- Gentle ambient trips from Tapes, Anthony Naples and Eddie Ruscha.
- In 2017, Good Morning Tapes began as a homespun outlet for delicate ambient pleasantries. This was particularly down to label founder Biscuit’s excellent Dance With The Plants mixtapes, as well as notable turns from the likes of Misha Hollenbach and RVNG Intl.'s Matt Werth. The label has since built up a cosy DIY aesthetic fitting for the cassette format, expanding to carry original material from intriguing low-key outfits like Max Graef's 2Morph, too. The palette has broadened, encompassing other tape-friendly shades of electronic music—dusty, blown-out beats, lo-fi pop, pastoral kosmische—while still adhering to the mellow promise of its early releases. The remit has also now expanded to vinyl releases, peaking with the stunning afterhours album Take Me With You by Anthony Naples.
The gentle glide from cute mixtape series to fully fledged label comes into focus with All Welcome, a compilation of tracks from previous Good Morning contributors. Tapes is a fitting frontman for this release in name and sound. It could be easy for "Silence Please"'s shruti box and tabla to tip into lazy "world muzak" pastiche, but instead it's a charming mood-setter.
A whole album of music following this lead could have disappeared in a cloud of ambience—certainly not unpleasant, but easily ignored. Fortunately, each of these six tracks has its own identity. Even if Eddie Ruscha's spot as Only Thingz is largely beatless, its dubby echoes and woozy sax offer some variety. Eszaid does a wonderful job of disrupting the harmonious niceties with a dank, dislocated trip through dungeon reverb and shredded jungle.
There's space for clubby pulses too. Anthony Naples reprises "Goodness" from Take Me With You, continuing the groove where the album version faded out as the beat kicked in. Innsyter's "Morning Blend" is blunted in every sense, but still emphasises a knotted techno drum pattern. But in keeping with the overall mood, there are pads and dubby flourishes aplenty.
The twitchy rhythms and dazzling FM synth lines of Kiki Kudo's "Haladub" make up the strongest curveball in a consistently sweet-natured compilation. Examining the connections between the artists involved (Kudo, for example, has released a 12-inch on Naples' Incienso label), there seems to be a familial motivation behind All Welcome as well, but most of all it captures a freewheeling creativity with an optimistic bent.
Tracklist01. Tapes - Silence Please
02. Only Thingz - Eyes Wide Open
03. Innsyter - Morning Blend
04. Eszaid - The Most Sacred Syllable
05. Anthony Naples - Goodness (Extended Version)
06. Kiki Kudo - Haladub