Mike Shiflet – Forgotten Somewhere
Obsolete Units
It’s a daunting task to think of where to begin when it comes to offering up a succinct summation of Mike Shiflet’s copious and exquisite body of work. Over the past eleven years or so, the Columbus-based musician has investigated a breadth of approaches to sustained sound, from slow-burning microcosmic tones that gradually shift into distinctly unfamiliar forms to more carefully coordinated layers of melodious treatments of guitar, synth, and field recordings that actively extract unorthodox inflections from such familiar sources. Forgotten Somewhere has Shiflet mastering both of these attitudes, the title piece constructing a nebulous, dusky fuzz of subtly gorgeous vibration while “Omicron Meditation” is a textural excursion into crackling, jittering snaps, recalling a piece of warped blank vinyl spinning from damaged speakers. This cassette is a transcendent testimonial from one of the underground’s most celebrated talents, hinting both at territory investigated on 2010’s acclaimed Llanos CD and earlier works such as 2004’s Xenakis Youth CDR.
Pro-dubbed/pro-printed edition of 100.