Look At These Tapes is a monthly roundup of our favorites in recent cassette artwork and packaging, along with short, stream-of-thought blurbs. Whatever pops into our heads when we look at/hold them. Selections by Jesse DeRosa, Mike Haley, and Scott Scholz.
V/A - Lives Through Magic (Lives Through Magic)
Art by Keith Rankin & Juli Odomo
The packaging for this double cassette comp could easily be confused for the How To Be The Perfect Psychic kit that you ordered. "Lives Through Magic" does not come with the brushed nickel ball and curious cards pictured on the cover, you'll have to supply those yourself, but with proper concentration and dedication you'll have that marble floating in no time.
Yves Malone - Moonday Tides (Data Airlines)
Art by Tiny Little Hammers
The most famous screensaver from the 1989 After Dark software series was, without a doubt, the iconic Flying Toasters module, which showcased a collection of top-of-the-line 1940's-style chrome bread-warmers cascading your screen with bird-like wings and colliding with pieces of projectile toast. A slider in the Flying Toasters peripherals enabled users to adjust the bread's darkness and an updated Flying Toasters Pro module added a choice of music - either Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries or a Flying Toaster Anthem with optional karaoke lyrics. Seems like someone spiked the kool-aid here and cranked the slider wayyyyy up, burning the toast, and setting the vintage hardware ablaze in the process. Too scary.
Cabo Boing - Blob On A Grid (Haord)
Art by ?
I assume Blob On A Grid was a public access children's show from the 80's that was FAR too damaged to be a show for children (or anyone for that matter) that lasted nearly one full episode. The main character, Cobo Boing, was an alien made out of pool noodles and olives who encouraged children through song to ♫ Explore! Your parent's medicine! Explore! The sewers with homeless men! ♫. Thankfully copies of cassettes featuring the show's best music survived.
Mr. & Mrs. Chip Perkins - Very Warm Regards (Strategic Tape Reserve)
Art by ?
In the perfect visual tribute to music tracked in the home studio of an old Victorian the ever-industrious Perkins couple have created a design that recalls the very early beginnings of cassette culture. While rarely discussed today, in the 1800s, j-cards were made of light fabric remnants and executed by hand in needlepoint.
Art by Rez & ArtFluids
Brøderbund is a company from Oregon responsible for educational software and 8-bit games for the Apple II computer. Spoofin' that classic 80's and 90's computer software artwork is cheap way to tickle me from shoulder pads to toe nails, I'm a fucking sucker for it, so you got me here. Actually, I don't even know if this is a spoof. This could be the original artwork for some reading, thinking, math, and science skills improvement shit. Either way, bravo.
Dennis Young - 12/31/1982 (Stimulus Progression)
Art by Dennis Young
Dennis Young, or Dennis Andrews if you nasty, was a founding member of Liquid Liquid and dropped a serious run of private-press solo synthesizer tapes in the 80's under the latter pseudonym. '12/31/1982' offers a peak into a late night session tape of free improv in Edison, NJ as Young jammed solo in his home studio through the New Year. Little known fact, but January 1st, 1983 saw the final migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP officially completed, and is considered to be the actual beginning of the true Internet as we know it today. This, as a result, may be the last vestige of pre-internet synth-melters. 9 days later Fraggle Rock was also aired for the first time. I was conceived somewhere between these two events.
Alain Lefebvre - We Are the Way We Are Because Nature Will Allow It (Jeunesse Cosmique)
Art by Gabrielle
You might have read the clickbait-ish article about Brazilian college student Bruno Borges who recently disappeared, leaving behind a room whose walls are covered with strange ciphers and symbols. Here we find what appear to be some related mysterious symbols, resting nervously atop what appears to be a closeup of of one mystic/shredder/friend-of-aliens Steve Vai's extra-string-enhanced guitars. Obviously this brings the whole mystery to light, and the secret of the universe is
Astral Spirits - batch 12
Art by Mase Man
Sometimes it's the little things that grab your attention. If you recall back to the third edition of Look At These Tapes, Astral Spirits had made a subtle-but powerful shift in their j-card designs, featuring the familiar series of evolving shapes on textured backgrounds by Mase Man instead of the starker flat backgrounds their first 10 batches employed. Batch 12 mostly continues along this textured path for art and design, but incrementally shifts the overall conception slightly again with cassette shells in a variety of colorways instead of the all-black tapes of previous batches. Same great sounds and even more color!
Stratocastors - Autre Regard (OJC Recordings)
Art by Stratocastors
This is one of those album cover photo sessions that just came together perfectly: Intense paisley backdrop? Check. Interesting chair with the perfect amount of damaged veneer to show the passage of time? Right this way. Make Me Pretty Talking Barbie styled to the peak of New/No-Wave? Check. Color fade Slinky as hair accessory? Damn straight. Copy of "Sonic Seasonings" by Wendy Carlos to tie everything together? On it. Lights, camera, action!
Paco Sala - The Silent Season (Field Hymns)
Art by Tiny Little Hammers
The trippy, tense moments that make up "The Silent Season" are perfectly captured visually in this killer j-card by Tiny Little Hammers. Looking positively 3-dimensional in person, one can only wonder what bizarre situation is playing out in this red-lit room. It all feels a little like an outtake from that creepy underground "Sad Satan" video game, with electric pulses tracking along the walls and doors mysteriously materializing. With music featuring low-fi loops of someone saying phrases like "are you my angel" over and over, strap in and hang on.
V/A - Lives Through Magic (Lives Through Magic)
Art by Keith Rankin & Juli Odomo
The packaging for this double cassette comp could easily be confused for the How To Be The Perfect Psychic kit that you ordered. "Lives Through Magic" does not come with the brushed nickel ball and curious cards pictured on the cover, you'll have to supply those yourself, but with proper concentration and dedication you'll have that marble floating in no time.
Yves Malone - Moonday Tides (Data Airlines)
Art by Tiny Little Hammers
The most famous screensaver from the 1989 After Dark software series was, without a doubt, the iconic Flying Toasters module, which showcased a collection of top-of-the-line 1940's-style chrome bread-warmers cascading your screen with bird-like wings and colliding with pieces of projectile toast. A slider in the Flying Toasters peripherals enabled users to adjust the bread's darkness and an updated Flying Toasters Pro module added a choice of music - either Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries or a Flying Toaster Anthem with optional karaoke lyrics. Seems like someone spiked the kool-aid here and cranked the slider wayyyyy up, burning the toast, and setting the vintage hardware ablaze in the process. Too scary.
Cabo Boing - Blob On A Grid (Haord)
Art by ?
I assume Blob On A Grid was a public access children's show from the 80's that was FAR too damaged to be a show for children (or anyone for that matter) that lasted nearly one full episode. The main character, Cobo Boing, was an alien made out of pool noodles and olives who encouraged children through song to ♫ Explore! Your parent's medicine! Explore! The sewers with homeless men! ♫. Thankfully copies of cassettes featuring the show's best music survived.
Mr. & Mrs. Chip Perkins - Very Warm Regards (Strategic Tape Reserve)
Art by ?
In the perfect visual tribute to music tracked in the home studio of an old Victorian the ever-industrious Perkins couple have created a design that recalls the very early beginnings of cassette culture. While rarely discussed today, in the 1800s, j-cards were made of light fabric remnants and executed by hand in needlepoint.
Art by Rez & ArtFluids
Brøderbund is a company from Oregon responsible for educational software and 8-bit games for the Apple II computer. Spoofin' that classic 80's and 90's computer software artwork is cheap way to tickle me from shoulder pads to toe nails, I'm a fucking sucker for it, so you got me here. Actually, I don't even know if this is a spoof. This could be the original artwork for some reading, thinking, math, and science skills improvement shit. Either way, bravo.
Dennis Young - 12/31/1982 (Stimulus Progression)
Art by Dennis Young
Dennis Young, or Dennis Andrews if you nasty, was a founding member of Liquid Liquid and dropped a serious run of private-press solo synthesizer tapes in the 80's under the latter pseudonym. '12/31/1982' offers a peak into a late night session tape of free improv in Edison, NJ as Young jammed solo in his home studio through the New Year. Little known fact, but January 1st, 1983 saw the final migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP officially completed, and is considered to be the actual beginning of the true Internet as we know it today. This, as a result, may be the last vestige of pre-internet synth-melters. 9 days later Fraggle Rock was also aired for the first time. I was conceived somewhere between these two events.
Alain Lefebvre - We Are the Way We Are Because Nature Will Allow It (Jeunesse Cosmique)
Art by Gabrielle
You might have read the clickbait-ish article about Brazilian college student Bruno Borges who recently disappeared, leaving behind a room whose walls are covered with strange ciphers and symbols. Here we find what appear to be some related mysterious symbols, resting nervously atop what appears to be a closeup of of one mystic/shredder/friend-of-aliens Steve Vai's extra-string-enhanced guitars. Obviously this brings the whole mystery to light, and the secret of the universe is
Astral Spirits - batch 12
Art by Mase Man
Sometimes it's the little things that grab your attention. If you recall back to the third edition of Look At These Tapes, Astral Spirits had made a subtle-but powerful shift in their j-card designs, featuring the familiar series of evolving shapes on textured backgrounds by Mase Man instead of the starker flat backgrounds their first 10 batches employed. Batch 12 mostly continues along this textured path for art and design, but incrementally shifts the overall conception slightly again with cassette shells in a variety of colorways instead of the all-black tapes of previous batches. Same great sounds and even more color!
Stratocastors - Autre Regard (OJC Recordings)
Art by Stratocastors
This is one of those album cover photo sessions that just came together perfectly: Intense paisley backdrop? Check. Interesting chair with the perfect amount of damaged veneer to show the passage of time? Right this way. Make Me Pretty Talking Barbie styled to the peak of New/No-Wave? Check. Color fade Slinky as hair accessory? Damn straight. Copy of "Sonic Seasonings" by Wendy Carlos to tie everything together? On it. Lights, camera, action!
Paco Sala - The Silent Season (Field Hymns)
Art by Tiny Little Hammers
The trippy, tense moments that make up "The Silent Season" are perfectly captured visually in this killer j-card by Tiny Little Hammers. Looking positively 3-dimensional in person, one can only wonder what bizarre situation is playing out in this red-lit room. It all feels a little like an outtake from that creepy underground "Sad Satan" video game, with electric pulses tracking along the walls and doors mysteriously materializing. With music featuring low-fi loops of someone saying phrases like "are you my angel" over and over, strap in and hang on.
Look At These Tapes is a monthly roundup of our favorites in recent cassette artwork and packaging, along with short, stream-of-thought blurbs. Whatever pops into our heads when we look at/hold them. Selections by Jesse DeRosa, Mike Haley, and Scott Scholz.
Art by DAS
Auris Apothecary are no strangers to the struggle. They apologize to no one ('we exist because fuck you' is their slogan after all). Their anti-cassette releases have come filled with sand, covered in glass, impaled with nails, and on several occasions only provided the tape itself, free from the confines of spools or shells. They have even gone as far to paint the playside of records to require your stylus to slowly chip away the elaborate art, sacrificing an external beauty to access the beauty buried deep in the screened grooves. The charred remains of Unholy Triforces's "Siberiliszt Inferno" tape follows suit, entombing 3-minutes of sheer bleakness in the ceremoniously seared remains of a sonic-welded shell, requiring some serious consideration to access the treasure within.
Darko the Super - Apocalyptic Bastard (Already Dead)
Art by Joshua Tabbia
As we've seen with Unholy Triforce, some folks do the anticassette work for you. But if you're up for rolling your own, Already Dead Tapes brings us the Apocalyptic Bastard survival kit, full of playful raps like a young tiger that might decide to take your head off any minute. It's presented in a custom box printed in imitation of a matchbox, and each tape comes with its own match. Make your own anticassette or start the revolution: the choice is yours. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
Complainer - Flood Plan (Already Dead)
Art by Curtis Tinsley
I don't know what universe these brightly-colored goobers live on, or what bungled event led them eyeball deep in water, but I am positive whose fault it was. It was obviously the globe-looking sucker with the frowny face. That thing is about to say, in it's patented annoying voice, "Looks like we're all wet!" and then the snake thing is gonna eat him. Good riddance.
Doom Tickler - Spirit Fingers (Pleasence)
Art by Alicia Nauta
There is a strong ritualistic feel going on with artwork for "Spirit Fingers," with it's black/gold color scheme, candle burning on a crescent holder, and 10-pointed stars peppered about. It's a very clean, well designed cover, but the knock out punch is the shell design. Quite the package.
Splice Girls - Spliceworld (Suite 309)
Art by Tim Thornton
The year was 1997 and Tim Thornton (also known as TIM! around these parts) had a full-blown case of Spicemania. Long before Pinterest, Tim had cut up hundreds (some say thousands) of issues of Teen Beat, Teen Cosmo and Teen Washington Post, to assemble the inspiration board to end all inspiration boards, a shrine to his favorite spice, Scooter Spice. In the decades since, he's moved on to electronic music, kickin' beats and shreddin' names, but has kept his coveted shrine alive, in secret, buried, protected, awaiting a time when the cosmos would align again to unlock the great pyramids and the world would once again depend on their glorious return to redeem the human race from uncertain fate. That time is now. That uncertain fate is your warbling tape deck. That world is Spliceworld.
Sun Rad - No Cover (Property Materials)
Art by no one
The purpose of this feature is to hype awesome cassette art. This tape has no art. BUT it makes it to Look At These Tapes anyway for discovering a genius loophole. Sun Rad has titled their latest release "No Cover," thereby sidestepping the rule that tapes with no covers are inherently awful by making the very fact that it has no cover part of the concept. *slow clap* It comes inside a black pleatherish pouch, making the reveal all the more pleasing.
V/A - No Workers Paradise (Chthonic Streams)
Envisioned & Assembled by Derek Rush
Serving as both soundtrack to, and criticism of, the standard American 8 hour workday, No Workers Paradise delivers an hourly shift each from Gnawed, The Vomit Arsonist, Compactor, Existence In Decline, Filth, Blsphm, Redrot and Work/Death. Housed in a sturdy black toolbox for listening on the go, this box houses all 8 tapes along with a 12-page saddle-stitched booklet of art, info, and an essay (to be reviewed during your union-mandated lunch and bathroom breaks only). A perfect antidote to a case of the perpetual Mondays. Hammer for smashing down the corporate patriarchy not included.
Hans Appelqvist - Swimming Pool (Orange Milk)
Art by Hans Appelqvist
I don't know what that mommy and daddy are doing in the water, but it sure is making that floating orb upset.
Monte Burrows - Sawtooth (Castle Bravo)
Art by Castle Bravo
Castle Bravo have done these box sets before (German Army, Head Dress) and they are the cat's pajamas, which is a phrase that i *think* means really good. Inside the silk screened cardboard box you'll find a tshirt and cassette with designs that match the printed texture, plus a hand-cut sawtooth pendant which is gonna make you look like a BAD. MOTHER. FUCKER. Shut your mouth.
Prana Crafter - MindStreamBlessing (Eiderdown)
Art by Max Clotfelter
The always rad Eiderdown Records is back with a new batch, featuring art by Max Clotfelter. This new Prana Crafter jam features one of the more bewildering scenes you're ever likely to imagine. On the cover itself, you find what might be a funeral pyre/sky burial scene, with a slug-dinosaur bereaved by various creatures who walk their own fine lines between vegetable and animal worlds. But when you fold this screen-printed goodness out, it turns out that the slug-dinosaur and his tree friend are embarking on a wild adventure via palanquin...
Look At These Tapes is a monthly roundup of our favorites in recent cassette artwork and packaging, along with short, stream-of-thought blurbs. Whatever pops into our heads when we look at/hold them. Selections by Jesse DeRosa, Mike Haley, and Scott Scholz.
A Monument Of Me And LoFi - Pharo (HZY MLK)
Art by Etaja
The white cube hovering above a Nero Marquina square makes this cover look like some sort of futuristic app that the ultra-bourgeois use to remodel their kitchens with illegal materials while on vacation. They can flip through different themes and be like "Oh, honey. This 'Pharo' design pairs a solid deer bone backsplash with a light-absorbing material they found in space for countertops. I want it." Click.
Burning Star Core - Statue of Trust 2004-2007 (self released)
Art by C. Spencer Yeh
In old creaky apartment buildings, you can typically identify which resident is coming or going at any given time based on their distinct stair-climbing rhythms. There is inevitably one guy though, who sounds like a giant moose. You've never actually met him, so it's yet to be determined whether he might actually be a giant moose though. These are the songs of his people.
D R - Lovely Weather For Children (Warm Gospel)
Art by Trey Reis
I poured Miracle-Gro into my disk drive and now Minesweeper looks like this. Total win/win because, not only does it look 1000% cooler, I can still beat it because I am very VERY smart.
German Army - Kurgan Hearth (OTA)
Art by Julita Zoe and Tierri Pereira
Portugal's OTA really steps up the beautiful art and design for the first German Army release of 2017. 50 unique covers (all available in a .pdf download), printed on both sides of a nice sepia cardstock, all tell the story of the Indo-European Kurgan Hypothesis visually while the music works the audio angle.
Christa Lee - Welcome to the Fantasy Zone (Bedlam)
Art by DataErase
Other than The Anarchist Cookbook, The Fantasy Zone is the only website bookmarked on my 22 year old PC that still loads. Unfortunately, only the welcome page (pictured here) still works, so you can't sign the guestbook or see any of the really cool gifs it used to offer. A bummer for sure, but I could still gaze on this for days. And will.
Won James Won - Prozrachnik (Baba Vanga)
Art by ZonderZond
If Stephen King had the fashion-forward sense to dress his Langoliers as paisley-come-to-life monsters that slowly stripped away your flesh instead of manic chainsaw-toothed holes in the sky, we'd have had a very different made-for-TV movie, and I for one, would've had completely different reasons to awaken screaming from night terrors.
Vales - Tile (Phinery)
Art by b.lind
Goddamn it, Dave, this pitcher doesn't even make any sense. I mean, how are you supposed to stand it up if it's got this ceramic nipple on the bottom? It's like the exact opposite of those untippable cups for kids. Why would you even buy this at Pottery Barn? You got soda all over the carpet and now we have ants. C'mon Dave. A little forethought is all I'm asking. This is why you can't come over anymore.
Somnoroase Păsărele - TION (obs)
Art by Dr. Nicolae Minovici
obs brings the latest Somnoroase Păsărele jams to Russia, and the cassette edition of TION features a mysterious drawing rendered as the front of a sort of greeting card. But who do you send a card that's either a figure in a sort of prostrate ecstasy or a very cautious autoerotic asphyxiation? Best just keep it, and keep listening....
FIIT - Rat / Venom (Puff Boys)
Art by Zackery Lewis Worcel
I have heard tell of the existence of a shot-for-shot remake of The Shining with only rats as actors (ractors if you will) but have always been somewhat skeptical. After seeing this screenshot, I have hope that the legends are true. If you have a decent VHS rip, HMU!
DJ Voilà - Dumbledogs (Noumenal Loom)
Art by Mathieu Dionne
Board games are very hot right now, and one of the most popular is Dumbledogs. In this multi-player tabletop, players compete as various pups in a quest to see who's a good boy? Huh? Who's a good boy!? You are! You're a good boy! DJ Voilà is my fuzzy buddy of choice. She is a wizard dog with the power to make a small starburst appear inches above her paw, and always has chill weed under her wizard cap. I'm sorry, I'm so high right now and love this drawing.
A Monument Of Me And LoFi - Pharo (HZY MLK)
Art by Etaja
The white cube hovering above a Nero Marquina square makes this cover look like some sort of futuristic app that the ultra-bourgeois use to remodel their kitchens with illegal materials while on vacation. They can flip through different themes and be like "Oh, honey. This 'Pharo' design pairs a solid deer bone backsplash with a light-absorbing material they found in space for countertops. I want it." Click.
Burning Star Core - Statue of Trust 2004-2007 (self released)
Art by C. Spencer Yeh
In old creaky apartment buildings, you can typically identify which resident is coming or going at any given time based on their distinct stair-climbing rhythms. There is inevitably one guy though, who sounds like a giant moose. You've never actually met him, so it's yet to be determined whether he might actually be a giant moose though. These are the songs of his people.
D R - Lovely Weather For Children (Warm Gospel)
Art by Trey Reis
I poured Miracle-Gro into my disk drive and now Minesweeper looks like this. Total win/win because, not only does it look 1000% cooler, I can still beat it because I am very VERY smart.
German Army - Kurgan Hearth (OTA)
Art by Julita Zoe and Tierri Pereira
Portugal's OTA really steps up the beautiful art and design for the first German Army release of 2017. 50 unique covers (all available in a .pdf download), printed on both sides of a nice sepia cardstock, all tell the story of the Indo-European Kurgan Hypothesis visually while the music works the audio angle.
Christa Lee - Welcome to the Fantasy Zone (Bedlam)
Art by DataErase
Other than The Anarchist Cookbook, The Fantasy Zone is the only website bookmarked on my 22 year old PC that still loads. Unfortunately, only the welcome page (pictured here) still works, so you can't sign the guestbook or see any of the really cool gifs it used to offer. A bummer for sure, but I could still gaze on this for days. And will.
Won James Won - Prozrachnik (Baba Vanga)
Art by ZonderZond
If Stephen King had the fashion-forward sense to dress his Langoliers as paisley-come-to-life monsters that slowly stripped away your flesh instead of manic chainsaw-toothed holes in the sky, we'd have had a very different made-for-TV movie, and I for one, would've had completely different reasons to awaken screaming from night terrors.
Vales - Tile (Phinery)
Art by b.lind
Goddamn it, Dave, this pitcher doesn't even make any sense. I mean, how are you supposed to stand it up if it's got this ceramic nipple on the bottom? It's like the exact opposite of those untippable cups for kids. Why would you even buy this at Pottery Barn? You got soda all over the carpet and now we have ants. C'mon Dave. A little forethought is all I'm asking. This is why you can't come over anymore.
Somnoroase Păsărele - TION (obs)
Art by Dr. Nicolae Minovici
obs brings the latest Somnoroase Păsărele jams to Russia, and the cassette edition of TION features a mysterious drawing rendered as the front of a sort of greeting card. But who do you send a card that's either a figure in a sort of prostrate ecstasy or a very cautious autoerotic asphyxiation? Best just keep it, and keep listening....
FIIT - Rat / Venom (Puff Boys)
Art by Zackery Lewis Worcel
I have heard tell of the existence of a shot-for-shot remake of The Shining with only rats as actors (ractors if you will) but have always been somewhat skeptical. After seeing this screenshot, I have hope that the legends are true. If you have a decent VHS rip, HMU!
DJ Voilà - Dumbledogs (Noumenal Loom)
Art by Mathieu Dionne
Board games are very hot right now, and one of the most popular is Dumbledogs. In this multi-player tabletop, players compete as various pups in a quest to see who's a good boy? Huh? Who's a good boy!? You are! You're a good boy! DJ Voilà is my fuzzy buddy of choice. She is a wizard dog with the power to make a small starburst appear inches above her paw, and always has chill weed under her wizard cap. I'm sorry, I'm so high right now and love this drawing.
Look At These Tapes is a monthly roundup of our favorites in recent cassette artwork and packaging, along with short, stream-of-thought blurbs. Whatever pops into our heads when we look at/hold them. Selections by Jesse DeRosa, Mike Haley, and Scott Scholz.
Instead of a normal installment, this is a look back at tapes from 2016. We made an open call for labels to send photos of all their releases from the year. Here is what we got, presented without comment.
Let’s not kid ourselves – 2016 was a fucking disaster. The entire year was like a waiter clearing a table, stacking up far too many plates and glasses in a Jenga-like tower, and the second they step away from the table the restaurant explodes. But tapes? Tapes did just fine in 2016. Actually, I take that back. Tapes had a blast in 2016, with familiar and fresh names both permeating profound vibes on the fringes of weirdo tape culture. Over the last twelve months around 1,000 little spooled suckers made their way over to Tabs Out headquarters, and we listened to every one of them. Some not all the way through of course . Let’s be real, A LOT of them were garbage, but most were fantastic and provided a glimmer of hope during this jerk of a year.
So here they are: Our 200 favorite tapes from the year – IN PERFECT ORDER!!! Please do not tell us what you think should or shouldn’t be on the list. We are literally the smartest people we know and got this very VERY right. Just like previous years [‘13, ‘14, ‘15] we only included tapes that we had a physical copy of.
Enjoy!
#1: Jake Tobin “Sorta Upset!” (Haord) It’s rare but incredibly exhilarating to hear an album that sounds kind of like the weirdness perpetually bouncing around in my own head, and Jake Tobin’s latest opus, “Sorta Upset!,” stokes every synapse in my skull and fires up a few more. While this tape barely clears 15 minutes of running time, it’s a concentrated quarter-hour with a career’s worth of phenomenal ideas. And for as complex and layered as it can get, it’s somehow catchy as hell, too. You will totally find yourself humming along with this music, and humming more acrobatically than ever before. [read more]
#2: Belarisk “Greys, Escaped” (Moss Archive) Only seconds into “Greys, Escaped” I had a very vivid image in my head. As the tape went on that image naturally expanded into a scenario which was reinforced with each blop, zap, surge, scratch, whist, and tickle Belarisk dispatched. Aspects of the artwork gave credence to this micro story my brain had fashioned. Everything was lining up. My imagination was being a good little boy and deserved a treat in the form of repeat listens. Those repeat listens put even more fat on on the bone of my now rather formulated story. It got deep. Deep to the point of being embarrassing, quite frankly. [read more]
#4: Khaki Blazer “Gelatinous Ground” (Unifactor) “Gelatinous Ground” raids the sugar packet and unlabeled medication caches, nervously blending cocktails and idiosyncrasies. Velvety vocal manipulations mush into eccentric weirdouts. Bubbles pop and thick gels spill. When rapid haphazardness isn’t tugging at your amygdala, Pat cleaves hip hop chunks and kneads em like he’s trying to activate their gluten. At times you almost feel concerned. Is he okay? Why is he doing that with his mouth? Then synthesizer magic swoops in with grace and charm, and you feel even more concerned. Extremely crisp, collected, fist clenching coldness stretches from seconds to minutes. [read more]
#5: Charles Barabé “Les Dernières Confessions” (Orange Milk)
#10: Sam Goldberg “Kiss Me While I Excuse The Sky”(Unifactor)
#11: The Spiritual Switchboard “Post-Age Variations” (Baked)
#12: Fletcher Pratt “Dub Sessions Vol.3” (Crash Symbols) Pratt, a Canadian we allow to live within our borders until Trump kicks him out, started his sweltering dub journey in 2011 on Dub Ditch Picnic. Five years later the third chapter of his “Dub Sessions”, released by Crash Symbols in an edition of 100 copies, continues the heat and humidity of it all. The music has a spooky mechanical nature, but is still sweltering. Sizzling. Sultry. One wonders if Fletcher Pratt relaxed pool side while Dubbot-5Px maintained the phantom flow of swank and style. “Dub Sessions Vol. 3″ being flush, teeth to toes, with such. [read more]
#16: Maharadja Sweets “The Caprice Of Young Gods” (Oxtail)
#17: Various Artists “Compilation Two” (Noumenal Loom)
#18: 21st Century Wolf “Ideographic Space” (Sacred Phrases)
#19: M. Geddes Gengras “Two Variations” (Umor Rex)
#20: Max Eilbacher, Alex Moskos, Duncan Moore “SEF III” (Ehse) The structural layering is so DEEP across the whole release, like one of those yummy 7 Layer Dips that they just bring out in the casserole dish it was made in cause there’s no possible way to transfer it without it falling apart. And you can make out the top couple layers for sure, maybe even a middle layer or two, but you’re gonna want to reach that WHOLE chip in there and scoop up every little piece. Soliloquies on spontaneous clown generation, slowly transitioning into a mechanic relay stream of consciousness. Peppered blasts of frequency modulated nodes. Slippery lilts trigger the resonator squelch. Claustrophobic foot step rhythms. Real tasty stuff. [read more]
#30: IMF “Harlem Electronics” (Pilgrim Talk) IMF is all about discombobulated shots of relentless noise. Noise created by, or not created by, Ian M Fraser. I say not created by because the liner notes state that “this program performs with no human interaction whatsoever”, IMF opting for algorithmic, computer rendered compositions. Human interaction or not, this tape gashes into existence with unsettling, wavy coarseness and grating randomization. [read more]
#31: Yves Malone “Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life” (Field Hymns)
#37: Sparkling Wide Pressure “Answerer” (Patient Sounds) “Answerer” conjures up a sonic realm inhabited by acoustic and electric stringed instruments, synthesizers, organs, and looped up, talking background vocals. The A side, with its shorter, lighter tracks acts as the entrance way into this world Sparkling Wide Pressure have created for us. The opener “Deb’s Song,” with its loose, acoustic picking and muted electronics slowly guiding you in. [read more]
#46: Semănat “Duobė” (III Arms)At just under eight minutes, Duobė I coats the A side like a lacquer. Bleached-white guitar riffs exist in a panic-free void, uncoiling in an immutable, reliable attack. Hovering in arms reach above a fog of drones, thumps, and injured vocals. It’s with absolute reverence to grey scale scenery and poorly manicure historical battle sites that Semănat pours this poison.
#51: William Cody Watson “Patriot” (Lime Lodge) “Patriot” is like a fairy tale. One of the classic cuts. The dark as fuck German shit where parents are constantly dying. Nothing sugar coated or CGI’d. “Patriot” is actually worse than the Brothers Grimms’ yarns, because “Patriot” starts off with everyone dead. Well, not EVERYONE. The listener is functioning. And maybe a few talking snakes and grey scale mushrooms. Other than that, no life [read more]
#52: Various Artists “Half A Decade Of Chrome” (Field Hymns)
#61: Ink Jet “Cold Shoulder” (Gohan)Forget everything you know about hanging in fancy hotel lobbies, watching montages of very specific teams preparing for a heist, and Blaxploitation fonts. Wait, that’s not right. Remember those things. Remember all of those things at once. Force them into your thoughts until they crash together like matter and antimatter and create pure energy in your skull. Dapper energy with an unhesitating swagger. [read more]
#68: Talibam! And Alan Wilkinson “It Is Dangerous To Lean Out” (Astral Spirits)
#69: MrDougDoug “These Magical Numbers” (self released) MrDougDoug continues his trek into absurd zones. On “These Magical Numbers”, Doug Kaplan crams a stupid amount of sound into a tiny space. The earlier mention of 69 National Anthem renditions was not a joke. On the track “69 Starspangled 420″ there is literally audio from 69 different videos of the The Star-Spangled Banner ground into a fine paste over the course of a half hour. A thick mush of nationalism and anxiety that feels like walking on a soaking wet red, white, and blue shag carpet. You don’t have to be strapped to a chair with the pause button just out of reach to give this a proper listen, but you fucking should be. And it gets darker. MUCH darker. [read more]
#81: Mot “Rebecca’s Spit” (self released) This tape has the personality of a clogged sink, but isn’t exactly trying to be the most popular kid at the party anyways. It’s not even sure why it’s at the party. With the agenda to drink cough syrup, explore the basement, and burn family photos, it should have just stayed home. [read more]
#86: Christina Schneider “Violence Etcetera” (OSR) The sound and method might be pure C86, but the complex, unblinking lyrics, full of visceral imagery, feel very timely. Another piece of evidence that OSR has an ear for sounds which might be able to transcend the moment of their creation. [read more]
#94: Gerritt Wittmer “Unknowns” (No Rent) Near nothingness. A stretch of vacancy occurs. Then, in a Kramer-like jolt, the machines start up. Functioning correctly or not, gears chug along. Stray bolts drops to the floor and roll underneath the onerous mountains of metal and belts and wire. Maybe the machines grind up bones for old, rich people snort and look younger? Maybe they manufacture those tiny plastic taco and sushi toys for kids? It starts up. [read more]
#109: Glou Glou “Fey Flight Founders” (Full Spectrum)Gretchen Jude and Arjun Mendiratta. Those are the humans behind this magnetizing Bay Area two-piece. An open air recording gives their already temperate sounds an even deeper organic glaze on this hour long, single session cassette. Lustering violin and vocal drones shiver, balloon out, and maneuver through wayward zones of knob swiveling. Brief patterns emerge, but the Glou Glou modus operandi is a random and chill one. [read more]
#113: Ottaven “Sequenze Per Raffigurazioni Mentali #1” (Sincope)
#114: Softest “Six Wishes” (Inner Islands)A kinder gentler iteration of Braeyden Jae, softest gives us six “wishes” over two sides. That’s twice as many wishes as the average genie, folks. And what gorgeous wishes they are—where Channelers often feels oceanic, softest evokes those ozone-heavy moments right after a good spring downpour. These pieces progress carefully, initially feeling a little static but gently evolving as they dry off in the sun. [read more]
#124: C. Reider “Sophist I & II” (self released)His tinkering with sound can be magnetic and calming, but risk is right behind the curtain. In the most casual ways, C. Reider knots sequences of inescapable coils. He creates filmy, and sometimes almost muted atmospheres, then proceeds to nudge them into shared spaces with corrupted noise to the point of vertigo. 9-volt beats, voices rising through distortion, asterisks of glimmering hope all helix into web-like patterns. [read more]
#136: Jay Glass Dubs “New Teeth For An Old Country” (Bokeh Versions)
#137: Various Artists “Death On The Hour” (Geographic North)“Death On The Hour: Aural Apparitions from the Geographic North” is fueled by spectral atmospheres. Focus is averted from the trick-or-treat and pumpkin carving conditions of the holiday and fixated more on the idea of spending the night in the vacant house that Old Man Wallmaker hung himself in on Halloween night 6 years ago. I’m talking classic horror movie patterns, reconstructed as an experimental cassette comp. [read more]
#142: Wild Anima “Blue Twenty-Two” (Blue Tapes)Featuring an eclectic group of instruments including violins, Korean flutes, and more, Wild Anima’s Blue Twenty-Two tape is an atmospheric and at times, supernatural, experience. Alex Alexopoulos is at the helm of Wild Anima, with help from friends. [read more]
#143: Miguel A. García / August Traeger split (Bicephalic)
#148: Sister / Body “Spells” (Baba Vanga)The Prague duo’s ruby red tape features beautiful and mysterious artwork, like a hand holding a fuzzed out crystal ball, with a person’s hand holding what appears to be lotion on the inside, adding to the mystical, about-to-cast-a-spell feel. They open the tape with “Black Jacket Angel,” a fascinating track clocking in at more than seven minutes that puts equal importance on the sound in the song as the silence. [read more]
#154: Comfort Food “Waffle Frolic” (Already Dead)Chicago’s Comfort Food has been laying down their heavy jazz/rock/tribal/math jams for a few years now, but their latest tape for Already Dead, “Waffle Frolic,” is a whole new party power-up for your ears. Their previous tape, “Dr. Faizan’s Feel-Good Brain Pills,” displayed an admirable kind of gutbucket rock/jazz blend with some serious swagger in tunes like “Dem Grapes,” but look: ain’t no Frolic like a Waffle Frolic, ‘cause a Waffle Frolic don’t stop. [read more]
#163: Pay The Rent “Soft On Glass” (White Reeves Productions)Pay The Rent’s “Soft On Glass” is a liquefied bliss. A candied concoction of striking synths, lush as h*ck guitar, and drones. Drones that cascade down the pews of a very large, showy church. They move reservedly, like fog. Guitars bellow from the ornate rafters in outstretched waves, their origins cloaked. The stone queue of creepy, blood stained statues that line the walls sorta sway and throb along with the crystal clear keys. [read more]
#174: Moon Lagoon “How Do I Get Out Of Here” (5nakefork)The enticement game begins right out of the gate with Moon Lagoon throwing charms into your eyes via a handsomely designed silk screened Jcard, textured stickers on the shell, and the shell itself glitterfied in a way once reserved for homophobic presidential candidates. Thankfully, the audio end of “How Do I Get Out Of Here”, A C50 released on the in-n-out of hibernation imprint 5nakefork, hovers in an equally majestic zone. [read more]
#181: Used Condo “American Birthstone” (Suite 309)I popped “American Birthstone” by Used Condo, a Larry Wish joint, into the trusty deck knowing nothing about it. Not knowing whether Used Condo was short for used condominium or slang for used condom, I wasn’t even totally sure on the name. Still not I suppose. It was, however, clear by three or four minutes in that this was going to be a frustrating listen. [read more]
#189: Future Ape Tapes “1093” (Fall Break)This collection of mostly instrumental, heavily improvised compositions flows together as an organic, psychedelic whole, with occasional, abstract vocals lending to the atmosphere. much of the music is built from drum loops, synth drones and shimmering, echoing guitars, that when combined sound like dub music for a new age LSD spa. [read more]
#193: Chimess “Growth” (Cave)Listening to “Growth” by Chimess reminds me of sitting on bleachers watching eight, slow roasting innings, unshaded by the heavy embrace of a midsummer’s day heat. Gossamer tones lay a harmonious foundation for low rumblings, faint clicking, analog popping, bubbling, and other echoing, ethereal garnishes. “Growth” is bathed in a series of momentary contemplations, not unlike the somewhat paralyzed feeling of languidly drowning in a fire. [read more]
Look At These Tapes is a monthly roundup of our favorites in recent cassette artwork and packaging, along with short, stream-of-thought blurbs. Whatever pops into our heads when we look at/hold them. Selections by Jesse DeRosa, Mike Haley, and Scott Scholz.
Sarah Hennies - Orienting Response (Mappa)
Art by Zoltán Czakó, Jakub and Anna Juhás
I haven't had the focus, energy, or interest to write about tapes since the Presidential election. Then I saw this tape and it reminded me - I really need to start working on my coffin. With any luck, I'll have a death-box a quarter as nice as the packaging here. Maggots are gonna be like "ooh, la la! Check out these digs." But that's just wishful thinking! We wont need coffins in the post-apocalyptic, nuclear-zombie-Nazi thunderdome! Don't be a silly face!
Maria Sabina - Mushroom Ceremony of the Mazatec Indians of Mexico (Death Is Not The End)
Art by Luke Owen
As someone who's sherpa'ed dozens of folks through their first psychedelic gleams, Ms. Sabina here does not strike me as someone who's ever had to say "Mike, let go of my leg." or "Seriously, Mike Haley, stop grabbing my leg." or even "Mike, I'm just going to let the woods monsters get you if you don't let go of my leg." Then again, I never uncontrollably busted into traditional folk songs of my people either, so what do I know?
Wei Zhongle - Nice Mask Over an Ugly Face (Pretty Purgatory)
Art by Rob Jacobs
Wei Zhongle's latest EP features a deceptively simple illustration by bandleader Rob Jacobs. You have sort of an alien or frog mask that seems to cover the lower half of a sunglasses-at-night sort of fellow, detached hands hanging languidly below to form a perfect triangle. Or maybe you have Roy Orbison with especially rosy cheeks, duck-lips pointed just away from the audience, settling into the perfect Palmolive position. Either way, I can't stop looking, or listening. Madge, I soaked in it!
Kamil Kowalczyk - Andromeda (Czaszka)
Art by Karolina Pietrzyk & Oliver Spieker
I'd like to think that one day I'll be held captive in a cold, dark room (possibly underground) and grilled by a General Buck Turgidson type and two people in lab coats. They will ask me questions about a series of abstract pictures and photos of diseased animals. When they get to this image, one lab-coated person will say "please tell us which box is shaded." I'll say "the top one", they'll look at each other in horror, and pull a syringe out of a medical bag. Until then, I'll enjoy it on this Jcard.
Meta Mora - Arc of the Sun (Geology)
Art by Weekend Graphics
Geology Records has done a lot of tapes with dashing slipcases lately, and though this might be the simplest of Mr. Kreuger's slipcase designs, it really hits home. A lovely font acts as a window into the photo on the j-card beneath, almost like a die-cut effect, and the toasty reds and yellows vibe perfectly with this extended summer/fall global warming landscape that's keeping our hells from freezing over.
Art by CLUT
Remember that book you bought in high school because you thought you were going to get interested in some far out pseudoscience and say fantastically interesting things at parties (to people who definitely aren't rolling their eyes) about how we are actually balls of energy living inside of a dog's butt's dream or whatever. Well, someone remade the artwork from that book in cassette form and it's amazing!
Rose - Exile (Constellation Tatsu)
Art by Alyssa White
There's something really compelling about understated album art, especially when it imparts another layer of meaning with the music inside. Simple praying hands in soft focus, overcast skies, and a platinotype kind of look all speak to the pensive, meditative soundscapes scattered throughout this solo project of Reuben Sawyer. But then the beats arrive, and perhaps these hands are captured mid-riot, clapping the clouds away.
Grimény - Die große Enttäuschung (Already Dead)
Art by Larissa Blau
This German power trio is conceptually focused on the idea of disappointment: letdowns, failures, shortcomings. And they walk the walk. Look how uncomfortable they are in their royal frockery. That one dude's beard is weak, and that one other dude doesn't even have a beard. And to top it off, their music is compositionally inspiring and flawlessly played and not disappointing at all. Way to go not being disappointing after all, Grimény.
Eeli / Numèric - Whalesongs / To Full HD split (Nyapster)
Art by Eeli and lxtxcx.info
Barcelona's always-bizarre Nyapster solves the ever-present "who chooses the art for a split tape" problem by simply including two covers. Vacillate between a somewhat menacing Etch-A-Sketch session, or what must be the next evolution in vaporwave-related art, as nostalgia meets the orthodontist. Choose your own adventure.BR>
Dinzu Artefacts - first batch
Art by Joe McKay
Look At These Tapes would not be doing it's job if it didn't tell you to look at these tapes from Dinzu Artefacts' inaugural batch. This offshoot of Spring Break Tapes is tackling design with clinical precision, opting for winter-is-coming style covers, hygienic layouts, and a logo that made me punch an eagle square in it's beak. To be clear - they nailed it.
Sarah Hennies - Orienting Response (Mappa)
Art by Zoltán Czakó, Jakub and Anna Juhás
I haven't had the focus, energy, or interest to write about tapes since the Presidential election. Then I saw this tape and it reminded me - I really need to start working on my coffin. With any luck, I'll have a death-box a quarter as nice as the packaging here. Maggots are gonna be like "ooh, la la! Check out these digs." But that's just wishful thinking! We wont need coffins in the post-apocalyptic, nuclear-zombie-Nazi thunderdome! Don't be a silly face!
Maria Sabina - Mushroom Ceremony of the Mazatec Indians of Mexico (Death Is Not The End)
Art by Luke Owen
As someone who's sherpa'ed dozens of folks through their first psychedelic gleams, Ms. Sabina here does not strike me as someone who's ever had to say "Mike, let go of my leg." or "Seriously, Mike Haley, stop grabbing my leg." or even "Mike, I'm just going to let the woods monsters get you if you don't let go of my leg." Then again, I never uncontrollably busted into traditional folk songs of my people either, so what do I know?
Wei Zhongle - Nice Mask Over an Ugly Face (Pretty Purgatory)
Art by Rob Jacobs
Wei Zhongle's latest EP features a deceptively simple illustration by bandleader Rob Jacobs. You have sort of an alien or frog mask that seems to cover the lower half of a sunglasses-at-night sort of fellow, detached hands hanging languidly below to form a perfect triangle. Or maybe you have Roy Orbison with especially rosy cheeks, duck-lips pointed just away from the audience, settling into the perfect Palmolive position. Either way, I can't stop looking, or listening. Madge, I soaked in it!
Kamil Kowalczyk - Andromeda (Czaszka)
Art by Karolina Pietrzyk & Oliver Spieker
I'd like to think that one day I'll be held captive in a cold, dark room (possibly underground) and grilled by a General Buck Turgidson type and two people in lab coats. They will ask me questions about a series of abstract pictures and photos of diseased animals. When they get to this image, one lab-coated person will say "please tell us which box is shaded." I'll say "the top one", they'll look at each other in horror, and pull a syringe out of a medical bag. Until then, I'll enjoy it on this Jcard.
Meta Mora - Arc of the Sun (Geology)
Art by Weekend Graphics
Geology Records has done a lot of tapes with dashing slipcases lately, and though this might be the simplest of Mr. Kreuger's slipcase designs, it really hits home. A lovely font acts as a window into the photo on the j-card beneath, almost like a die-cut effect, and the toasty reds and yellows vibe perfectly with this extended summer/fall global warming landscape that's keeping our hells from freezing over.
Art by CLUT
Remember that book you bought in high school because you thought you were going to get interested in some far out pseudoscience and say fantastically interesting things at parties (to people who definitely aren't rolling their eyes) about how we are actually balls of energy living inside of a dog's butt's dream or whatever. Well, someone remade the artwork from that book in cassette form and it's amazing!
Rose - Exile (Constellation Tatsu)
Art by Alyssa White
There's something really compelling about understated album art, especially when it imparts another layer of meaning with the music inside. Simple praying hands in soft focus, overcast skies, and a platinotype kind of look all speak to the pensive, meditative soundscapes scattered throughout this solo project of Reuben Sawyer. But then the beats arrive, and perhaps these hands are captured mid-riot, clapping the clouds away.
Grimény - Die große Enttäuschung (Already Dead)
Art by Larissa Blau
This German power trio is conceptually focused on the idea of disappointment: letdowns, failures, shortcomings. And they walk the walk. Look how uncomfortable they are in their royal frockery. That one dude's beard is weak, and that one other dude doesn't even have a beard. And to top it off, their music is compositionally inspiring and flawlessly played and not disappointing at all. Way to go not being disappointing after all, Grimény.
Eeli / Numèric - Whalesongs / To Full HD split (Nyapster)
Art by Eeli and lxtxcx.info
Barcelona's always-bizarre Nyapster solves the ever-present "who chooses the art for a split tape" problem by simply including two covers. Vacillate between a somewhat menacing Etch-A-Sketch session, or what must be the next evolution in vaporwave-related art, as nostalgia meets the orthodontist. Choose your own adventure.BR>
Dinzu Artefacts - first batch
Art by Joe McKay
Look At These Tapes would not be doing it's job if it didn't tell you to look at these tapes from Dinzu Artefacts' inaugural batch. This offshoot of Spring Break Tapes is tackling design with clinical precision, opting for winter-is-coming style covers, hygienic layouts, and a logo that made me punch an eagle square in it's beak. To be clear - they nailed it.
Look At These Tapes is a monthly roundup of our favorites in recent cassette artwork and packaging, along with short, stream-of-thought blurbs. Whatever pops into our heads when we look at/hold them. Selections by Jesse DeRosa, Mike Haley, and Scott Scholz.
Moss Archive batch (Moss Archive)
Art by Joseph Bastardo
Not only are all three of these tapes (Gardener, Belarisk, Bastian Void) absolute slammers, the artwork is eye candy that's so sweet and sugary, my eyes now have cavities. I tried flossing and it only got worse. This is the past being warped into the future.
German Army - Fermin (NEN)
Art by Evgeniya Belyakova and Ivan Napreenko
With election day approaching quickly, HSBC has put the country on high alert of the possibility of a severe fall in the stock market, but have claimed that "the bulls still have a slight hope." Write-in candidates German Army are our only shepherds prepared to traverse this inevitable collapse, as the plague of locusts usher in a new age of fire and the evacuation of the bulls offer a clear sign that the bears have taken over and have begun to feast.
Mukqs / DJWWWW - split (Phinery)
Art by Max Allison
Back in my dial up internet days, I was known to dabble in a little chat room goofing. AOHell and the like provided some decent ASCII art to bomb, like a naked Bart Simpson skateboarding and shit like that. The Mukqs / DJWWWW split breaks out the heart warming nostalgia. (^._.^)
Prissy Whip - R.I.P. AF (self released)
Art by Gina Maune
TOO SCARY ALERT!! Don't mess with this man, or his son. Don't sweep the floor, and don't attempt to uncuff their jeans!! These actions will send this man (and his son) into fits of rage that will end with you being thrown out of that window. Who is this man (and his son)!?
LLQUID SD - Dolly Sods (Ehse)
Art by Jimmy Joe Roche
When the Psychic Wars finally arrive (just a matter of time now), the LLQUID SD militia will provide our best chance of survival. Seasoned veterans of isotope teleportation and undisputed authorities of the mirror universe, they were assembled together like an Ayahuasca Avengers, hidden away from humanity, miles below the earth's surface at the Shulgin Command Center, tinkering away at their Mind Machines, awaiting the call to civic duty.
Yves Malone - Today Is The Last Day Of The Rest Of Your Life (Field Hymns)
Art by Tiny Little Hammers
Tiny Little Hammers has a way of creating miniature alternate universes with their artwork. Future-zoned spacescapes so vivid you can feel the lack of gravity. The new Yves Malone cover continues that tradition with deep blue laser highways, teleportation stations, and kingdom silhouettes. It sends your brain into a sci-fi tailspin.
Art by Sunmoonstar
Remember that time the cat got into that bag of sequins then threw them all up on the carpet right after you started to come up on those boomers you found in the back of your sock drawer? That was a half hour ago you say? These things sure pack a wallop. Walk it off, cat. I'm going to go lay back down.
Stag Hare - Velvet And Bone (Inner Islands)
Art by Sean Conrad & Sanya Pijama
You wont believe how helpful this tape artwork is to me right now. The motorcycle gang that I started, which is called The Velvet And Bone Boys, has been debating over an emblem to put on the back of our leather jackets. Something that says we are smooth as velvet, but tough as bone. I don't know how we didn't think of a fucking skull over patterns and flowery textures. I mean, it works PERFECTLY on this Stag Hare tape. Vroom Vroom!!
Faster Detail - Phase Lock (No Rent)
Art by Jason Crumer
Up until today I have thought that aliens had built the pyramids. I now have doubts, because if aliens had a hand in design choices, wouldn't the pyramids look like this? Hard to argue those boring pyramids are cooler than these, right?. I mean, come on. Aliens or not, Faster Detail's "Phase Lock" cover is like John Wiese's "Soft Punk" cover, but TRIANGLES!!!
Plains Druid / Lost Trail / Leaaves / Linden Pomeroy - Outdoor Games (Third Kind)
Art by Karen Constance
Uh oh, I think we got a bad boy on our hands. Let me explain. The cover for this 4-way split may look like an innocent (and quite beautiful) collage, but there are some cheeky subliminal going on. Start with those pale legs wearing nada except for dress shoes/socks... AND butterfly panties? Hubba hubba, I'm not gonna say what is under those. And those hands! Look closely. That finger is being pulled. Someone, my friend, is about to rip a fart. It's game day, we're all having a good time.
Moss Archive batch (Moss Archive)
Art by Joseph Bastardo
Not only are all three of these tapes (Gardener, Belarisk, Bastian Void) absolute slammers, the artwork is eye candy that's so sweet and sugary, my eyes now have cavities. I tried flossing and it only got worse. This is the past being warped into the future.
German Army - Fermin (NEN)
Art by Evgeniya Belyakova and Ivan Napreenko
With election day approaching quickly, HSBC has put the country on high alert of the possibility of a severe fall in the stock market, but have claimed that "the bulls still have a slight hope." Write-in candidates German Army are our only shepherds prepared to traverse this inevitable collapse, as the plague of locusts usher in a new age of fire and the evacuation of the bulls offer a clear sign that the bears have taken over and have begun to feast.
Mukqs / DJWWWW - split (Phinery)
Art by Max Allison
Back in my dial up internet days, I was known to dabble in a little chat room goofing. AOHell and the like provided some decent ASCII art to bomb, like a naked Bart Simpson skateboarding and shit like that. The Mukqs / DJWWWW split breaks out the heart warming nostalgia. (^._.^)
Prissy Whip - R.I.P. AF (self released)
Art by Gina Maune
TOO SCARY ALERT!! Don't mess with this man, or his son. Don't sweep the floor, and don't attempt to uncuff their jeans!! These actions will send this man (and his son) into fits of rage that will end with you being thrown out of that window. Who is this man (and his son)!?
LLQUID SD - Dolly Sods (Ehse)
Art by Jimmy Joe Roche
When the Psychic Wars finally arrive (just a matter of time now), the LLQUID SD militia will provide our best chance of survival. Seasoned veterans of isotope teleportation and undisputed authorities of the mirror universe, they were assembled together like an Ayahuasca Avengers, hidden away from humanity, miles below the earth's surface at the Shulgin Command Center, tinkering away at their Mind Machines, awaiting the call to civic duty.
Yves Malone - Today Is The Last Day Of The Rest Of Your Life (Field Hymns)
Art by Tiny Little Hammers
Tiny Little Hammers has a way of creating miniature alternate universes with their artwork. Future-zoned spacescapes so vivid you can feel the lack of gravity. The new Yves Malone cover continues that tradition with deep blue laser highways, teleportation stations, and kingdom silhouettes. It sends your brain into a sci-fi tailspin.
Art by Sunmoonstar
Remember that time the cat got into that bag of sequins then threw them all up on the carpet right after you started to come up on those boomers you found in the back of your sock drawer? That was a half hour ago you say? These things sure pack a wallop. Walk it off, cat. I'm going to go lay back down.
Stag Hare - Velvet And Bone (Inner Islands)
Art by Sean Conrad & Sanya Pijama
You wont believe how helpful this tape artwork is to me right now. The motorcycle gang that I started, which is called The Velvet And Bone Boys, has been debating over an emblem to put on the back of our leather jackets. Something that says we are smooth as velvet, but tough as bone. I don't know how we didn't think of a fucking skull over patterns and flowery textures. I mean, it works PERFECTLY on this Stag Hare tape. Vroom Vroom!!
Faster Detail - Phase Lock (No Rent)
Art by Jason Crumer
Up until today I have thought that aliens had built the pyramids. I now have doubts, because if aliens had a hand in design choices, wouldn't the pyramids look like this? Hard to argue those boring pyramids are cooler than these, right?. I mean, come on. Aliens or not, Faster Detail's "Phase Lock" cover is like John Wiese's "Soft Punk" cover, but TRIANGLES!!!
Plains Druid / Lost Trail / Leaaves / Linden Pomeroy - Outdoor Games (Third Kind)
Art by Karen Constance
Uh oh, I think we got a bad boy on our hands. Let me explain. The cover for this 4-way split may look like an innocent (and quite beautiful) collage, but there are some cheeky subliminal going on. Start with those pale legs wearing nada except for dress shoes/socks... AND butterfly panties? Hubba hubba, I'm not gonna say what is under those. And those hands! Look closely. That finger is being pulled. Someone, my friend, is about to rip a fart. It's game day, we're all having a good time.
Look At These Tapes is a monthly roundup of our favorites in recent cassette artwork and packaging, along with short, stream-of-thought blurbs. Whatever pops into our heads when we look at/hold them. Selections by Jesse DeRosa, Mike Haley, and Scott Scholz.
Skanktral Ska Hotel – In the Aeroskank Over the Checkered Pattern (self released)
Art by Seamus Seery
Netflix takes 1,000s of points of data on users when building their original content. Movies have multiple variations of their art in rotation, serving the most appropriate to you based on your watch history in order to immediately evoke a connection. This cover, no doubt, uses similar science majicks in order to insight immediate fury and disdain. A String Tribute to Nickleback for the 'people still write about cassettes?' generation.
Girl Pusher – Singles (Deathbomb Arc)
Art by Margot Padilla
I knew it! I knew if I stuck in this tape game long enough I would start making some money. Some real hard cash. This collection of singles by Girl Pusher on Deathbomb Arc uses a pink on green, silk screened dollar bill as a cover. The idea and execution is awesome, but even if you aren't into it, you can use it to tip your barista. win / win.
Skozey Fetisch – Evidence (Resipiscent)
Art by Mark C. Jackman
Oakland stalwart Resipiscent just dropped a seriously wild ride from skozey fetisch, who has supplemented the listening experience with pins and personally-collected "skozeys" from hidden corners of the bay. Melts in your hands and your ears.
Tomutonttu – Trarat (Leaving)
Art by Jan Anderzén
I don't usually go for OCards and drips of paint on cassette shells, but peak greatness in that field has been achieved with this Tomutonttu tape on Leaving Records. Jan Anderzén's torturous take on the Queen Of (Diamonds? Hearts? Suffering?) mid-transition into beast form, decked in mandala'd duds, is stunning. The vellum paper makes it a (royal) straight banger. 100 emoji.
The Gate – Live! (Tubapede)
Art by Dan Peck
in 1983 Daniel Johnston's frog-alien thing asked "Hi, How Are You?" 23 years later The Gate's dreadlocked amoeba-dile is showing up like "Wait... What? I'm sorry, I'm so high right now." And he didn't come alone. On various gradients hang his crew: Nervous sinking log, drooling fox eating own tie, and duck made up entirely of misshapen private parts. Just give them some water and assure them that they are safe and all will be okay.
Arvo Zylo – Heavenly Sounds in Lo-Fidelity: Arvo Plays Ferrante & Teicher (Personal Archives)
Art by Arvo Zylo and Ivonne Simonds-Fals
Arvo Zylo takes a step away from his harsher inclinations on this new double cassette, applying his prodigious editing skills to a batch of classic exotica piano duo albums. The design totally lives up to the music, too, with funky art, layout, patterns and fonts straight out of a space-age bachelor pad.
Noosphertilizer IV 5-way split (Aubjects)
Art by D. Petri
This 5-way split travels around the world in 120 minutes, and it couldn't look better getting there. Label honcho D. Petri has designed a truly immersive package and artwork that add tons of class to killer sides by Somnoroase Pasarele, Alan Courtis, Crank Sturgeon, and his own Directives project The fifth artist in the split is Rick Lee Leipold's Objet Plastik, a set of amazing clear resin-based art objects the size of a cassette, and we could stare at these for days.
Compactor – Basic (Cryptic Carousel)
Art by Derek Rush
The pinnacle of pre-9/11 app tech was almost certainly 'Snake II' on the Nokia 3310 (aka The Brick). You lost countless hours teetering on motion sickness in the back of your parents beat-to-shit car keeping that ever-growing monochrome snake out of it's own goddamn way, all the while the craters of the interstate shook your core. Long before Apple introduced iPods or 'dropped calls', the 3310 urged you to break the cycle, and fruitlessly try to avoid the inevitable Ouroboros of your own mortality.
Map Collection – s/t (Midori)
Art by Fletcher Pratt
The artwork for Map Collection's self-titled cassette on Midori looks like the holy grail of obscure, low budget sci-fi VHS tapes from the Goodwill bins. If you say that you wouldn't want to watch a blood thirsty cyborg kitty cat roam around an illuminated grid trying to get it's maps back, you are either a liar or a fool or both. The imagery and colors on this one eclipse cheesiness and I love it.
Na B - Ender Enders (HEC)
Art by Nick Bisceglia
November is growing nearer and with it, the election cycle approaches max-inzanity. HEC's inaugural batch presents some hoffman-lens-level insight into true nature of political landscape with this non-toxic reptilian candidate.
Art by Liz Pavlovic
So dubbed out even the cannabis leaves are straight melting into the couch, man. Hold on to your doritos, it's gonna be one helluva trip.
Skanktral Ska Hotel – In the Aeroskank Over the Checkered Pattern (self released)
Art by Seamus Seery
Netflix takes 1,000s of points of data on users when building their original content. Movies have multiple variations of their art in rotation, serving the most appropriate to you based on your watch history in order to immediately evoke a connection. This cover, no doubt, uses similar science majicks in order to insight immediate fury and disdain. A String Tribute to Nickleback for the 'people still write about cassettes?' generation.
Girl Pusher – Singles (Deathbomb Arc)
Art by Margot Padilla
I knew it! I knew if I stuck in this tape game long enough I would start making some money. Some real hard cash. This collection of singles by Girl Pusher on Deathbomb Arc uses a pink on green, silk screened dollar bill as a cover. The idea and execution is awesome, but even if you aren't into it, you can use it to tip your barista. win / win.
Skozey Fetisch – Evidence (Resipiscent)
Art by Mark C. Jackman
Oakland stalwart Resipiscent just dropped a seriously wild ride from skozey fetisch, who has supplemented the listening experience with pins and personally-collected "skozeys" from hidden corners of the bay. Melts in your hands and your ears.
Tomutonttu – Trarat (Leaving)
Art by Jan Anderzén
I don't usually go for OCards and drips of paint on cassette shells, but peak greatness in that field has been achieved with this Tomutonttu tape on Leaving Records. Jan Anderzén's torturous take on the Queen Of (Diamonds? Hearts? Suffering?) mid-transition into beast form, decked in mandala'd duds, is stunning. The vellum paper makes it a (royal) straight banger. 100 emoji.
The Gate – Live! (Tubapede)
Art by Dan Peck
in 1983 Daniel Johnston's frog-alien thing asked "Hi, How Are You?" 23 years later The Gate's dreadlocked amoeba-dile is showing up like "Wait... What? I'm sorry, I'm so high right now." And he didn't come alone. On various gradients hang his crew: Nervous sinking log, drooling fox eating own tie, and duck made up entirely of misshapen private parts. Just give them some water and assure them that they are safe and all will be okay.
Arvo Zylo – Heavenly Sounds in Lo-Fidelity: Arvo Plays Ferrante & Teicher (Personal Archives)
Art by Arvo Zylo and Ivonne Simonds-Fals
Arvo Zylo takes a step away from his harsher inclinations on this new double cassette, applying his prodigious editing skills to a batch of classic exotica piano duo albums. The design totally lives up to the music, too, with funky art, layout, patterns and fonts straight out of a space-age bachelor pad.
Noosphertilizer IV 5-way split (Aubjects)
Art by D. Petri
This 5-way split travels around the world in 120 minutes, and it couldn't look better getting there. Label honcho D. Petri has designed a truly immersive package and artwork that add tons of class to killer sides by Somnoroase Pasarele, Alan Courtis, Crank Sturgeon, and his own Directives project The fifth artist in the split is Rick Lee Leipold's Objet Plastik, a set of amazing clear resin-based art objects the size of a cassette, and we could stare at these for days.
Compactor – Basic (Cryptic Carousel)
Art by Derek Rush
The pinnacle of pre-9/11 app tech was almost certainly 'Snake II' on the Nokia 3310 (aka The Brick). You lost countless hours teetering on motion sickness in the back of your parents beat-to-shit car keeping that ever-growing monochrome snake out of it's own goddamn way, all the while the craters of the interstate shook your core. Long before Apple introduced iPods or 'dropped calls', the 3310 urged you to break the cycle, and fruitlessly try to avoid the inevitable Ouroboros of your own mortality.
Map Collection – s/t (Midori)
Art by Fletcher Pratt
The artwork for Map Collection's self-titled cassette on Midori looks like the holy grail of obscure, low budget sci-fi VHS tapes from the Goodwill bins. If you say that you wouldn't want to watch a blood thirsty cyborg kitty cat roam around an illuminated grid trying to get it's maps back, you are either a liar or a fool or both. The imagery and colors on this one eclipse cheesiness and I love it.
Na B - Ender Enders (HEC)
Art by Nick Bisceglia
November is growing nearer and with it, the election cycle approaches max-inzanity. HEC's inaugural batch presents some hoffman-lens-level insight into true nature of political landscape with this non-toxic reptilian candidate.
Art by Liz Pavlovic
So dubbed out even the cannabis leaves are straight melting into the couch, man. Hold on to your doritos, it's gonna be one helluva trip.
Look At These Tapes is a monthly roundup of our favorites in recent cassette artwork and packaging, along with short, stream-of-thought blurbs. Whatever pops into our heads when we look at/hold them. Selections by Jesse DeRosa, Mike Haley, and Scott Scholz.
Jake Tobin – Sorta Upset! (Haord)
Art by Jake Tobin, Kevin Mahoney, and Ben Mendelewicz
The turn of the millennium proved to be a most catastrophic time to be a saxophonist. Pushed up against the wall, it was do or die as legions of ska bands from Orange County gave their horn sections the final ultimatum - learn to play some keyboards or get out. Some adapted. Some perished. This guy is still waiting for his band to pick him up for the 2001 Fuck Cancer gig.
Damián Anache – Capturas del Único Camino (Already Dead)
Art by Damián Anache
The first US edition of Damian Anache's solo debut has cover art that matches the music on a heavy level: both the music and the album art variations in different editions are finished by running through an "interpretation algorithm" created by the composer.
Mustard-In-Law – At Breast Imaging Center (self released)
Art by Jay Schleidt
The second tape by new Iowa improv duo Mustard-In-Law gets right to the point, and that point is mustard. Mustard paper and cassette label with a yellow feather, and it's the perfect jam for sharing some fries with your sig-other's mama.
Pleasure Island – Golden Rain (Ascetic House)
Art by John Pyle
Every year, hundreds of Texans lose their legs and fingers or blow off part of their genitals due to mishandling of fireworks. John Pyle's cautionary tale should act as a warning to all you DIY pranksters out there. Please leave handling of fireworks to the professionals... or just your drunk uncle. Nobody would miss him and he probably deserved it anyway.
2814 – Rain Temple (Dream Catalogue)
Art by Kidmograph
Call me old fashioned, but I remember a time when kids would kneel at the altar of Zordox, the metallic destiny-orb, in silence for thousands of years. We'd overlook empires rise and crumble under the fists of greed. All the while, the almost silent hum of Zordox would keep you calm and full of uncontrollable spirit. We didn't "chug" Monster soda and play Pokemang on our phones. SMDH.
Andrew Weathers – Rock & Roll Can And Will Heal Us (FTAM Productions)
Art by ?
There is something about the phrase "Rock & Roll Can And Will Heal Us", spruced up with a rainbow gradient, on top of a pink/purple gradient that let's you know everything will be okay. That magic is real. That pure love exists. Whenever you are feeling absolutely drained grab this cover, hold it skin to JCard, and repeat the mantra "I can and will be healed."
Astral Spirits batch (Astral Spirits)
Art by Mase Man
If you've been following Astral Spirits, you know the label recently made a change to their art/layout strategy, with background cover textures and album titles in red on the spine. Subtle things to ponder while jamming the not-so-subtle fire music of Talibam! with Alan Wilkinson, Konstrukt feat. Graham Massey & David McLean, R. Lee Dockery & Smokey Emery, and Rankin-Parker/Pearce.
Ozark – Boombox (Haju)
Art by Ridgewell
It looks like somewhere in a recently revitalized condo / Starbucks / CrossFit gym post-payphone dystopia there is an 18-wheeler unloading a countless stream of cartoon boomboxes off of a conveyor belt. Not to a specific condo or Starbucks or CrossFit gym. It's just spilling them into a pile in need of 10,000 D batteries. When finished, the truck itself will suddenly be a giant boombox. Each citizen will be designated a boombox, it's tape explaining how many citizens they must kill to themselves survive. The future starts NOW.
Mike Nigro – Vertical Music (Oxtail Recordings)
Art by King Bozo
Hey, King BOZO. The Tape is called - VERTICAL - music. That poor, little fella can do everything but stay vertical! He's floppin' all over the place! And let's not even think about his health right now (several concussions I would assume), but the cassette itself. If he ends up getting sucked into the rollers and mucks up the capstans then all that hard work Mike Nigro put into this tape is GONE TO SHIT! So THINK before you draw, BOZO!!! (ps: cool art)
Max Eilbacher – s/t (self released)
Art by Noel Freibert
We all know the results of leaving a cassette out in the hot summer sun, but what about a Coupigny synth? Thanks to Noel Freiber's illustration on the new Eilbacher jammy, we now know. Panels and knobs become sun bleached. The casing begins to ooze like a bunk soufflé. Jacks turn into the vanilla pudding steps from Nightmare on Elm Street when inputs are attempted. Max still rips the devil out of it though. (Karl Fousek's hand not included).
Look At These Tapes is a monthly roundup of our favorites in recent cassette artwork and packaging, along with short, stream-of-thought blurbs. Whatever pops into our heads when we look at/hold them. Selections by Dave Doyen, Jesse DeRosa, Mike Haley, and Scott Scholz.
James Ferraro – Human Story 3 (self released)
Art by Amazon.com
Amazon prides itself on getting you the shit you want at breakneck speeds. Hell, they got the USPS to work on Sundays, that's how much not-fucking-around they are. James Ferraro, on the other hand, used to rip off tons of folks by selling tapes online that may or may not have existed. So hard to know if this will actually show up in your mailbox or not, and perhaps that's what makes this story so human after all.
Valise – Fe N°2 (No Rent)
Art by Maralie Else
So I think if a ghost, ala the girl from Ring (リング, Ringu), tries to emerge from your smart phone instead of a television, all you have to do is keep raising and lowering the volume to stop it. Hahaha. Stupid ghost. You are so stupid. You're never going to haunt me. I'm not ascared or nothing! Seriously though, I love this artwork. Especially when looked at on a phone. *swoon*
bran(...)pos – The Bubblegum Forgeries, vol.1 (self released)
Art by bran(...)pos
On the playground, it was in your best interest to decline any offers of ABC gum. But if San Francisco's sound-designing renegade bran(...)pos offers you some ABC gum, you should totally take that shizz and put it in your ears. b(...)p offers this first of four c10 "Bubblegum Forgeries" in a tinted orange Norelco as hazy as his take on bachelor pad music found inside. And your order may include some non-ABC gum besides.
Sam Weinberg / Chris Welcome – W-2 (self released)
Art by Sam Weinberg
Weinberg and Welcome's latest blast of sax/synth is a sound investment. Just ask your local tax professional. They'll say that they probably won't even be able to do their jobs without a copy of W-2. It's that important. They'll probably tell you you should've gotten this earlier in the year, and they're absolutely right. They'll also probably tell you you shouldn't have cut them up into tiny pieces, but what do they know? They probably heard about tapes making a comeback on NPR. Nerds.
Tankorean – Post-Classical World (Truly Bald)
Art by Jake Tobin
Tankorean's rad new tape of one-minute wonders features fine/folk art and plastic instruments on its cover, but it also features its own cassette. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE, Truly Bald?
Layne Garrett – Reportage (Power Moves Library)
Art by Layne Garrett
As a kid, those colorblindness tests with the number/letter hidden in a blob of a slightly differing color that you got at the nurse's office always gave me trouble. Ignoring the shame of these childhood experiences, I'm willing to learn to overcome these deficiencies by way of Power Moves Library Power Method for Vision Training and Correction (TM).
The Editor – It's Great To See You Again (Bedlam)
Art by Secret Schools
Between time travelers on deadly missions and Columbine, I have no room in my life for trench coat sporting gentleman cloaked in darkness. So no. No it would not be great to see this dude again. BUUUUT The Editor (either of time or the school news paper) appears to be trapped in a VHS having tracking issues, so I feel safe.... For now. Also that triangle vortex is very sweet IMHO.
Body Morph – Keep Still And Be Devoured (Sound Holes)
Art by ?
Classic science fiction depicted the future as a utopian wonderland with little to no pollution or suffering. A world where the robot on the cover of this Body Morph tape would eat smog and shit out protein rich rainbows. In reality, it's 2016 and our robots are used to kill people from a distance, search for oil, and make sweet love to businessmen. Depending on your current brain location you are either horrified or delighted by this metallic being, which looks 101% amazing.
Art by Dan Olsen
Look at Constellation Tatsu with a $5 billion website. I have many websites, many, many websites. They're all over the place. But for $10, okay?
Now everything about that last batch was a lie. It was a filthy lie. And when you think about it, lies, I mean are they prosecuted? Does anyone do anything? And what are National Audio Company doing about it? He lied about the length, he lied about every aspect. You can keep your download code. And you've all heard that hundreds of times. And it's disgraceful. It's a big, fat, horrible lie. Your shipping costs are going through the roof. You're not going to get--unless you're fast, you're not going to get that new batch. And people that had plans that they loved, that they really loved, don't have those plans anymore because the batch is gone. So it's a real, real disaster. And somebody has to do something about it. And they have to do it fast and not just talk about it.
Art by ?
You look at all of the tapes that are bad - - I'll give you an example. And this isn't part of what I was going to say, but I look at my collection and somebody makes those tapes. You know the tapes. The ones that sort of go like this [demonstrates with hand] that are always bent, rusted and horrible. Did you ever see less than like 20 which aren't corroded, or bent or the heat, if it gets too hot, it just crushes. Now they've been selling these things for 25 years. Why doesn't someone stop them and get something that works? Because they don't know; they don't know what's happening. Somebody made a lot of money on that. They don't know what is happening.
Giant Claw and Guerilla Toss – s/t (Orange Milk/DFA)
Art by Keith Rankin
Budweiser changed their name to "America" for the summer, but this art (and music) from Guerilla Toss vs Giant Claw would make an even more quintessentially modern-American, red white & blue duck-lipping beer label to carry our lagers through at least this election cycle.
James Ferraro – Human Story 3 (self released)
Art by Amazon.com
Amazon prides itself on getting you the shit you want at breakneck speeds. Hell, they got the USPS to work on Sundays, that's how much not-fucking-around they are. James Ferraro, on the other hand, used to rip off tons of folks by selling tapes online that may or may not have existed. So hard to know if this will actually show up in your mailbox or not, and perhaps that's what makes this story so human after all.
Valise – Fe N°2 (No Rent)
Art by Maralie Else
So I think if a ghost, ala the girl from Ring (リング, Ringu), tries to emerge from your smart phone instead of a television, all you have to do is keep raising and lowering the volume to stop it. Hahaha. Stupid ghost. You are so stupid. You're never going to haunt me. I'm not ascared or nothing! Seriously though, I love this artwork. Especially when looked at on a phone. *swoon*
bran(...)pos – The Bubblegum Forgeries, vol.1 (self released)
Art by bran(...)pos
On the playground, it was in your best interest to decline any offers of ABC gum. But if San Francisco's sound-designing renegade bran(...)pos offers you some ABC gum, you should totally take that shizz and put it in your ears. b(...)p offers this first of four c10 "Bubblegum Forgeries" in a tinted orange Norelco as hazy as his take on bachelor pad music found inside. And your order may include some non-ABC gum besides.
Sam Weinberg / Chris Welcome – W-2 (self released)
Art by Sam Weinberg
Weinberg and Welcome's latest blast of sax/synth is a sound investment. Just ask your local tax professional. They'll say that they probably won't even be able to do their jobs without a copy of W-2. It's that important. They'll probably tell you you should've gotten this earlier in the year, and they're absolutely right. They'll also probably tell you you shouldn't have cut them up into tiny pieces, but what do they know? They probably heard about tapes making a comeback on NPR. Nerds.
Tankorean – Post-Classical World (Truly Bald)
Art by Jake Tobin
Tankorean's rad new tape of one-minute wonders features fine/folk art and plastic instruments on its cover, but it also features its own cassette. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE, Truly Bald?
Layne Garrett – Reportage (Power Moves Library)
Art by Layne Garrett
As a kid, those colorblindness tests with the number/letter hidden in a blob of a slightly differing color that you got at the nurse's office always gave me trouble. Ignoring the shame of these childhood experiences, I'm willing to learn to overcome these deficiencies by way of Power Moves Library Power Method for Vision Training and Correction (TM).
The Editor – It's Great To See You Again (Bedlam)
Art by Secret Schools
Between time travelers on deadly missions and Columbine, I have no room in my life for trench coat sporting gentleman cloaked in darkness. So no. No it would not be great to see this dude again. BUUUUT The Editor (either of time or the school news paper) appears to be trapped in a VHS having tracking issues, so I feel safe.... For now. Also that triangle vortex is very sweet IMHO.
Body Morph – Keep Still And Be Devoured (Sound Holes)
Art by ?
Classic science fiction depicted the future as a utopian wonderland with little to no pollution or suffering. A world where the robot on the cover of this Body Morph tape would eat smog and shit out protein rich rainbows. In reality, it's 2016 and our robots are used to kill people from a distance, search for oil, and make sweet love to businessmen. Depending on your current brain location you are either horrified or delighted by this metallic being, which looks 101% amazing.
Art by Dan Olsen
Look at Constellation Tatsu with a $5 billion website. I have many websites, many, many websites. They're all over the place. But for $10, okay?
Now everything about that last batch was a lie. It was a filthy lie. And when you think about it, lies, I mean are they prosecuted? Does anyone do anything? And what are National Audio Company doing about it? He lied about the length, he lied about every aspect. You can keep your download code. And you've all heard that hundreds of times. And it's disgraceful. It's a big, fat, horrible lie. Your shipping costs are going through the roof. You're not going to get--unless you're fast, you're not going to get that new batch. And people that had plans that they loved, that they really loved, don't have those plans anymore because the batch is gone. So it's a real, real disaster. And somebody has to do something about it. And they have to do it fast and not just talk about it.
Art by ?
You look at all of the tapes that are bad - - I'll give you an example. And this isn't part of what I was going to say, but I look at my collection and somebody makes those tapes. You know the tapes. The ones that sort of go like this [demonstrates with hand] that are always bent, rusted and horrible. Did you ever see less than like 20 which aren't corroded, or bent or the heat, if it gets too hot, it just crushes. Now they've been selling these things for 25 years. Why doesn't someone stop them and get something that works? Because they don't know; they don't know what's happening. Somebody made a lot of money on that. They don't know what is happening.
Giant Claw and Guerilla Toss – s/t (Orange Milk/DFA)
Art by Keith Rankin
Budweiser changed their name to "America" for the summer, but this art (and music) from Guerilla Toss vs Giant Claw would make an even more quintessentially modern-American, red white & blue duck-lipping beer label to carry our lagers through at least this election cycle.