Dreamcast - “Liquid Deep”

[PPU]

Before he changed his name to dreamcastmoe and signed to Ghostly International, which released his MOLLY’S SON EP earlier this month, Davon Bryant went by the name Dreamcast. First released on a 7-inch in 2017, “Liquid Deep” was his debut single. It’s a bare-bones slice of slow-mo boogie that sees Swedish producer Sasac staying mostly out the way, providing just enough rubbery, space-age funk to keep things moving as Bryant’s buttery voice takes center stage. Deeply retro but refreshingly free of kitsch, this could be a long-lost D Train or Kashif tune. But Dreamcast sings with a sort of unpolished vulnerability that cuts right to the bone. What does “liquid deep” even mean? I have no idea, but I’ll gladly listen to him sing about it.

Nate Scheible - Fairfax

[ACR/Warm Winters Ltd.]

Not many ambient releases will straight-up break your heart, but Nate Scheible’s Fairfax is beautiful and strange enough to make even the gruffest noise dude shed a tear or two. First released in 2017, and reissued in 2022, the album is essentially a “found sound” work, centering a series of vocal recordings Scheible came across on an unlabeled cassette tape, which had apparently been recorded by an unknown woman decades before, for a partner stationed somewhere far away. Also present are all manner of delicate drones, strings, and chimes, lending the proceedings an ethereal, almost new age vibe.

But that voice! There’s nothing ethereal about that. Tender and devastating, the woman’s words provide an unnerving look into the depths of one person’s loneliness and longing. And though what we’re hearing is essentially a one-sided conversation, it’s made all the more heartbreaking by the fact that the person the tape was made for doesn’t seem to be a particularly nice or empathetic dude. It’s incredible stuff, and it’s far from the only item in Scheible’s catalog: he just released a tape called or valleys and on a new DC label called Outside Time.

Jackson Ryland - Rapid Xpansion

[Self-released]

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