ROSE “Night Places” C31 (Constellation Tatsu)

Behind the goliathan pulse-stompage of iron bars (perhaps all are one treated grand piano’s lowest, most heaviest coiled string ringing sympathetically?) there paces a seriously pissed off tigress, her gutteral malaise resonant, her worn-down claws ceaselessly wearing away at the rusted floor, perhaps even more than her own digits’ cuticles, in hopes of digging free. "Night Places" opens up with a 12 minute long trespassers' lament* recalling this possible loading dock scenario before flipping to side B and toning down the industrialized, menacing woe in favor of a lighter, housier, less apex-predatory stroll along smokey back alleys and seedy, silhouetted denizens, where the ambiance is equally as thick, just not as dire.

This release by Rose may be a perfect pairing with Curved Light’s offering in Constellation Tatsu’s Winter Batch, as it is its polar opposite in tone and rhythm, yet equally as facilitating of emotionally charged hallucinations. For every one of CL’s shimmering waves, Rose answers with a muted quake of grime and sludge. For the IDM fan that wants more than just to twist & pout, these two tapes are fantastic playing back to back, if not a bit intense.

https://ctatsu.bandcamp.com/album/night-places

and/or

https://rainbathv.tumblr.com/

— Jacob An Kittenplan

*or at least that’s what I envisioned

ROSE "Exile" C31 (Constellation Tatsu)

There are several street performers in downtown San Francisco who make a living by beating the ever-loving shit out of various empty paint buckets and empty liquor bottles with drumsticks. Just to come near one is a sonic adventure, in itself, as their echoes can be heard from blocks away, those tribal rhythms bouncing off dozens and dozens of buildings, parking garages, buses, & the like, all intermingling with the stops & starts of heavy traffic, pedestrian marches & chatters, various barroom jukeboxes, sirens & the faint boom of distant airport traffic & trains. The hustle & bustle itself was already rhythmic, but this explicit pulse adds an element of purpose to the chaos that bewitches and entrances.

In this way, I have come to not only accept the 4/4 metronomic bass* that snakes in & out of this album’s thriving-metropolis-dense atmospheres, but I can deeply appreciate its support in accenting the otherwise blissful mayhem**.

Fanfuckingtastic for headphone-hiking in rural and urban spots alike, though the results will certainly differ widely.

*an infamous beat I usually dread like a clown on the front porch at midnight)

**y’know, as far as ambient-drone soundscapes go

http://ctatsu.bandcamp.com/album/exile

and/or

http://rainbathv.tumblr.com/

-- Jacob An Kittenplan