Billy Gomberg - "Into the Fade," Alexandre Navarro - "Sketches" (Constellation Tatsu)

Long and slow, the death of the note. Droning eternal into the endless void that is space, Billy Gomberg's album, Into the Fade, demands patience and cosmic trippery from the listener. This is for those blessed few who DIG quietly building keyboard tones that occasionally bubble up to say, "hello universe, this is me." For almost an hour synths and computers stretch notions of time. Gomberg (and Constellation Tatsu for that matter) are not in the business of composing three-minute pop ditties. The focus is on quiet contemplation. If that is your bag, jump in.

Alexandre Navarro's Sketches is a tape of exactly that. I get the feeling that Navarro found a series of instruments and/or samples and decided each one deserved his attention for a few minutes here, and a few minutes there. This is a very pleasing listen because of the lightness of the playing and the sensation that the composer is discovering sounds as the listener is discovering them. This is not a deep listen. It requires little of the extreme patience one needs for Gomberg, but that isn't a complaint. Overall a fine piece of electronic diddly. Both tapes have excellent art too.

Buy and Listen HERE.