.tape: flying over bañugues (optical sound & aspic records)

Spanish Daniel Romero Calderons debut album is a mixture of guitar, playful melodies, brass, bass, field (and occasional voice) recordings, clicks, beats + the sound of a toy accordion etcetera etcetera.
In 70 minutes there is not one second of silence, and one track changes to the next with the speed of the lightening, no matter if it is one of the more mellow tracks, or one of the tracks with more energy than a whole kindergarten.
Sound and emotionally, .tape.'s music is giving me reminders of Múm, Solvent, Mou,Lips, Aphex Twin, an instrumental Gastr del Sol and The Sea And Cake, and also Oval + on some tracks, with an energy very much known from artists such as Goodiepal or DAT Politics' music.
No matter how weird a composition this might sound as, this album is one of the most sterling albums I have heard in some time.
Funnily, .tape.'s music also reminds me of Boards Of Canada's beautiful, playful, energetic, thoughtful and organic universe of sound. All some qualities they share with .tape..
Even though this album might be ones first meeting with .tape., then you already know his personal style, which is based in the fast, playful and clicky rhythms based on clicks, beats and what sounds like xylophone + the short, repeated and acoustic guitar-riffs and the comfortable melodies. This style is also shining through on the three last tracks on the album, the three remixes by Missing Person, Sweet Trip and kunstner5. Three incredible remixes, where the first and last is based in the beautiful universe, while the Sweet Trip remix is an extremely energetic remix of the track 'Snowing On Desert Lull'.
As the title says, so beautifully illustrated by the cover, 'Flying Over Bañugues' feels like a trip in a hot-air balloon over the beautiful landscapes of Spain, or to me, even more like a trip underwater, meeting funny, beautiful, dangerous and interesting fish, the beautiful coral reef... kind of like the theme on .tape.'s ep on the sub-label of Austrian label Skylab Operations, the mp3-label Observatory.
Despite this, what the album sometimes need is an opportunity to let the listener get up to the surface, and breathe. My favourite tracks on the album, must definitely be tracks like 'Too Much Coffee Circus', 'Hello Flucky', 'Goodbye Flucky' and 'Scholarship Holder', where there is a lot of space to move on, and breathe freely.
Again, something that there've obviously been putted a lot of weight too, is the beautiful and airy cover, by Digital Baobak. A cover that fits the album very well.
'Flying Over Bañugues' is an album, which is recommended for fans of labels like Morr Music, Skylab Operations etcetera + beforementioned artists.
An unforgettable work, despite it once in a while feels like a compilation of .tape. tracks, because of the fact, that many of these tracks are very short, and very 'closed', although (as it's also reflected in the cover) many of the tracks have a sort of similar soundcontent. That is also something that defines .tape.'s ,music very well on this album.
An incredible and sterling album, released on the fusion of the two French labels Optical Sound and Aspic Records.