It's not too surprising that any release on the Kranky label would begin with a dark, dramatic drone, though some may be surprised that "Invocation" barely lasts a minute long. But it's a good representation of what
Gregg Kowalsky's art is like, at once working in familiar areas while exploring twists and turns of his own devising. Growing out of a series of performances and installations that relied on such things as multiple amplified sound sources and specific audience placement,
Tape Chants is by default an approximation of those efforts but serves as a taster for his larger work, including other releases sharing a similar name. The effect is almost like that of the serene white noise generator the Buddha Machine -- if
Kowalsky's compositions, such as "I-IV" with its endless sense of a ghostly rise through foggy murk later punctuated by a rhythmic throb, are meant to eventually overwhelm a listener, it is also one of the strongest senses of true ambient music as originally proposed, where volume is secondary to overall impact. Echoes of shoegaze's enveloping throb can be traced in something like "VI-VII," deep hazes of feedback swirling around a recurring bass tone that almost functions as an arrhythmic heartbeat. ~ Ned Raggett