Tape labels are abundant these days, as are new cassette releases, and Stars on C-30 includes reviews of some of these releases, the occasional band or label profile, and a look at the culture surrounding cassettes.
Let’s face it, when you name your label Fuck It Tapes, you’ve instantly raised the bar for anything you release. With a name like that you quickly come to the conclusion, how can anything they release be bad? Fortunately, I have yet to have a bad experience with Fuck It Tapes. As the cassette arm of Woodsist Records, Fuck It adds a variety of sounds to the world, including some excellent releases from Woods, Wavves, Blank Dogs, MV & EE, and a recent release from Ducktails. The label’s latest gem is a cassette from Portland’s Herbcraft. This new collection, Papers, is the follow-up to this summer’s debut LP, Discovers the Bitter Water of Agartha. Papers is as fine a document of bedroom psychedelic folk as I’ve heard in a long time. Theses songs have an amazing amount of space while maintaining a full, rounded, often swirling sound. Equally impressive is how well all of the instruments and various sounds hang together. These songs, especially those that comprise the first side of the tape, are really addictive. This is the kind of stuff you want to rewind as soon as it ends and begin again. For my money, “Lessons” is the highpoint here. Herbcraft’s music seems like the soundtrack for the aftermath of a party that got seriously out of had. Everyone is passed out, the lights are low, smoke hangs in the air, a lot of things are broken, and no one will be the same when morning comes. Papers is grinding away on a cassette player somewhere, setting the scene for the one semi-conscious guy in the bean bag chair.
If you recover from the party and decide to change your life through meditation, look no further than Expo 70’s latest cassette, Resurrection (Heavy Meditation), released on Electric Temple. Expo 70 is the baby of Kansas City’s Justin Wright. Wright’s Expo 70 output is largely improvised psychedelic drone. I always imagine this is what a merging of Sunn 0))) and Hawkwind might sound like. Resurrection consists of two sides of heavy meditative drone looped and looped and looped….. repeat until sleepy. It’s fantastic if you’re looking for meditation music. It’s repetitious and trance-inducing. I really enjoy Expo 70 but this one was a bit much for me. One side and I would have been happy, two sides was pushing it. The good news is Expo 70 is extremely prolific, so check out this tape is you like the drone, also, I recommend the Center of the Earth and Sonic Messenger LPs.
After my last Stars on C-30 column, I received a great comment from a friend of mine via Facebook. In response to the idea of cassettes being a hot medium once again, he commented, “…the DIY world survives and more frequently does more than simply survive but acts as that crazy and wise uncle that you never see but often ask about for his insight. One of my main dissatisfactions with the music biz is that ANYONE with 100 bucks, an internet connection and a little bit of time can put a record out. Sometimes this is great. REALLY great! But most of the time it’s a self-indulgent exercise by some bored cat in need of a bit of self-esteem. So is the cassette tape label simply a vanity project or a real viable means of distribution?”
Editor’s Note: The newest column by Jesse Croom (of “The Past Presents”) here on Knox Road, “Stars on C-30”, will dig into the wonderful world of cassettes. Tape labels are abundant these days as are new cassette releases, and Stars on C-30 will include reviews of some of these releases, the occasional band or label profile, and a look at the culture surrounding cassettes. Enjoy the first installment below.
The cassette. The perfect format. No really, it was the right medium at the right time. The cassette was the format of choice during my youth. Records were fine, but you couldn’t record on them and you certainly couldn’t put all of your favorite songs in one place. Perhaps most importantly, you couldn’t scratch a cassette. A cassette just snapped or was mangled to the point of uselessness. A scratched record, on the other hand, was a constant reminder of your own carelessness with your stereo. It was obvious, the cassette was the future; a future you controlled. Cassettes allowed you, the humble music fan, to make mix tapes for your friends and, more importantly, show that special someone the true depth of your feelings. Oh yes, the cassette was the ultimate vehicle for music and die-hard music fans.
Then, without warning, came the compact disc. These things were indestructible and provided near perfect reproductions of all your favorite music. The CD blew tapes out of the water almost instantly, reducing the cassette to an affordable medium for indie and punk rock bands to get their music out into the world.. Tiny tape labels were everywhere in the early to mid 90’s but burned out quickly with the advent of affordable CD recorders. The cassette didn’t stand a chance. Now, like that mosquito that just won’t be ignored, cassettes are back.
The last few years have been very good to the cassette and those who love its magnetic goodness. Tape labels are thriving once again. This time around they are the home to experimental music, DIY albums of all varieties and the curious side projects that otherwise may never have made it out of Pro-Tools. In other words tapes are a hotbed for creativity, exploration and invention. The labels are making the most of the cassette’s new moment in the sun. Most cassettes are being released in extremely limited editions and sell out fairly quickly, so if you stumble on something that looks interesting please don’t wait, chances are it will be gone.
For this first installment we look at fourrecent releases from a relatively new label, Sweat Lodge Guru. The label unloaded four new tapes that are worth your attention. First among them is Mickey Mickey Rourke’s fantastic Festive Bummer. Over the course of its nine songs, Festive Bummer delivers one of the most satisfying ambient rock records I’ve heard in a long time. These songs come across as a more melodic Flying Saucer Attack. I’m really hooked on the song “Forget About Tomorrow and Think About Today”, so please check that one out. This was released in an edition of 70 and is unfortunately sold out. You can get the album digitally from the band’s Bandcamp page for $4.20. Please go do that now.
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