always thought metal and rap sounded better on cassette in the 80s.
― Edward III, Monday, 21 January 2008 19:21 (sixteen years ago) link
and spacemen 3's the perfect prescription!
― Edward III, Monday, 21 January 2008 19:30 (sixteen years ago) link
I used to read the sales pitch on the back of the packaging and get way too excited. 'omg a hyperferric emulsification layer with magnachrome coating!! i NEED this'
― Autumn Almanac, Monday, 21 January 2008 21:43 (sixteen years ago) link
i have a big box of cassettes that i sadly have not had room enough in the car to bring back to oberlin with me. but i love cassettes. also, when the old ipod shuffle runs out of batteries in the car, i have over 40 tapes to choose from.
― the table is the table, Monday, 21 January 2008 21:59 (sixteen years ago) link
my favorite i've ever found is cassingle of a song by a guy named Joe Bracco. i will up it to this thread soon, it is a barrel of laughs.
― the table is the table, Monday, 21 January 2008 22:02 (sixteen years ago) link
thanks, snoball - beautiful!
― Daniel Giraffe, Monday, 21 January 2008 23:36 (sixteen years ago) link
here it is, folks. "Friend in My Pocket" by Joe Bracco. it gives me the tard tingles every time i listen to it. one of the best tapes i've ever found, hands-down.
Joe Bracco- Friend in My Pocket
― the table is the table, Monday, 21 January 2008 23:42 (sixteen years ago) link
and here is a page about him.
i mean, i'm gay and still i can't get over how funny this shit is. sad that he died of the horrid disease, but still.
http://www.queermusicheritage.us/oct2003j.html
― the table is the table, Monday, 21 January 2008 23:45 (sixteen years ago) link
(xxpost) Thanks, but I have to say that website isn't mine. Props to whoever made the site as it looks like it was a lot of work to put together. I just found it while searching for info on Memorex dB series tapes. I was lucky enough to score a box of twenty of these in the early 80's basically for free. The quality was only reasonable, but what impressed me was how well made they were and how much re-use they could stand.
― snoball, Monday, 21 January 2008 23:50 (sixteen years ago) link
I'm glad I'm old enough that my metal band put out a tape in high school. We got it pro duped and everything...it was cool getting the tape master, it seemed so technical and valuable.
For our second tape I had to sit there with a double tape deck and manually record a hundred copies or whatever, that was not as cool.
― Jordan, Tuesday, 22 January 2008 15:47 (sixteen years ago) link
jordan can i buy a copy of your metal tape pleeze?
― n/a, Tuesday, 22 January 2008 17:59 (sixteen years ago) link
i don't think i have copies any more. :( actually i found some tapes the last time i moved, but i haven't had access to a tape player to see what's on them.
― Jordan, Tuesday, 22 January 2008 18:04 (sixteen years ago) link
here is a review of our second tape that is still online somehow:
Shadowbox - Waiting For Dawn
Waiting For Dawn is Ben Wozak on Lead Vocals and Guitars, Jordan C0hen on Drums, Tom Johnston on Bass and Lew Snyder on Guitar.
Shadowbox is a 2-track demo, tracks are 'Shadowbox' and 'This Day'
The first track 'Shadowbox' is a fairly slow paced metal track reminiscent of early Black Sabbath. There's a good heavy guitar riff. The drums and bass have a good solid sound to them. Ben vocals are good and fit in well with the music. Towards the end of the track the whole thing gather's pace and there's an excellent guitar solo.
The second track is 'This Day', starting with a good heavy riff, good vocals from Ben. There's nice changes in direction and tempo, with some great guitar work and another excellent guitar solo.
After listening to these two tracks, all I can say is I wanted more....
― Jordan, Tuesday, 22 January 2008 18:07 (sixteen years ago) link
Classic: That be-doo-doo-DOo-YEEP sound before and after most cassette albums released by Capitol in the eighties.
― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 22 January 2008 18:08 (sixteen years ago) link
Didn't the first 5-6 seconds of Maxell's tapes start off with a head cleaner?
― Jazzbo, Tuesday, 22 January 2008 18:46 (sixteen years ago) link
tapes suck just play cds, they dont get eaten and wont skip if your cat jumps on the table like vinyl
― the galena free practitioner, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 20:32 (sixteen years ago) link
They do get scratched and aren't in analog.
― Pleasant Plains, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 20:37 (sixteen years ago) link
tapes don't skip ever
― Jordan, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 20:41 (sixteen years ago) link
It takes a lot less damage to make a CD unplayable compared to vinyl.
― snoball, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 20:41 (sixteen years ago) link
tapes suck just play cds, they dont get eaten and wont skip if your cat jumps on the table like vinyl.
the complete idiocy of this statement is almost overwhelming.
― the table is the table, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 21:48 (sixteen years ago) link
and yet it's mostly factually accurate
― electricsound, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 22:21 (sixteen years ago) link
I love tapes. You can touch them.
― I know, right?, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 22:24 (sixteen years ago) link
electric sound, It takes a lot less damage to make a CD unplayable compared to vinyl.
sorry but that's actually right.
― the table is the table, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 22:27 (sixteen years ago) link
i mean, i have records that have scratches all over them and don't skip, don't pop (that much) and sound perfectly fine. i used to have CDs (i gave up on them about two years ago) that wouldn't play if they had a teeny scratch on them. CD players and CDs are fucking stupid, outmoded ways of listening to music, and it will be a fine fine day when they are abolished completely.
― the table is the table, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 22:30 (sixteen years ago) link
Ha: this is, to me, for all intents and purposes, the cover of every Smiths record apart from Strangeways:
http://orby.trideja.com/GeneratedItems/cassette/maxell_xl_2_90_a%5B1%5D.jpg
― nabisco, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 22:34 (sixteen years ago) link
i don't believe i was commenting on that quote
― electricsound, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 23:51 (sixteen years ago) link
also 'unplayable' is clearly subjective here
― electricsound, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 23:52 (sixteen years ago) link
My car only plays tapes, so i still make mixTAPES all the time! Surely I'm not the only one????
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Thursday, 24 January 2008 00:02 (sixteen years ago) link
i make tapes for friends all the time! and i buy new tapes, from time to time.
― ian, Thursday, 24 January 2008 00:06 (sixteen years ago) link
I was quite pleased to find a place still stocking Type II cassettes for 4 track, field recording etc. Nice metal ones are still v. hard to come by.
Next time someone's about to bin their old tapes, please send to me instead.
― S-, Thursday, 24 January 2008 00:38 (sixteen years ago) link
did i already give you the tapes i had? i think i may have given them to sharr0n when i sold her the 4-track
― electricsound, Thursday, 24 January 2008 00:44 (sixteen years ago) link
i was happy when my car only played tapes, i rocked old shit and used the tape adapter for my ipod. then the tape deck broke, and i got a cd player that never doesn't skip. ;_; the direct in for the ipod is sweet, though.
― Jordan, Thursday, 24 January 2008 00:49 (sixteen years ago) link
Never put me in your box if your shit eats tapes.
― mulla atari, Thursday, 24 January 2008 00:51 (sixteen years ago) link
snoball, thanks for the awesome link. Haven't seen some of those in 20 years. This is my personal favorite. My dad had the Talking Heads on one of these in the mid 80s and we used to drive around town listening to it:
http://nickdouglas.googlepages.com/maxell_xl_2_90_c1.jpg
― calstars, Thursday, 24 January 2008 03:37 (sixteen years ago) link
"Epitaxial"
― calstars, Thursday, 24 January 2008 03:38 (sixteen years ago) link
I have a bunch of cassettes of albums/songs I've taped off vinyl and CD along with some store bought cassettes I want to get rid of. Should I make a list here and see if anyone wants it all (I'd sent it to anyone for free) or should I just dump it all at the nearest thrift store?
― Kevin John Bozelka, Thursday, 13 March 2008 21:11 (sixteen years ago) link
night-people.org pretty much everything on there is amazingeriffic.
also, http://www.notnotfun.com/presents/present.html
― Creeztophair, Thursday, 13 March 2008 21:39 (sixteen years ago) link
I will send all of the cassettes below for free to the first person on this thread who says s/he wants them. Preferably someone who lives in North America (I'm in the US).
So just say "I want them"
Original (store bought) -
Best of Macola - Volume One David Bowie: Lodger James Brown: I'm Real (NKOTB sleeve) The Clean: Vehicle Dennis Criteser/Jim Peterson: The Meaning O' Life Terence Trent D'Arby - Introducing The Hardline... Diesel Cats and The Jazz Explorers: In Search of Blue Treasure Eleventh Dream Day: Lived to Tell Freedom Fire - The Indestructible Beat of Soweto Vol. 3 Dora Hall - six cassettes from the Solo paper cup heiress (no sleeves) Jason and the Scorchers: Fervor Kool Moe Dee: How Ya Like Me Now Les Rita Mitsouko: Présentent The No Comprendo Craig Mack: "Flava In Ya Ear - Remix" M/A/R/R/S: "Pump Up The Volume"/"Anitina" Paul McCartney: "Figure of Eight"/"Ou Est Le Soleil?" Mekons: Fun '90 Milli Vanilli: Girl You Know It's True Monty Python Sings Overweight Pooch: Female Preacher Screaming Blue Messiahs: Bikini Red (no sleeve) Spoonie Gee: The Godfather of Rap Talking Heads: Naked 10,000 Maniacs: The Wishing Chair 10,000 Maniacs: Blind Man's Zoo 20 Greatest Hits 1967 Wire: Chairs Missing
Advance Cassettes -
The Amps: Pacer Golden Throats 4: Celebrities Butcher The Beatles Imperial Teen: What Is Not To Love Modest Mouse: This Is A Long Drive... Titanic: music as heard on the fateful voyage Ian Whitcomb & The White Star Orchestra Victoria Williams: Loose
Taped Off Vinyl or CD -
LiLiPUT/Cult Hero
The Hits of House Are Here/Jackie Wilson
Various Pebbles tracks
hits from 1989-90
Weather Girls/Labelle/Ralphi Rosario/Outhere Brothers/20 Fingers/Hope: "Tree Frog"/Machine/
Tribe Called Quest/Michelle Shocked/Blondie/sly Fox
Shaggs/Pebbles Vol. 3/Throbbing Gristle/Yoko Ono/Butthole Surfers/Big Black/Pussy Galore/Mudhoney/Costes/X-Ray Spex/Jandek/me pretending to be Jandek
ABBA album tracks/acid house/C+C Music Factory/tracks from My Bloody Valentine: Loveless
Throbbing Gristle/Skinny Puppy/Severed heads/Test Dept./Bauhaus/Eno/David Byrne
Tracks from Rhino's Disco Years
Paula Abdul/1980s girl rap
Risqué Rhythm: Nasty 50's R&B
Techno/new beat
Lords of Acid: Lust/some songs from Oklahoma!(!)
Josef K
The Best of American Pop - An Audio History (as chosen by me)
Plexi: Cheer Up and some EPs
Nuggets II tracks
ABBA hits
Naughty by Nature, Housemartins, Jordy, PM Dawn, Big Star
A: Laid Back, "Dirty Cash," MC Luscious, Army of Lovers, Loleatta Holloway, Aztec Camera, Slick Rick B: Lonnie Gordon, The Weather Girls, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Yazz, Yello, Ofra Haza, Bon Jovi, Tiffany, Men Without Hats
A: Candy Flip, Wee Papa Girls, Beat Masters, Beats Intl., Thrill Kill Kult, PE, Coldcut feat. Mark E. Smith, AWB, Egyptian Lover B: Waitresses, Frankie Smith, Soft Cell, The Arrows, XTC, T.S. Monk: "Bon Bon Vie," Jackie WIlson
A: James Brown B: Halo of Flies; Husker Du; Repulse Kava; Stooges; Barbarians; Butthole Surfers
A: Blondie: Parallel Lines B: disco
A: Atmosphere: Lucy Ford B; Womack & Womack: Conscience (incomplete)
A: Dionne Warwick: Anthology B: Sinead O'Connor: The Lion and The Cobra/some long song I can't place
A: New Pornographers: Mass Romantic (with bits of Manfred Mann's Earth Band) B: Roky Erickson; Mae West doing "Light My Fire" and "Twist and Shout;" The Left Banke; Can
A: Parliament: Osmium B: Snap, Bow Wow Wow, techno, etc.
A: Stooges: Fun House B: PiL; Bolshoi
A: Pussy Galore: Right Now! B: PiL: Second Edition
A: Some Russian stuff (I think) B: City High
A: Guitar Paradise of East Africa B: Big Star: Third
A: Phil Spector B: MC Lyte
a bunch of SAW (or SAW-esque) productions
ABBA
DFX2: Emotion
Dusty Springfield: 24 Hours From Tulsa
DIMTHINGS: DIS-CI-PLINED 2 A SPONTANEOUS WAY OF LIFE
Dance Stuff - Erasure, Loleatta, Army of Lovers, etc.
Donna Summer, Ram Jam, Emotions, Freda Payne, Commodoes, etc.
Prince: Small Club Second Show That Night
Michelle Shocked: Short Sharp Shocked
Deep Heat (Telstar 1989)
Kym Sims: Too Blind To See It
Tons of 1970s shit - Andrea True, Taste of Honey, Marvin Gaye, Jimmy Buffett, David Geddes, Hot Chocolate, etc.
A really good New Beat comp (if you ever figure out which one, lemme know)
A tape I called Good Songs Someone Can Do Better - Frente/Cher/sounds like Ozzy/some pop punk tune/Satchel/fast, squishy techno track beginning with a female vice saying something abut "time stands still"
Victor Lundberg/bubblegum/Hot Chocolate
Some good mid-1990s house stuff (De'Lacy, remixes of Madonna, Air, Falco, etc.) mixed poorly by me
Horrifyingly mixed Sylvester/New Order/Wild Orchid/etc.
Beck/Carly Simon
Grease 1994 London Cast with Debbie Gibson as Sandy and we'll go from there.
If I don't hear from anyone by Monday, Salvation Army gets them.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Thursday, 27 March 2008 08:07 (sixteen years ago) link
That should be:
So just say "I want them" and we'll go from there.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Thursday, 27 March 2008 08:08 (sixteen years ago) link
um i'll take em?
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 27 March 2008 08:13 (sixteen years ago) link
LOL. Are you being serious?
― Kevin John Bozelka, Thursday, 27 March 2008 08:15 (sixteen years ago) link
totally dude i rock tapes like nobody's biz
send me emalez to ju5t1n5mith1✧✧✧@gm✧✧✧.c✧✧
ungoogleproofed of course
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 27 March 2008 08:17 (sixteen years ago) link
unless you meant like "pick a handful"
in which case i'd be glad to do that too
i always hated thinking that i was wrecking the player, while fast-forwarding in vain to find the track i wanted to hear
― Charlie Howard, Thursday, 27 March 2008 08:18 (sixteen years ago) link
No they're all yours, Hoos. Emailing you now. Coming from AOL so check your spam (for some reason, my emails have been going to spam lately).
― Kevin John Bozelka, Thursday, 27 March 2008 08:20 (sixteen years ago) link
my tape deck just gave up on me, started eating tapes. one of those things doesnt spin anymore either. i really dont wanna lose this deck, got lotsa features, sturdy, this once was a very very pricey tape deck
so how do i fix that wheel that doesnt spin anymore?
― rizzx, Thursday, 27 March 2008 08:21 (sixteen years ago) link
My crappy Sony dictaphone/Walkman hybrid packed in the other week, so I borrowed some other model from this dude I work with. I swear the quality was better than my new Sony mp3 player. It had some ULTRA-BASS switch and graphic equalizer sliders. Where the fuck are the graphic equalizer slides on an mp3 player?? And of course with a cassette walkman, you're not endlessly seeking to the next track. Although I'm usually listening to a laboriously constructed mix tape of my own creation, which I've spent a week or two re-editing and re-editing until it's perfect. Thenyou can listen to it over and over and over for weeks.
Hated having to wait during fast-foward/rewind, and then not knowing for sure where you're skipping to (unless you go all the way to the end or beginning of the side, obv).
Except when you become one with your walkman, and you can rewind to the EXACT beginning of a track. Immense satisfaction.
― gnarly sceptre, Thursday, 27 March 2008 10:50 (sixteen years ago) link
Or you got a fancy-dan walkman which FFed to the start of the next track by itself - awesome.
― The Wayward Johnny B, Thursday, 27 March 2008 11:14 (sixteen years ago) link
That's assuming at least two seconds of silence between songs, though, so it didn't always work.
Cassettes and their linear navigation certainly promoted more of a patient attitude towards music than either records, before it, or mp3 and CD players, after it.
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 27 March 2008 11:33 (sixteen years ago) link
ok, never mind the torrent thing: I found it somewhere else. check your webmail :)
― administratieve blunder (unregistered), Thursday, 17 March 2011 18:36 (thirteen years ago) link
i love you
― plax (ico), Friday, 18 March 2011 01:17 (thirteen years ago) link
bought my first cassette in prolly 20 years and it arrived today (gonna play it soon)!: Zoom Zoom - the best of Louis Prima.i enjoy being a Luddite of sorts
― Marquis de Sade (outdoor_miner), Friday, 18 March 2011 01:42 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.tonepublications.com/old-school/nakamichi-dragon/
A number of non-audiophile friends couldn’t believe I was listening to a lowly cassette, and a pre-recorded one at that. Our resident HMEC (human musical encyclopedia & collector) Tom Casselli sent me a MoFi recording of Dark Side of the Moon. “Dude, if you have a Dragon, you should be the keeper of this tape.” Yeah, it was cool and now the hunt for a few more MoFi cassettes is on.
― brimstead, Friday, 21 August 2015 04:57 (eight years ago) link
good read! that's such a cool machine...
― niels, Friday, 21 August 2015 13:24 (eight years ago) link
Today’s haul:Toto IVPointer Sisters Break OutLittle Feat Waiting For Columbus
― calstars, Saturday, 11 November 2017 18:41 (six years ago) link