Muntjac tape ‘Warp’
See Update Below (posted 12/3/2008).
At first glance I was thinking to myself “It’s cool, no cassette case… whatever… 12¢ might be a lot of money to some people”. Then I thought a bit about it again… “Come on dudes, jesus! Lets put the shits in some cases!” But you could say F-it, plastic is bad for the environment, right? The case will outlast you and I, and the last thing we want to do is contribute to garbage island. So instead of the tape case, it comes in a zip lock baggy, along with a little fold out piece of paper with some hand drawn animals and little homemade comic book-looking thing. Maybe this makes up for it? I should get to the point… When you put in the tape, it all comes together. In fact… reality becomes so clear you’ll find yourself slipping from it… like a barking deer.
The first couple song-based tracks are really strong. They have this nice murky quality to them that sounds too good to be unintentional… simple-minimal, softly distorted beats both programmed or played, thick bass and a subliminal sounding flute and synth, all flowing, winding, and morphing into what eventually becomes the latter tracks on the first side. These first tracks are strange and catchy… I had to get up out of my seat to do some of the little dances I’ve perfected in my time. The tracks near the end have a more psychedelic, slightly messier feel to them. It’s kind of a stark contrast to the beginning tracks, but they still work. The second side is a little more spacey/ambient… slightly wandering, but gently drifting to sleep in a pre-warmed lamb-skin blanky. On side 2 most of the beats have gone away, replaced by synthesizer and nature recordings, forming longer tracks that seem to blend together, with occasional rhythms float down from the heavens. In the end, the tape will soothe your mind – I recommend checking it out. Here is his page: muntjac site – a quick whois search will pop up an LA address – is that where Paul Grimes is from?
This is just one of many tripped-out records that are coming from Belgium-based Taped Sounds, but I have to say… it’s a little hard to tell what the name of the label is actually called. I see them referenced as different entities: taped sounds, dreamtime taped sounds, bread and animals, cauliflower dreams. Either way, they are releasing new stuff, and most of it seems to be headed in cool directions. It’s a great underground label.
As far as finding this tape… I know it’s sold out at the source. I was able to get a copy at tomentosa… but I’m almost positive that these are ultra-limited. Is it out there in the d/l world? Here are some samples I pulled from his site: Cave Mangaroo (from Side 1) & Jars (from Side 2)
[audio:muntjac_-_cave_mangaroo.mp3,muntjac_-_jars.mp3]
UPDATE
Thought I should make a mention – Paul Grimes contacted me today. He’s from Washington DC. He informed me about his original intention with regards to the packaging:
“the original plan was that we were going to put a ton of these 1-inch cartoon squares with the tape. hence the baggie to contain the intense confetti action. however, i think lieven was about to go on tour and in a rush to release it and forgot about the squares. oh well. i have a bunch of copies with the squares added.”
So that means you are in luck – he’s got tapes! You can contact him from his webpage here to find out how to acquire one. Thought you should know.
