Tabs Out | Nocktern – NoStalgia | Tabs Out Cassette Podcast

Nocktern – NoStalgia

Of course something called “Nocktern” could only happen at night, because despite its spelling, Nocktern is pronounced exactly like you would pronounce “nocturne,” a composition about or inspired by the night. And you’d be doubly right to head down this easy path on the way to psychiatrically explore Nocktern, as “NoStalgia,” the single, twenty-two minute track that appears on both sides of the tape, debuted at something called “Amek Bummer Nights 2019,” which … sounds pretty awesome. Honestly, if you’re familiar with Amek and its solid stable of artists the label releases, then you would be really keyed up for a performative series called “Amek Bummer Nights” – imagine all the deep, unsettling drone and ambient and synthesizer music you could hear in person!

I won’t get into what that experience probably would be like – you can imagine the beards and the hoodies and the cluttered effects tables – but you can hear it already, can’t you? It’s in your head, the low rumble of static or subtle feedback, the pops and clicks if disruptive percussive elements, the plaintive melodies begrudgingly wrangled from various devices, some with keys. The wildly arpeggiated sci-fi electronics strobing from this base. Wait, what? No, I wasn’t thinking about that either, but here, as I’m listening to “NoStalgia” and getting settled in for my own virtual bummer night I’m hit with that awesome retro vibe, and it’s an incredibly welcome diversion.

See, if this thing is called “NoStalgia” – that capped “S,” suggesting “No Stalgia,” an absence of “Stalgia” (what the heck is “Stalgia”?) – then it’s not going to allow us to tap into the experiences we’ve already had, it’s not going play by our rules. It’s going to break from mopey ambient, and it’s going to make us enjoy what it’s sending our way. Because even though, yes, this still would qualify for perfect “Bummer Nights” entertainment, it’s got a hook that will demand attention rather than let you sink into a lonely malaise. And there’s even a third part! The sci-fi synth drops out in favor of solo piano, which itself whips itself up into an electric loop before gradually tapering off and slinking back into the darkness, reminding you that you are, indeed, part of a “nockternal” experience.

See what I did there?

Fifty copies of this one available, grab it from Amek!