It's absurd how much of a 'tape industry' remains, isn't it? Vinyl I understand, the DJing circuit keeping it afloat long enough for a collector's market to emerge. How did tapes hang on though? Their initial unique features – portability and home recording – were completely and utterly usurped by the digital age, MP3s doing all that tapes could, and more. You'd think the market for blanks, much less professionally produced copies, would have utterly died by the 2010s. Yet here we are in the 2020s, the medium clinging on by the slimmest of margins. I wonder if there was some warehouse filled to the brim with unused blanks, just waiting for the time when a website like Bandcamp would emerge, suddenly creating a collector's
And it feels weird that there are two music formats I will never own for practical reasons. Vinyl is understandable, records bulky and expensive, but surely tapes are no more inconvenient than CDs to store. I've no means to playing them though. Sure, I could go out and buy a tape deck and hook it to my home theatre system, but why would I want to invest in an inferior playback device? Just to have a physical copy of something? I'll admit, there was a time that line of thinking might have worked on me, but I've since come around to digital if no CD option exists. Plus, with a Bluetooth hook-up to my main system, I can now play those Bandcamp exclusives on the big speakers!
Not that I'm saying artists shouldn't toy with whatever formats they wish – I'm no arbiter of what must be done for time eternal. I'm just wondering if I'm getting the full, proper Dreamloop experience by not hearing them as played from tape. Am I denying myself some ultimate listening euphoria in bypassing all that analogue hiss and occasional warping from repeated plays? Oh, what the heck, I'll take the digital. This music's great no matter where the sound originates from!
Anyhow... Dreamloop 3 carries on with the opulent layers of drone, but instead of relying on escalating loops, ol' Dennis gets his synth soloing on. Not that you didn't get a sense of him playing these live in the previous Dreamloops, it's just more pronounced here. Some five minutes in, they synth soloing dies off, letting a subtle twee-bleepy melody play. Most 36 tracks would end around here, maybe fading off, but no, we're only a quarter way through! Can he somehow maintain interest for the duration? Damn straight he does, though the synths do get to be a bit much towards the end.
Fortunately, Mr. Hiddleston dials things back some for Dreamloop 4, a piano melody the main focus while one of those vintage 36 heart-tuggers glides in the background. Oh dear, I hope it doesn't start taking centre-stage. I... I don't know if I could handle that much feels. Aahh, there it is... Fighting... manly... tears...
ACE TRACKS:
Dreamloop 4
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