Taken from Tabs Out Thanks Mike!
NASA “High Cube” c32 (Baked Tapes)
I straight up don’t think man has ever landed on the moon. It may be the only fringe conspiracy bullshit that I get behind, but whatever, I’m not ashamed to say it. I just don’t believe it, and basically chalk it up to some macho-alpha-country shit we had going with Russia back when them Ruskies meant business, you know? So we faked that shit and got the space race blue ribbon. USA! USA! Flash forward about 40 years. The 2011 budget is announced and NASA are all being doofuses about getting some cuts. Now, let me be straight, I’m totally about space exploration and advancing our collective scientific understanding about the universe and dark matter and all that shit, but ya know… Maybe just chill for a few years until our money is done melting. Anyway, I’m listening to Fleetwood Mac and thinking about that, and then I think “Didn’t I get a package in the mail from Baked like two weeks ago with some tape called Nasa High Dudes or something like that”? When I found this bright colored banger glowing on my desk I had an intense self-debate on what would be a more prudent venture; listen to this tape or watch Capricorn One (a 1977 non-classic in which OJ Simpson and friends fake a landing on Mars). This cassette won out. After pressing the play button I sat back hoping I made the correct choice. So much was riding on this moment!
The name of this project is simply Nasa, “High Cube” being the title of the cassette. My hasty jog around the interweb would have me believe that Nasa is comprised of three dudes, Floridian in origin, who have released a scattering of cassettes and CDrs over the last 3 years, give or take. “High Cube” a 32 minute burner, revs it’s psychedelic engines with a consciousness-expanding canopy of guitars, some plucking away at twinkled notes, others seeping like a rainbow oil spill. Nasa does an excellent job segregating those ideas, while still highlighting them both. Very reminiscent of earlier Growing material, albeit less “produced” or whatever, but still mega-rich and tantalizing. That segment devolves into primal jam session of sorts; total basic riffing, echoed chants, and… And cowbell? Is that cowbell? I goddamn think it’s cowbell. Dudes totally Shyamalan’d me! The next track dives further into the jam band land that Nasa was, in a way, hinting at. A steady drum beat keeps shit semi-traditional, while weirdo effects and mood swings fuck with your head. It’s all a little sloppy, but in the right mindset (that being really stoned and thinking about space) its a perfect partner in crime.
The B side didn’t rope me in right away, at least not like the flip side material. The start off was a tad to… I don’t know… Structured? As far as coupled with the prior zone out that is, I just wasn’t feeling it to a large degree. A clouded aura of hippie/blues/flannel/mustache “basement to boombox” got deep into my brain and I just couldn’t let it go. It’s not that the shit was bad, it just wasn’t the conclusion I was looking for. Kind of like the season opener to Lost. Did anyone watch that? It was kind of disappointing, but I’m still gonna check out more. As I probably will with these dudes.
The cover for this nugget is an eye opener. A briiiight picture of the sun rising over Disney’s Epcot Center (the big golf ball thing) is illuminated in an orange glow with magenta text, printed on fairly heavy paper. I once heard a rumor that if you die in Disney World they wont declare you dead until you are off the property, therefore, no one can die in Disney World. Man, that anti-semite thought of everything before they froze him, huh? Baked did up 60 copies of “High Cube” and at $5 beans a pop it’s a lot cheaper than going to the moon (for the first time, for real).
Tags: baked tapes, nasa, review, tabs out
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