Sonic Youth In/OUT/In Three Lobed Recordings Released: 3/18/22 It was late in the life of Sonic Youth to release an album as excellent as Murray Street .  Following my first listen of In/OUT/In , the recently issued compilation of material recorded during the band's Jim O'Rourke era, my ears could discern the time and place of these recordings (2000-2010) and I felt the need to revisit  Murray Street (2002),  Sonic Nurse (2004), and  Rather Ripped (2006). This trio of releases would be the last of SY's major-label output prior to joining Matador for their final album, The Eternal (2009), and were met with almost-uniform positivity. With their Y2K-emergent NYC Ghosts and Flowers , reactive ambition clouded some of their decisions (plus, the theft of their instruments the prior year forced them to pick-up old instruments and start from scratch) and the band committed the sin of hyper-indulgence.  Personally, I liked NYC Ghosts and Flowers , but the three-album...

VoidCeremony At The Periphery Of Human Realms  20 Buck Spin (Cassette Release) Released: 1/6/22 When the PR notification arrived for VoidCeremony's At The Periphery of Human Realms , a YouTube link to preview the full album was made available and I wanted to survey the comments following my first listen. Evidently perturbed at the fact that the album is only available on cassette via 20 Buck Spin , a commenter asked that Death Metal (addressing the whole genre, apparently),  "… get away from these shitty cassettes?! Please?" The label's response was simply (and wisely), "A: No."  VoidCeremony —  guitarist/vocalist Garrett Johnson, guitarist Phil Tougas (Atramentus, Chthe'ilist, First Fragment), bassist Damon Good (Mournful Congregation, Stargazer), drummer Charlie Koryn (Ascended Dead, Incantation) — have followed their 2020 debut LP,  Entropic Reflections Continuum: Dimensional Unravel with what is essentially a demo tape. Clocking in at less than ten...

Boston area label, I Heart Noise , will be reissuing Tommy Bell , a highly obscure indie rock album from Boston's own,  Turkish Delight .  Originally released in 1996, Tommy Bell is certainly of its era, vocalist Leah Callahan stretching each syllable with the necessary resignation and charming disdain characteristic of the decade, a distortion-laden glaze employed for grit.  The band also evoke the experimental guitar harmonics of Sonic Youth  and the abstract funk of bands like Gang of Four , A Certain Ratio , or Pigbag , Turkish Delight's evident fondness for early 80s post-punk and NYC fringe predating the retro-informed spawn from bands like The Strokes , Yeah Yeah Yeahs and, very recently, Naked Lights and Guerilla Toss .  If you grew up plugged into the output of K Records, 4AD, or Matador, Tommy Bell is a fascinating, overlooked artifact worth checking out.  You can check out the video for "Grammy" below.  Tommy Bell will be rel...

Cassette Store Day is probably unnecessary.  I won't pretend there's any real need to promote cassettes in the download era, even if the format's cool factor has heightened over the last five or more years.  I'm one who still enjoys listening to certain albums via tape deck, aware that, for indie circles, (and not "indie" as genre, but indie as independent), cassettes provide artists and labels the means to retain the purity of the physical format cheaply.  Plus, there's always the potential to create something that looks cool. I met up with my friend, Chris, Saturday morning outside of Repo Records, a rather dreary day on still-sleepy South Street.  Repo was the only spot in Philadelphia, (or Pennsylvania for that matter), participating in the aforementioned Cassette Store Day, which is another event prompting labels to kick out special releases and encouraging stores to stock them for the sake of increased foot traffic and earnings potential. Rad...

I haven't pulled one of these together in a while.  Mostly reissues... Tankcrimes Spazz Sweatin To The Oldies & Sweatin' 3: Skatin' Satan & Katon Tankcrimes Reissued: 3.2016 As compilations go, few overwhelm as easily as Sweatin’ to the Oldies and Sweatin’ 3: Skatin’ Satan & Katon , two of the three volumes of rare, obscure or out-of-print material from the powerviolence band, Spazz . Originally released in 1997 and 2001 respectively via Slap A Ham Records , these Sweatin ’ collections are packed with aggression, their contents numbering well past the 60 mark in terms of track length. These CDs were my driving soundtrack for a solid month, Spazz’s growling, thrashing chaos appropriately scoring my day-to-day on road interactions with fellow commuters. This isn’t a collection meant for easy listening in an environment designed with relaxation and meditation in mind. Spazz is music, a term many may cite as loosely applied, for upsetting crowds ...

Big Black Cloud Lessons in Fuck You 2 Eolian Empire Released: 8.5.14 Stereokiller review Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

As a study in how a band can synthesize well the decades of punk aggression, nihilistic pigfuck and fringe-worthy experimentation that's brought us into the new century, Portland's Big Black Cloud excels. In 2013, I was happily turned on to their then-new LP, Black Friday , which boasted one of my favorite singles of the year, the chewed-up and choked-out "Bomb My Brain." I recently revisited the album and I still think it's violent, strange and abrasive. Granted its lineage is easy enough to trace, but the band knew how to take the best of what their influences had to offer and run with it. I love what this band does.  So, I was really excited to find out that they're releasing a new EP in August called, Lessons in Fuck You 2 . It's a cassette release, though it'll be available digitally, and preorder is up now. You can check out info on the release below and listen to a live cut of the song, "Cities of the Red Night," which appeare...

Hey, everyone.  We're talking labels today.  In 2012, I reviewed the Fatherland EP by Mr. Dream and Weird Wild World by Sleepies , both of which were released by the Godmode label.  Specializing in post-punk and some of the more avant variations of R&B and EDM I've heard, Godmode, which is owned and run by former Pitchfork editor and current Mr. Dream drummer Nick Sylvester and Capitol Records A&R rep Talya Elitzer , recently released a new cassette compilation called, Common Interests Were Not Enough To Keep Us Together. Featuring new music from the label (plus a couple new tracks from Mr. Dream and Sleepies which were a plus for me), the comp provides a varied selection of sounds that range from club ( Shamir ) to vocal ( Soft Lit ) to experimental ( Yvette ), which ultimately affirms Godmode's place as a home for both very inviting to likely alienating performers. You can check out the comp here: Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Oikos Vigilia Knockturne Records Released: 11.1.13 Over the last couple years, I've listened to Earth incorporate more folk and country into their repertoire and Sunn O))) thicken its ultra-bottom distortions with some symphonic additives. With that in mind, the tender guitar phrase introducing Vigilia , the newest offering from the now solo drone project, Oikos , wasn't too surprising. While drone and ambient pursuits seem to follow a more compositional approach lately, an album like Vigilia still remains devoted to the manipulation of sound, at its most ominous, meditative and gorgeous. A cassette only release from Knockturne Records, Vigilia is the soul creation of Rafael Femiano , now the lone presence behind Oikos. The project had been a duo initially, Femiano having worked with former member, David San Martin . While the gentle guitar strum of the title track is eventually lost beneath a mire of deep, undulated tones and sheets of metallic groan, the fol...

Tapes of a Neon God is a cassette label out of Nashville, Tennessee that specializes in keeping loud and destructive music in circulation.  My introduction to this label was through the band Pink City , whose 2011 release, Designing Women , and Great Falls split were both enjoyed and detailed in earlier reviews.  As I remain devoted to the abrasive oddity and aural ruination provided by the underground, especially when it's continually delivered to an audience through the hissing spindles of lovingly manufactured cassettes, I thought it would be worthwhile to spotlight Tapes of a Neon God by acknowledging three of the label's 2013 releases. Japanese Women Quality Control Released: 1.1.13 It's possible you've heard the powerviolence, crust punk and D-beat mutations from the new 2013 releases of Nails and Dead in the Dirt .  Quality Control , which was released at the beginning of the year by the band Japanese Women , (the members of which are neither), is on ...

Great Falls/Pink City Split (Tapes of a Neon God #7) Tapes of a Neon God Released:10.12 It's good to hear something violent and/or sullen from time to time.  The new split release from Great Falls and Pink City offers a healthy amount of rapid beat metalcore, Neurosis style post-metal noise revelry, Big Black informed pigfuckery and some electronically addled Joy Division post-punk with hints of Alan Vega .  Pink City is no stranger to Letters From A Tapehead, as I've discussed both the band's 2-song "Loop One/Service" single and their album, Designing Women . Expect something dark and loud for the very reasonable price of $5.  Links provided by Tapes of a Neon God. Great Falls greatfalls.bandcamp.com http://www.facebook.com/pages/Great-Falls/110748382297574 Pink City pinkcity.bandcamp.com http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pink-City/118911091519231 Tapes of a Neon God tapesofaneongod.com tapes.storenvy.com You can preorder the cassette...

A few months ago, I began to collect quotes from independent record labels and artists who are involved in the reemergence of cassette tapes in the digital marketplace.  It resulted in a two-part article for No Ripcord .  You can find the articles below. Part 1 Part 2 Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

I'm convinced of two things: 1). Traditional music listening is not as easy as it used to be. 2). I need a portable cassette player. Another package from Brave Mysteries, the label that had so generously donated some cassettes for review around winter , arrived at my doorstep months ago and due to poor time management, deadlines and life outside of music blogging and criticism, I'm getting to them very late. To the label, my apologies. I will say, though, that this batch was not easy to get through. Inasmuch as I love a good challenge, the ambient chill from Urna , the synthesized void of Eolomea and the compositionally charged anti-melody of Baldruin were difficult to distill, layers and builds to comprehend and appreciate. If after you read these small reviews you feel the need to own these cassettes, you can find and purchase them at the Brave Mysteries site . Urna Larvae Released: 2012 (limited to 100) The one-man ambient project known as, Urna , considers ...

For any of you that have been reading Letters From A Tapehead over the last year or so, you may have noticed an occasional review or two for new music either released or reissued on cassette. The underground’s favorite format has persisted to exist even though tape decks and boomboxes are scarce and the technology itself has been written off as obsolete. Cassette-centric labels have sprung up and, along with the LP, basically defied the push by digital media to dominate the marketplace with convenient, mediocre MP3s and wipe out the production of tangible, high quality formats. Okay, we’re talking cassette tapes so, realistically speaking, the MP3 isn’t in any danger of losing the battle. But, the appeal here is that the cassette culture of years ago is finding its second wind, tape swapping and marketing with regard to underground and local music scenes being, in its essence, the first wave of what was to become file sharing. With this in mind, I’ve been locating and compilin...

As formats have evolved over the years and listeners have grown accustomed to new methods of listening, absorbing and consuming music, it's been remarkable how physical formats have fought to maintain relevancy while the trends have been pushing mightily to cancel them out.  Compact discs are not gone yet.  Vinyl?  A resilient presence in the market that's been enjoying a high level of collector appreciation.  And cassettes.  I've been seeing more and more cassettes. Based on assumption, purely assumption as I've not delved fully into the reasoning behind any cassette renaissance, (which owes itself to such a small population of music lovers anyway, I'm not even sure a cassette resurgence could even as a "renaissance"), cassettes seem to be where vinyl was in the 90s.  Remember when Pearl Jam appealed to nostalgia with "Spin the Black Circle?"   The market was driven mostly by CD buyers and, though they didn't hush the vinyl market comp...

Haptic Scilens Flingco Sound Systems Released: 10.11 Over the last couple years, I have been treated to various interpretations regarding ambience and noise and how the two can coexist committed to a recorded format.  Some are more basic than others, loose translations either limited to or aided by the extent of vision and tools, obviously.  Haptic , their new cassette release, Scilens , is different from many of these noise compositions/experiments I've heard because it owes much less to the creation of expanse and noise than it does the improvisation dynamic of free jazz or composed weirdness via John Cage or Philip Glass .  I say this because, despite the array of devices used to create Scilens , (and what a list: "air conditioner... paper (various weights)... sand... tuning forks... wooden clothespin"), you can almost imagine a conductor's wand flowing through the air this recording breathes, working to cue the slow builds of quiet rumble or the odd, Zappa -...

Interesting year for Dinosaur Jr. and the campaign of nostalgia that's been following them.  Yes, Dino singer/guitarist J Mascis released his solo album, Several Shades Of Why , (which was one of the best albums of 2011 as far as I'm concerned), and toured for the release .  But, Mascis has also been touring with Dino, performing the entirety of the band's milestone release, Bug , which found itself back on cassette via Joyful Noise Recordings on top of being reissued alongside 1985's Dinosaur and 1987's You're Living All Over Me on vinyl by the Jagjaguwar label .  All in all, a veritable buffet of formats for Dino fans who will now also be treated to a three-cassette box set from Joyful Noise Recordings.  The initial Bug cassette release, which was limited to 250, sold out very quickly, so this Dinosaur Jr. Cassette Trilogy set is limited to 500, 150 of which will only be available to those attending Dino's upcoming tour of the west coast. Got all ...

It was both the thrill of owning something rare and the nausea-inducing prospect of missing out that caused me to instinctively lay down $12 for a limited-edition cassette reissue of Dinosaur Jr. ’s Bug .  It arrived today, wrapped up in cellophane and is now laying on my desk, begging me to stick SIDE A into my tape deck, press PLAY and magically transport myself back to the negative energy of my teenage bedroom where I was both enlightened and depressed. Joyful Noise Recordings made modest headlines throughout the indiesphere a few weeks ago with news of this reissue . Why? Well, there’s a purist factor. Bug was originally released on cassette via SST Records making this edition somewhat of an artifact. The copies are even hand-numbered, (mine’s #31), and since there were only 250 produced, (half of which will be on sale during Dinosaur Jr.’s Bug tour ), they’re now all gone. If you check the catalogue at JNR’s website, underneath Bug you will find “OUT OF PRINT.” S...

Verbicide Magazine posted earlier today that Primus will be releasing a new album titled, Green Naugahyde .  The album is out September 13th and a tour will follow for obligatory support and promotion.  Exciting, no? I got to see Primus once in '94 or '95 when they were touring for Tales From The Punchbowl .  During their set, which was the perfect sonic summation of their brand of "loud" and "groove," a flying sneaker shot out from the crowd and hit Les Claypool 's bass guitar.  I'm guessing the velocity was enough to cause concern, because Claypool stopped the show and exited the stage as if driven by instinct.  A wave of fear rushed through us all that he was going to stop the show completely.  Thankfully, Claypool continued.  I'm sure the heckler was ejected, which was the optimal outcome for the guy considering how close he came to shutting the show down.  A crowd of Philadelphia area Primus fans weren't going to let him go quietly in...