MOONINITE “Soda” C30 (Hel Audio)




I was a self-absorbed man in my lair, making my x-rated movies & listening to Mooninite’s tape called “Soda.”  Lovely synthesizer jams.  I like blissin’ out, and this tape is sympathetic to that.  I’m prowling around my room at night, getting blessed by the spirit.  I’m playing tapes in my twilight freedom, dabbling in concoctions, dreaming of gelatinous waves, and this tape is my good companion.  It sounds even better on this old Walkman, these miniature speakers blasting through my steam-filled kitchen.  The nice tunes plink & chirp.

But the soda-can sound effects are like a shitty commercial to me.  The soda concept is a mistake.  It seems like a guy who had a great tape of blissed out synth jams decided it wasn’t a legit album until he had some ideas attached to it that turned it into a recognizable concept.  So he chose to make his music a metaphor of the many flavors of soda.  This is a bummer, because the treatment of the subject is not any more meaningful than the advertising industry’s already ubiquitous treatment of the subject. 

Now I’m cutting into garlic cloves and cherry peppers, the steam is swirling in my lungs, and Mooninite is vibing strong with me again.  The tape has managed to be good soundtrack music to sensuous, solitary moments in my day.  The music loves me & wants to please me.  But making music as a metaphor of soda is a shitty errand.  I’d rather keep this stuff thought-free & concept-free if that’s gonna be the concept.  It’d be easy to revamp the package, cut out the soda sounds, and keep a nice soundtrack for dreamers.  You can get sumptuous & let the music mix with your delusions of grandeur.


-- Kevin Oliver