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Ashes in the brittle air

by Black Tape For A Blue Girl

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Scott
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Scott So many good songs on this album! "Across a thousand blades" has that classic dramatic-early-Black-tape-heartbroken-urgency to it. "Through sky blue rooms" is probably the purest expression of happiness I've ever heard. "You tangle within me" is so beautiful, whether the original version (see the 'Archive 01' EP) or this one--they have their own personalities yet each are able to touch me in the very same place in the same way with the greatest of ease... Favorite track: i wish you could smile.
Pie
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Pie BTFABG's first five years' output was especially glorious.
Personally, I prefer "A Chaos of Desire" over "Ashes in the Brittle Air"; however, the latter does yield three magnificent gems: "You Tangle Within Me", "From the Tightrope" and "Am I So Deceived?" Again, for me, not their best ... but a lovely outing nonetheless.

RECOMMENDED Favorite track: you tangle within me.
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angel, why am i so blind? angel, why am i so blind? the room: sweat pouring, eastern incense, warm red embers within amber flesh slithering naked across a thousand blades, across a thousand blades i hold you gently, your eyes so far away: searching for your justice, searching for your innocence lost as a child adrift on a lonely sea, on a lonely sea slithering naked across a thousand blades, across a thousand blades burn my memory, burn my outline, the tears scream to scar your unpierced flesh shattered mirrors reflecting back your face: “let your defenses fall.” your candle never burned me, the ashes fall to the ground… your candle never burned me, the ashes fall to the ground… burn my memory, burn my outline, the tears scream to scar your unpierced flesh shattered mirrors reflecting back your face: “let your defenses fall.” as you try to pierce my poisoned flesh, as i try to pierce your tortured heart as you try to pierce my poisoned flesh, as i try to pierce your tortured heart
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i ran to you 03:28
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when i see you: i smile. i still care for you. i cry. i cry. when i think things go my way: i have what i thought i wanted; yet i’m still sad for you. once you told me times would change: threw me to the brittle air; but i still hope for you. i wish you could smile. i wish you could smile.

about

Bursting forth like a lucid dream, this release unearths powerful connections to deeper truths. Sue-Kenny’s folk approach and Oscar’s intense voice guide the way through Sam’s tales of existential personal introspection.

“One of the most caring musical treasures to come along in quite some time. Don’t pass up the chance to experience it.” – JUST MUSIC.

“This is hurting, romantic lament. Herrera’s vocals suddenly ram me with image-brimming, griping vacancy of the precariously desperate soul hanging beneath hope by a frayed thread.” – ALTERNATIVE PRESS.

“We’re talking deep European existential despair here, the fevered outpouring of a tortured soul.” – OPTION.

“This release is an interesting artsy excursion into subtle electronics by this three piece band. Musically, it’s a little hard to characterize. The songs are full of Nietzsche-influenced, depressing lyrics that are wrapped in surprisingly melodic and engaging experimental music. File this one under odd, but interesting.” -RELIX.

"As we postmodernists shuffle off our mortal coil, our demise will undoubtedly be scored to one of the many 4AD releases that have defined bad-mood music in the late 80′s. Until now, we’ve had to import our choler and phelgm from that fine English label, but Black Tape for A Blue Girl do a reasonable approximation of the 4AD vibe around the corner in Garden Grove. Their third release comes complete with Sue Kenny-Smith’s British vocals and acoustic guitar, Sam Rosenthal’s euphonious electronics, and obscurantist lyrics that tell tales of misconnection and emotional impotence. The homages to Breathless and Dead Can Dance are unavoidable but managed skillfully. This is languid, lucid music that suffers only from the inevitable comparison to those who went before, and its own intellectual heaviness, evident in quotes from Nietzsche and song titles such as “The Scar of A Poet.” This album does a neat disappearing trick, too, opening with the most powerful and complex songs, and working its way down to omnious ambient keyboards and wistful folk melodies. Black Tape doesn’t need to lighten up, but rather to thicken up. Their entropy is infectious." - LA WEEKLY

"A new location brings a new release from writer and electronics wizard Sam Rosenthal and his roving band. Formed in Cooper City, Florida in the late 1985, this is primarily a trio that also includes vocalists Sue-Kenny Smith and Oscar Herrera. Herrera’s vocals remind one of early English Gothic bands, while Smith, an Englishwoman, transports the listener into a realm of existential, ethereal, and ambient musings… somewhat lost and free at the same time. This music is an acquired taste, resembling a lot of the material found on Britain’s 4AD label. But for those of you who like a philosophical slant to their music, and for those who enjoy rich tapestries and aural textures, this third release from Black Tape For a Blue Girl represents their best work to date." - THE INDEPENDENT NETWORK

credits

released January 4, 1989

🔺 🔥 🔺 🔥 🔺 🔥 🔺 🔥 🔺 🔥 🔺 🔥 🔺 🔥 🔺 🔥 🔺 🔥 🔺
This original 1988 version is here for those who already purchased it to be able to stream. Ashes is available in a remastered expanded edition:
blacktapeforabluegirl.bandcamp.com/album/ashes

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Black Tape For A Blue Girl Portland, Oregon

Black Tape For A Blue Girl creates darkwave, ethereal, neoclassical, ambient, goth albums. This page also includes my ambient/electronic music, as well as side-projects. Thanks for listening. Sam

Patrons receive exclusive music: blacktapeforabluegirl.bandcamp.com/patron

Formed in 1986
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