Reviews 138: Hatchback
Sam Grawe’s Hatchback project is a fantasy panorama of all the music I like most, weaving new age, krautrock, balearic, kosmische, and post-rock into heavenly tapestries that I could float on forever. But the project had been virtually silent since 2013’s incredible Marin County 12” on Adult Contemporary, leaving the world bereft of his soothing sonic meditations until a surprise appearance earlier this year on Cocktail d’Amore’s Iury Lech remix album. There Sam transformed “Posimeridiano” into a blissed out expanse of soft ambient propulsion and shimmering synth starscapes and now, building on the incredible strength of that remix, he has joined Lo Recordings once again for the much awaited third volume of his “California Cosmic Sound” series, Year of the Dragon. As usual, Scott Hirsch and Daniel Judd are along for the ride dropping golden waves of guitar alongside Sam’s cosmic vibrations, with Daniel in particular adding his Sorcerer sunshine to one of the coolest tracks I’ve heard in a long time, “Humidity Report 1976.” Elsewhere we get majestic new age soundscapes and tropical saxophone jams, as well as a stunning journey into the blinding light of climactic post-rock.
Hatchback - Year of the Dragon (Lo Recordings, 2018) The centerpiece of “Evening Mountain” is the repeated appearance of thick and soul melting saxophone lines in the vein of Seahawks, which initially explore soft sauna jazz over cavernous reverb toms, flashes of hot static, and warm throbbing bass currents. Kick drums and splashy white noise cymbals evoke slow motion disco but when the full beat comes in, the vibe skews closer towards crashing and epic funk. The drums also sound double-tracked and with each layer slightly out of phase, creating the effect of colorful percussive tracers flying through the stereo field while an overflowing rainbow of synthesizer arps dances with LSD-soaked chime percolations and cosmic streaks of harmonious light panning back and forth. Towards the end, a searing space sequence overtakes the mix alongside droning angel choirs and the “topographic slide guitar” of Scott Hirsch, which dots the landscape with echoing bell tones and wailing solos, adding a naturalistic romanticism to the polychromatic synth euphoria. And as the track comes to a close, saxophones are smothered in deep space harmonizers while Sam’s squiggling synthesizer madness pushes everything towards some wild tropical landscape of alien colors and psychedelic visions.
“Onarimon” sets the spirit afloat on meditative bass currents while chiming e-pianos sound like drops of golden glowing liquid. Anthemic polysynths are transmuted into new age shimmer and celestial pads move around majestic washes of Manuel Göttshching-style spaceguitar (possibly sourced by Is it Balearic? alumnus Kensuke Saito/9dw, who is credited here with “neon halo guitar”). Arcing layers of distortion wash blissfully over the body and a hovering cloud of synthetic wind and kaleidoscopic feedback glows with warm sunset hues, while the starlight electric piano arpeggios continue to fade in and out of the mix. Gentle acid sequencing forms a sort of bass lullaby as the glorious guitars weave layers of lustrous light and eventually the acid bass is moved up a few octaves, now sounding like an otherworldly harp. Then a throbbing four-four beat emerges while cascading repetitions of twinkling minimalism build us towards a washed out climax wherein the aqueous guitars sing underwater songs of dolphins and whales and kosmische solos bubble up into the starry sky. Ever growing tremolo chords flow out to sea and shooting stars rain down and then morph into brain-piercing streaks of light and there is a spellbinding yet understated back and forth between delay soaked guitar riffs and pillow bass synths as Sam lets the sound layers grow into incandescent clouds of solar spiritual beauty.
In “Humidity Report 1976”, aquamarine synths float alongside lush Rhodes melodies and outerspace sequences over clattering percussion and a building sense of rhythmic urgency. As the cymbals grow in strength and strange layers of sound threaten to overwhelm the mix, Sam and Dan drop us into a gloriously booty-shaking expanse of cosmic magic with perfectly placed claps sitting above a tight funk beat and interstellar synths and guitar arpeggios working in counterpoint to the dreamy e-piano ascents. Then we head into a gorgeous instrumental chorus with soft fusion synths weaving melodies of eternal prog romance over breaky lounge drums…like a soundtrack for fantasy kingdoms in the sky where shimmering light of all colors reflects off of every surface. And when we flash back to the body-moving funk jam, intergalactic synths now solo over thunderous bass waves and the guitars are smeared into blankets of solar flare fuzz. After a few more alternations between the smooth funk groove and the paradise fusion/prog chorus, we transition via a minimal jam of dusty MPC drums, tambourines, bouncing synthbass, and growing layers of dreamland keys into a new melodic world, one where the guitars build into a repetitive refrain of California coastal magic over a grooving ocean of positivity. And the track ends on a “Wish You Were Here” style AM radio cut-out, here joined by chirping crickets and other insect songs.
The introduction of “Year of the Dragon” surrounds piano chords that penetrate to the depths of the heart with aching slide guitars and a loose drum flow accented by sizzling hi-hats and island breeze bongos. The vibe is like riding through spaghetti western expanses on some faraway planet of peace and harmony, especially as e-pianos soaked in vibrato bathe the mind in a calming tropical light. At some point the song switches into a section dominated by spindly acoustic guitar riffing and gliding drumbeats, while hand drums continue adding colorful island wonder and mesmerizing arpeggios and electric guitar leads sweep everything into a triumphant drift. All the while, classical post-rock tremolo picked guitars ebb and flow in the background, building and building as the song progresses towards a soaring climax of overwhelming power, reminding me of nothing so much as Godspeed You Black Emperor!’s epic “BBF3,” only as if blasted into the balearic sunshine. Propulsive and explosive drums and chugging bass hypnotics underly the massive clouds of post-rock beauty as squelching acid synths diffuse through walls of hazy guitar brilliance. And after the drums back away for a celestial passage dominated by liquid six-string ambiance, we build back up for one more ecstatic rush through Sam’s starshine seascape before everything drops away, leaving just sparse piano chords to help the soul return to Earth.
(images from my personal copy)
