April 16, 1961 - December 6, 2014   Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

"Welcome to the new creations…" works as both a lyric and as a promotional pitch for Mutator , the first entry LP to launch a series featuring unearthed material by Alan Vega, pioneering artist and co-member of the seminal and necessary electro-art duo Suicide. Vega, who unfortunately left us in 2016, was a prolific being to say the least and had apparently left behind a significant amount of material. Mutator had originally been recorded between 1995-1996 with Liz Lamere, Vega's wife and creative partner. Introduced today after years of collecting dust, the ominous and coldly factorial "Nike Soldier" is the first aural peek into this unknown work, Vega's eerie vocal radiating with the tone of "prophesied doomsday".  Mutator is up for pre-order via Sacred Bones with the actual release scheduled for 4/23. The "Deluxe Dark Red" is already sold out. I just pulled the trigger on the "Limited Clear and Dark Red Smoke" variant. If...

First video round up of 2021 to cap off a ridiculous week. Hope you're all staying safe. Cults are bad. MF DOOM: "Gazillion ( Ron Gallo Tribute remix)" (via Tell All Your Friends / New West Records ) Ron Gallo's upcoming album  PEACEMEAL is scheduled to release March 3rd.  Website —  http://rongallomusic.com/ Note from Ron Gallo: "To date, I don't think an artists death has hit me as much as MF DOOM and I did not expect that until it happened. That feels like the DOOM way - he's like a shadow lurking genius, a humble kung fu master - grounded, calm but could kill you in ten seconds, in this case left the body on halloween of the most fucked up year in memory and no one found out until New Years eve. This remix I did just kind of fell into place as a tribute, I had made the music track a few weeks ago and then realized his vocal from "Gazillion Ear" fit perfectly on top. I love the way it turned out. It feels like a whole new world than the ...

Florian Schneider  (4/7/47 – 5/6/20) In 2009, I wrote a piece about Kraftwerk 's reissued discography, The Catalogue: Four Decades of Masterworks . Without delving into each album individually and distilling every seminal and necessary fiber, the goal at the time was to articulate the group's impact on modernity, which, in my mind, put them in the daunting position of having to constantly evolve alongside technology. Citing the group's 1991 LP The Mix , I wrote the following: "I look at 1991’s The Mix , their re-imagined or updated selection of songs that had, up to that point, been their best known. As both a response to the availability of new technology, and as an alternative to putting out some staid 'best of' compilation, The Mix was Kraftwerk appealing to a new era when guitars were back in vogue and hip-hop had reached its golden age. The Mix comes off as attempt to harness the present, confessing that, even in as primitive a digital era as 199...

Adam “MCA” Yauch (8/5/64 — 5/4/12) Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

April 16, 1961 - December 6, 2014 Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

I've been playing catch-up. TR/ST : "Gone" (via Tell All Your Friends PR / House Arrest  /  DAZED  / YouTube) Via Tell All Your Friends PR: TR/ST has shared the new video for “Gone”, the soaring electronic pop first single from his new LP The Destroyer - 1 out now on Grouch/House Arrest. Directed by LA filmmaker Jordan Hemmingway, the visual accompaniment to "Gone" is bursting with vivid colours and lens flare around TR/ST mainman Robert Alfons ' dramatic and dark to camera performance. Jordan Hemingway about the making of the video: "Shot in a cavern in the hills of Los Angeles, the music video for 'Gone' is a visual homage to an era of music videos I grew up to. The jarring angles and visuals mixed with vivid color are meant to match the haunting vocals that sit beautifully over an upbeat sound." Robert Alfons adds: "Filmed over the course of one weekend, I think Jordan did a fantastic job capturing the feeling of desp...

April 16, 1961 - December 6, 2014 Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

77 candles... As the occasion demands, there will be nothing but Frank Zappa piping through every speaker today.  200 Motels was an interesting pick for a morning listen.   Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

April 16, 1961 - December 6, 2014 Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Walter Becker and Donald Fagan were two-halves of the inimitable jazzy soul rock band, Steely Dan .  It was announced the morning of Sunday, September 3rd, that Becker had passed away .   While vague details regarding a "procedure" had been addressed by Fagan as explanation to why Steely Dan had performed without Becker for a couple of dates earlier this year , cause of death is as yet, (or as the time of this writing), unknown.  Becker was 67 years of age. I have no conscious memory of the first time I'd heard Steely Dan , but their music seemed omnipresent growing up in the early- to mid-80s.  They were always on: whether being funneled into our living from my father's stereo, aired over the PA at our local ACME supermarket, or just on the radio.  And I didn't think much of them.  Steely Dan was unfortunately of a musical category that often deserved vehement derision: clean, precise, smooth rock grooves that were too pleasant to offer a generation's p...