Kevin Greenspon, a name you might be familiar with because he is the proprietor of the wonderful cassette and compact disc label Bridgetown Records which is home to Cloud Nothings, BYODeath, No Paws, Vehicle Blues, and Nicole Kidman, but there is a lot more to this man other than his record label.

While Kevin has been doing music fans a favor by releasing all of these wonderful acts he has also been super busy recording and releasing album after album of his own.  When I bought the Cloud Nothings on LP (my second purchase of the release) I took advantage of one of Bridgetown Records deals and picked up a copy of Kevin Greenspon’s cassette version of Bracing.

The cassette of Bracing was released by Obeast Tapes (Kevin distros his own releases), and included not only a beautiful J Card, but a digital download, and a personal note from Kevin himself.  I’ve been purchasing many cassettes over the past couple months, and Obeast has it down when it comes to packaging, and the music accompanies it beautifully.  A dark and atmospheric album mainly of guitar compositions that run the gambit of pop to beautiful noise.  Greenspon is great at portraying tone and emotion through music that has very little vocals, and when vocals are present they are understated so much so that the guitars feel like they are doing the talking. While at times Greenspon’s music can feel ambient overall it is a pop album, and I feel like it appeals as much to the fan of noise as it does to the fan of rock going from white noise to up-beat pop into a wall of sound, and even meandering psychedelica.  ”Petty Dream” is a song for exactly what the title describes.  I imagine it being the sound track to an a day dream, the importance of the dream doesn’t matter it is just that you are there outside of reality, and experiencing something that isn’t of this world.  With a constant melody throughout the track, white noise backing it up, and toward the end Greenspon even lets loose a bit on the guitar to give you a bit of heightened sensory experience.

[mp3] Kevin Greenspon- “Petty Dream”

This track is what I consider a great introduction to an amazing album, and on that note you should probably pick one up fast. Bracing is down to it’s final copies.  Pick your format, and get one before it’s too late.  Both versions were released in very limited quantities.

• Buy Bracing from Family Times Records on deluxe CD here.
• Buy Bracing from Obeast Tapes on cassette here.

Corridor is the follow up EP to Bracing, and in my opinion they work more or less as a double album. Corridor picks up where Bracing left off, and ventures into more repetitive tones, and slightly more into the category of noise or ambient than the instrumental pop of it’s counterpart.  With this EP Greenspon masters the art of creating space through sound.  As the title implies Corridor is an album that expresses space, and time, not only in the length of the songs but rather the distance the encompass in their sonic frequencies.  Greenspon recorded this album in City of Industry, CA and on the Central Coast, and I feel that the recording in multiple locations contributes to the depth and feel of the record.  ”Drift Away” is a track that I feel exemplifies what I mean when I say music that encompasses space using long tones, and minimalist melody, and ambient noise to bring you from one place to another.

[mp3] Kevin Greenspon- “Drift Away”

• Buy Corridor on cassette from Leftist Nautical Antiques here.
• Buy Corridor on CD from Bridgetown here.

Kevin Greenspon is always creating new things, and there are several other releases available by him at Bridgetown Records, and I’m sure new music in the works.  I can’t wait for more.  If you are ordering from Bridgetown take advantage of the deals…you will end up with something new and wonderful…I assure you of this.

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And a little present from Bridgetown Records:

[album download] Bridgetown Records Spring 2010 Sampler

Lots of great stuff on here…I’m personally excited about the BYODeath tape!

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More on Bridgetown Records here.