Cassette Review // SALTINGS "Sold For Scrap" (Aphelion Editions)

£6 //

Edition of 20 //

https://aphelioneditions.bandcamp.com/album/sold-for-scrap //

We begin with a rumble.  Slowly, we begin to drone through the chaos.   The tones get lower and for the first time I feel like it might be in some free form jazz way.   It can sound haunted as it rattles, shakes and just echoes throughout.   I am reminded of bugs scurrying and then the electronic notes come in- some little beeps.   This all just feels like it's taking place in somewhere open- somewhere with acoustics for the echoes- but the sound itself is confined to one small space within this larger space.  

A quieter rattle now.  Alien whirrs make me believe we have somehow ended up on a different planet.   The distortion slowly blows in.   Some hollow static makes this one feel more like suspense than scary and it makes me think of the film "The Thing".   Echoing like glass there are some synths which sneak in there.   We go into this air which just sounds eerie.   As I listen to this, as I'm typing, we're currently in a snowstorm which is nice because everything outside is so quiet and calm but every so often I'll hear a noise and imagine a car has driven into the bank.  

Frequencies rattle now and, yes, this one has a lot of rattling and echoes.   But at its core it also feels minimal- never allowing too much sound to come out at one time.  Deeper, darker drone now.   Some synths feel like video games as the deeper one expands behind them.   The sound of a dialtone and phone ringing can somehow be heard at the same time now.   A little bit of scratching on the record brings out those distorted screeches.   This has somehow now turned into a distant game of pinball with some winds blowing in front of it.    The electronics are all over the place now and the bass drops.  

Things are falling apart now, breaking.   Not just in the strings but in everything surrounding them.   It's so minimal and not really that loud but yet it makes such a big noise.   Then the distortion kicks in like a gas leak and we're full on loud.   It sounds like a bee buzzing now, perhaps footsteps within here as well, and then the crackling of static.  This is a fire which won't go out.   We twist and turn, changing frequencies along the way and this one is just a rollercoaster ride on some levels.   A deep "Pole Position" sound now and then some pleasant chimes come in as it sounds like Mario is jumping.   

Keys now solemnly disappear.   The distorted unraveling.   It gets choppy now as more distortion is added in.   It's funny how quickly it can shift from feeling sad and desolate to without control and that's such a reflection of life.   More deliberate tones come through now, almost like church bells, but that static just seems to increase with it as well.   The sounds of perhaps a piano smashing as the distortion shoots down like lightning bolts.   Robotic now, like Transformers, I feel as if vocals are trying to come through.   It all calms down to where small bursts of electronics come out now- somewhat like beeping.  The rattling is back and those tones come through like video games as well.  

On the flip side we begin with some ringing which takes us into space lasers.   It sounds as if space itself is expanding.  Small jumps can be heard.   Some items seem to be shifting causing sounds like if you were going through pots and pans in the kitchen but also different items in different locations.    We begin to transform now and this just hits hard-- it's heavy but also comes at you fast and all at once before becoming somewhat more contained.   This also does have a strong feeling like someone in a space station just twisting and turning knobs.   A combination of footsteps and electronic droplets now as space lasers are fired.

It feels as if we are using sonar to find something and then there is this rattling but it's more like a shaking.   There are some sounds which could be percussion in an almost tribal way.   It sounds as if we're plugging into an amp now and then it just sort of rattles along.   This has all the makings of a great sci-fi movie from the 1950's though, with those space lasers firing at the enemy aliens.   There is a slow drive to this at times, but it doesn't feel like drone as it can have other elements come in with it.   Sometimes it just feels like the air is slowly being let out of a balloon.  It's that slow dirge feeling with some smaller sounds in the background.

We're scrambled and taking this trip where it sounds all too familiar but in fact is different as we cruise through various aspects of space and time.   This sound just also moves.  Sometimes it feels straight forward, like when you see the ships fly in "Star Wars".   Other times though it feels like we're just going up and down, back and forth.   And then the dialtone just drops out and leaves us hanging.   At times it can also sound like we're in an electronic zoo- animal sounds, but also insects so perhaps to some degree we might also be in the jungle.   But is there a jungle, is there a zoo, in space?  If so, this could be what it might sound like.    Through the end that sonar, that ringing, just grows softer and softer until it can be no longer heard.