This tape documents a live Sun Araw recording at Sun Ark, with live remixing by L.A. beatsmith Matthewdavid. The 30 minutes on this tape contain many of the hallmarks of both artists’ styles, but structured way differently. There’s plenty of Sun Araw’s tropical keyboard percussion sounds that could’ve come from an early Ween record, and plenty of dubby rhythms, but Matthewdavid’s bass bursts tend to smother everything when they show up. Doesn’t sound like a lot of vocals or guitars either, at least in the sense that Sun Araw usually uses them. Generally, there’s just a lot of trippy keyboard and bass, as both artists’ ideas of “psychedelic” merge. Indeed, it’s pretty hard to tell who’s doing what, even though their music is so different. The tape is at its best on side B, when a beatless abstract rhythm emerges, and all sorts of off-the-wall keyboard mayhem ensues. The whole tape is just a fun, off-the-cuff jam session taking both artists’ sounds into unexpected new territories.
Leaving Records
8/10
