Dhampyr – Cotton Epistles : Prologues To A Nonoscillatory Cosmotheosophic Oxycaryum Purge Physics; or, Three Shrinking Butterfly Preludes in C#
3.12.15 by Mike Haley

dham large

5cm is always handy for an interesting, under-the-radar tape grip. This peculiar little rectangle of sound on the Des Moines, IA imprint from Dhampyr fall squarely into that zone. Dhampyr, which sounds like it would pass for the moniker of a Batman villain, is owned and operated by one Harley Lethalm. Which, oddly enough, sounds like the given name of a Batman villain. Lethalm isn’t gonna dose you with some knock-out gas from the tip of an umbrella or slowly dip you into a vat of acid though. Nah, Lethalm has only the best intentions with this beefy titled C60 “Cotton Epistles : Prologues To A Nonoscillatory Cosmotheosophic Oxycaryum Purge Physics; or, Three Shrinking Butterfly Preludes in C#”.

I’m in the dark as to how much of the material on this 12 track cassette was actually created by Dhampyr and how much of it was sampled, manipulated, and mixed in the pot. It could be 0%/100%. It could be 100%/0%. It could be 50%/50%. The only reason I bring it up is because of the deep potpourri sea of sounds that flows through the tape. One minute you’re treated to gritty, sardine canned techno that is intoxicated with gloomy drone. All compressed and depressed. Then, after finding yourself ankle deep in a drug-folk haze out, you wash up on a resort shore. Cool breezes, chill waves, cold drinks, and locals playing for tips with their toes in the sand. Whether original or borrowed, Harley Lethalm zig zags for an hour, wringing this assortment of material like a wet towel. All the aforementioned, and much more, is kneaded with the occasional sample from a Leonard Cohen book on tape or a heavily depressed version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow, making for a fine trek. I don’t really care which route Dhampyr took to reach this destination. We got here, safe and sound, and made excellent time.

This isn’t the first Dhampyr outing on 5cm. A C25 called “The Voynich Tape” slipped by me last year, so it looks like I have to play catch up. For now, this C60 is limited to 50 copies and available for $5 plus shipping. A new one by Moulttrigger is also available from the label, who is celebrating one year with a three tapes for $8 deal you should probably look into. Godspeed.