Cassette Gods: NONHORSE “Xol Mic” (Abandon Ship)

NONHORSE “Xol Mic” (Abandon Ship)

Holy shit. Mr. GL Crane is back in the solo saddle, and this time he’s got something to SAY. After Rigor Lore’s exploratory symbioses and Drone Moral’s mellow light brigade, Xol Mic feels like some full-on OPUS shit. Overt tape-ripping, yearning female voices, bright buzzing clouds of smokescreen noise-dream…this is a long, strange trip. 90 non-stop minutes of Non-Horseplay might be a bit too much for frailer-eared souls to ingest, but Abandon Ship chose to crank out 300 of these monsters for planetary consumption, so it might end up being his most widely-heard release. Which would be rad actually, as this is definitely the weirdest, vastest, and most tangled labyrinth he’s ever carved on to cassette. Every musical instrument and sound effect ever invented stops by at some point for a cameo appearance. It’s like We Are The World or one of those guest star-stuffed orgy TV specials. Nothing and no one is excluded. This tape is a universe.

It should be obvious, this is a webzine we created to put cassette releases and the format of cassette itself on a pedestal. We are not doing this to be some sort of cassette snob, more-DIY-than-thou elitists or anything. We are doing it because all the formats that sound can be presented on are exciting and provide unique ways of shaping the listeners experience... so it is a shame that any one of these formats would fall by the wayside. Cassettes provide a listening experience that is similar to vinyl because of the intermission/moment of pause created by changing sides of the tape, but can be of almost any length between 30 seconds a side to an hour. Tapes can also be listened to in a car or while jogging.
While today this format helps keep the home label alive, its almost a dream to remember that once every musician from Michael Jackson to REM had their releases on cassette. Cassettes were a legitimate format, not just for the DIY underground. Maybe we (thats you too) are the last guardians of this format. Maybe someone, someday will popularize cassettes again. In the meantime we keep the reels turning. A little offering because at least there are a few of you that know there is more than one god of this land.

-- first CG post by Brian Miller April 2007

NONHORSE “Xol Mic” (Abandon Ship)

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