Another reel of the Virtual Cassette Library begins. Twelve tracks, two sides. A virtual cassette that turns itself at the halfway mark, the oxide catching just long enough to mark the seam before the second side continues. These are not playlists. Each episode is structured as a pair of continuous sets: six tracks on each side, mixed and stitched so the joins sit almost inside the grain. The sequence is the form. If you make music, run a label, or hold a private archive of material that has not yet found a place, send links or Bandcamp codes to trevlad@gmail.com. Every submission is heard. The episodes remain free for the first week. After that they move into the Mixcloud subscriber archive. Subscribers also receive Veil Frequencies, the ongoing series of three-hour transmissions—extended traversals rather than selections, moving through a curtain of sound that occasionally seems to register the listener in return. Mind the flip.
Ratios that refuse to sit still, then a star named Denebula that may or may not exist. Side A measures the ratios from slightly different angles and finds the whole thing rather flattering, lets the chicken wear the badge while the noise blushes, sets vibrant matter dancing so the gooseberry can nod along, cracks the cosmic egg into a sequel already writing its memoirs, keeps just moving with the diagrams packing a small suitcase, and lets the neon lights hum a little tune while the virtual woman is quite pleased about it. Side B seats the melancholia in a chair that already understands, lets the shades of light choose their favourites, sends the vector already in flight so the trick can land, lodges the rainmodulator while the dogs and the shadows negotiate a truce, keeps the northern furniture with Autobaba in the other room, and surveys a star named Denebula with the spear already pointing somewhere kind. Overall mood: Playful, and quietly flattered — full of nodding gooseberries, comfortable chairs, and stars that may or may not exist. Perfect for dusk listening, soft sofas, or sitting still while the next spool still waits.
Side A Mood mist: ratios that refuse to sit still, a chicken with a fondness for noise, matter that vibrates like a gooseberry in a good mood, an egg that cracked the cosmos and is now doing a sequel, something just moving because it can, neon lights that have opinions.
00:00:00 Altus – Parallax Ratios https://altusmusic.bandcamp.com/track/parallax-ratios Album: Echo Bloom. Label: Altus Music The ratios already measuring each other from slightly different angles and finding the whole thing rather flattering. 00:08:17 Toxic Chicken – I Heart Noise https://iheartnoise.bandcamp.com/track/toxic-chicken-i-heart-noise-2 Album: IHN019 // Gone in 60 Seconds – Vol. 5. Label: I Heart Noise The chicken already wearing the badge. The noise already blushing. 00:09:04 Soda Lite – Vibrant Matter https://soda-lite.bandcamp.com/track/vibrant-matter Album: 011: Soda Lite (Cape Gooseberry). Label: Music To Watch Seeds Grow By The matter already doing a little dance. The gooseberry already nodding along. 00:11:47 Michael Brückner – The Egg of Ecquirlo – Part 2 https://cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com/track/the-egg-of-ecquirlo-part-2 Album: The Egg in the Cosmic Crack [CYD 0165]. Label: Cyclical Dreams The crack already larger. The egg already writing its memoirs. 00:21:38 maps and diagrams – just moving https://homenormal.bandcamp.com/track/just-moving Album: returning light. Label: Home Normal The moving already under way. The diagrams already packing a small suitcase. 00:26:06 Virtual Woman – Neon Lights https://soundsforthesoul.bandcamp.com/track/virtual-woman-neon-lights Album: Cyberpunk. Label: Sounds for the Soul Records The lights already humming a little tune. The woman already virtual, and quite pleased about it.
Side B Mood mist: a melancholia that has found a comfortable chair, shades of light arranging themselves, a vector that knows where it’s going, a rainmodulator that has become stuck and is now taking up a hobby, furniture from the north, a star named Denebula that may or may not exist.
That was another episode of the Virtual Cassette Library. If the sequence stayed with you, share it, favourite the show, and follow the channel so the next reel finds you. Tips keep the reels turning. Better still, subscribe: the Mixcloud archive now holds more than eleven hundred past episodes, waiting whenever the next listening session calls. Travel safely between the frequencies. Cheerio.
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 university of unstable knowledge descending, then a jump that knows the trick. Side A descends a staircase held slightly out of true, lets paper flowers drink the dye until the bloom is already in the fibre, measures sixty metres of disco rhythm, improvises a cello in the nude, scores a short career for three spiders and one fly, and layers images until the clock bends. Side B reaches the edge of the wood and waves you in by further paths, holds a fabric up to the window so not all refracted light is as it seems, collects light patterns in tone studies that wander somewhere welcome, lets children and whales share a pool large enough for both, grass-roots a Chilean forest guardian, and lands the leap exactly where the title meant to. Overall mood: Contemplative, slightly eccentric, and quietly luminous — full of open staircases, bent clocks, and paths that already know the way in. Perfect for dusk listening, listening parties on the first of November, or sitting still while the next spool still waits.
Side A Mood mist: a university of unstable knowledge descending, paper flowers drinking the dye, sixty metres of disco rhythm, a cello improvising in the nude, a chamber piece for arachnids and one fly, images layered until time curves.
00:02:18 Unstable Knowledge University – AHAP de Aliyah https://unknun.bandcamp.com/track/ahap-de-aliyah-descending Album: AHAP de Aliyah. The descending. A faculty that prefers its degrees slightly out of true. The staircase still holding. 00:11:19 Stuart Cook – Imbibition https://stuartcook.bandcamp.com/track/imbibition Album: Flower Blocks. Label: Dustopian Frequencies The way paper drinks colour. Flower Blocks, Dustopian. The bloom already in the fibre. 00:13:08 D Apal – 60 Meter´n (Rytme) https://djkobayashi.bandcamp.com/track/60-meter-n-rytme Album: Give Me Disco – Vol 2 (Selected by DJ Kobayashi). Label: Batov Records Give Me Disco, volume two, Kobayashi’s selection. Batov measuring the dancefloor in metric. 00:19:42 Henrik Meierkord – Cello C Impro https://henrikmeierkord.bandcamp.com/track/cello-c-impro-2 Album: Naken. Naken — bare. The instrument with its clothes off, the bow still dressed for the occasion. 00:23:23 David Dellacroce – Performance for Three Spiders and a Housefly https://iheartnoise.bandcamp.com/track/david-dellacroce-performance-for-three-spiders-and-a-housefly Album: IHN019 // Gone in 60 Seconds – Vol. 5. Label: I Heart Noise Gone in sixty seconds, which is a long career for a fly. I Heart Noise keeping the programme. 00:24:03 Takeshi Nishimoto and Hiroshi Watanabe – Layer of Images (Exclusive track) Album: Curving Time. Label: Lo Recordings https://lorecordings.bandcamp.com/album/curving-time Curving time. Lo Recordings letting the pictures stack until the clock bends. Title of the hour.
Side B Mood mist: the edge of a wood, a fabric that bends the light, patterns of light collected and slow, children and whales sharing a suite, a Chilean forest guardian edited for grass roots, a jump that knows the trick.
00:28:10 Oberlin – Waldesrand https://oberlin.bandcamp.com/track/waldesrand Album: Von (Weiteren) Wegen. The edge of the forest. Von weiteren Wegen — by further paths. The trees already waving you in. 00:38:07 Hyenas for Sale – Crystallin Fabric (Exclusive track) Album: Label: Ethereal Projector, Ambient Cat https://etherealprojector.bandcamp.com/album/not-all-refracted-light-is-as-it-seems Not all refracted light is as it seems. Ethereal Projector and Ambient Cat holding the cloth up to the window. 00:43:07 Andrew Heath – Collected Light Patterns (Exclusive track) Album: Collected Light Patterns. Label: Driftworks Tone Studies number eight. Experiments that wandered somewhere welcome, the piano left mostly in its room. Driftworks. Full release the 30th. Listening party the 1st of November, eight in the evening, GMT. Come and sit with the layers. 00:49:23 Hello Mr. Klaus – Suite 01 Children and whales playing https://hellomrklaus.bandcamp.com/track/suite-01-children-and-whales-playing Album: MEMENTO VIVERE. Memento vivere — remember to live. The pool large enough for both. 00:53:35 HDRF (Horror Dwarf) – Invunche (MEANS edit) https://meansmag.bandcamp.com/track/invunche-means-edit Album: MEANS 7: Grass Roots. Label: MEANS The forest guardian, grass-rooted. MEANS keeping the path. 01:00:37 Vorpalgaze – Trickjump https://ab-vorpalgaze.bandcamp.com/track/trickjump Album: Trickjumps. Label: Audiobulb Audiobulb letting the leap land where it meant to. The title already knows the move.
This has been The Virtual Cassette Library, episode 328. Travel safely between the frequencies. I’ll meet you on the other side of the next spool.