Everything winds down – that’s what I gather from the Second Law of
Thermodynamics, and that’s what I present here in paraphrase. Everything moves
toward disorder, or death, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. I’m
reminded of this while listening to Long
Slow Dream, the newest cassette release on Dismal Niche, where three scamps
named Mario, Josh, and Nate play synthesizers and allow the listener to drift
on a path all the way to destruction. Because that’s where we all end up.
Let me backtrack a minute. Those of you who see the name “Solid Waste”
and think, “Oh, they’re a poop band” are absolutely wrong. The idea of “Solid
Waste” is an indictment of excess and disposability. It’s an indictment that we’re
hastening our own demise by paving the way with garbage and ignoring the true
issues. It’s an indictment of a world gradually winding down, into chaos.
So “The Journey Is the Pleasure, Pts. 1-3” comprises side A, and that’s
a meaningful title, because Long Slow
Dream is proof that no matter what the end result will be, we have these
celestial tones to guide us. And thankfully, they’re long, slow, and tranquil,
the perfect analgesic for outer stimuli. “The Journey” allows eyes to close and
dreams to rise. Where it ends, “Being Generous with Yourself, Long Slow Dream”
begins, providing the permission to tune it all out when it gets to be too
much. Right? It’s like a spa treatment for your ears – you gotta be good to
yourself somehow, I say.
So drift above the turmoil in a healthy bath of peaceful synthesizer
washes and let it all go. It’s going to all be over soon enough. Don’t even
worry about it.
--Ryan Masteller