minimal, and slowcore.
Marvelous. We move now to the UK, specifically Sheffield, for Hervé Perez. Hervé Perez is a sound artist, composer, and improviser, and his work is released via nexTTime production studios. This is a live recording, ‘nada 22, live stream 02 10 2024,’ released October 2, 2024, and takes up the largest part of the episode clocking in at 53:20. Hervés’ sound falls under electronic, electroacoustic, experimental electronic, improvisation, and new jazz. This is the sort of evocative work that uses disquiet and dissonance to open imaginary cinematic worlds.
We turn now to a journey from Jarguna, Odile Bruckert, and Henrik Meierkord. This is ‘Sleeping Among the Rice Fields,’ featured on their album Furrows of Memory. Projekt Records, which is America’s premier independent label specializing in passionately intense introspective music in the ambient, electronic, ethereal, and darkwave genres, released this piece on November 21. The work has a beautiful world, new age vibe. This is music that flows and takes you gently on a peaceful meditation.
Following that, we hear from SourceCodeX, a multi-instrumentalist specializing in synthesizers and guitar, working out of Washington, D.C.. This is ‘Clouds Parting Soon,’ which is part of the REBIRTH ~ 10TH ANNIVERSARY REMASTERED RELEASE, out on November 16. His sound covers ambient, electronic, progressive rock, and synth rock. SourceCodeX stated that listening to Steve Roach’s Structures from Silence is what turned him into an ambient artist. This is utterly splendid to my taste, described by others as an incredibly immersive experience and epic, mysterious, moving, and beautifully produced.
Next up, we have Ümlaut, with the piece ‘Pulling all the sky’. This track is featured on EX! Zine Edition 4 from Adventurous Music, released on November 24. Adventurous Music, based in Leipzig, Germany, is a non-profit micro-label promoting experimental music. Pulling all the sky provides a contemplative and trippy soundscape, it contains field recordings with bird song which I have a soft spot for.
We turn to Asheville, North Carolina, now for Spooqs. This is the complete ‘BIOMES (Full Suite)’, which came out on November 14. Spooqs calls his efforts Electronic Impressionist Instrumentals, creating mood music for imaginary spaces. As this is a full suite you’re are in for quite a trip.
And finally, to close out this installment of Expansive Waves, we have a beautiful, enveloping drone from a channel regular, Willebrant. This is Karl Willebrant, a bassist and producer from Naarm/Melbourne, Australia, running an ambient field drone project. This piece is called ‘A Knight on a Boat (slowed and reverb),’ from his collection The Knight Seas, which saw release on November 7. It is firmly placed in the ambient drone, electronic, and meditation categories. Fans describe the album as divine and providing real gentle ambience to lose yourself in.
🎧 Outro And now, as we approach the final piece, a few words before we vanish again. Thanks for sticking around. Really. These episodes aren’t designed for mass consumption, and neither are you. I’ll be back when the wind changes or the tape runs out—whichever comes first. No schedule, no promises. Waves, that’s all we have. If you liked what you heard, support the artists. Buy their music. Whisper their names into the void. It helps. You can stream this episode on Mixcloud at djsofabed/expansive-waves-20, and find all the links and credits on the episode page at trevor.se. Drop a comment if you feel moved. Or don’t. Silence is underrated. Until next time—stay resonant, stay expansive, and let the soundtrack of the universe find you. Take it away Willebrant.