Joe Houpert is a prolific artist. Along with Nathan McLaughlin, Joe forms the excellent, Loud and Sad. This has been a fruitful year for them, releasing a tape on //Cae-sur-a//, an lp on Greenup Industries and issuing lathe 1 and 2 on FET. A more recent project is Tilth, Nathan and Joe's trio with Cody Yantis. They released a lathe on FET and a full-length on Soft Abuse. Additionally, Joe has a solo project, Prayer. Earlier this year, he released a tape on Sunshine Ltd. Now, he is here to cure your end-of-year blues with the four compositions of serene and contemplative synth. Second Species, on Constellation Tatsu, finds Joe at his sharpest. To induce the aforementioned tranquility, synth is looped and layered while treated with effects; the ideas are slightly altered throughout. His acute sense of pace is conspicuous over four tracks. Furthermore, he is adroit at juxtaposing/ordering dissimilar sounds, ultimately begetting a beautiful synthesis. Due to these characteristics and his musicianship, Second Species reminds me the Swedish masters, Tape.
The second track on side A is my favorite of the tape. It is an unmistakably uplifting track, as looped synth reverberates placidly, glistening like the embryonic sun. Waves of serenity abut elongated, contemplative tones - the effect is beautiful. After one ascends to the peak, the comedown is soothing. Another great track opens the flipside. In this track, protracted organ like tones echo calmly - this is unabashed relaxation music! Soon, another layer of synth is added, the contrasting tones produce a moment of beauty. The track swells around the middle and ascends more proximate to the end.
The soothing blue colors and minimalist design are a strong signal to expect something beautiful. Constellation Tatsu has caught my attention recently with a string of awesome releases. It has been a great year for this young label! Buy the Prayer tape directly from Constellation Tatsu. Also, check out the great batch deals, and the new batch that features the highly anticipated EN/Jefre Cantu-Ledesma split tape. Four awesome tapes for $16 - kind of difficult to beat that deal!
peace and love, friends :)