STAR STITCH

 RIPPED & DUBBED mixtape #9

This month's Ripped & Dubbed mix gathers disparate threads from different eras, areas, and genres, with the usual lean toward experimental underground music released in the past few months. The set opens with a selection of tracks I picked up during August's Bandcamp Friday, from Arushi Jain's stunning translation of traditional Indian classical music onto ambient modular synthesizers to Kafari's transcendent and highly emotive melding of piano loops with synth pads and staggering beats. Links to all tracks (where available) included below!

STAR STITCH

1. Arushi Jain - "My People Have Deep Roots" from Under the Lilac Sky [LEAVING]
2. Grant Beyschau - "Nama" from Munds Spring [Astrological Unfolding Music]
3. Field Patterns - "Salamandering" from Field Patterns [Aural Canyon]
4. Arian Shafiee ft. Chuck Johnson - "Luscher Cascades" from Pastorale [Constellation Tatsu]
5. Kafari - "way of the intercepting fist" from Blanket of Black [Hot Record Societe]
6. Wednesday Knudsen & Willie Lane - "Star Stitch" from Long Time 'Til Tomorrow [Feeding Tube Records] aka NATCH 9 [Black Dirt Studios]
7. Rob Noyes & Ryan Lee Crosby - "Improvisation 3" from Modal Improvisations on 34 Strings [Cabin Floor Esoterica]
8. Répéter - "The Armchair Explorer" from Bad Twang [Bokeh Versions]
9. Brenda Ray - "Swirlin Hearts" (Scientist Production ft. Sir Freddie Viadukt aka The Minister Of Noise) from Walatta [Tamoki-Wambesi-Dove]
10. Lucas Santtana - "Awô Dub" from 3 Sessions In A Greenhouse [ Diginois / Mais Um Discos]
11. Sir Tad - "Deeper & Deeper" from Sir Tad Goes Deeper & Deeper [Purple Akronym]
12. Rob Frye - "Jupiter Control" from Exoplanet [Astral Spirits]
13. Osmium House - "Dawn of Pisces (Full)" from Live Elements [self-released]
14. xPOEMSx - "We Were Golden" from Who Makes The Summers (do ya mind tellin' me?) [Easy Tapes Subcult]
15. Nashville Ambient Ensemble - "Conversion" from Cerulean [Centripal Force]
16. Charlatan - "Saturnine" from The Glass Borders [Moon Glyph]
17. Six Organs of Admittance - "Messier 42" from Sleep Tones [Hermit Hut]
18. Drew Gardner - "The Road To Eastern Garden" from Drew Gardiner [Eiderdown Records]
19. Rosali - "If Not For Now" from No Medium [S P I N S T E R]

UNBROKEN CIRCLE

 RIPPED & DUBBED mixtape #7

Brand new two-hour mix this week, gathering together beautiful new expressions in folk singer-songwriting, instrumental guitar, widescreen kosmische, and jazz-adjacent experiments. I picked a lot of these up during the most recent Bandcamp Friday, and I'll drop links to where they can be had in full below. 

It was wonderful to hear of a new Rosali album due soon - her last LP, Trouble Anyway, has been a favorite of the past few years, and the stunning first single from the forthcoming No Medium has been living rent-free in my brain for two weeks. If its grace and melodic swagger signals what's to come on the full-length, there's no doubt it will make it to the top of 2021's stack. 

This mix closes on a trio of sidelong instrumental kosmische odysseys, and I wanted to draw attention in particular to the final track. This absolute high-water mark in contemporary duo improv from Zelienople’s Matt Christensen and Neatly Knotted / Nevada Greene’s Ben Chlapek has gone so outrageously under-the-radar in the four years since its release that the label is currently selling the remaining cassette copies for a single dollar. I myself fell victim to ignorance on this should-be grail, until a kind soul (remind me / forgive me - I've forgotten who) just up and mailed me a copy this summer with a very kind note to the effect of "I thought you'd like this".. Well, they were right! How about that for community? Get one for a buck, please - it's the deal of the century.

UNBROKEN CIRCLE

1. Keven Louis Lareau - "Not All Songs Have Been Sung" single [self-released]
2. Rosali - "Mouth" from No Medium [S P I N S T E R]
3. Meg Baird and Mary Lattimore - "Fair Annie" from Ghost Forests [Three Lobed]
4. James Jackson Toth - "Stumpranchers" from The Hired Hands: A Tribute to Bruce Langhorne [Scissor Tail]
5. Gerycz / Powers / Rolin - "Untitled" (lathe-cut bonus track from Beacon vinyl reissue) [Centripetal Force / Cardinal Fuzz]
6. Landon Caldwell - "Lathe of Heaven" from Deep Strand [Trouble In Mind]
7. Wau Wau Collectif - "Si Tu Savais Juste" from Yaral Sa Doom [Sahel Sounds]
8. Yasmin Williams - "Guitka" from Unwind [self-released]
9. Ezra Feinberg - "A Spider Painted Over" from Recumbent Speech [Related States]
10. Rob Frye - "XC175020" from Exoplanet [Astral Spirits]
11. Bil Vermette - "Kuiper Belt" from Hunting For Planet 9 [Trouble In Mind]
12. Ashan - "Unbroken Circle" from Sacred Spring [Inner Islands]
13. GROWING - "Primitive Associations / Great Mass Above" from The Soul of the Rainbow and the Harmony of Light [Laffs & Danger]
14. levinson / mahlmeister - "Ascend" from Shores [Trouble In Mind]
15. Prana Crafter - "3rd Ear Incantations" from 3rd Ear Incantations [Null Zone]
16. Christensen & Chlapek - "B" from Unknown Pressures [Dismal Niche]