This c34 release, packaged in a mini-Ziploc baggie, is my first exposure to San Francisco-based sound explorer Sean McCann. A cursory glance at his discography would suggest that his bevy of self-released material has piqued the interest of others in the micro-label scene. Based on the sounds contained on “Jasmine” it is understandable why this would be the case, as McCann offers up a pleasing confluence of washed-out drone, noise, and lo-fi electronics.
The first side of “Jasmine” opens with an airy synth/vocal drone piece that is undergirded by some echoey toy-like clatter that gradually shifts to more percussive pitter-patter. The second track delves deeper into the world of echo with looping, bubbling electronics swimming throughout the sound spectrum fostering a sort of a lost in space head trip. The second side follows with a distant melodic synthstrumental that contains some tightly wound reverbed guitar notes that had me scouring “Millions Now Living Will Never Die”, not that it sounds much like this at all. The middle section returns to a sci-fi incidental music feel before a more bouncy, yet completed overloaded, vocal and electronics number howls to the end of the tape.
It’s all rather tasty, yet feels a bit like an appetizer. Hopefully someone will offer this guy a platter to serve up the main course on in the near future. 6/10 --
David Perron (28 January, 2009)