Justin Kelly's Watercolor Records has been on another hot streak, relinquishing four new tapes recently that are all worth a good listen. I've been making my way through these releases, and already shared Jason Urick and Cex's ridiculously good dub edit cassette. Next up is a release from the label owner himself, a new Gem Vision album.
Gem Vision has typically taken a more ambient form on past releases, but Lynx is the first beat-oriented affair from the Baltimore sound collagist. Describing these cuts as beats is a term I'll assign quite loosely, as Lynx isn't for the traditionalist.
Lynx was created just like any good beat album should – with some serious record crate digging. Kelly admits the process might not have been typical though, as he tells me he began by going to record shops looking for the most cheesy album covers he could find. From there it was all about re-contextualization, or as Kelly describes, “sampling and then destroying the sample and then finding some way to make it work.”
The result is Lynx, almost 40 minutes of lo-fidelity light radio jams and obscure 80s re-imaginations that feel like a roller rink daydream. Some of the ingredients described include “Total Funk Recall”, “Scrambled Romantic Saxophone”, and “Don't Care Jive”.
Lynx is available on tape and as a free download from Watercolor Records.
