Hooker Vision, the dream of musicians-extraordinaire Grant and Rachel Evans, has been conjuring good feelings since its launch. A whispered secret at first, the Evans’ profile of late (thanks to their joint output as Quiet Evenings and Rachel’s solo work as Motion Sickness of Time Travel) has equally given Hooker Vision its rightful place as the next great cassette label. So when Grant allowed me the honor of checking the new batch, he made sure that I noticed the Russian-based gems HV was sporting. It wasn’t hard to be drawn to Kon Tiki Gemini, largely based on the tape’s art. The minimal collage — large blue sky anchored by the ringed beauty of Neptune and a few Greek busts — seems to also speak to the work of duo Ivan Karib and Sergei Dmitriev. Stuck between space and time, Azure Maze is the sort of mindfuck that does its mind fucking gently; on the down low. The line between the classics and the cosmos is bridged by A-side thinker, “Path Curves.” The drizzling synths act as the wormhole between old and undiscovered, with percussive ticks and tocks counting off the days, weeks, and years of traveling the paranormal. The B-side is where things get nutty, with the futuristic vibe enjoying a pit stop at an Old West saloon, with a player piano adding an eerie camp to the exploration of space and sound. Whether Karib and Dmitriev are long lost Cosmonauts trying to find their constant through Azure Maze is anyone’s venture; at least we get to enjoy the strange trip with ‘em.
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