Tabs Out Cassette Podcast | Now Serving Snow Broth

Now Serving Snow Broth
6.5.14 by Mike Haley

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From All In The Family came The Jeffersons. Happy Days begat Mork And Mindy. Now Rotifer Cassettes is getting into the spin off game with their latest endeavor Snow Broth. Described as “a big puddle of art, music, and the written word”, Snow Broth launched with two cassette releases and a grip of kaleidoscopicly appetizing prints for sale.

The cassettes, both pro-dubbed and editions of 100, are breezy, outsider-vacation soundtracks by Low-Key and Euglossine. Available for a $7 grip, complete with digital download access through unique codes. The Low-Key (aka: L.A.’s Mychal Alva) jam is a C20 titled “Soft”. Tristan Whitehill’s Euglossine release is a 50 minute long-player called “Tropical Popsicle”. So juicy. Dig into some samples……. Here! Go!

Over in the Broth’s Art Shop you’ll find a bunch of limited, yumyum-based, brain melter collage prints by Juli Toro. Nutty amalgams of flowers and foodstuffs in smallish editions, available in the $15 zone, with names like Shramp, Puddin’, and Ham Stack. Cue the image in your head of Homer Simpsons drooling and saying “Mmmmmmm. Haaaam Staaacks”. Suitable for framing/eating.

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Head on over to Snow Broth’s home on the net to dig into the newness and keep track of future activity.

Tabs Out Cassette Podcast | Are You One Of God’s Powers?

Are You One Of God’s Powers?
6.3.14 by Tabs Out

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Calling all weirdos. We’re putting together a cassette compilation to be released as part of our Subscription Series based on that crazy ass picture right above this text. Ya see it? Of course you do. How the fuck could you miss it?? The name of the compilation will be GOD’S POWER and we want everyone to submit a track. Here is all you gotta do.

1. Pick a name for your project/band/whatever from the list on that sign.

  • Gonorrhea
  • Strong Penis
  • Bilhazia
  • Piles
  • Typhoid
  • Diabeties
  • Stroke
  • Waist Pain
  • White Hernia
  • Headache
  • Malaria
  • Night Witches
  • Smelling Mouth
  • Opposite Electrician

2. Create any sort of track your heart (or strong penis, or smelling mouth) desires. There are no restrictions on styles, lengths, file formats, etc… You can do ANYTHING you want. This isn’t exactly the most intellectual of endeavors, so get as fucking weird as ya’d like to get.

3. Give the track a title and email it to us (contact@s935781125.onlinehome.us)

That’s it. You’re done! After we get tracks for every name listed the Tabs Out team will sort through them and pick our favorite for each one, and that will be the final comp. There is no deadline or limit on how many tracks you can submit. Send in 5 for White Hernia. Send in 2 for Waist Pain and 4 for Malaria. Fuck, send in a track for each name. It doesn’t matter. This is a chill undertaking and will hopefully be pretty fun for all involved.

Everyone who ends up on the cassette will get a copy, along with all the currently enrolled Chrome Donators at the time of it’s release. Go!

Tabs Out Cassette Podcast | Who/What/When/Where/Why Is Plastik Tonez?

Who/What/When/Where/Why Is Plastik Tonez?
5.30.14 by Mike Haley

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I’m a big supporter of the peculiar and weirdo-ambiguous shit that pops up on the net. Like those 11 second bleepzoid shape videos on YouTube or the heyday of Horse ebooks. It’s a swell time. I also enjoy (spoiler alert) cassettes. So I was somewhat intrigued when back in May I started receiving cryptic emails from Jehu & Chinaman with subject lines like P̡̲̟̭L̀A̶͢͡S̶̀͜T͝͝I̷̵͘͢K̸͜͠͏ TOṈ̹͇͔̼E̡̡͝Z̸̀͟͟͝ ? and P̩͓̺̺̼̱̬LͅA̡̛͛͂́S͎̥͍͚̼̩̳TIK͏́͘͝͡ TO̡͟͜͡Ǹ̶̢̡EZ̶ ? with even less information in the body. Random (at least to me) images and “SOON” was pretty much all that was being transmitted. Truthfully I was less intrigued and more annoyed, assuming that someone Heartbleeded the shit out of J&C’s email account and was bogging me down with a bunch of glitched out spam. Then, wouldn’t ya know it, a cassette tape was released proving Plastik Tonez to be a series of some sort.

That tape, the first in the series, is by Justin Wiggan. A dude known for his Roadside Picnic project. It was (I say “was” because apparently copies were gone in about an hour) titled Sheer Heart Attack and made in an edition of just ten copies. All the impending installments will also be dubbed in the same dwarfed quantities and, as their Bandcamp says, “ONCE THEY’RE GO̡͐̿ͨNE =̵͊ͫ̈͟ THEY’RE GO̡͐̿ͨNE.”

Label exec Steve Dewhurst isn’t announcing any of the upcoming tapes in the PT series, but says there are clues lingering if you look. “You can work out what the tapes will be [if] you can be bothered to decode certain elements.”… Whatever that means. This all comes across very LOST-like to me. Hopefully we don’t find out that all the tapes were blank the entire time and Locke didn’t have to push the play button every 108 minutes. Here is one of the videos “promoting” Plastik Tonez #2. Have a blast figuring out what it is.

You can keep up with Plastik Tonez’ obscure communications through Facebook and the Jehu & Chinaman site.

Tabs Out Cassette Podcast | Journey To The Edge Of Your Bank Account

Journey To The Edge Of Your Bank Account
5.30.14 by Mike Haley

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Well-to-do zoners and New Age tycoons take note. As of the moment I’m writing this you have approximately 48 hours to become the proud owner of an Upper Astral seven cassette lot. Ebay member, and future continuing owner, rodd707 is attempting to sell off these 1980’s psychedelic gems for a cool $1,800.00. Surprisingly enough, no buyer has stepped up with the cash, or the cash equivalent in crystals or space dust, to take em home. It may have something to do with the $3.00 shipping fee Rodd has tacked onto the sale, which, if you ask me, is pushing it. I mean, I’m totally cool with dishing out almost 2 grand for seven cassette tapes so Mr.707 can get his aura detailed or whatever. But why am I going to pay three bucks to have humans drive the tapes to me? Hey, USPS, ever hear of mental teleportation? Media mail doesn’t hold a candle to bending space and time. Duh.

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The seven cassettes, all released byValley Of The Sun, are:
Upper Astral Suite, 1981
Manifestation, 1981
Crystal Cave (Back To Atlantis), 1982
Skybirds, 1982
Higher-Self Rendezvous, 1983
Entrance To The Secret Lagoon, 1983
Journey To The Edge Of The Universe, 1983

Brilliant fucking music, but $1,800? Hmmmmm. While you get your affairs in order and talk over this investment with the 24-hour Quicken help line, fade out to Celestial Harmonies from Journey To The Edge Of The Universe below. But please, if you do, Paypal us some scratch. Nothing major, just a hundo or so.

Tabs Out Cassette Podcast | All the Immeasurable Things; Caroline Says

All the Immeasurable Things; Caroline Says
5.29.14 by Ian Franklin

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I was never a huge fan of the “King”. I mean, if you’re asking me, the dude had a couple good moves, made an OK Christmas album, but that was about it. “50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong” is the title of the new album from Caroline Says, the project of Texas singer-songwriter Caroline Sallee, released jointly through Noumenal Loom and Happenin Records and even though this record sounds nothing like “Elvis the Pelvis”, I’m pretty sure a fair amount of those 50,000,000 would enjoy this wonderful release of sweetly crafted pop Americana.

Released in an edition of 100 pro-dubbed Chrome tapes, these 9 tracks sway and swim down dusty roads through half sunlit destinations. Perfectly laid out and cohesive, each song carries a constant feeling of measured assurance. Song structures feel unforced and relaxed without being wandering. Verse – chorus – verse is barely present on any of these “Winter is Cold” kicks the album off with a welcoming picked acoustic guitar, instantly setting the mood of the whole album in the first 30 seconds. 

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Then Caroline’s voice enters. With a syrupy smoothness and a calm confidence she effortlessly flows through longing, missed opportunities and the fragility of a cold winter alone; retreating at the end into the comfort of the opening soothing melody.tracks but it feels all the more better for it. The whole album has a flow about it that is undeniable.

“Funeral Potatoes” looms with its minor keyed piano melody drifting through the somber drone behind it. Backing vocal tracks sweetly stacked on top of each other, a tactic she uses frequently throughout the album with great success, finally resolving in a growing wave of nostalgic backwards and looped melodies (the cello-like resonance of a stretched and processed guitar). Flowing and blooming over itself in a perfectly contained microcosm.

With an expert ability for vocal effervescence, song crafting and mood, Caroline Says delivers a fantastically life-reflective summer companion. The kind you meet and fall for and spend many beautiful moments with before it’s suddenly over; the afterburn still lingering.

Stream the album below and pick up the tape from Noumenal Loom’s bandcamp or Happenin Record’s store.

Tabs Out Cassette Podcast | Two-Sided Gay Shape

Two-Sided Gay Shape
5.20.14 by Mike Haley

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I don’t really know which shapes are gay. I guess an inverted pink triangle would be the obvious one. That and the experimental trio of Mickey O’Hara, Abdul Sherzai and Joe Bastardo. Who late last night made available their latest Gay Shapes cassette, a self titled, 50ish minute workout on Bastardo’s Moss Archive label. The two side-long tracks are exercises in restraint and casual peculiarity as the three… Massachusians?? Massachusianites?? … dudes from Massachusetts deliberately leak Doctor Whoish cosmic wobbles,  sharp Atari-mode pings, and soapy undercurrents. All of the sounds drip in moderation, some lingering for a tad, others stopping by for a brief, animated cameo. The black and white artwork is equally as minimal and matches the sci fi vibe well with it’s crudely menacing obelisk and floating eyeball.

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This sucker is available in an edition of 50 home dubbed copies and can be picked up for a cool $5 (or more) here. Each member of Gay Shapes has also released solo material on Moss Archives, O’Hara and Sherzai under their names, and Joe Bastardo under the Bastian Void moniker. All sold out from the label, but definitely worth tracking down if you can. Stream the s/t jam, in full, below.

Tabs Out Cassette Podcast | Bridgetown Spring Batch

Bridgetown Spring Batch
5.15.14 by Mike Haley

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Between massive tours across the country, Kevin Greenspon finds time to fling out Large Marge sized batches on his Bridgetown Records imprint. Which is preciously what he did earlier this month with the release of Bridgetown #101 – #107.  The seven cassette spring batch, available at $6 a pop or all bundled up for $35, sports the lavish neo-psychedelia of Reighnbeau, ambient excursions by Paper Armies, and some cathartic indie-pop bounciness from Greenspon’s recent tour mates Big Waves Of Pretty, among other seriously dope sounds. The hallucinatory artwork and similar motif brings the entire batch together perfectly.

The Bandcampability of this spring activity is 100%, so here they are to check!

#101: Big Waves of Pretty “It Is A Sight He Never Forgets” C29
125 pro-duplicated type II cassettes

#102: Paper Armies “Trying” C42
125 pro-duplicated type II cassettes

#103: Filardo “UNKNOWN Sessions” C20
100 type II cassettes dubbed in real-time

#104: Apollo Vermouth “Fractured Youth” C30
100 type II cassettes dubbed in real-time

#105: Autococoon “Spirulina” C33
125 pro-duplicated type II cassettes

#106: Widesky “Silhouette, and the Stars Emerging” C44
100 type II cassettes dubbed in real-time

#107: Reighnbeau “Hands” C39
125 pro-duplicated type II cassettes

Kevin was also kind enough to offer a 14-track mix for download, obtainable by clicking this hyperlink.

 

Tabs Out Cassette Podcast | Bathetic Has Created A Monster

Bathetic Has Created A Monster
5.13.14 by Ian Franklin

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Bathetic Records’ newest release exists in a strange form of personal exposition alongside a thread of continuity and singularity. “Dynasty at Ghost Town” is the name of the staggeringly large collection of 11 different pro dubbed Type II Chrome confessionals from 11 different musicians/bands, known here collectively as “Various Artists”. Featured in this collection is a grouping of Bathetic favorites and all around experimental sound gurus including Aquarelle, William Cody Watson, Ekin Fil, Lee Noble, Planning for Burial, Scott Tuma, M. Geddes Gengras, Zac Nelson, High Aura’d, Padang Food Tigers, and Panabrite. The sounds therein run through the gamut of experimental styles and instrumentation including but not limited to: electro-acoustic melodics, drifting ambient arenas, solo synth explorations, complex digital gardens, subterranean rhythmic movements, hazy afternoon reflections, music box memories, repetitive structural procedures, industrial park white noise, and more than a healthy dose of soothing aural wave patterns.

The biggest common thread running through these 11 distinct releases is the artwork done by Simon Fowler. Beautifully minimalist in execution but complex in design, the covers for all the tapes link together top to bottom to form a long continuous and evolving piece taking inspiration from underwater reefs to geometrical and crystalline structures. Sometimes evoking a nebulous gas and other times twisting into piercing spires, the piece transforms to encompass all of the different, yet connected sounds from the artists within.

This is a unique type of release, of which Bathetic is no stranger to pulling off. They put out the simultaneous split/collaboration between Rale and Lolly Gesserit over two different cassettes with alternating artist sides released a few months back. These types of collaborative releases are genuinely interesting and fresh to me, hopefully encouraging others to explore “extended” release structures and experiment with different forms of presentation.

Check out Bathetic’s website to see track info, artwork, and sound samples for each tape. Not for sale individually, the whole batch will put you back only $50 which is an absolute steal considering the artistic talent of all involved.

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Tab Out Cassette Podcast | Double (Hooker) Vision

Double (Hooker) Vision
5.8.14 by Mike Haley

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The lawfully wedded label Hooker Vision, who were the subject of our second Laser Focus episode back in December, have been running quiet for about a year now. Thankfully that is going to change come June with releases from label heads Rachel (Motion Sickness Of Time Travel) and Grant Evans.

Samples from their forthcoming cassettes, Alpha Piscium C44 & Lacerations C34, are ready to rip on the label’s Soundcloud page and conveniently embedded right below. You see em down there? Good. Check em out! MSOTT’s fizzy synth simmer and GE’s dreary basement bleakness, along with some dope artwork, suggest these are gonna be some straight bangers and wont stick around very long.

While Hooker Vision has been silent, the Evans duo has been far from dormant. Rachel has been self releasing a bunch of those round shiny things in handmade packaging while Grant has been growing the VAALD family. Still, it’s awesome to see Hooker Vision back in action. Hopefully there is more to come.

Tab Out Cassette Podcast | Scope Rare Moons

Scope Some Rare Moons
5.6.14 by Mike Haley

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We get a harvest moon every year. A blue moon occurs roughly every 2 – 3 years. A tetrad series, or four consecutive total eclipses, represent a blood moon. Hundreds of years can pass by without one of those suckers popping up and scaring the shit out of religious people. Fred Espenak, some eclipse-obsessed egghead from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said their “frequency sort of goes through 585-year cycles.” An even more uncommon lunar incidence: tapes being released by the Moon Mist cassette label.

No doubt dubbed over dumpstered books-on-tape cassettes from behind the library with poorly cut Jcards, Moon Mist bounced out of hibernation, announcing five new plastic goodies for your decks. Continuing the cut-and-paste-rip-and-dip-stoner-primitive style comparable to Michigan brethren American & Fag Tapes, the rowdy crew includes a dope sounding compilation and various mutations of label head Dan D in solo and collaborative form. Here is the raw deal, straight from the horse’s mouth…

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Body Morph “Pussy For Breakfast” 2xCS
“Brand-new double cassette of slipstream saxophone insanity from BODY MORPH. First legit solo tape in a while. Alternately lush and grating slabs of nebular reed rubbing for sleep and love-making. The sound of space folding and waking up full.” (edition of 40)

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V/A “Live Puzzle Vol.2” compilation C90
“Wild and confusing live sets recorded across the great nation of michigan. Musician offenders include: UNEVEN UNIVERSE, FLOATING HEADS, BODY MORPH, CRIMINALS, JOSH BURKE, E.A.S, and SLOWSLAG. Its like you were there, except better.” (edition of 40)

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Winter Ruby “Open Grave” CS
“A couple of years ago, WR wrote several new songs, recorded them, and ceased operations for the time being due to life circumstances (good ones). OPEN GRAVE is a collection of those songs. Recorded in scenic warren, mi and it sounds like it.” (edition of 80 copies)

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Major Blast s/t C30
“Napalm layers of absolutely horrible saxophone crust. Like dancing in acid rain mixed with sharpened reed hail. Severely unchill/a true blast. MAJOR BLAST: knox mitchel/dlugosielski duo” (edition of 30 copies)

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Tarpit “Gradual Paralysis” C40
“Shivering primordial ear pollution from the TARPIT sound dungeon. Listen to your brain fall out your ear. A negative experience. SIDE A: solo; SIDE B: hooker/dlugosielski duo.” (edition of 40 copies)

You can grip these mugs on the cheap: $5 for single tapes, $10 for the double banger. Just zip line into Moon Mists’ Big Cartel, scroll down past the giant image at the top of the page, and you’re good to go. Have fun!