THE UNDERGROUND IS REWINDING TO REVIVE CASSETTES
The picture shown here is not the pic that originally came with this article. The picture is a phone pic of one of 3 large bins where I store my tapes. Unfortunately this article isn't about the resurgence of cassettes in Hip Hop but more so indie rock and other genres of music. I've always said I liked the cassette era the most because it was a time where a fan was a real fan of music. No skipping, no upload or download. You had to take it all in and while you did, you read every single credit on the insert that came with it. I always say that to be a real "Mixtape DJ" you had to of put out a mix"tape"! Every so often I still listen to my cassettes and this article surely inspired me to pull out a few to listen to today! Here is the article from Boston.com sent to me by my homie Nomadic trackz:
It’s three weeks into the Boston band Girlfriends’ first-ever US tour,
and the trio is stopped in Albuquerque. They’ve spent the first half of
the trip the way most do-it-yourselfers do — finding the bright spots in
tiny shows they booked through Internet connections, sleeping on
beer-stained floors and old mattresses offered up by hospitable locals.
They make gas money huddled over a merch table every night. The hottest
item? Their cassette tape. “We’re almost sold out of the third pressing
already,’’ says guitarist Ben Potrykus.
Tapes are making a comeback. Chunky and hissy, plastic in custom colors,
with crafty artwork on tiny rectangle sleeves and custom-made
“j-cards,’’ they’re finding a second life as the go-to medium for
underground bands working on shoestring budgets. For a handful of fans,
tapes are the perfect antidote for the information overload ignited by
digital music and blown up by the iPod.
“Tapes are cheap to buy, cheap to make, and easy to carry around,’’ says
Potrykus. “You never see someone walking home from a house show in
Allston with a CD or seven’’ in their pocket.’’
For Boston’s latest crop of cassette-carrying bands, the medium fits the
message. A horde of psychedelic and garage rock bands — bands like
Girlfriends, MMOSS, Quilt, and Doomstar! — translate well to the
imperfections of tape. All find common ground in flavors of ’60s rock,
typified by fuzzed-out guitar and dusty, echoing vocals. Historically,
the genre doesn’t exactly match up with the heyday of the cassette, but
the quality of the recordings are uncannily complementary. CONTINUE READING....
Tags: Article, Mixtapes, Tapes