Title: Etched in Salt
Artist: Tapage & Meander
Genre: Electronic
Release Date: 8th November 2010
Label: Tympanik Audio
Album Review
The sea has been fascinating mankind at all times. The wide water and its still largely unexplored depths in particular were inspiration to a myriad of artistic expressions, may they be of a visual, palpable or musical nature. The collaboration of TAPAGE & MEANDER named ‘Etched In Salt’ is one of the most recent audible expressions. The theme of the music is rubbing off on the front cover and the other artwork as well with a part of an old diving suit shown. Once you’ve opened the digipak, you’re diving into the deepest regions of the element with luminous squids flying through the deep blue way beneath the waves. The submarine sounds of ‘California Blue’ start off the trip with sonar resonations before liquid drops of glockenspiel start to form a melodic array, eventually coupled to sopping wet beats and an eternity, suggested by widely outstretching textures. ‘Tolopea’, which you might recognize from last year’s free ‘Approaching Lights’ compilation, offers a more dance friendly rhythm styling, realized with slick beats and textures that place the feeling in your minds there’s endless freedom and beauty waiting in the deep.
If you’re letting your fantasy run wild just a little bit, it’s highly likely you will come to see the now following ‘Hydrostatic Skeleton’ could be a musical adaption of the mechanisms inside the body of a cold-blooded sea organism to generate movement. The rough structure and the forceful momentum it harbours are predominant and melodies here are just plying minor roles; the emphasis is placed on technics. ‘Atolla Wyvillei’ stretches out as far as the eyes can see. Calmly it’s lying out there in the blue and radiates pure, atmospheric beauty until the abstract beat pumps strange life into this place and suddenly it’s teeming with fascinating creatures, following their natural daily routine. ‘Osedax’, aside from being Latin for “bone-eating”, are deep sea organisms also called bone worms. That title might suggest us diving even deeper, but instead we’re being relocated to a cave with dark waters in front of us. As tranquil as the water down here seems, as tranquil is this track, its slow rhythms sprouting experimentalism and its melodies glowing with melancholic wonder within the gloaming. ‘Abyssal Plain’ builds from the previous one’s base, mostly adding to it more patterns and edges.
‘Etched in Salt’ has inherited the fantastic sound quality we were being served on the two previous TAPAGE releases already; otherwise the duo’s skills here make a new form of sound that can neither be credited to one nor the other. The oceanic theme, the album is based on makes ‘Etched in Salt’ even more intriguing.
Tracklist
01. California Blue - 4:35
02. The Tide - 5:50
03. Tolopea - 5:53
04. Hydrostatic Skeleton - 5:39
05. Subumbrella Dispute - 5:03
06. Plankton - 5:10
07. Atolla Wyvillei - 5:05
08. Oceanographic - 5:43
09. Nectocalyx Barrage - 5:02
10. Osedax - 3:41
11. Abyssal Plain - 5:15
12. Delicate Hydroid - 4:51
Line-Up
Tapage & Meander - All Music & Production
Website
http://www.myspace.com/taapaagee / http://www.myspace.com/kumogassen
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 10
Extras: -
Total: 9 / 10
Comments powered by CComment