DECAYCAST Reviews: sp3ctr3s “micro doses” Cassette (Histamine Tapes, 2018)

Histamine Tapes focuses on small, intimate batches of reused / recycled cassettes from a variety of artists and “sp3ctr3s” seems to, like much of the  early output on the label,  sit somewhere in the anxious realm between sound / music / noise / anti noise / flipped guitars. “micro doses” offers subtle breaths of experimental guitar tones, gentle layers of encrypted tones and  gentle flutterings of birthing sounds: the nylon stringed arpeggios ring in the cochlear as the listener begins a plucked, shimmering journey through psychedelic guitar works. Each dosage increases and the listener becomes more  detached from their  body, floating, breathing at an off-pace as the body adjusts to a tone poem of  tripped out washes of sound.

It’s unclear if I’ve been now  dosed from touching the tape, but each sounds rings for a an infinite amount of  decays until the wave warps itself  in such a distorted manner that it can no longer be distinguished as itself. Each track offers its own interpretation of granular synth chopping and slicing the subtleties in texture and  form of different  interpretations of the acoustic guitar in all of it’s bends, folds, twists, contortions, and  decays.

The more layered tracks such as “.05mg ( 06:47 )” mix low,  dark, frog-like reversals twisting peaks and troughs of  mutilated  voice, string, and percussion like soft corners of a dull, forgotten blade inside the inner ear. Other pieces such as .07mg 05:35 offer a more muted, cinematic structure focusing on a single progression rather  than a constant flex of  tone and shape. Overall a subtle yet strong  collection of  granular  experiments. Look forward to digging into more offerings from Histamine Tapes