Cassette Only Labels S/D

www.nightpeople.org
is run by the guys from raccoo-oo-oon. they put out some really great stuff.

actually, it's www.night-people.org

actually some old sealed blank chrome tapes sell for STUPID money on ebay.
There's online shops you can buy tapes from in bulk for reasonable prices.

The CDRs thing is weird, HGN. I have CDRs from, like, 15 years ago that still play. And tapes can be demagnetized, degrade significantly with every play, etc. It's not like the durability of one over the other is so clear-cut as you suggest.

best tape label in my humble opinion would be Monorail Trespassing. Great choice of music and on an aesthetic level as well. Beautiful tapes

http://monorailtrespassing.com/

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10-X-TDK-FE-9O-MINUITE-BLANK-STANDARD-CASSETTE-TAPES_W0QQitemZ370138111913QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Music_Cassettes_GL?hash=item370138111913&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A3%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

you used to get those for £4.99 for a pack of 10 in woolworths

I'm certainly not one to fetishize tapes -- I just want some stuff to play in my car that aren't old Neil Young bootlegs. But with these cassette only releases, I can kinda see the (pleasing?) tension between the supposed disposability of the medium and the limited edition nature of the music. If that makes sense?

Tuomas, dude, cassette as a medium (or "format", if you insist) exist for a lot of really obvious reasons. To sidestep the de-signification of music and music-objects as legit artwork, for one. To make the produced object mean something, to give it a real identity, a selfness. And, yeah, in many ways its presence in this moment is probably due to the associations and properties of the cassette object itself. Its homemadeness, it's obsolescence, it's cruddiness. The fact that it can't be perfectly replicated and distributed, and thus hangs onto its selfness in the face of attempts to erase it.

Well, the reasons cassette labels exist now are somewhat different than when cassette began as a distribution medium. Originally, the cassette medium did challenge the "legit artwork" aspect of music in the same way cd-r and downloads do now - degrading the objecthood of the musical commodity by reproducing its "essence" as data, with only a modicum of "decoration." In terms of legit cassette releases - it was inferior in aesthetic objecthood and sound quality to vinyl. The last couple sentences of your explanation do bear a resemblance to a hipster ethos: the fashionability of the abject, the fear of erasure through co-optation, etc. I think Tuomas has a point, but I do agree with you that it is a bit of oversimplification.

i have been pretty disappointed with everything i've heard off of that night people label, so people be warned.

my favorite tape labels are new age tapes/cassettes/pacific city, which have evolved beyond tape-only to all types of formats in the last few years. they're all part of james ferraro of the skaters' musical empire, and even though a LOT is released it's all still of an insanely high quality.

the music (esp lamborghini crystal, edward flex, and liquid metal) seems to be built upon manipulation of loops recorded to tape, so releasing the material on tape is a pretty logical choice. ferraro has always been great with this type of aesthetic, and the types of hiss, warp, and warble that you can really only get with a cassette player are nicely emphasized.

check out these albums (apparently ripped from both cassette and cd-r)
vodka soap - shee ro gateway temples
monopoly child star searchers - gitchii manitou
edward flex presents... maui
james ferraro - marble surf

monopoly child star searchers is Spencer from Skaters fyi, but yeah, good action.

The last couple sentences of your explanation do bear a resemblance to a hipster ethos: the fashionability of the abject, the fear of erasure through co-optation, etc. I think Tuomas has a point, but I do agree with you that it is a bit of oversimplification.

― sarahel

I disagree with this, though not entirely. "The fashionablity of the abject" may currently be hip (and has been for, what, 20 years now?), but it's also a valid aesthetic stance, and WR2 basically homemade cassette tapes, it has political implications, too. Same goes for "the fear of erasure through co-option." This stance is usually discussed in terms of hipster vs. straight culture opposition, but it also applies to attempts to make distinctive, self-maintaining works of art in what's typically viewed as a commercial medium. I.e., this could be "hipsterism", but doesn't have to be. Depends on the artistic approach, and depends even more on how we interpret it.

Matching Head!

Mr Culver's been doing that shit since well before releasing tapes became a boutique, anti-cdr stance! That discography is woefully incomplete tho.

― myopic_void, Tuesday, 20 January 2009 15:08 (5 hours ago) Bookmark

Culver ftw def.

"The fashionablity of the abject" may currently be hip (and has been for, what, 20 years now?), ... "the fear of erasure through co-option." This stance is usually discussed in terms of hipster vs. straight culture opposition, ... I.e., this could be "hipsterism", but doesn't have to be. Depends on the artistic approach, and depends even more on how we interpret it.

So you agree that it bears a resemblance to a hipster ethos. I agree with you that it isn't solely hipsterism, or it could be, but doesn't have to be.

sure this is a rainbow coalition over here

Not that I'm even that deep into cassette culture but I could give a flying fuck whether it does or doesn't bear a resemblance to a h****** ethos given that in almost all my interaction with it this is music made, distributed and listened to by obsessive shut-in dorks. The chances of people being off-the-cuff impressed by the fact you wilfully listen to music released on cassette is very small indeed

have been pretty disappointed with everything i've heard off of that night people label, so people be warned.

― all-seeing eye of horus (psychgawsple), Tuesday, January 20, 2009 3:50 PM (Yesterday)

that sucks, man. even the raccoo-oo-oon stuff?
there's a free download of a ryan garbes tape on the site. check it out. good stuff.

i dug raccoo-oo-oon a lot around the time of the '... is night people' record, but i think a lot of the releases they try to get away with on the label need some serious work (thinking of changeling, social junk, teeth mountain, etc). i dig pocahaunted on ocassion, but with a lot of this stuff i'd rather just listen to a blues control record instead. i'll check out that ryan garbes though, and i've enjoyed most of the other 'mythos folkways' releases so maybe i'll give the new one a shot too.

in my old school roll call I forgot the Sound Of Pig label, great stuff there.

great 2011 night people comp available for download on their website http://www.raccoo-oo-oon.org/np/index.html

night-people have put out some really good stuff - that comp is almost entirely good stuff

good stuff good stuff argh

white woods tape highly recommended

i'm going to get it their song on this that closes it off is a jam

not not fun isn't a tape only label but they do a lot of tapes and i've really liked probably three-quarters of their tape releases from the last 12 months, partic the maria minerva and angel eyes cs

http://ginjoha.blogspot.com/

night people records rules.

yeah they've done some good things

been enjoying the trailblazer and pageants tapes

did you hear the dirty-beaches tapes on night people. really great. much more electo-y, but with that outsider, loner, spooky vibe.

yeah, i got the trailblazer self-titled EP. been listening to it a lot.

I really like Ekhein's design and curation, ft. acts like Mark Lord (f.k.a. Kites), Earth Crown, The Compass Rose, Rene Hell:
http://www.mimaroglumusicsales.com/labels/ekhein.html

big fat 2011 dud

what's the 2011 dud?

And because it's pretty funny to get people like Tuomas' backs up with so little effort

― Pescetarian Reich (DJ Mencap), Tuesday, January 20, 2009 7:44 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is still the best reason for doing tape labels