It’s been a few years since we’ve heard anything from Chris Child (Kodomo) and Micah Frank (Puremagnetik), but the wait has been worth it. The two have just released Tape Pieces Vol.3, the final chapter in their beautiful collaboration. This album is filled with lush, textured sounds that will take you on a journey into the sonic unknown. If you’re a fan of ambient music, then you need to check out this release!

Tape Pieces Vol. 3 represents the next installment in the collaboration between composer/producer Chris Child (Kodomo) and sound artist Micah Frank. This volume sees the pair continue to explore the potential of tape manipulation, with a focus on creating more organic and organic-sounding textures.

As with the previous two releases, much of the material on Tape Pieces Vol. 3 was created using found sounds and field recordings, which were then processed and manipulated to create new sonic environments.

The result is a fascinating and often beautiful collection of soundscapes that will appeal to fans of ambient music, experimental music, and contemporary classical music alike.

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Micro-Loops

Asynchronous micro-loops are small, self-contained repetitive actions that can be combined to create more complex systems. By layering these simple loops on top of each other, it is possible to create rich ecosystems of interdependent parts.

These systems can be incredibly adaptive and embrace unexpected changes and fluctuations. In addition, they can be highly resilient, able to withstand disruptions, and even thrive in the face of adversity. As such, asynchronous micro-loops offer a powerful tool for exploring the complex dynamics of social and natural systems.

Sonic Perfection

This sonic attention to detail is what gives the album its unique sound. Each note is placed with purpose and impacts the overall tone of the record. This is combined with a diverse compositional palette that pulls from a variety of genres and styles. The result is an album that is both experimental and mature, with a sound that is unlike anything else out there.

Landing, Delve, VarnAw, …

The range covered is impressive — “Landing”, the opening track begins with a barely audible tape fragment, building to a euphoric climax, flowing along a wall of pulsing bass tones and distorted synthesizers.

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Despite the variety on offer, there is a coherence to the tracks that keeps them feeling like part of a unified whole. This is an album that demands your attention, but it rewards you handsomely for doing so.

“Delve” has a welcoming atmosphere, with a sense of progress and wonder. “SomSom” is an amazing trip that takes you through a frozen landscape and lasts forever.

With its hypnotic drones and gentle percolating hiss, “VarnAw” entrances the listener before being disturbed by an enormous low sweeping base swiftly approaching, similar to storm clouds gathering.

The final component, “Our Turn Come Flowers,” is a 9-minute narrative made up of strangely beautiful noises that may be both frightening and oddly soothing.

The track feels out of time – everything is shifting and amorphous – perhaps what hidden layers beneath reality might sound like. The electronic ambiance is haunting, with deep bloops and bloops that ebb and flow like a disturbing dream.

There’s a sense of unease, as if something is not quite right, but also a feeling of wonder, as if contemplating the mysteries of the universe. The track is unsettling and beautiful, perfect for late-night listening. It’s the kind of music that makes you feel like you’re not quite alone in the world, and that there are hidden depths to be explored.

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Whether you find it comforting or unsettling, there’s no doubt that this track is unique and fascinating.

Loom Plugin Included

The EP will be released with a unique plugin called Loom, developed by Micah of Puremagnetik.

The plugin features several of the original tape loops used in the tracks, letting users granulize and fragment these loops into ambient backdrops and minimalistic tonal sequences. The plugin is designed to work with any DAW and comes with a comprehensive PDF manual. Loom is available now for purchase on the Puremagnetik website.

Conclusion

Fans of experimental music will be excited to know that Tape Pieces Vol. 3, the latest release from musician Bryan Elza, is now available. This high-quality cassette tape features a carefully designed artwork and only 100 copies have been produced.

The music on the album is a fascinating blend of traditional instrumentation and found sound, and the overall effect is both calming and enigmatic. Whether you’re a longtime fan or you’re just getting started, this release is definitely worth checking out. So grab a copy while you still can!

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Featuring the cover art from their latest album, these prints are stunning examples of contemporary art. The artists hand-signed and numbered each print, making it a truly collectible piece. With only 30 available for sale, these prints are sure to go fast. So don’t wait – order yours today!

Noontide by Micah Frank

Noontide​ is a product of the now; “The entire thing,” Frank explains, “was composed during the coronavirus quarantine months of March and April” in New York City. “I think the pacing of the pieces was very much determined by the uncertainty and social inactivity of that period.”

“A Plume Apart,” the opening track, sets the emotional and aesthetic mood; motion comes in slow waves, timbres expand horizontally while the shape both rises and drops. One gesture moves in place of another, emptying the stage of the imagination for something expansive to arrive. The pace is slow but always flowing.

Biting, tangy sounds rub and sway against each other in “An Orbit Unfolds,” while chords slide across the landscape of “Needle at the Bottom of the Sea.” ​Noontide​ ​is​ ​Frank’s​ ​contemplation of locked-down moments that seemed, for everyone, to lead to nowhere.

The album was realized mostly through physical, analog means. Software use was minimal, nothing other than EQ and compression, and some of the music was “printed to tape,” Frank notes. The warm, palpable sounds come from an Oberheim Xpander and a Make Noise Shared System, often working in tandem across generative synth patches. Frank built the tracks out of small segments that balance between repetition and change.

“Some tracks have simple motifs,” Frank explains, “while others are more ambient beds or electronic experimental.” That experimental sense runs throughout, but it’s not about musical form as much as it is about stasis and uncertainty. Uncertainty and social inactivity became, for so many, an experiment in living, in finding what figurative and literal internal life might be like with society as a whole mostly shut down. The question for Frank was less “What might music sound like?” than “What might life feel like?”.

Noontide​ suggests that life might feel like the sound of the past time-warped into the present. The unmistakable, evocative sounds of the Xpander, and the hardware-based generative means, evoke the classic production of John Carpenter and Vangelis’s early soundtracks.

Frank hopes that ​Noontide​ “provides an abstract but cohesive experience that takes the listener on a bit of an adventure.” The simplest, shortest lone journey can be an adventure, especially in a time when it’s not even clear where you can go, and what the world might look like next month, or even tomorrow. ​Noontide​ is a guide from the past into the future. 

All tracks written, produced and performed by Micah Frank
Artwork by John Whitlock
Mastered by Taylor Deupree at 12k
Copy by George Grella

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Innervelt | Dark Haze Machine

Puremagnetik is pleased to release Innervelt, a free plugin to complement Noontide by Micah Frank – out now on Puremagnetik Tapes. Innervelt is a device designed to process audio in unconventional stages. It is a waveshaper, a modulating space effect, a glitch looper, and an ambient wash processor. It is free (name your price) on Bandcamp until October 15th.

Micah Frank | Noontide

Puremagnetik announced the release of Noontide by Micah Frank – available now on cassette and digital download.

Biting, tangy sounds rub and sway against each other in “An Orbit Unfolds,” while chords slide across the landscape of “Needle at the Bottom of the Sea.” ​Noontide​ ​is​ ​Frank’s​ ​contemplation of recent moments that seemed, for many, to lead to nowhere.