Wagner – 70s Floyd Lite
7.26.16 by Marcel Foley

wagner large

Portland-based musician Parker Johnson beautifully blurs the lines between feedback-heavy ambient-drone and warped tape music. On his debut cassette as Wagner, he combines experimental guitar-noise head trips, collage-esque movements of samples and lo-fi loops, and gorgeous abstract shoegaze.

Primitive drones smoothly transition into My Bloody Valentine-esque pieces of blissful guitar-driven dream/noise pop, gorgeous ambient soundscapes that are consumed by endless waves of tape decay and amp buzzing, and transcendent levels of synth and guitar multi-layering. “70s Floyd Lite: is a truly eclectic and unique piece of work, yet it never feels messy or unfocused at any time. Its marks of uncharted sonic territory, pure inventiveness, and unorthodox approaches to intricate cassette music make it a standout project altogether. Wagner offers a new frontier for DIY music, with sonic aesthetics and concepts that are so minimal yet complex, layered but stripped down, alien-like yet so beautifully, amazingly organic and nostalgic.

“70s Floyd Lite” is out now via Colossal Tapes.