- CS + Kreme don't make music to take drugs to—their tunes are mind-altering on their own. The Melbourne duo's self-titled debut EP, released last year on Total Stasis, hinted at this power, especially on the slo-mo pop of "Devotion." But the easygoing "Roast Ghost (Ultra Lavender Mix)," from a new split with Yu Su on Wichelroede's cassette series, explores more deeply altered states. CS, real name Conrad Standish, played in a Beggars Banquet Records-affiliated art rock band called Devastations before forming a "dub-pop" duo called Standish/Carlyon. Kreme is part of the Blackest Ever Black post-punk trio F ingers.
"Roast Ghost"'s slowed-down Roland drum machines and gauzy synths bear the influence of Melbourne's preeminent gloom merchants, HTRK (whose singer, Jonnine Standish, is married to CS, hence the surname). The track spans a hypnotic 21 minutes to fill one side of a cassette. Lyrically, Standish strays from Devestations' heavy themes of love and loss in favor of a psychedelic dream logic. Over and over, he voices these cryptic lines: "How do you get yourself untangled from a knot that was tied before you were born? / The directions to my house (house) / The detective's in my house." The only variation comes from a vaporwave-style bridge that could score an '80s neo-noir film.
On the other side, the Chinese-Canadian artist Yu Su presents four sketches under the title "Little Forest (Spring Mix)." It's a gentle walk through the woods compared to CS + Kreme's epic psychedelia—each idea is like a clearing with a fresh bloom of wildflowers. After an ambient beginning that nods to her classical piano training and penchant for textural exploration, she hits on a timeless set of Rhodes chords. It concludes a compelling tape with a head-nodding trip-hop vamp.
TracklistA CS + Kreme - Roast Ghost (Ultra Lavender Mix)
B Yu Su - Little Forest (Spring Mix)