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Cedar Mastodon 2

by Coppice Halifax

/
1.
Passage IV 34:54
2.
Passage V 43:04

about

Principally recorded during the Autumn of 2015, lost via the hard drive crash of Summer 2016, recovered/restored/completed Autumn 2017. Cedar Mastodon is one of a few records that nearly weren't, only recently retrieved and shaped into a final, gorgeous form after being stuck in digital limbo for over a year. As the name implies, Cedar Mastodon was born from the original recording sessions for Cedar Mast - a unique album that was created by using only the boot menu sounds from the Sega Dreamcast, alongside a single drum machine. The Mastodon pieces emerged from the provenance of the Cedar Mast Reduced release (a modest EP of ambient reductions that was issued as a 3") when the raw Cedar elements rendered off of my equipment and onto the cassettes (that fostered Reduced) were revisited, with longer and deeper passages in mind. Initial sessions yielded five lengthy tracks, and two of these were worked into "beta" forms as demos before I lost a massive amount of work in my Summer 2015 hard drive crash. Fast-forward to Summer 2017, and I've finally been able to retrieve the five original beatless recordings from the Mastodon session, and finish my original intended work within the White Pillar Workshop, bringing these pieces into new spaces I never would've previously at Botany Bay.

Mastodon's lengthy walls of whirling ambient sound immediately bring to mind albums like Reflector, and the Static Pharming series, and these comparisons are not incorrect. The emphasis is on the soaring pad chords, constantly unfurling themselves in majestic sunlight and retreating into grey clouds, all while an extensively-patched and processed Yamaha RX11 drum machine marks progress in the waves, with a minimalistic dub bass foundation laid out by a Yamaha QY-70. These are gigantic tracks, not totally unlike the recent Subtropix album, that take their time burning through different elements as they are slowly presented one by one. The final pass on the mix was done via the warm, fat analog circuits of a JVC KD-A11 cassette deck, giving the album a crusty top coat that recalls the textured compressor abuse of the Coppice Halifax self-titled. Huge, warm, wooly and formidable, Cedar Mastodon is sure to keep you lots of contented company this Autumn and Winter.

credits

released November 21, 2017

W/P by Brian Grainger. Recorded principally at Botany Bay, Autumn 2015, with subsequent recording at White Pillar Workshop, Autumn 2017. Built using retrieved four-track cassette live sessions from a Tascam 414, alongside a Yamaha RX11 and QY-70, Moog LPF/Ringmod/MIDI MuRF, Boss RV-3 & SL-20, Digitech Envelope Filter, Ibanez Phase Modulator, BBE Two Timer, Alesis Quadraverb, Pioneer SR202W and a Peavey FX2x24 hybrid mixing board. Mastered by The Analog Botanist. Photography by Brian, Florida 2014. This is Milieu Music number ABX52.

Special thanks to the members of the Milieu Music Fan Club, for helping make this recording possible: David T / Devin H / Mathieu L / Francois H / Andy B / Joe U / Benoit P / Jonathan W / Jose S / Rik J / Dave W / Levi G / Chris S / Justin T / Burton T.

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about

Coppice Halifax Dayton, Ohio

Analog Botany, since 2005.12.08. Impressionist techno and bedroom fantasist electronics. Compost instead of composition.

I also release music as Milieu: milieumusic.bandcamp.com

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