Batches of tapes put out by notoriously solid labels can inspire one to consider pairing two otherwise unlinked artists together -given the availability of a decent dual-cassette deck- & given CT’s stalwart output of four tapes per season, I posit that the OCA and Liai releases are, in fact, brilliantly juxtaposing poles.
Where OCA entrances, Liai pulls punches. Where OCA saturates, Liai stretches minimal posits to bewildering conclusions. Where OCA speaks in tongues-in-cheeks, Liai annunciates in humble self-inquiry. In short, taking each album in back to back scratches a whole fuck of a lot of itches.
While composed, recorded, and mixed within the last two years, “Lili” feels like an adventurous throwback to the organic magicians of musique concréte, but with a visionary mashing up of those meditations/repurposings, with ’80s-style beatific New Age aesthetics.
Roll call!
Disembodied samples, modular textures, and dark ambient drone-swells that paint a discordant-yet-peaceable mood?
Present.
Sporadic bursts of blinding tonality and mesmerizing synth sequences that strobe an imposingly energetic light upon an otherwise hopelessly labyrinthine set of contrapuntal movements? Right here.
This tape is both absolutely bonkers and reasonably paced, making it pretty much par for the course, as far as CT’s output is concerned. I’m daaamn curious as to what the incoming centennial batch will take on!
http://www.ctatsu.com/portfolio/lili/
and/or
https://liai.bandcamp.com/releases
--Jacob An Kittenplan
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