HALF-GIFTS: Tape

Showing posts with label Tape. Show all posts

4/02/2016

New Release: HG010 - Chocofriendz - "hi ANGEL"

"The warm, woolly textures that seep from chocofriendz' keyboard speakers blend impeccably with his skeletal compositions like a sweater over a friendly ghost. Acutely minimal and intense, his songcraft resides on the fine line between powerful emotion and lovably cornball sentimentality that transports me back to my early childhood, more specifically reminding me of the sort of books and VHS tapes that would have filled me with a strange mix of sadness and warmth at the time (Where the Red Fern Grows, this weird Christian educational videotape about talking donut puppet, the Sesame Street Christmas Special...). Imagine a less cynical/angsty take on Teen Suicide's "Haunt Me (3x)" and you'll get the picture - there's something scarily pure and honest about Choco's music that makes it difficult, yet rewarding, to confront." - Half-Gifts

7/17/2014

Cassette Corner: Order Anura

Order Anura - Order Anura

(Self-Released 2014)

In the biological field of taxonomy, the Anuran order includes all types of frogs and toads, which would explain the amphibious artwork printed on Order Anura's debut cassette cover, as well as the project's Bandcamp profile picture, clipped from the pages of the popular Frog And Toad children's book series. In a way, the name also illustrates the music that wafts from Ivan Heemskerk's apartment: cold and dewy, far removed from the influence of the rest of the world. Liquid organ melodies drip from morning leaves into the a crystalline basin of reverb, while Heemskerk's misty vocals bubble to the surface, coated in hiss. It is processional music that echoes through an empty cathedral, one that occupies a plane of reality that we do not. There are no bodies to absorb it, no obstacles for it to bounce off of. It is alien and haunting, in the vein of another keyboard-pop favorite of mine, Bevo Francis' Sun City Welcoming. Following the brief, but powerful set of seven original tunes on Order Anura is a spare and surprisingly emotion-inducing cover of "Overworld" from Gargoyle's Quest, a Game Boy title from 1990. Perhaps one day, Heemskerk will team up with California's Morgue Toad to create the ultimate collection of amphibious lo-fi melancholia.

7/31/2013

Review: Aaron Read - "Even Rats Can Feel the Sun"

Aaron Read - Even Rats Can Feel the Sun

(Green Burrito Records 2013)

"Whether Even Rats... is sheer genius or just another cassette's worth of lo-fi eccentricity, I'm not sure."

Read On

7/14/2013

Half-Gifts Cassette Compilation Now Available

The first ever Half-Gifts compilation album is now available digitally and on cassette tape. Head on over to the brand new Bandcamp page, where you can stream, download and purchase a physical copy of the 32-track release. A big thanks to everyone who submitted a track; the compilation sounds fantastic.