Biography
Corey Mastrangelo
A vast mesh of analog and digital networks informs Long Distance
Station to Station (LDSS), the solo debut from musician Corey
Mastrangelo. Across eleven songs exploring and recreating the
experience of finding solace in all forms of radio, Mastrangelo
craftily modulates between threads of upbeat, cunning post-rock and
cleanly arranged yet intricate electronica. Organic sounds and
electronic sources blend consciously on LDSS, infused with
Mastrangelo’s touch for balanced hooks that occasionally pop with
polyrhythmic subtleties and deep, enrapturing texture.
During the isolation of 2020, Mastrangelo found a home in radio. Being
a forever musician with an extensive resume and profound curiosity for
music and its creation, it was comforting for him to scan and become
lost among frequencies and different broadcast forms—freeform radio
like WFMU and web radio beacon NTS were fixtures of this time.
Mastrangelo’s time in the experimental rock group Vasudeva further
imbues the wide-spectrum spirit of LDSS with a decade of experiences
that saw him enmeshed in an array of musical styles and scenes.
Stylistic curios abound throughout Long Distance Station to Station
much the same as they do when tuning your FM dial, but here they
present with an artful cohesion. On opener “50” Mastrangelo offers a
quasi overture of the record, with leads changing on a dime from
acoustic guitar to arp’d and flanged synths that drive in the opposite
direction, only to be suddenly pulled back into another acoustic-led
phrase. These structural shifts and idiosyncrasies light the path of
LDSS: “Music for Air” starts with a boastful, noodling synth before
settling into a smooth climax with nods to Prince; “Left Before”
produces bright triumph with acoustic guitar melded into phased,
asymmetrical synth loops; chugging closer “Standby” is half the pace
of everything before it, its slowness enlivened with Mastrangelo’s
penchant for acoustic phrasings. Such contrasts guarantee that
listeners will never end up where they started, a clever and expansive
reinforcement of Long Distance Station to Station’s overarching radio
analog. ~ Will Osiecki
Station to Station (LDSS), the solo debut from musician Corey
Mastrangelo. Across eleven songs exploring and recreating the
experience of finding solace in all forms of radio, Mastrangelo
craftily modulates between threads of upbeat, cunning post-rock and
cleanly arranged yet intricate electronica. Organic sounds and
electronic sources blend consciously on LDSS, infused with
Mastrangelo’s touch for balanced hooks that occasionally pop with
polyrhythmic subtleties and deep, enrapturing texture.
During the isolation of 2020, Mastrangelo found a home in radio. Being
a forever musician with an extensive resume and profound curiosity for
music and its creation, it was comforting for him to scan and become
lost among frequencies and different broadcast forms—freeform radio
like WFMU and web radio beacon NTS were fixtures of this time.
Mastrangelo’s time in the experimental rock group Vasudeva further
imbues the wide-spectrum spirit of LDSS with a decade of experiences
that saw him enmeshed in an array of musical styles and scenes.
Stylistic curios abound throughout Long Distance Station to Station
much the same as they do when tuning your FM dial, but here they
present with an artful cohesion. On opener “50” Mastrangelo offers a
quasi overture of the record, with leads changing on a dime from
acoustic guitar to arp’d and flanged synths that drive in the opposite
direction, only to be suddenly pulled back into another acoustic-led
phrase. These structural shifts and idiosyncrasies light the path of
LDSS: “Music for Air” starts with a boastful, noodling synth before
settling into a smooth climax with nods to Prince; “Left Before”
produces bright triumph with acoustic guitar melded into phased,
asymmetrical synth loops; chugging closer “Standby” is half the pace
of everything before it, its slowness enlivened with Mastrangelo’s
penchant for acoustic phrasings. Such contrasts guarantee that
listeners will never end up where they started, a clever and expansive
reinforcement of Long Distance Station to Station’s overarching radio
analog. ~ Will Osiecki