These all come pro-dublicated and pad-printed! J-cards are high-quality recycled matte cardstock. Pro-printed at Moss HQ!
Please e-mail joebastardo [at] gmail.com for a special batch deal!
MOSS 024: GARDENER 'HEAVY EVERYTHING'
Ex-Makenoiser Dash Lewis returns with a new set of deeply-creviced compositions for voice and modular synthesizer. All tracks are performed live, and in this four-song suite, Dash's talent for loop building and deconstruction shines.
Pieces flourish with a breadth of emotion; constantly building and churning. Heavy waves of bass cascade upon gentle layers of vocal chanting. Lights shimmer from deep within the void.
The witness is treated to a truly organic experience as vocal layers intertwine with sequenced patterns and thunderous drones. Gardener exemplifies a true "Die Mensch-Maschine" ethos. When coupled with live construction of vocal knots, one can easily appreciate the synthesizer as an actual cyber-entity as well as performative instrument.
After several saturns in the glass domain it returns to the server at the end of the earth.
It stands parallel to beings coated with white denim shrouds, known as "jackets" draped around their machines. These alchemists have long hair & wear blinders to protect themselves from the sun. The Enchanter picks up the phone & sets the function to record. It travels on the magnetic waves through midnight ruin, through the glow of machine screens at an early morning hour...Eventually found asleep, beneath the digital units & wires. Units Lorelei & Lionel are trained for output of recovered signals. The banshee bass is modeled & yix'd at a later time.
Foil covers the window & the keyboard & the floor.
All is surveiled.
These alien optics are not to be trusted.
Extruded informations lie.
The Enchanter has failed & has been captured."
MOSS 026: BASTIAN VOID 'NIPPON LP'
Listening to it now, two months after its initial digital release, this album feels like a travel diary. I was in the tiny fishing village of Shoji when Marcus of OverScan invited me to play a small show with H. Takahashi in Osaka.
On the bus ride west to Nagoya, the lightbulb went on. To stay busy, I had been editing live practice jams on my laptop, and since I had no merch, I thought I could probably cobble together some kind of "Nippon EP" and give out a download card at the show. I started feverishly working to finish the tracks, peppering in recent field recordings from my travels. I quickly realized that I had enough decent material for a full-length album!
When I was in Osaka, I met up with OverScan and Joshua Stefane of Endurance. We sat down in a cramped little bar, opened up Photoshop and began to properly translate the liner notes of my album into Japanese.
When I was in Osaka, I met up with OverScan and Joshua Stefane of Endurance. We sat down in a cramped little bar, opened up Photoshop and began to properly translate the liner notes of my album into Japanese.
The next day, an hour before the show, I frantically ran to a nearby Kinko's, gave my design to the print technician and despite the language barrier, was able to coerce a rush job. After the set at HOPKEN in Osaka, I took my laptop to the back of the room and uploaded the tracks to bandcamp. Thus the Nippon LP was born!
Now, every time I hear these tracks, I can remember the view out of the bus or train window, as I pieced it together. The pace at which this album was released helps it feel fresh in my mind... pretty much the opposite of my last album!
Most of these tracks are basically live with very little overdubbing. While in Japan, editing was done and field recordings were added. This album will always have a special place in my heart and I'm excited to share this cassette version with everyone!
So much of this album came together thanks to the help of amazing friends, new and old. I am so grateful to everyone who was a part of this release! Thanks for listening! -Joe
