PT003 - Fomer Selves / The Original Flowering Earth split cs

Welcome once again to Planted Tapes! It's been a long and cold winter, and spring is just refusing to... you know, spring here in Denver. We here at Planted HQ are going to do our best to warm things up a little by dropping PT003 into your cassette decks' yawning jaws. Hopefully the music contained within will inspire mother nature to wake up already and start getting green out there. So we're really excited to bring you this very new, very green (see below) cassette tape from two very good friends of ours, Oakland's Former Selves (Paul Skomsvold) and Colorado Springs' The Original Flowering Earth (Kyle Wade). Both sides are exercises perfect for a chilly, snowy April season: This one is about patience, people... for the warmth. The warmth that is coming. Skomsvold's pastel smears feel like they're constantly searching for points of release while remaining in a fluid sort of homeostasis—an ever-thawing melt of frozen harmonics that radiate with an inner heat. On the flip, it's Wade's meandering meditations that wander through aimless dream states, complete with beautiful folk guitar passages, field recordings, and an unsettling bridge of neuron-zapping noise.



We're very proud of this release, as each and every step of the process with both Paul and Kyle was carefully considered and dutifully executed. The results really tell the story: PT003 turned out to be quite a gem, outfitted with beautiful collage + ink drawing artwork from Sarah Michaels, and hand-applied vinyl transfer labels on emerald green transparent tapes. This again was mastered by Ben Thompson and duplication was assisted by Joey Wiley - many thanks to them for their help! And as usual, we have a sample stream of both sides of the tape (just above there), and a quick Q&A with the musicians down below to give you a little more background on what's in store for this release.

Oh! And we ended up with a few extra Lake Mary tapes, so we added a button below to bundle PT003 with PT002 for a discounted rate (within the US & Canada). Since international postage rates increased so much earlier this year, we're asking our overseas customers to kindly send us an e-mail to negotiate a fair price for shipping the tape. We want this in your ears, so let's figure that out!

Thanks again for visiting!

• Edition of 70
• Tapes ship 4/18/2013
• $7.00 postage paid in the US & Canada

***SOLD OUT***

• Bundle with Lake Mary cs for $10.00 postage paid in the US & Canada (limited to 20!)

***SOLD OUT***

• International customers: Please get in touch for rates.

You're both pretty familiar with each other's work... how do you guys know each other?

Former Selves (Paul Skomsvold): I met Kyle through GoldTimers, a label he runs along with two others. Kevin Greenspon and I released a split on GoldTimers sometime last year. Kyle and I traded some tapes and e-mailed back and forth about music and stuff. It organically turned to solicit feedback from one another on various music projects we were working on. I was always impressed by the music he sent me (No Mind Meditation and his own), and thought his comments on my music were very insightful. Specifically, I remember he gave me the last bit of feedback I needed to finish my side of the split I did with Quiet Evenings. I totally value and respect his opinion. I actually got to meet him in person at last year's Goldrush festival in Denver—so cool!

The Original Flowering Earth (Kyle Wade): I think we originally started corresponding around the time GoldTimers was releasing a Kevin Greenspon/Former Selves split. I liked Paul's music a lot and asked him for some feedback on some things I was working with, and we sent stuff back and forth for a while. I was just starting to make experimental music on my own after doing projects with other people, and Paul gave me a lot of thoughtful feedback that helped build my confidence.



You both use guitar on the music you submitted for this tape, but I want to know about everything else that went into your work. What other sorts of instruments can we hear on this tape?

FS: I used the same sources I've used for most of my releases to date: guitar, keyboard(s), a few pedals, and some field recordings. I've since bought an inexpensive synthesizer and have been messing around with it. 

TOFE: There are some field recordings I took in various places, including a magnificent-sounding train and drunken campfire chatter from up around State Bridge/Rancho del Rio in the Rocky Mountains. There's a MicroKorg (of course). There's a long section made entirely with no-input mixer, which is something I was kind of obsessed with for about a year. I'm pretty proud of the no-input mixer section because it doesn't sound much like the typical no-input mixer noise, and I recorded that whole piece live with no overdubs. That segues into some contact-mic'ed acoustic guitar through pedals, and then a "normal" acoustic guitar piece. I think the way this stuff was recorded is important, too--most of it at least started life on a Tascam Portastudio 4-track recorder.

Piggy-backing that last question: Looking back, what instruments do you wish you could have added if you were able to play them?

FS: There's nothing I wish I would have added to this tape, but I would love to learn the violin someday. There are people who play violin on the street outside of my office building and sometimes I'll stand outside and watch them play after work. I listen to the notes they play and imagine how I might arrange the notes differently, or stretch them out or whatever.

TFOE: I wish I really understood synthesizers and could do more with them than monkey with presets. Also one of these days I'm going to teach myself Ableton Live.

Give me the one-sentence review of each other's side of the tape.

FS: A nightmare bridging a peaceful dream and a beautiful morning (Kyle's side rules).

TFOE: Hazy, happy memories that change a little each time you recall them.

Last great movie you saw?

FS: I have a hard time concentrating on movies. Dumb and Dumber is definitely my favorite.

TFOE: I really like those "images of crazy stuff with awesome music" movies like Koyaanisqatsi and Baraka, so I was really pumped when Samsara came out. The visuals are incredible and Michael Stearns did the music... I think his "Planetary Unfolding" is one of the great new-age albums. Seeing that in the movie theater was a cool experience.

Favorite plant?

FS: Coffea.

TFOE: I'm going to say "amaranth" because that's one of my favorite words and I don't really know very much about plants.