Meadow Argus “Somewhere Near Medina” cassette (Tynan Tapes Temporal)

Meadow Argus returns with his fifteenth album, and second of 2025, “Somewhere Near Medina.” DIY music box compositions + organ + home movie voice samples + tape effects. For those who don’t like hearing voices, an instrumental version of album included with digital version (not on cassette release).

“For this album I made my own music box compositions and played them on a manual crank music box, mixed with organ and tape effects. The main voice you hear is of my brother Max (R.I.P.) during his visit to the Schmidt’s house (family friends) November 2000. You can also hear other members of the Schmidt household. I wanted to make an album with minimal sources that was still hazy and heady.” – Tynan Krakoff, August 2025

Physical tapes released by Tynan Tapes Temporal in an edition of 40, pro-dubbed C41 cassettes on apricot swirl shells with butterfly stickers & smokey case, full-color artwork. B&W paper insert.

REVIEW:
“Somewhere Near Medina is hearing an album of family photos. Dreamlike talk, vivid for an instance then echoing away in time. Melodic organ droning in the background, a haze of connective energy solidifying the listening experience. Falling into the trance most delightfully again. Meadow Argus is composing stories again. This one very close to heart, with his brother Max and his visit to a house of family friends, the Schmidts. Four selections divided from close to forty minutes of play. Meadow Argus has used a unique approach in creating Somewhere Near Medina. He notes in the description, “For this album I made my own music box compositions and played them on a manual crank music box, mixed with organ and tape effects”. The final product is incredibly fluid. With the length of listening time spent with Max and the Schmidts, a bond grows. There is a heartfelt affinity to the entire experience. Also, with subtle adjustments, Meadow Argus changes the background timbre just enough to create entirely different sonic scenes. Please take the time to listen, another very cool composition by Meadow Argus.

This is a cassette release in a limited edition of forty. Released on Tynan Krakoff’s label Tynan Tapes Temporal. When purchasing either the cassette or digital, there are bonus digital versions of the composition that are instrumental only. This makes two different listens completely, involvement and sentiment dialed in a different direction.” – Lost in a Sea of Sound, lostseasound.blogspot.com/2025/11/meadow-argus-somewhere-near-medina.html

“This album feels more like the successor to that album, while ‘Zoom’ is the oddball. The previous contained recordings from his road trip with his brother Max, and his voice is also the primary element in the four pieces of this new cassette. It is a personal document as his brother passed away. The recordings were made in November 2000 at the house of family friends, the Schmidts’ family, so the other voices belong to that household. Krakoff built some kind of music box, has some basic pedals (mainly delay) and creates quite the minimalist soundscapes. Unlike the massive approach of ‘Zoom’, the music is very open and spacious. Perhaps it sounds rather simplistic, but it’s pretty compelling stuff, which holds somewhere in the middle of ambient and radiophonic drama. With the household nature of the music and the use of voices, it’s easy to be reminded of Dominique Petitgand, with the difference that we now can understand what these voices say. If the voices are a bit much, the download contains instrumental versions of these songs.” -Vital Weekly, www.vitalweekly.net/number-1498/