Hiroshi Hasegawa & Vitaly Maklakov — Untitled

Ostroga imprint presents a new split cassette between Hiroshi Hasegawa & Vitaly Maklakov. Japanoise heavyweight, Hiroshi Hasegawa, needs no introduction. A legendary statesman of the noise aesthetic, Hasegawa has been melting faces for decades in such outfits as C.C.C.C. and Astro. Vitaly Maklakov hails from Russia and is perhaps better known playing under the moniker, Light Collapse. I just recently became acquainted with his non Light Collapse material and was pleasantly surprised by his free form noise sprawl.

This C60 cassette presents two side long tracks by each artist. Hiroshi Hasegawa's side really appeals to the sci-fi nerd inside me. Many of the sounds presented on his track remind me of flipping switches, pulling levers, viewing scanners, and turning knobs aboard the Tardis or U.S.S. Enterprise. Lots of delayed bleeps and beeps, squelchy sonic blobs, and synthny whirs pepper this track with often a deft attention to minimalism. Think sonic iterations of the language of robots computers, and space ships; all vaguely psychedelic and space age. I could listen to this all day.

Vitaly Maklakov’s side takes a similar tack, but comes off as more aggressive than the former piece. Maklakov deploys a variety of sputtering tones, mixed with high and bright synth blasts, electronic pings, and other sounds that sound more concrete in nature. The sounds of a balloon being stroked (real or manufactured), synth tones that sound like a slide whistle at times and drill bit at others, and a heavy dose of pillowy exhaust drone round out the piece.

Despite this cassette sounding like a soundtrack to some lost 70’s sci-fi film, it’s true theme actually sounds mycological in nature. The label blurb mentions, “the movement of air particles and disclosure mentality mushrooms.” Sure, I’ll buy that. The fungi on the front cover should have been a dead giveaway.

This little split tape was a real gem of a find, sure to expand minds one sonic mushroom at a time.