Cassette Review // Kris and Tavi "Lines in Dirt" (skrot up)

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https://skrotup.bandcamp.com/album/lines-in-dirt //

Dreamy guitar loops begin this cassette which makes me feel like we're going into some blissed out -wave sound.   It picks up a little bit and somehow manages to get higher as we feel like a plane just soaring away.    The next song starts like pressing play and then these chill guitars come in which feel a bit like surf.    There are vocals on this song and it reminds me of The Doors but with a little bit more of that beach vibe to it, but yes, there is a psychedelic quality within these sounds as well.    It's quite a fun trip.

While on the second song Tara Tavi sings, the third song- which is the titular track- has Peter Kris singing.   This is a slow, almost dying ballad which feels like we're lost in the desert and we're not going to make it out.   For "Halo of Rain" Tara Tavi takes over the vocals again as the guitar chords ring along.   It's a combination of the guitar loops and the voice of Tara Tavi but this song is rather hypnotic, which is a good quality for music to have, and it also feels like it has a drive underneath it as well.   I just can't figure out if this song would best fit in with the 1990's or way before that and I like that it is timeless in that way as well.

The last song on Side A- "Angeles Forest"- is these trippy guitars with vocals by Tara Tavi once again.   On the flip side we open with this great almost rambling guitar riff and then it distorts into some kind of -wave.    These two sounds- that guitar riff of twangy notes and the more deeply distorted chords- overlap and have us with this guitar masterpiece called "Selalu Tidak".   "Standard Light" has these echoing guitar chords, they just don't seem steady, which come out with vocals by Peter Kris. 

Another dark and dreamy song with vocals by Tara Tavi takes us into "A Touch Away From the Landfill" which is loud and has vocals by Peter Kris.   It reminds me of one of the slower, almost ballad types of songs that Local H would have on their "As Good As Dead" album.    The guitar notes really begin to twist in the wind and you don't hear that a lot in songs, but that's how it seems to just fade out into the sunset.

Distorted guitar chords come through now and this has an upbeat quality to it.   I wouldn't say it's happy, but it makes me want to get up and move whereas a lot of this cassette up until this point has just felt so mellow.   I struggled before with whether this should be from the 1990's or prior but this song here- "The Moon of Horses"- is definitely a good fit for the 1990's grunge scene.  I'd put this somewhere between Letters to Cleo and Mudhoney, for those who are familiar with those bands.   And with that, Kris and Tavi go out with the idea of "always leave them wanting more".