Title: Zombie Cowboy
Artist: Mystified
Release Date: 2013 Dec 13
Genre: Ambient / Drone Soundtrack
License: CC BY-NC-ND
Label: Aural Films
Occasionally I like to start my reviews with a little bit biographical & discography information about an artist. I thought Mystified would be a good choice since I know he’s been around a while, and probably only his hardcore followers know just how much he’s done.
Well, I thought I had a clue about Mystified’s discography. But I was totally wrong. I have seventeen solo releases from him, and two releases with Mystahr. But that barely begins to scratch the surface of his oeuvre.
Thomas Park (aka Mystified, Autocad and Mister Vapor) has been on the netlabel scene for over 10 years. His first appearance was all the way back in 2003 on ‘Remixes and Collaborations Volume 1’ for Infinite Sector. To date Discogs has cataloged a whopping 177 albums, 31 singles / EPs, and 106 miscellaneous releases by Mystified. And then there’s his appearances on other releases: 163 albums, compilations, mixes and miscellaneous releases.
I think I now have a new goal in life: attempt to collect all of Mystified’s releases. Of course, I would probably never get to listen to them all, but just being an archivist for his complete discography would be an amazing feat.
Given Mystified’s proficiency and prolific nature, it’s no surprise that this is one of those releases where he nails his concept right on the head. This is a panoramic soundtrack, focused more on minimalism than on drones (with the one exception being ‘Desert Highway’).
Like the other releases on this label, this is a soundtrack for a movie that doesn’t exist. In this case, it’s Zombie Cowboy, which is an intriguing concept made more interesting by a soundtrack that has us imagining different possible scenes that they could be used for.
There is one exceptionally funny thing in this recording. During the closing credits and banjo riff is used over and over. Which made me speculate that there is a little nod to Deliverance, which is something that I wouldn’t have seen coming from the title of this release.
But that’s the way Mystified rolls sometimes: little turns and twists that you don’t see coming that surprise and delight you when they do show up.
Overall a solid release, very fun to listen to. Now excuse me while I go search out the other 160+ releases I am missing from Mystified. 🙂
Mystified: Zombie Cowboy
$2.00 USD (or more)
8
