Fashionmasters
Splits Vol. 2

There’s a certain comfort in the music contained in this latest Pandafuzz release. But don’t let it surprise you when you’re greeted by the din contained within. The comfort of Splits 2 is more akin to the comfort one finds while in the confines of say, a commuter train, or passenger plane. The real or imagined polyrhythms, the full frequency noise, the rail screech…its a contradictory experience.

But why is this comforting? Why do we allow ourselves to be lulled by the vehicle? Is it because we know that behind its undiscriminating demeanor, there’s a human just like us manning the controls?

The beauty behind splits is just that. The conductors of this steel giant, Timothy and Bryant and their cadre of deck hands collectively known as Fashionmasters, used this vehicle to bridge the distances that separated them during their post-graduate lives. And its a fascinating ride, one of contradictions and discovery.

From the artist:
Fashionmasters is a media art group that uses the internet to aid our collaboration. We exchange and manipulate sound files, If we like the results we release them. Splits is our fourth release. It is the first release to feature video.
Artwork by Luis Domingo
Video by Laura Simpson

Audio
Download audio file (pf032-1.mp3)
Download audio file (pf032-2.mp3)
Download audio file (pf032-3.mp3)
Download audio file (pf032-4.mp3)
Download audio file (pf032-5.mp3)
Download audio file (pf032-6.mp3)

1. FM401
2. FM402
3. FM403
4. FM404
5. FM405
6. FM406

Video can be accessed at the ARCHIVE here.

Download at ARCHIVE

Download audio file (pf023.DementiaandHopeTrails.Song.Of.Masuka.mp3)
Download the ZIP

Dementia and Hope Trails comes to my humble label from a place I once called home….Maryland and what a treat it is to have him here. The purveyor of Rainbow Bridge Recordings who has released recordings from fellow pandafuzz-er Julia LaDense (and a wealth of other well known artists such as Andrew Coltrane and Red Electric Rainbow), and the driving force behind a veritable tidal wave of activity ranging from tapes to live performances…Dementia and Hope Trails provides us with an homage to his recently acquired feline Masuka.

It is a spacious journey that is a pleasure for both the left and right channels…not an experience to be had at soft volumes on low quality speakers but rather an aural journey of high order that avoids exploitation of panning and instead fills a new space. It’s foray into the digital world can feel foreign to me at times and in the beginning I almost walked around this influence so it would not influence me personally. Once through the entire work it shows it’s place and justifies itself as an appropriate method.

In a recent flood of demo material, coupled with a severe disconnect from the online world due to my rural setting, I was happy to receive this in the mail and am proud to present it for your listening. As we go through 2010 cautiously on new soil I am more inundated than ever with material to release and want to stand behind each one as if it were my own and Song of Masuka is no exception to that rule….See you back here in 14:48.