Cassette Review // Jaap Blonk "Joyous Junctures" (Eh? Records)

$10 //

http://www.publiceyesore.com/ehcat.php?eh=107 //

https://jaapblonk.bandcamp.com/album/joyous-junctures //

This cassette begins right away with vocals.   This isn't your typical type of singing though as the sounds being made aren't always words but are rather sounds.  In a large way, I like to think of this how comic books can have various sounds present but they are always for actions rather than words.   Or, if you're older, it can be like the original Batman series with Adam West and how they always put up graphics with sounds on them as well.   There are minimal electronics behind this as well, at least to start.

The electronics begin expanding and really just taking over before the vocals come back as more of a whisper.    While the music begins to just sort of vibe, the vocals come through like that of a language I do not understand.  It's not just that the sound is created in a way which makes me think of actions but it's also sometimes like a word but just not a word I've heard before.  So there is this sort of alien language feeling to this cassette as well.  It could be a matter of creating your own language, but it also does still sound like a Batman fight.

A piano comes in with the trill now and this one feels a bit more classical.  I'm thinking about how some musicians incorporate the sound of their voice plus an acoustic guitar.  It reminds me of that but only because it is this voice- which might have just said "buckle" or might also be speaking backwards- with the electronics.  I would not want to be the one putting the words onto the screen if this was on television in a closed caption setting.   With the electronics fading, the voice becomes darker, evil, as if it is a warlock casting a spell upon us.   This also feels like a nod to Gollum, which makes me think of "Lord of the Rings" vibes all over.

We trill now, like the rolling of a glass bottle.   A different voice comes in now, possibly speaking a language I just do not understand and it also sounds like it could be a computer voice such as Siri but not quite Siri.  Now I'm wondering if anyone has ever made music and just used Siri as their vocalist.   Clangs come through and make me think of a guitar being plucked, somewhat like Primus but a little bit more violent.   The voices definitely are talking about "stew" and sometimes say just random letters (I heard a J)   That guitar sound is really just blasting away in here as well.

Singing comes through now more like a moan and it makes me think about how this could some sort of holy hymn type of song more than anything else.   A slow electronic rattle is behind this and if it was in a church setting it'd make sense.   The vocals come through more like speaking now and it sounds like words are being said, like "Follow unto me", but I just don't fully understand them.  I definitely heard "lover" and "never again" but I can't seem to piece together any lyrics otherwise.   I also feel like I just heard "I'll hurt some know this may be for" and then I'm not sure.  

Louder, sharper electronics now, hit like laser blasts but have a different feel to them.  This is a slow, step by step electronic song but it is so good.    Deeper bass synths come in as well and this one is just that alien feeling but also something which relaxes me even with the sharp edges.  A motor drive turns into a burst of sharp static and the vocals seem to be making strange sounds over this, like an explosion of the distorted electronics and mouth.   To some extent, these vocals also sound like Donald Duck.  

It sounds like the radio station is being changed and then I feel like drum sticks are hitting each other before it is the ringing like a phone.  It feels like there is a lot of beeping now, something monster screaming from the trash and then just this overall sense of destruction and trouble.   This takes us into an organ number which almost begins to feel like a sea shanty.   The sound is of broken guitars being strum now.   The vocals begin to sound as if someone is choking, as the electronics swirl around like droids.  The vocals also just sound terrified.  It's really just become this electronic swirl now.  The vocals have faded.  The electronics also eventually fade, as a rocket becomes quieter while it shoots into space.

On the flip side we open up with the pleasant ringing of glass tones.   The vocals- though they still don't quite make words- remind me of some artists I've heard but don't always remember by name.  Xiu Xiu comes to mind right away.  I think he just said "how I wish her clothes fall apart" but I can't be sure.   The frequencies whirr and change.   The vocals come through like a whisper but in an angry way as the electronics revert back to droids like R2D2 once again.   I hear car horns now as well.  

Deep bass expands like footsteps now.  Words feel like they are being spoken by a computer but they also feel like they are typed up as not words.   It does sound like they are talking about June.   It's that deep creaking now, like a haunted basement, and I like how it feels like random not-really-words are just being typed up by the artist and read by the computers.  This takes us into a song which has more pleasant melodies and feels like it could almost be a dreamy island number.   A quiet rattle and hum as this sounds like nature, being in the woods with bugs and such at night time.  

It feels almost as if the vocals are glitching as the jungle noises make me think we are on some kind of wild ride.  Notes come in one by one now and it has a spaced out rock way about it.   The vocals feel haunted like a ghost and I know they said "gaga" as the pianos play all the keys.   "I'll hatch you a lovely" and then I'm not sure what the next words are.   There is that feeling once again of radio stations being tuned and at that same time I feel like the vocals are scrambled.  I also feel like at times I hear "Go, Chaka, go!" which makes me think of the "Land of the Lost" movie.  

A strum now, like an old acoustic western song.  A very robotic computer voice comes on to say something.  This turns into footsteps and an engine warming up.   Quieter now, but the frequency changes like Pole Position.  A sharpness and then it feels like metal rattling.  And then I feel like everything just accelerates and blasts off into space.   There is a little bit of a melody to the vocals, though I still cannot make out a word, as this one seems to just fade into the galaxy, electronics and vocals all the way.