Bobby Draino, best known as WEED’s drummer, takes his usually high energy ambient techno and strips it down with the release of Smoke Tape on 1080p Collection. Smoke Tape, released under the moniker Journeymann Trax later on this month, is a truly meditative endeavor. The album in 47 minutes seems at points to barely speak above a whisper, which in the EDM canon is beyond refreshing. Songs like “Arboreal Harp Jam” make Smoke Tape feel like you’re pushing forward on a joystick watching an avatar trek forward through a hazy pacific-northwest-EDM-forest. As contemplative as it is, Smoke Tape manages to deliver to the point and cerebral dance grooves on cuts like “Black Forest” or “Inside”. The album has a handful of moments that are equal parts mystical, dangerous, and jovial, assuring that as it frolics through loosely defined emotional haze it remains grounded and simultaneously multidimensional. That woodlyn quality makes the whole record feel like if you muted Ferngully, Smoke Tape would fit perfectly underneath (this is in no way an insult, Ferngully is a straight masterpiece).
