Unreleased ADAPTER Review

Unpublished Adapter review by Joe Mygan

The ever-prolific Joe Bastardo returns to Japan's birdFriend label

with his Bastian Void project after previously releasing a split tape

on birdFriend with H. Takahashi. Bastardo's layered clouds of frenetic

synthesizer patches on his newest album Adapter, push his Bastian Void

project to distant realms of sonic exploration.

Melting together heavily tectonic synth and heart-pounding syncopated

rhythms, Bastian Void's keen understanding of synthesis is evident

throughout this album. “Garden Level” slowly splatters a tangled web

of synth arpeggios while a percussive workout rattles around the inner

cavities of your skull. “Pineline (Void Mix)”, an ominous drone

sound-scape evokes a feeling of floating between realms of

consciousness. The vibrantly shimmering synthesizer tones on “Surface

Level” leave subtle imprints within your nervous system.

Christopher Konopka lends his cerebral video skills to “Garden Level”.

A wizard of mind-melting video synthesis, Konopka layers strobing

feedback washes atop cascading waves of voltage bent colors. Konopka's

visuals permeate beyond your retina, leaving a deep imprint on your

brain. Psychedelic tapestries of currents bent in all directions.

Each track on Adapter has a life of its own. Situated between flowing

voltages and arrays of binary, Bastian Void digs deeply into these

electronic music technologies. These frequencies combine and collide,

stretching your mind and setting you adrift.

2017 Retrospective

Everyone knows it's basically impossible to quantify a year of life into a general list, so I'm just gonna share some photos from my tour in Japan with Ant'lrd and my mystery friend, who is also an artist I love and respect very much.

Before kicking the photos off, I'd like to link a few preceeding albums:

Ant'lrd's "Cherubian," which I released on Moss Archive this year:

https://mossarchive.bandcamp.com/album/cherubian

Bastian Void's "Adapter," which was released on Japanese label, birdFriend:

https://birdfriend.bandcamp.com/album/adapter

Bastian Void / Ant'lrd tour split, which was released on Japanese label Muzan Editions:

https://muzaneditions.bandcamp.com/album/dream-forest-somnambulist

Takahiro Mukai's "Superficial Vein," which I released on Moss Archive

https://mossarchive.bandcamp.com/album/superficial-vein

Endurance's "Heteros," which I released on Moss Archive. This guy runs Muzan Editions:

https://mossarchive.bandcamp.com/album/heteros

My set with Foodman on NTS radio:

https://www.nts.live/shows/foodman/episodes/foodman-13th-june-2017

Equip / Bastian Void / R23X / Ant'lrd in Vancouver

We arrived in Akihabara at night!

Our first bowls of ramen...

First show of tour... Halloween night in Shibuya

Our Posters in the elevator up to 7th Floor

Ant'lrd Live at 7th Floor

Sharing the stage with FOODMAN:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/607y3w6q4vtv87e/IMG_0360.m4v?dl=0

Group shot with Takahide a.k.a 食品まつり a.k.a foodman

... Cropped for privacy!

Kazuma, our tour manager, on the balcony outside 7th Floor... (someone at the show had weed. A rare treat in Japan!)

Halloween night in Shibuya! It's no joke.

Ant'lrd - gachapon king!

Ant'lrd and I rocked the Dodonpachi machine above Super Potato in Akihabara.

Kanda River, Tokyo

DJ Dirty Dirt (professional tape enthusiast) at FORESTLIMIT in Tokyo

A true punk basement in Japan. Cigarette cave.

Bar Bonobo in Harajuku. We played that chillout room up top. 

A video from that night:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/607y3w6q4vtv87e/IMG_0360.m4v?dl=0

Sick night.

H. Takahashi live at Bonobo

BEEP - Vintage PC Game store in Akihabara.. utterly amazing.

The best arcade in Akihabara - forgot the name.

Figurine Fever! Nakano Broadway in Tokyo

Best sushi of my life...

Setting up at HARMONIE in Kanazawa

Lounging. Kanazawa. We had to write our order down in Kanji. Intense.

Amazing game bar in Kanazawa called Hello World. 

View from our hostel balcony in beautiful Kanazawa.

Shochu on the roof in Osaka.

Urbanguild in Kyoto

Cyberpunk alleyway in Kyoto

Pre-show food quest in the streets Kyoto at night.

Endurance live at Urbanguild.

Takahashi Hattori live at Urbanguild! Amazing AV set.

With Takashi Hattori - incredible composer!

Shrine atop Mt. Ikoma

Endurance. Urban explorer extraodinaire!

Streets of Osaka

Subarine bar. Totally silent inside, save for the whirring of ventilation fans. Cyberpunk af. Best Gin & Tonic of my life.

Nerding out with YPY (birdFriend Tapes)

Last show of tour...

Takahiro Mukai

7FO - dub master

Our last bowl of Ramen, back in Tokyo. Best bowl of the entire tour!

KAEDAMA!

Thanks so much to all my amazing friends and chosen family who helped make this tour a success!

Colin (Ant'lrd), Equip, Kazuma Sasajima, Josh (Endurance, Muzan Editions), Hino (birdFriend, YPY), Chris Konopka for the tour visuals, Mark Junker, Takahiro Mukai, 7FO, H. Takahashi, Yung Hirai, KATO at Forestlimit, and Takahide (Foodman)!!!! 

Here's my ten favorite videogames I snagged while in Japan:

Soukyugurentai

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shTMXSlZue4

Hellfire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-9g9TMARs0

Kiki Kaikai

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D72hXudj_Yg

Umihara Kawase

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7ytZwSGp24

R-Type 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExfYd_1D5Ww

Mars Matrix: Hyper Solid Shooting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNBhyEjCR1U

Guardian Heroes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUCA8p0RldE

Gunner's Heaven

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGX5-U3Oi0U

Geki-Oh Shooting King

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJC38nx4QUQ&t=680s

Zero Wing (ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_WaqY7vMgw

Also a huge shoutout to everyone who I played with and everyone who helped me out in 2017!

That includes Mark McGuire, Stany (Euglosine), Peter Tran (Curved Light), Tim Davison, EAB, John Brown (World Cup), Kevin Greenspon, Mickey O'Hara, Abdul Sherzai, Ryan Kayhart, Peter Seligman, Lee Tindall (Belarisk), & my chose fam: Nick, Brian + Marg, and my amazing, brilliant partner Shawna.

Finally, here's a clip of FOODMAN playing in my room this summer:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/194lcduysjrsah9/0614171956.mp4?dl=0

ありがとう ございます

MOSS 024 / MOSS 025 / MOSS 026

Three new tapes are now available for pre-order at the 
MOSS ARCHIVE BANDCAMP!

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'

ORDER HERE

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.

MOSS 025: BELARISK 'GREYS, ESCAPED'

ORDER HERE

"The Enchanter encrypts the buttons it does & does not press. 

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'

ORDER HERE

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. 

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 

BASTIAN VOID - NIPPON LP

DOWNLOAD VIA BANDCAMP

JOSEPH BASTARDOはMassachusetts、USA在住のsynthesistとグラフィック・デザイナー。 本名、BASTIAN VOID、HOMEOWNERなど（の名義）でリリース。LOOKS　REALISTICやGAY SHAPESなどのバンドにも活躍。MOSSARCHIVEのレベルを経営。ORANGE MILK, DIGITALIS, BEER ON THE RUG, CONSTELLATION TATSU, PHINERY, SICSIC, FIELD HYMNSなどのレベルでリリース。

機材: Eurorack Modular System, Roland TR-707, Roland SH-101, Yamaha DX7, Ensoniq ESQ-1, Korg Poly-61, Korg Mono/Poly, and Apple Macbook Pro.

このアルバムはTokyo、Osaka、Kyoto、Shoji-koでフィルド・リコーデイングでできています。アラスカの上空や新幹線内や日本の様々なバスでミックスされました。

すべてのシンセは２０１６年にMoss Archive, USAのスタジオに録音されました。すべてのトラックはまだマスターリングされていない状態。 

Special thanks to Joshua Wittig, Marcus Miller and Nick Coffman. 

有り難うございます

[2015]

Tapes I dug this year: 

Foodman "Couldwork" + "Hot Rice" Orange Milk & Patient Sounds

Drawing Trees & Ant'lrd "Balanced Breakfast" BARO

Ant'lrd "Clouding Indefinitely" Inner Islands

Eric Lanham "Intercepted Ruins" A.H.E.M. Editions

SMAX ...?... Hear Now Records

Fah "We Were Cool Ones" Occult Research

ISA X "Nonsense Consequence" Ayurvedic

Three Legged Race "Rope Commercial Vol. 2" Vitrine

LEAN (w/ Abdul Sherzai) Untitled - Various Live Sets Ayurvedic

Synth Bard "Gold Box Renditions" Ephem Aural

Iasos Reissues on Rotifer Cassettes!!

Max Tundra "Selected Amiga / BBC Micro Works 85-92" Marvelous Tone

Dept. of Harmonic Integrity "In Deck and Depth, A Whim, A Weft" Tymbal Tapes

2A0X "data 3000" Dig Dug DIY

W00DY "RNBW" Self Released

Roger Tellier Craig "Visites Possibles and Sightings: Music for the Videos of Sabrina Ratté" Where to Now

Pulse Emitter "Digital Rainforest" Beer On the Rug

Childermass "Quick Highs" GNS / FOMJ

Laraaji Box Set!! Stones Throw Records

Kyle Landstra "Unshared Properties Vol I-IV" Sacred Phrases

Noyzelab "16x16 Cell Meditations" MEDS

Lorenzo Senni "Evolver CS" Alku

David Burraston & Russell Haswell "Wired Lab CV Session #1" Alku

BANK XIV "VIII Circuli Putrida" Occult Research

Volitune "Overloards" Occult Research

Three Fourths Tigers "Indoor Voice" Field Hymns

a few LPs that come to mind...

American Cassette Culture 1971-1983 - Vinyl On Demand

Kurt Stenzel "Jodorowsky's Dune OST" Light In the Attic

Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe & Ariel Kalma "We Know Each Other Somehow" RVNG Intl.

ReRVNG / REGRM Reissues!!

Oneohtrix Point Never "Garden of Delete" Warp

AFX "Orphaned Deejay Selek 2006-08" Warp

Good Times:

Autechre Live @ 3S Artspace, Manchester

David Russell & arm + Mickey O'Hara @ X Fest

Dust Witch on Halloween @ Coolidge Corner

Kraftwerk!

Gnar Burger in LA with Sam Gas Can

Looks Realistic live with Telescopes

Seamus R Williams @ The Traphaus

Gay Shapes Live @ Sam & Liz's wedding!

Sam Gas Can live somewhere on tour in CA

Life Changing Ministry in Oakland. With Nate Tusco, Headboggle, Glochids, Raub Roy

... Amazing Night!

Creelpones picked up @ The Mimaroglu Open House

Jan Balsam & Hermon Cone on New Year's Day 2015

Evergreen's Buchla

Big Sur with Sam Gas Can

Moss HQ circa 2015

Output - 2015

Out on Jan 1st

MOSS 022 - föld "erdő hang"

Deep foliage meditation. Submerged in moss. Forest of sound.