Tommy Awards – Sessions & Sessions II
10.4.16 by Mike DeRoitr
Okay, guys, I’m confused: These two tapes by Tommy Awards, which have really sharp-looking art, are supposedly the first two installments of a “Sessions Trilogy”, which is fine. What I don’t understand is that on the Origin Peoples Bandcamp page, the label putting these out, the release date for “Sessions II” precedes the release date for the first “Sessions” by several months. That’s backwards, right? The bio says these guys are based in Stockholm; that’s past the International Date Line if you’re going west. Does that have something to do with it? I don’t know.
Anyway, let’s get down to the tapes. The first thing you’ll notice is that, as I said, the art is really, really sharp. Examining the Sessions J-Card reveals that the graphics were done by someone going by the moniker “LeolyXXX”; a quick Google search turns up their website, and you can find out that they are a professional artist who’s had exhibitions and everything. You can even buy prints! I could tell this was the work of a pro right off the bat. This LeolyXXX person was at the top of their game when they crafted the artwork for these two tapes – they’re exceptional examples of theirwork. The art for the first “Sessions” is my personal favorite. Inside the cases, the tapes look nearly identical – actually one’s white and one’s kinda beige, and that’s the only difference – so don’t get ‘em mixed up or you’ll be starting and ending your journey at the wrong point. And what a journey it is!
The bio on the Bandcamp page evokes a lot of summery images, and that’s the exact time of year that came to my mind when I listened to these. This is summertime music. The genre descriptor that popped into my head was “post-rock”, though I have actually listened to extremely little post-rock, and couldn’t tell you if that’s actually accurate. Previously I made a note that they sounded like “krautrock”, but I must’ve been high. This is definitely post-something. Post all the bullshit you had to deal with growing up; You’re an adult now, free to float away on the warm, balmy currents gently wafting out of your stereo. There is something very mature about this music. This is an experience best experienced front-to-back-to-front-to-back. Start from the beginning and end at the end.
There’s an evolution here that you’ll want to pick up on. If “Sessions” is Donkey Kong Country, “Sessions II” is the sequel to Donkey Kong Country. If “Sessions” is GoldenEye 007, “Sessions II” is Perfect Dark. Sorry, I’d give you an analogy from the world of film but all I know is video games. The first “Sessions” is great (things really heat up on Side B), but “Sessions II” is just more mature in every way. I don’t know how much time elapsed between the two recordings, but the players have noticeably grown. The best way I can describe these tapes is that they contain major zones. I’ve seen the youth use the word “zones” to describe tunes; I’m not totally hip to the term but I think it means, like, zone. Well, these are great zones. They possess major transportive power. Yes, it’s a beautiful summer night, and you’ve just smoked a bowl and popped a Ritalin with your current lover. Listening to “Sessions” and “Sessions II” is like spending the entire evening deep in conversation, until at last, in the wee hours of the morning, you emerge on the other side into beautiful new vistas of understanding. It may not make any sense in the morning, but in the moment it just feels so right. You love each other, and there’s no one you’d rather spend a night talking philosophical nonsense with than the person you’re with right now. The moment is perfect, and you drift into peaceful sleep filled with beautiful, inspiring dreams.
These tapes are kinda like that. Get em here.