For the folks complaining about tape-only releases: How often is it that you come across a cassette-only release that you are stymied by, or is this largely a theoretical irritation to you?
― Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Sunday, 7 July 2019 09:20 (four years ago) link
Tapes don't get that much worse over time, do they?
― Mark G, Sunday, 7 July 2019 11:53 (four years ago) link
I mean
― surm, Sunday, 7 July 2019 12:21 (four years ago) link
Disintegration loops, hello? The muddying of the sound quality is kind of the point. There is an empirical beauty to that which changes shape just by playing it. It's super fucking cool.
― surm, Sunday, 7 July 2019 12:22 (four years ago) link
Also, in a time when finding shit is so easy if the breeders, for ex, put out a tape only ep i would so hunt it downAnything that puts the experience back in listening to music is worthwhile It's like when ppl ask me why I listen to transistor radio over spotify radio. Like really?
― surm, Sunday, 7 July 2019 12:28 (four years ago) link
musicians can release their music however they please you entitled babies
― Vape Store (crüt), Sunday, 7 July 2019 13:02 (four years ago) link
crüt otm
― sleeve, Sunday, 7 July 2019 15:13 (four years ago) link
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/7/7/20683049/retro-bluetooth-cassette-tape-player-kickstarter
― stan by me (morrisp), Sunday, 7 July 2019 19:40 (four years ago) link
crut is right on!
― brimstead, Sunday, 7 July 2019 20:04 (four years ago) link
"Disintegration Loops"-ing a tape takes a long time tho, and it also depends on the binder used. Many tapes survive for decades in good shape, even a half-century. Here's Hainbach performing some interesting procedures on tape to pre-age it, and the results are quite nice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVy9ABT5-iY
― Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Sunday, 7 July 2019 22:50 (four years ago) link
Cassettes circa mid-80s were they only way to access (via Sony Walkman) the highest fidelity of eg. Trevor Horn, Jean Michel Jarre, Mike Oldfield, Prog & New Pop-type stuff. They could sound better on vinyl, but only with expensive systems. Cassettes from that era still hold up imo and are worth seeking out if they are in that particular genre. I have a few dozen in regular rotation and buy a few each year from local bands because I mostly listen to things on physical format at home, and no-one makes CDs now.
― everything, Monday, 8 July 2019 00:06 (four years ago) link
5
― And according to some websites, there were “sexcapades.” (James Morrison), Monday, 8 July 2019 00:37 (four years ago) link
i only listen to digi p much but, man, house sitting with this sonos bluetooth spotify setup rn and it’s giving me HAL vibes. the potential for shitty corporate gate keeping in streaming seems really high. im actually missing iTunes which i hated
there’s a reason people are going back to physical media ...
― Vapor waif (uptown churl), Monday, 8 July 2019 01:10 (four years ago) link
https://data.whicdn.com/images/131608390/large.jpg
― stan by me (morrisp), Monday, 8 July 2019 01:18 (four years ago) link
where are my dat people
― alomar lines, Monday, 8 July 2019 02:58 (four years ago) link
I ripped 30-year-old TDK "normal metal" cassette tape a few months ago, it sounded amazing and looked beautiful in my WAV editor program (Hanatarash 3 on one side, assorted Whitehouse on the other yeah 80s)
― sleeve, Monday, 8 July 2019 03:39 (four years ago) link
I always enjoyed tapes back in the day; I figure using them now would feel like writing correspondence on an electric typewriter or something, but I think it’s truly cool that artists & listeners are still into them. I don’t really do vinyl anymore either, but honestly I’d probably choose tapes over vinyl if my lifestyle allowed for f’ing with a quirky music format (and if cassettes were enjoying the popularity of vinyl — wouldn’t that be cool? new prerecorded cassettes in Target, etc.)
― stan by me (morrisp), Monday, 8 July 2019 04:08 (four years ago) link
They were selling tapes recently in the retro/throwback section at Target. I found a Bob Marley title and was like, "What year is this?!".
― frustration and wonky passion (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 8 July 2019 05:20 (four years ago) link
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--tm_kj6WS--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/tqpgttcvjceazfdtmyy9.jpg
― stan by me (morrisp), Monday, 8 July 2019 05:40 (four years ago) link
Wow I didn’t imagine this many response! I’m so clumsy at replying here but I am reading them and they’re so great?
― spacedaddy, Monday, 8 July 2019 06:16 (four years ago) link
This is of interest, how can I join?
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, July 3, 2019 9:26 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
would be down for an ILM mixtape exchange, would be down even to organize one if there's sufficient interest
Yes!!
― spacedaddy, Monday, 8 July 2019 06:17 (four years ago) link
okay so far i have:
Camaraderie at Arms Lengthmaffew12One Eye Opensleevethe table is the tablespacedaddy
anyone else interested in an ILM tape swap ?
― budo jeru, Monday, 8 July 2019 06:40 (four years ago) link
i knew this would happen. amazing, really. but also kind of sad. but also lucky in a way ...
― budo jeru, Monday, 8 July 2019 06:41 (four years ago) link
5's not bad. I mean we could be talking 50 here.
― Sassy Boutonnière (ledriver), Monday, 8 July 2019 18:11 (four years ago) link
If you have to listen to a lot of music, switching formats and systems a lot is a good idea. Do you ever get that thing where you go round to a pal's house, they play a record and you think, 'God, this sounds amazing, why don't I listen to this more often?' My suspicion is that this effect is partially due to your ears not being used to their system/the format they've played it in. I like to listen to a few cassettes a month, just to do a kind of crop rotation on my ears. Also, I'll happily switch formats between artists I'm really into - CD one time, MP3, the next, vinyl the time after.
But also tapes do actually suit the kind of music that tends to get put out on tape... modular synth stuff, drones, lo fi black metal, HC etc.
The main thing however, afaict, is that if you're the kind of musician who values releasing physical music (and there are a lot of reasons why it's a good idea to release physical & the tape vs. digital argument is a bit redundant anyway because most cassettes come with a DL code) but you're skint/ just starting out/ doing quite esoteric or underground or experimental music then putting out tapes is the only game in town currently. The jump up in cost between putting out 250 12"s or a bunch of lathe cut 12"s over putting out 50 cassettes is massive and increasingly unaffordable to most unsigned bands/acts who aren't about to do a big tour or play live all the time.
There probably was a time when some people were putting out cassettes because it was an exclusive/exclusionary/hipstery thing to do but that was more like 15 years ago. 40,000 cassettes were sold in the UK last year and 175,000 in the US but these are just industry figures and will not include bedroom run tape labels of which - and there's an absolute avalanche of them pouring through my letter box - there are a lot of. This is, for the most part, not some fashion statement - it's a totally legit way of documenting what you do and getting it out there cheaply. And there's a community aspect to it.
I think when I realised that my favourite song of 2013 had come out on cassette, i just thought, 'Fuck it' and went and bought a cassette deck. I got a reconditioned Nakamichi CR1-E for one or two hundred quid. Bargain. I could have kept on listening to it on YouTube but there's something not quite as good or satisfying about that. Clunk click every trip.
― Doran, Monday, 8 July 2019 18:54 (four years ago) link
Sorry, meant to post this here. Katie Gately - Pipes. If it wasn't for cassettes this probably wouldn't have come to my attention and that would have sucked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M32PxeWrTFA
― Doran, Monday, 8 July 2019 18:56 (four years ago) link
cassettes are very popular in the synthwave scene.
as others have said, I have too many painful memories to ever revisit the format.
though I am in the process of clearing out my attic, so will be looking through my cassette boxes any day now, and will be probably getting the urge soon enough.
― mark e, Tuesday, 9 July 2019 09:07 (four years ago) link
OK, did not know that cassettes were still so cheap to produce.
― And according to some websites, there were “sexcapades.” (James Morrison), Thursday, 11 July 2019 03:31 (four years ago) link
Cassettes are one thing, but this is just rude: https://pitchfork.com/news/elephant-6-documentary-is-out-nowon-vhs/
― Stub yr toe on the yacht rock (morrisp), Tuesday, 20 August 2019 05:18 (four years ago) link
By 'rude', i assume you mean awesome.(though I might hold out for the inevitable daguerreotype/gramophone version)
― enochroot, Tuesday, 20 August 2019 15:41 (four years ago) link