Favorite Cassettes of 2010

Provided below is a list of my favorite cassettes that were released this year. These aren't in order of enjoyment or interest, and are rather in alphabetical order because there's no competition between these cassettes.

Colored Mushroom & The Medicine Rocks "At Red Frosting" c26 (Wagon): John Elliott's latest foray into synthesizers has expanded by adding two other members to the group. Not only does Elliott and co. put forth the as-expected shimmering tones heard from projects like Imaginary Softwoods and Emeralds, but also incorporate driving rhythms into the mix. At Red Frosting has led me to believe that this is the most accessible Emeralds side project, but I could be exaggerating.

Cyque-Sage "Woven Hare" c40 (Different Lands): Mike Pouw (who also records as Knit Prism) has created some great rainy-day/nighttime music with his moniker Cyque-Sage. Very subtle yet eerie tones begin to oscillate as shuffling, crackles, and clattering interjections weave in and out of the drones; it's hauntingly beautiful. - http://capri.firstpress.net/Differentlands/

Sean McCann "Fable Shop" c49 (Cylindrical Habitat Modules): This seems to be an anomaly within what I've heard from McCann: no sprawling, ambitious orchestrations; here we have murky hums emanating from (what I assume is) a synth engulfed in foggy room ambiance. In a similar league to Cyque-Sage's Woven Hare, Fable Shop has that hermit/claustrophobic quality to it that leaves me both alienated yet subdued.

MIST "Certain Expansion" c40 (Pizza Wagon)

Debut release number 3 for today (sort of)! This one off of Cleveland's own Pizza Wagon which is a split release by Wagon run by John Elliott of Emeralds and Pizza Night run by the perennial nice guy Sam Goldberg though it doesn't show up in either of their discographies so maybe this is a co-release venture.

Appropriately this tape is these two dudes collaborating on two sides of heavy heavy synthesizer with credits for a voice and electric violin in there though they must heavily processed in the mix because it just felt like two synthesizers oscillating as yr hurtled through zero gravity in an epic, endless somersault. Really beautiful black hole, blind folded centipede leg jams.

Unfortunately doesn't appear to be available from any of the labels but they're worth checking out if yr intrigued.

Sam's Pizza Night label:
http://clevelandpizzanight.blogspot.com/
John's Wagon label, though everything is sold out:
http://clevelandwagon.blogspot.com/

EMERALDS "Servant" c26 (Wagon)

Cleveland based Emeralds serves up another frothy stew of mystic miasma, probably my favorite to date. If you've been following these dudes for a while yr sure to be pleased by this release. The Ohio trio serves up two sides of mind squirming, swamp shifting, asteroid soundscapes, drawing openly from their influences (listed in the first page of their website!) of terry riley's minimalist tonal patterns and tangerine dreams moody dystopian synth soundtracks. Type of music that makes you turn off the lights (if they're not already) and stuff yourself between two mattresses and get yr creep out on (if you're not already).

Full color art of what looks like a byzantine mosaic.
Not sure of the edition or if it's still in print.
Check the sort of awkward page of the label here:
http://clevelandwagon.blogspot.com/

PEDALPHILE “Rather Ripped” (Wagon)

Really disgusting C30 of bubbling mud from Ryan of Emeralds’ solo world. The cover is a hideous color portrait of a child with a terrible skin disease and his/her eyes covered up and the spine is stolen straight from Sonic Youth’s Geffen-copyrighted “Rather Ripped” font, so this thing’s agenda is pretty clearly to fart in the face of whoever’s got their ear to the ground (to drive the point home the tape opens and closes with someone/Ryan reading an “Adult” personals ad). Musically, the A side is indistinguishable low-end ooze that just rumbles numbly and drips into the cracks in yr ears in a weird motion, but the B is a way more “heard this before” man-with-a-mixer style jam. It really just sounds exactly like a Behringer plugged into itself and casually fucked around with…that aimless putt-putt-putting noise everybody who owns a mixer is familiar with. At the end it gets a little louder and loopier (like when you turn the ‘high’ knob up and the ‘low’ knob down) but the overall vibe is more ‘technological demonstration’ than ‘aesthetic creation.’ For whatever the freak that distinction is worth to anybody.