Tag: cassette

Pleased to Meet You: The Variable Stars

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One of the great things about the last 30 years is the ease with which we can dig out old files and tapes and give them a proper re-release, which is how I came upon The Variable Stars. Our friends over at Recorded Psychic Readings reached out to let us know they’d be dropping a tape from the Bay-area bands early recordings. Take a listen to either of the songs below and you’ll surely see where I fell in love here; it’s got the charm of the Pastels or Comet Gain, albeit with just the faintest hint of modern indiepop. Honestly, I love how the vocalist seem to perfectly compliment one another, particularly when they’re uniting for a nice melodic push. If, like me, you hadn’t heard of this band, well, spend some time streaming these bops! All Signs Point to Life will be out this Friday!

Trouble in Mind Reissuing Onyon’s Debut

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Did you hear Onyon‘s debut EP? Yeah, me either, but that’s the great thing about labels like Trouble in Mind Records, they’re not afraid to reissue a rad record, just so it ends up on your radar for the future. This record’s filled with jittery darkness, with vocals knifing back and forth between English and German, much like the guitars throughout the EP. If you think you’re getting weary of the post-punk attitude, then throw on a tune like “Shining River Utah” that illustrates how far the Leipzig bunch can push this sound. Shout out to TiM for turning all of us onto this rad album; you can hear the whole thing on the band’s page, or wait and grab the cassette from the label now!

Love, Burns Announces It Should Have Been Tomorrow

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It seems only fitting that we begin covering music in the new year by covering our first release of 2022; It Should Have Been Tomorrow by Love, Burns. The band is the solo project of Phil Sutton, who plays in Pale Lights (among other acts like Cinema Red and Blue and Comet Gain!), but the album features help from Kyle Forester, Hampus Ohland-Frolund, and Gary Olson…so it’s kind of a big deal! We’re releasing it in conjunction with Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten, Calico Cat Records and Jigsaw…all great labels run by admirable persons, so we’re fortunate to be part of this release (we’ll be handling the cassette version)! But, we can’t really convince you to pick it up without a little taste now can we? Here’s a few tunes from the album, which will be out on February 4th; buy it from us HERE.

Plus, Phil recently recorded a wonderful cover of the Wake’s “Crush the Flowers” with Suzanne Nienaber for Soleado, a Tribute to Siesta Records, organized by Fadeawayradiate. You can hear that below:

Phil photo courtesy of Dominick Mastrangelo Photography.

Announcing Space Tan’s Inti Raymi

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If you’re in the Austin area and you caught the great 101x Homegrown show last night, you might have gotten an early listen to the latest from our ATH Records label, Space Tan. We got that first tune out there last night via our friend John, and figured it only makes sense that we share the exciting news with you as well, right? So, below, you get a listen to “Summer Song,” the first tune off Space Tan‘s Inti Raymi; we’ll be putting the album out on a very limited cassette on April 30th. Click below to check out the fuzzy pop stylings the band will be offering you come the end of the month!

Pelvis Wrestley + ATH Records + Vortexas Vorever

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A few years ago, Mike and I caught Pelvis Wrestley; we immediately knew that we wanted to work with them in any fashion. Luckily, as we heard they were ready to release their debut LP, we reached out and agreed to do a cassette version of Vortexas Vorever; you have no idea how we are excited to be working with this bunch.

Here’s what Benjamin Violet had to say about the track that comes with this glorious announcement: “In Heaven takes us to toxic positivity, the shadow-self, and back home again.With nods to Ennio Morricone and Angelo Badalamenti, this track is a psycho-spaceage fanfare to celebrate every moment you ever chose to confront your own personal boss-level. In the absence of nurturance, every abuser might as well be dead to you.”

Vortexas Vorever will be available in all the cool spots, and you should definitely grab a tape while you’re at it; pre-orders are HERE.

New Ditty from Bill Waters

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If you haven’t been paying attention to what Forged Artifacts in the last few years, it’s high time you get hip to one of the great small indie labels out there. Just yesterday the label shared a song from the forthcoming Bill Waters EP; I must admit that I’m quite smitten. My ears are probably jaded but I think the first single we hear is fairly reminiscent of 60s pop music; the way the harmonies and guitar lines are wrapped around the vocals. Of course, the latter half of the track is intent upon ignoring standard tropes, so you get to hear a little sonic noodling. The Honey Hi cassette tape will drop on March 29th.

Citrus City Records Readies Reissues

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It’s not too often that we really dwell in the realm of reissues; they always seem a cash grab for labels and what not. But, our friend over at Citrus City has a few forthcoming reissues that beg your attention.

First up is Shindigs Like So/Summa! Goddess! double cassette. It’s this wonderfully dreamy bit of indiepop, which makes perfect sense as Beejay Budan has both the influence of his home in the Philippines and San Diego…so you get a little sharp pop with sunny Cali warmth. This tune below will definitely be playing on all the boomboxes this summer.

The other reissue is for Boyscott, who self-released their Goose Bumps LP back in 2015. But, the great thing about brilliant pop music is that it never gets old; this album feels really relevant musically, so jam the whole thing here below.

Lauren Green and the Old is New

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lrnMany of you are surely (hopefully) aware of Lauren Green, one of the lead songwriters behind Austin/New Mexico act, Mirror Travel. While she just released Cruise Deal (Mod Out) this last week, she also quietly released a few EPs over the last few years that may have gone unnoticed. That is unless you were Keeled Scales, who will be compiling her two EPs (Grape Perfume/Easy Spirits) into one great cassette for your listening pleasure. I put the latest of the two, Grape Perfume, below for you to sample, as I think it’s my favorite of the two. It’s great to see a different mindset and songwriting structure for someone we’ve listened to for so long. You can order the cassette right HERE…and stream one of the two EPs below.

Brand New EP from Woolen Men

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woolenIf you skipped over our year end list (which you shouldn’t have), then you might have missed out on the fact that one of my favorite listens was Woolen Men‘s Temporary Monument. Surprisingly, the band are already back with their brand new Options EP. The EP’s title track has the infectious post-punk meets art rock feel, showing that the group aren’t anywhere to slowing things down. Still, some of the tracks have a slower pacing, illustrating that it’ll be hard to pigeonhole the group’s sound going forward. But, one thing’s for sure, they’re always a great listen. They released this EP on a limited run of cassettes, so you can grab that HERE. 

Back In Time with Love In Mind

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love-in-mind-coverSo the story goes that Love In Mind blossomed, bloomed and died…though not under tragic circumstances, just under the reality of living life. Still, the Seattle act left a lasting imprint, and one that’s reverberated through the various members new projects (Dozer, Sick Sad World). But, they’ve graciously completed the recordings of their tracks and are now making them available through a limited cassette run on Lost Sound Tapes. The single definitely has a very Pacific Northwest feel to it, at least in so far as the first half of the track goes before ringing guitar stabs and bobbing drums take you tightly to the finish. You like what you hear? Grab a cassette before they vanish, just like the band.

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