Virtual Cavern is the bedroom recordings of John Southard and when I say bedroom recordings, I mean BEDROOM. RECORDINGS. The actual sound quality is great, but the improv style of this c60 could be enough to drive all but the most dedicated listener away. Not to say that this isn't worth a listen, but sometimes the tape seems to drag on. Please don't get me wrong here, because the spaced-out-ness of this tape is awesome. If you're looking for something to lay down with the windows open on a nice spring day and get lost in the waves emanating from 30 year-old speakers (like I did), then you've found the right tape to do so. With 30 minutes on a single side your mind can wander pretty far before having to get up and flip the tape (one of my biggest pet peeves is awesome drone on a c10 or other absolutely short length (I'm looking at you Outer Space/Imaginary Softwoods).
Underneath layers of soft static you can hear guitar strums and piano plunks forming an almost melody, and sometimes its enough to tap a toe to. Those songs are the kind that really stand out on this tape. About half of it is great and the other half fails to impress me. Not that it's bad, it's just.. unfocused and unnecessary. If this tape were a c30 with only that one half, it would probably see my tape deck way more often, because when the tracks are good they're good. Then again the idea behind this tape may very well be that of "screwing around with the record button depressed" and if that is the case then this tape is a shiner. I'd recommend picking it up, because the good defiantly outweighs the meh portion.
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