Hotel Neon

Earlier this year, I launched [or, rather, repurposed] a new column called Flashbacks, in which I revisit music I covered 15, 10, and 5 years ago by going through my archives, selecting a favourite of each month, and updating the relevant content. What has become a bit striking and slightly unnerving about this process is the reflection on the passage of time. I couldn’t believe that many of my favourite albums were already over a decade old! It feels as if only yesterday I discovered a new artist and hailed their debut, but, in reality, it was ten years ago. Ten years! Can you fathom the difference between being 12 years of age and then becoming 22? It feels like a lifetime of memories [during that particular time], which we are all still reliving throughout the years. Ten years ago is when two brothers, Andrew and Michale Tasselmyer, and a friend, Steven Kemner, formed a project they called Hotel Neon, taking its name from a quote in Jack Kerouack’s book “On The Road”. In the summer of 2013, they released a batch of 100 cassettes collecting “a loose collection of minimal drone experiments.” Two years later, the album was remastered by Ian Hawgood and re-released on his Home Normal, which got noticed by Stationary Travels and subsequently, yours truly. Today, I am happy to premiere a track from an upcoming 10-year celebration of this project, titled Hotel Neon 10: Reworks, with each track being entirely reworked from the ground up to be unique and familiar. This is not a remaster or a remix – it’s a new album triggering a flashback in your mind…

In the middle of the night I got up because I couldn’t sleep, pulled the cover over baby’s bare brown shoulder, and examined the LA night. What brutal, hot, siren-whining nights they are! Right across the street there was trouble. An old rickety rundown rooming house was the scene of some kind of tragedy. The cruiser was pulled up below and the cops were questioning an old man with gray hair. Sobbings came from within. I could hear everything, together with the hum of my hotel neon. I never felt sadder in my life.

— Jack Kerouac, “On the Road” (1957)

Mastered, this time, by the one and only Rafael Anton Irisarri, the album will be released on July 31st via the beloved Fluid Audio. Please take note that the Book Edition is strictly limited (only 100 unique copies of each!), stamped, hand-numbered, and even scented (!) to create a cherished little package. More details on the contents, and of course, a link to pre-order, can be found on this Fluid Audio page.