No sooner had we given the new Memory Tapes electronic single suite, “Neighborhood Watch” a spin from the forthcoming Grace/Confusion album when we received an exclusive 30-minute mixtape from the master of all things cassette, Dayve Hawk. Strap yourself in for a plethora of Memory Tapes b-sides, unreleased tracks, along with excerpts from “Grace/Confusion”, “Black Reel” and “Slaughtered” along with a hearty helping of Hawk's recent remixes of interest.
The New Jersey based artist kicks things off with an opening show of original unreleased cuts. Shimmering like a bright new morning is “Easy Pert Mom”, echoing the Franco electro from the turn of the millennium back when Astralwerks was one of the biggest imprint players in the game. “Reel In” burns with the tape cleaner residue of cassettes found in Chinatown's market emporiums, followed by the synthesizer dialogues of “Peter” where static keys are given a scale climbing voice. “Dig” moves the action toward the synth and string sampled claustrophobia scanning song of, “Too many faces, you could replace us with them all, I am satisfied to know my place against the wall”.
Hawk continues his weird magic by transforming the pop hypnoses of Tame Impala's “We Only Go Backwards” into a reverse engineered music box designed for a synthetic modernism that cannot be concerned or contained by prefixed 'posts'. The rising synth fog smoke excerpts of “Black Reel” point to woodwind inclusions and further experiments in syntheses as your attention becomes piqued. Listen then as the electronic drum arrangements of Errors' “White Infinity” gets surgical treatments on those spaces in between, accompanied by vintage keyboard sequencing.
The preview of “Slaughtered” presents the positive keyboard leanings toward the upward dance energies that we have seen this year between Denmark to the East Bay's indie electro innovators. Further evidence of these progressions can be heard on “Safety” where questions of whether that wailing sound is a sax, synth, or electric guitar go on unanswered. The Francophonics come full circle where Dayve toys around with the 80s programming of Alan Braxe before leaving us with what we are presuming might be the title track, “Grace/Confusion” from the forthcoming album that shimmers with the slow raining lights of emotive illumination with the occasional surfacing of vague, whispered voices spoken as if sung from sleep.
Memory Tapes Replaced Mix
In Dayve's own words on the mix:
“It's all Memory Tapes material: b-sides, unreleased tracks, excerpts from “Grace/Confusion”, “Black Reel” and “Slaughtered” as well as some recent remix work.”
The new Memory Tapes release Grace/Confusion will be available December 4 from Carpark Records.
