New Batch – Constellation Tatsu
8.22.18 by Ryan Masteller

Get out your star maps – yes AGAIN – and help me find Tatsu on it, because I’m having a heck of a time. I can go outside my house at night and spot the Big Dipper and Orion … and, well, not much else save for a couple planets and the moon and stuff. Sometimes clouds and airplanes, but we all know what those are.

Tatsu’s a tricky one though. It’s in our galaxy, I’m pretty sure, but it’s so hard to spot. I guess we can mentally draw lines and connect dots and make a cat wherever we want if we run into this kind of difficulty. And I’m definitely at the point of giving up. There! There it is. No, I won’t show you. Let’s go inside.

There are two dots to connect on cassette tapes, the two big holes right in the middle of them where the spools are. Constellation Tapesu. Summer batch 2018.

First up is Liai, a crackling campfire of nocturnal ambience, and if it was realized in physical form, it really wouldn’t even block out the night sky if there’s not a lot of additional light pollution. (Put away your phone, Mike Haley, no Angry Birds out here in nature.) Ghosts of the night sing hymns like whispers through the trees throughout “Lili,” a remarkable introduction to this batch and to Ctatsu itself, and to Liai, whoever you may be (Lo Bise, Chicago).

At least she doesn’t hate crickets, poor little bastards, like OCA does! Well, a sample in “HeavenCent” suggests as much, but let’s put Yo van Lenz and T. M. Zeisig on the spot for all this anti-cricket activity. Maybe they can answer for themselves. See, personally, I fall asleep just fine to the sound of the little musicians bowing their legs together, and I count myself lucky whenever I’m near a field containing a deafening amount of the bugs. Speaking of drifting off peacefully to lovely sounds, OCA’s “Preset Music” is an infinity pool in space to submerge yourself and get lost in!

Not that it matters, but poemme is more active during the daytime. That’s what “Moments in Golden Light” suggests to me anyway, and if you check out the Cleveland ambient artist’s Bandcamp page, you’ll see a bunch of releases with covers featuring soft natural light hazed over with a tranquil glow. “Moments in Golden Light” continues that motif, both visually and sonically, and makes you feel like you’re in a painting. Or a glorious daydream.

Mike Nigro and Andrew Osterhoudt (aka Channeling) channel (get it?) the everlasting zone of perpetual day and perpetual night; in fact, there is neither day nor night within “Latitudes,” as your mind hurtles at unimaginable speeds through a sparkling aurora borealis of pure sound. Is this the proper way to wrap up a Constellation Tatsu batch? I think it’s the only way! The stars are now connected in neon patterns all across the horizon of your field of vision. I would say don’t look down, but there’s no down. No up either.

Buy a batch of these tapes – it’s cheaper than getting them individually.