Dusty Void Recordings - A Collection of Somewhat Arbitrary Yet Very Meaningful Phrases Scrawled on Broken Cathode Ray Tubes, Salvation Army Folkart, and Tobacco Barn Walls
Despite the large array of musicians featured on A Collection of Somewhat Arbitrary Yet Very Meaningful Phrases Scrawled on Broken Cathode Ray Tubes, Salvation Army Folkart, and Tobacco Barn Walls, the album has a beautiful, consistent tone throughout that tied everything together. Released on released June 6, 2021 by Dusty Void Recordings, the compilation was mostly enjoyable.
The album benefited from the sum of its parts rather than individual tracks, though there were plenty of standouts. Ezra D. Coward’s 5 Strings benefited from a majestic use of space. S. Rabbit’s foreclose added a breath of fresh air to the track-listing with her charming female voice, as does Bad Bath on Shunning. GRIM GROOVE was pleasantly groovy, and the perfect length. Instrumental tracks such as Jaguar Fairie, Wind in the Willow, I'M FROM IOWA–, 60dd2ab88e4faff1, Sunbeam and Hydrophone added to the mysterious, majestic atmosphere well. Of all of them, Sacolas Plásticas são os Fantasmas do Mercadinho may have been the most noteworthy, due to its imposing foley.
The album is tarnished by some odd choices in the track-listing. Guru’s synth pop was a lame choice, as was the funky, distorted vapourwave-mess PLASMA AQUARIUM DISPLAY. Unfortunately, the latter track takes up 10% of the album’s running time. Enjoyable at first; the uninspired, baron track quickly becomes a chore. At least the similarly lengthened Letter writer #612 is quite lovely, but the track is still too long for a compilation as such. Lastly, the album ends with the obnoxious wall of sound Ligma, which sounds like an insult for anyone who made it through the album. Noise is great when purposefully conducted, though the finale sounds like it was made in a shorter period of time than the track runs for. Suffice to say, the second half of the mixtape greatly hinders the overall experience; it degrades the album from a “really good” score to an “above average” one.
Nevertheless, skip the poor songs and the mixtape is a wonderful way to find new artists. Those mentioned in the second paragraph come with a solid recommendation. Here’s hoping Dusty Field Recordings can release compilations of similar quality in future.
Above Average
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Dusty Void Recordings - A Collection of Somewhat Arbitrary Yet Very Meaningful Phrases Scrawled on Broken Cathode Ray Tubes, Salvation Army Folkart, and Tobacco Barn Walls
