Color Cassette delivers their debut album after their captivating "b -sides collection" Small Town Smoker last year on Mobeer. Forever Sparrow is a concept album about a boy who gets lost in a magic forest and transforms into a sparrow, choosing to stay in that form forever. You can immediately see with Forever Sparrow why Small Town Smoker's songs could be considered b-sides. That entirely instrumental release is a far cry from the vocal filled Forever Sparrow. Still, the instrumentation on this record is easily recognizable; pristine, home recorded sounds from dozens of different instruments and slight electronic manipulations envelope the vocals at every opportunity. That said, the vocals completely change the sound, making the record come across as more of acoustic folk record than anything electronic. It sort of reminds me of a more low-key, serious version of Psapp. Something with this much effort in it is always hard to categorize, but I can tell you it's a fantastic listen, and one that should be pretty accessible for fans of many different styles of music.

The indielectronic duo Brael returns with more music after their fantastic collaboration with Tokyo Bloodworm. This limited edition Mobeer release has three reworks of the Living Language material, a remix of label founders The Remote Viewer, and some new tracks. Immediately, anyone who heard Living Language will recognize some of these songs, but they're given new life as new influences take over, and they work quite well in their new forms. The rework "Magic" starts off with synths that morph into country guitar in very ingenious fashion, a theme that continues on their The Remote Viewer remix. Vocals come in on "Blue Field", and quickly you realize these guys have much more skills to display than were present on Living Language. I wish these Mobeer releases weren't so limited, as they deserved to be heard by the masses. Very impressive work.

The debut album by Color Cassette rears its head under the new Mobeer sublabel, which The Remote Viewer are calling "Moteer's microbrewery". If you've followed the Moteer catalog at all you know what to expect here, instruments, electronics, and found sounds colliding to form gentle downtempo and indielectronic folk. A fair amount of effort goes into such patchwork music, and in the past it's been easy for albums of this style to be hit and miss. But the last few releases out of the Moteer camp seem to have a certain magic, with no missteps and containing nothing but absolutely stunning compositions. Color Cassette are arguably the most shining example now. Small Town Smoker is as charming as they come, and the myriad of different sources of sounds converge to form a cohesive sound that, to be honest, I think is more enriching than anyone that's done it before, including label founders The Remote Viewer or label stalwarts The Boats. I'm not sure what the Lexington, Kentucky based duo did before this project, but the labor employed here suggests that these men have been honing their skills for quite some time. What's also impressive is that Color Cassette maintain that Small Town Smoker is just the b-side collection for their proper debut "Forevere Sparrow" due soon from Autres Directions. An impressive debut even if it's not meant to be.