New Batch – Hausu Mountain
7.23.18 by Ryan Masteller

When is a new batch not a new batch? When the tapes within said theoretical batch are released two weeks apart! I don’t know why they did it, but those lovable scamps over at Hausu Mountain were like, I guess, “It’s too HOT to release two tapes at once this summer! Let’s just do one now and one in a couple weeks.” Actually, if you say that in a really whiny voice, it becomes a lot more off-putting than initially intended, and the “lovable scamps” suddenly become “irritating babies.” HausMo crew: Are you irritating babies?

While we wait for an official answer from Hausu Mountain to that totally serious and not-at-all reactionary question, we can see what tapes they have to offer us this time around. First up is Mondo Lava’s “Ogre Heights,” which totally sounds like a mid-game “Final Fantasy IX” section that serves as filler between actual storyline events, a Gizamaluke’s Grotto of music released into the world (except without those Grand Dragons on the cliff that you can’t defeat until later in the game because you haven’t leveled up enough yet). It’s not – it’s way chiller than that, as the duo composed of Jame Kretchum and Leon Roc Hu vibe out to stoned tropicalia and 8-bit psychedelia on this massive zoner. With “Ogre Heights” as your tape deck companion, it’s not unusual to be overwhelmed with the compulsion to unfold a beach chair down at Chocobo Lagoon, drink in hand, and watch the waves lap the coral outcrops and iridescent starfish and whelks. I forget what color your chocobo has to be to open up the lagoon. I’ll figure it out later after I close my eyes for a while behind these shades.

Speaking of “Final Fantasy IX,” there’s no way you’re relying on potions alone by the time you hit Gizamaluke’s Grotto (150 HP in battle is a joke!), but you can rely on Roland Potions to restore your health, or at least give you a second wind when you need to stay up that extra hour or two later! As, simply, Potions, Mr. Potions drops “Ostinato,” a tape that truly revels in the idea of the “continually repeated musical phrase or rhythm.” Like the metadata says, more zones! Zones for days! Potions surely has a knack for stretching his legs, his wings, his snake’s tail or whatever, unfurling gnarly jammage that you can lounge around in and watch the light play off disco balls after taking that one-hitter right to the dome. Or you can stagger to your feet and wiggle along to his far-out analog arpeggiations for a C40 or so. There are so many options – one of which is actually setting your support ability to “Auto-Potion.” That way this tape will play as soon as your HP drops below a certain level, and it’ll only take 10AP to learn if you’re Vivi!

Order Mondo Lava and Potions from Hausu Mountain, but check out these advance tunes in the meantime! Wet your whistle, RPG nerds.