Igloo Magazine :: [2View] Nekomachi/no wonder • なるほど & tsubai/ilulissat (Perceptual Tapes)

Memory meets glacial time

Located in Tasmania, Perceptual Tapes, has been curating adventurous sounds since 2023. The latest releases continue with the momentum the label has been harnessing. no wonder • なるほど by Nekomachi and ilulissat by tsubai explore two distinct approaches to experimental ambient music. One assembles electronic fragments into unexpected configurations, while the other translates an encounter with a remote natural landscape into expansive guitar-based compositions. Together, these releases reveal how sound can connect personal recollection, creative experimentation, and the lasting impression of a place.

Tokyo-based Nekomachi approaches no wonder • なるほど through a process shaped by limitations, accumulated ideas, and the gradual evolution of musical fragments. Working entirely with a vintage Yamaha QY100 hardware sequencer rather than a computer or digital audio workstation, Nekomachi draws upon sequences developed over six years, combining them with field recordings, digital synthesizers, samples, and effects. The resulting compositions reflect both the instrument’s technological limitations and the artist’s ability to work creatively within them.

The texture of distant places ::

There is an appealing sense of unpredictability throughout the album. Nekomachi moves between spacious passages and intricate electronic arrangements, allowing playful rhythmic figures to emerge alongside more abstract and contemplative material. Shimmering tones and fragmented sequences intersect in ways that resist easy categorization. At times, the music draws on familiar ambient electronics, while elsewhere it ventures into stranger territory, including passages that evoke an off-kilter, synthetic lounge jazz. These shifts are not distractions from a central idea but essential components of the album’s personality.

What makes no wonder • なるほど particularly compelling is the cohesion Nekomachi achieves from material created at different moments, sometimes years apart. The artist describes these pieces as fragments whose original circumstances are now only partially remembered. Rather than treating this distance as an obstacle, Nekomachi allows the music to develop its own internal logic. The results achieve interconnected compositions, each revealing unexpected relationships between melody, texture, and rhythm. The decision to work with older hardware also lends the album a distinctive sonic identity, demonstrating that creative depth depends less on technological sophistication than on the imagination brought to the tools at hand.

Sound finds its own geography ::

Where Nekomachi finds possibility in fragments, Sydney-based Matt Teffer, recording as tsubai, draws inspiration from a singular encounter with the natural world. His debut ambient album, ilulissat, follows his work as Stubai, a project associated with indie rock and shoegaze. Inspired by a July 2025 journey to Greenland’s Ilulissat Icefjord, Teffer transforms his experience of witnessing immense ice formations into a work of slowly evolving guitar-based drone.

Electric guitar is the album’s sole sound source, yet its expressive range is considerable. Through meticulous layering and processing, Teffer constructs compositions that suggest the scale, shifting contours, and muted colors of the glacial landscape. Sustained tones gradually accumulate, their edges softening into hazy layers that hover between stillness and movement. Subtle melodic details emerge from the textures, while measured crescendos suggest towering ice formations coming into view through drifting mist.

The album’s strength lies in its balance of vastness and intimacy. Although ilulissat draws upon a landscape defined by geological time and overwhelming scale, its emotional center remains unmistakably human. Beneath the music’s apparent coldness, warmth persists in the gentle movement of its tones and the understated melodies embedded within the layers. Teffer conveys the feeling of encountering a place whose magnitude exceeds ordinary perception, allowing the listener to imagine it through sound rather than description. The contrast between the remote Greenlandic setting and the Sydney-based artist’s intimate recording process adds another dimension to the work, illustrating how a powerful experience can continue to resonate long after the journey has ended.

Two albums, different kinds of distance ::

These two releases make a particularly effective pairing. no wonder • なるほど explores musical memory, accumulated fragments, and the creative freedom that comes from working within constraints. ilulissat turns outward, drawing on the physical world and translating its impact into an abstract but emotionally direct sonic language. Both favor patience, intention, careful construction, and a willingness to let sounds develop beyond their initial identities.

Perceptual Tapes brings these complementary approaches together without diminishing their individual character. Nekomachi finds unexpected connections among electronic fragments, while tsubai uncovers expansive possibilities within a single instrument. Both demonstrate how sound can create a sense of place without relying on conventional narrative, whether that place emerges from the uncertain recollection of ideas or the enduring impression of a distant landscape. As a pairing, these releases remind us that some of music’s most rewarding discoveries begin with close attention to detail, eventually revealing possibilities far beyond their origins.

no wonder • なるほど & ilulissat are available on Perceptual Tapes.