Formlessness Tines

Posted on by Jason Mundok

On January 5, 2019 I had the pleasure of heading over to Phoenixville, PA, a 45 minute drive northwest of Philadelphia, with my friend Josh to experience an evening of live ambient music. The event served as a belated celebration for the release of a short run cassette by Andrew Tasselmyer called Tines, which came out last October. Andrew is two-thirds of the trio Hotel Neon, an ambient tour de force that has captured a large portion of my music listening attention over the past couple of years.

Andrew and his comrades in Hotel Neon, Michael Tasselmyer and Steven Kemner, release plenty of “side project” material in addition to being a rather prolific act in and of themselves. Tines is the latest of these projects for Andrew. It’s a six-song collection of subtle ambient drones and soundscapes mixed with field recordings and hushed layers of static and other abstract noises.

The live performance, dubbed FDR Presents: Formlessness Tines was held at Community Arts Phoenixville and was organized by Flag Day Recordings, the experimental label that released Tines. The evening featured three sets of ambient improvised sounds by FDR founder Guillermo Pizarro, venue liaison Patrick Spatz, and of course Andrew Tasselmyer. Each set lasted twenty to thirty minutes, with time between to relax, enjoy the space, and meet other ambient enthusiasts. It proved a fantastic evening and a great way to kick off 2019.

Here are a couple video clips and some photos I captured during the event.