Phaeton – Biome

11.12.20 by Ryan Masteller

Mike Nigro was once cold-called by the Tabs Out crew during one of their podcast sessions, and it was pretty funny – Mike runs Oxtail out of Australia now, by crikey, so he was at work while Mike, Dave, and Joe B were carrying on into the wee hours of the early evening. The boys peppered Mike with stupid questions, and Mike was game. Come to think of it, it wasn’t all that funny. But this is about Oxtail, tangentially about Mike, so there you go.

Phaeton is an Oxtail product, and you might have heard of the duo that comprises Phaeton: Matthew Gallagher (Machine Listener) and his bro from the same mo Luke Gallagher (Moondrops). Together they are an ambient/kosmische monolith, two halves of a titanic cosmic experience. On “Biome” the brothers contemplate life forms, both mammal (sliverback gorilla, grizzly bear, wolf) and manta (manta), as well as human species, ol’ homo sapiens itself. Utilizing the art of “synthwork,” the Gallaghers trace commonalities among the different types of animal, allowing us as listeners to get into the head or behind the mask or into the pajamas of whatever it is the subject happens to be. The commonalities are striking, like we’re all part of and inhabit this thing called Earth. Imagine!

So all is sunrays, all is survival in the elements, all is natural behavior. It happens right in front of you all the time, but how many of us actually notice it? I’m guilty. I saw a big turtle in the pond behind my house the other day, and my neighbor says he’s been living there forever. If I could only learn to appreciate my surroundings instead of worrying about all this modern human stuff, maybe I’d be less stressed out. Hey, maybe we all would! And maybe Mike, Dave, and Joe B would leave our Australia-based friends alone, content as they’d be in simply listening to good tapes without feeling the need to be funny over them. What a world that would be!

Like I said, this is out from your pals at Oxtail Recordings.

Related Links