Street View by Google Earth

Google Earth
Street View

Beginning with The Cedars, John Vanderslice embraced the digital landscape out of necessity and had to view his inner philosophy in a different way. It’s not that Vanderslice was new to the process, it’s just that his output up until then has been recording analog to magnetic tape through his Tiny Telephone studio creation. The system was not broken, and Vanderslice garnered such magnificent creations throughout the years. Living through the pandemic in this existence became impossible. Therefore, Vanderslice embraced the unknown and created a new level of musical existence that continues to persist like a beautifully deranged sound scientist constantly evolving and breathing new life. “It’s alive. . . ALIVE!”

His recent releases have also challenged the listener to think differently and feel something new in a spectacular way.

Flash back to 2009, Vanderslice met James Riotto in San Francisco when Riotto was hired to arrange Magik Magik Orchestra’s live album. Both musicians became friends and started touring together. Through honest communication and personal growth, Riotto became an engineer at Tiny Telephone. Riotto built up a wondrous reputation in the indie music scene and opened Altamira Sound while releasing a solo album that garnered the attention from the fruits of years of writing, playing and thinking about music.

In 2024, the two have embarked on a new journey. Together, they form Google Earth and their collaborative piece, Street View. The songs within take the angular electronic excitement of Plaid and the intentionality of Scanner while maintaining the verisimilitude of their own identity. I had this release playing in loops for hours and something new kept speaking to me. From how they use strange sounds to replicating rhythm and the split-second accent to the endearing feeling of man and machine as well as the artistic merit of the release as a whole.

Picking out songs from Street View is like telling you how each part of a river flows. You can find the elements that stand out, but you also want to just enjoy the experience of being in a space where everything works brilliantly together. And that’s what Street View does. Vanderslice and Riotto have made a futuristic masterpiece showing, once again, that both talents combined make them some of the most versatile composers of the 21st Century and further expanding from Vanderslice’s newly creative genesis that drifts even farther out into a dimensional universe.