Hydropark: untitled fifth tape (Life Like, 2016)
February 25, 2017 at 3:02 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Hydropark: untitled fifth tape
Hydropark released a series of excellent tapes leading up to their astounding
full-length last year. This tape came out around the same time as the LP, but it seems to have came and went without a trace; it’s not even available online anywhere, as far as I can tell. This is a shame, as it adds more of an abrasive, electronic-heavy edge to their masterful Krautrock-y instrumental pop sound. The first side contains remixes by artists near and far, including Dykehouse, Lucky Dragons, Lymangrover, and Coyote Clean Up/Ice Cold Chrissy. It’s bass-heavy and blown out and crunchy, and it sounds fantastic. The first few mixes are a little breaky and hip-hop-leaning, kinda. Charles Trees’ mix tips toward cosmic drum’n’bass. Then it goes closer to trippy lo-fi house with David Shettler’s mix, and then two appropriately chilled (and chilling) dubby mixes from Chrissy under both his names. The second side seems to be some new jams from Hydropark, but they’re a little looser and synth-heavier than the album. “Evil Within” seems to be some sort of bubbly acid space rock with Black Sabbath riffs snuck in. Some tracks are more bashed-out garage-Kraut, and others like “What Do We Call You?” have the type of heavy, breakbeat-ish grooves of the mixes at the beginning of the first side. Super messy and casual, and sounds like it was recorded on an old, not-properly-functioning boombox, but this tape probably doesn’t exist outside of a few weirdos’ tape decks anyway. Maybe Fred still has some copies around?
The Answer Is In The Beat 
Leave a comment