Jimmy Billingham, who is Tidal, uses soft brush strokes to elucidate his dreamy vision. An audible painting unfolds with delicate enthrallments of artificial notes of pure bliss and tranquility. This is your own shot of heroin without ever having to worry about the cops, infection, or overdosing. A one way ticket to Planet Pleasure, where there’s nothing but smooth gratification flowing into your ears. This is weightless, free-flying, fantasy-inducing ecstasy. After flipping to Side B, the joy ride continues. This time, however, a new artist, Holographic Arts, grabs the brush. The essences of blossoms, the flap of wings in slow motion, and the slow drift of an airy cloud are all captured as this new painting is hung in this fine reel to reel gallery. There is one key element that this other artist incorporates that the former didn’t utilize. Holographic Arts makes use of some rhythm. It helps to move the dream along, adding some animalistic vivacity, instead of leaving it at the glacial pace of the changing of seasons or the leisurely process of the development and emergence of new life from the womb like the first side. This is still just as feel-good as Side A’s Tidal. The whole thing makes me want to lay down in the grass on a clear day and cloud watch, deciphering which shapes I see in their different configurations like Rorschach inkblots. Who knows, maybe I will today—it’s a good day for it. These 75 tapes are pro dubbed and imprinted and come with some metallic gold art, with seahorses! Another release that verifies that Sweat Lodge Guru is a good contender for one of the best tape labels these days.
9/10
