Having listened to and zoned out on this release at least half a dozentimes, it should be obvious what it is that is so compelling about[sic]'s compositions of dusty long drones, deep ambient spaces andbump-in-the-night tension, but it's not. On the one hand, this isdifficult listening: all uneasy sounds and dischordant timbres rubbingup against one another to create an ambiguous feeling of dread. On theother hand, for those familiar with the work of like-minded artistslike those featured on the quasi-legendary "Isolationism" compilation,[sic] fits perfectly into a already-defined niche of dark, broodingambient characterized more by its claustrophobia than by its usereflection of space as an expanse. I could tell you that Gorilla Masking Tapeis a beautiful, haunting record, or that it's alpha-wave inducing atthe right volume, or that it's a perfectly quiet record for people wholead unquiet lives, but none of that really captures the force thatthese tracks embody. Perhaps the record's most defining characteristicis that it is indeed so malleable that it can be both loud and quiet,both serene and disturbed, both beautiful and terrifying and that itdoes all of this effortlessly. I often wonder what more can be saidabout music like this that is both barely there and a force of natureall at once, depending on your volume knob. I always think that it willbe impossible for someone to release yet another essential darkambient disc in a world where artists who do this sort of thing tend tohave voluminous discographies of equally affecting work already. Ithink that, and then I hear a record like Gorilla Masking Tapeand it suddenly all sounds fresh and important and essential again andI'm left wanting more. It doesn't get much better than that.Read More
