Oakland’s Constellation Tatsu, one of my favorite labels out there, is back with another trio of mind- and body-soothing ambient, New Age, and zoned-out cassettes. Tatsu tapes are my go-to jammies for early-morning chill sessions at home, before the insanity of the work day lays blow after blow upon my psyche.
First up is L.A.-based Forest Walker, who many may know for his work in Seabat. When he’s not crafting gorgeous tracks like “Desert Lighthouse,” off of UV Sea, Walker works as an engineer at Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions. While his day job sounds pretty damn cool, with credits ranging from Planet Earth II to Kong: Skull Island, I’m all in on UV Sea, a brilliantly transfixing album.
Ana & Ina’s “On Dockweiler Beach” throws down some seriously nasty synth drone. The duo of writer Ashley Hoffman and visual artist Ian James (formerly of Sneaky Snake) have given us a sprawling, meditative tape to truly “get lost in,” ya feel me? James’s former band put out a tape that TMT Cerberus main man Jspicer reviewed eons ago, but I came back to his central question when I first heard this: another synth album? Of course this could be a druggy, dull Bandcamp release that no one but the creator and their fellow “gear heads” can get behind, but On Dockweiler Beach defies this jaded writer’s ability to cast it aside the way I normally do for so, so many promos. Stream below and you’ll thank me later.
The last tape of the batch comes from Melbourne, Australia’s Alex Last, recording here under the Soda Lite moniker. If you were listening to the previous songs and wondered, “But what about the New Age??,” then “Habitat” will provide and then some. Crystalline synths? Check. Field recordings? Check. A mellow vibe? You know it.
You probably skimmed my exhaustive overviews above, so stream samples of the new batch below, and head to Constellation Tatsu to grip those cassettes on February 13.
More about: Ana & Ina, Forest Walker, SODA Lite
