#THE RE RELEASE OF THE CASETTE

[soulzerofever]

you'll never guess who has more stickers to share! :D it's me! WE GOT OVER THE GARDEN WALL, GRAVITY FALLS, AND DAVID TENNANT THE LEGEND HIMSELF! GO CHECK THEM OUT!! (especially the DT ones! i'm raising money for charity!!)

[tempizza]

Hiii!

I think i Just can't send it without sharing my thoughts. Every single time i see your art i literally have a heart attack, and end up just staring at it for a long time. They are sososo beautiful!

Okay, just a silly question that's been on my mind lately. Do you take requests?

I Found a video on youtube tilted "For Sara (Over the Garden Wall)" by Demighoul. And at 11:00, there's a scene with toddlers Wirt and his father. And I would really really like to see how you imagine it.

If you don't take requests, that's okay :D I hope my have a lovely day! < 3

Hi! Thank you very much for your nice message! I am very touched to hear you say that.

I am sorry, but I am not accepting requests at this time. I am busy right now, so I would like to accept requests when I get settled.

Also, I have never listened to For Sara Casette. I know it exists, but I am not ready to listen to it yet…. I may listen to it when the cassette tape is re-released. I will definitely paint a picture of its contents when I do!

Since I'm here, I drew a one-page (nonsense) comic.

I was relieved that the show was not set in modern times.

[thenightling]

Nightmare before Christmas history lesson

I just got this "lovely" DM from someone I was talking to on a Nightmare before Christmas Facebook group. The reason he's reacting this way is because of an article that said Disney originally wanted to Distance itself from Nightmare before Christmas.

He insisted that Disney never distanced itself from Nightmare before Christmas, that Disney loves money. Yes, Disney loves money. In 1993 Nightmare before Christmas was considered a big risk. It was originally released through Disney's Touchstone Pictures division. The original VHS tape and 10th anniversary edition VHS tape and DVD start with "Touchstone pictures" logo with Danny Elfman's music playing. It wasn't until 2006 that Disney started to slap "Disney's Tim Burton's Nightmare before Christmas" all over the merchandise and changed the opening credits of the movie- thus undoing a Tim Burton production / Danny Elfman tradition where Danny Elfman's music would play over the opening logos. The original opening credits were a pale orange. Now they are nearly Christmasy red. In fact an easy way to tell original 1993 Nightmare before Christmas merchandise from reproductions is the originals did not say "Disney's" all over it, the reproductions do. He went on to say "Than why is it so heavily merchandised?" Well, it originally wasn't. In 1993 they only had action figures, a pocket book, and some watches. Petty stuff compared to Disney's usual blitz of merchandise for animated features. And by 1994 it was very hard to find any of it. From 1994 until 1999 I was lucky to find one Nightmare before Christmas item a year. It wasn't until the movie caught on in Japan and then had its very successful Tenth anniversary that Disney started to market it like crazy. 2006 is actually when the stores were flooded with Nightmare before Christmas merchandise and that became the tradition ever since, every Halloween (and part of the Christmas season). Everyone forgets that from 1994 until 1999 or so Nightmare before Christmas had temporarily fallen into obscurity. Six years might not seem long now, but I was eleven in 1993 and when you're eleven, six years can feel a lot longer. I remember sitting outside listening to the soundtrack on casette (yes, I still had a cassette player Walkman in the 90s). And some kid asked me what I was listeing to. And I said "Nightmare before Christmas." And they said "never heard of 'em." They thought it was a band. In the mid-90s Nightmare before Christmas was NOT what it is now. And no, Disney did not put its name on it, not until 2006 when it was re-released in 3D. A nd when they did they changed the opening credits. And I'm still bitter about them breaking the Tim Burton / Danny Elfman musical tradition when they changed the credits. Also I think the pale orange credits looked better and it was what I got used to for over a decade.

[oscarangelreysoto]

I have founded a small DIY record label called Anfänger @anfangerlimitedruns in which I release musicians I like limited runs of 20 cassette tapes, then I make the covers by hand, the runs are unique and limited and are not re-released, the half of the money goes to the musicians and the other half goes to make more tapes, in the @anfangerlimitedruns profile you can find a link to the bandcamp where you can listen to the artists' music and buy it digitally. There are no dates or deadlines I released new tapes when I have the time, energy, desire and resources to do so. He fundado un pequeño sello discográfico DIY llamado Anfänger @anfangerlimitedruns en el que edito a músicos que me gustan tiradas limitadas de 20 cintas de casette, después hago las portadas a mano, las tiradas son únicas y limitadas y no se vuelven a editar, la mitad del dinero va a los músicos y la otra mitad va para hacer más cintas, en el perfil de @anfangerlimitedruns se puede encontrar un enlace al bandcamp donde se puede escuchar la música de los artistas y comprar en formato digital. No hay fechas o plazos fijos, edito nuevas cintas cuando tengo el tiempo, la energía, las ganas y los recursos para hacerlo. #handmade#oscarrey#oscarangelreysoto#oscaratelier#cassette#fineart#cassettetapes#limitedruns#indelabel#contemporaryart#smalllabel#music#hechoamano#contemporary#heads#birds#sun (hier: Berlin, Germany) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl5lYcmIDmQ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[retromusicart]

We're tiny! We're toony! We're all a little loony!

Tiny Toon Adventures - Tiny Toons Sing! (Warner Bros., 1992) - Cover artist unknown

Bruce Broughton, you magnificent bastard I read your book!

This compilation features original and cover songs sung by the characters from the Warner Bros. syndicated cartoon Tiny Toon Adventures. Several of these songs were sung on the show itself.

I watched this show quite a lot on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon back in the day, but I wasn't as enthralled to it as I was with its sequel show, Animaniacs. Probably because that show felt like its own thing as opposed to a blatant Looney Tunes spin-off like Tiny Toons was. The musical numbers on that show were more memorable, too.

The fact that Animaniacs was a mini-Simpsons of sorts, parodying and satirizing pop culture and every aspect of American life, something Looney Tunes was very popular for, probably helped (Granted, TTA did do that stuff, but largely played it safe and wasn't as provocative).

This album was only released on casette in the US (presumably because kids would want to play it on their toy tape players). It was given a CD release...in Japan. A bootleg CD does exist, but it's clearly ripped from the casette.

Thanks to disputes with Warner Bros. (the show itself) and Warner Music (the master recordings; Time Warner spun off Warner Music in 2004), there are no plans for a re-release.

Image courtesy of Discogs.

[judesstfrancis]

listening to older music online is impossible bc u put an artist into your funky little music player and if it is anyone from before the year 2000 every single song has 300 versions like "2015 remaster" and "re-recorded in 2016" and then there's 500 greatest hits albums all with different titles and the same exact songs on them and u have to scroll for a millions years to figure out which albums are actually the ones that they made and I'm in hell

[vapormaison]

4 Future Funk Releases Deserving of a Vinyl Press

As 2020 looms, I inevitably start thinking about filing for tax returns. Maybe that’s a symbol of the rote, misery-inducing modernity of twenty-first-century life — but I’m trying to take it as a positive this year. Getting some cash back from the Internal Revenue Service means more disposable income to drop on vinyl. While I’ll be spending quite a bit more on Japanese ambient wax this year, I’ll be ear-marking a fair share to go into vaporwave and future funk releases.

With the platform that I have currently, it’s now a definite responsibility to identify some gems that deserve a label to step up and put together a killer release on wax. With the social reach that I’ve gotten in just two months of somewhat milquetoast long-form reviews, it’s honestly a bit insane — but I’m also insanely thankful. I certainly wasn’t expecting over 400 followers from Japan when I’m publishing in English, so — ありがとうございました!

Hi-fi appreciation tends to cross artificial barriers of language and nationality.

Over the past five days I’ve compiled a pretty exhaustive list of 100 digital-only and digital/cassette releases that I’ve streamed the most over the past year. To suss out which releases sounded best for hi-fi consumption, I decided to test them on my two Christmas gifts this holiday — A Cambridge Audio 851N network streamer/pre-amp and a pair of new “anniversary” JBL 4312 Mk2 speakers powered by my vintage H/K 700 series Amp. While most of the list slapped on this new kit, there were four releases that I felt were truly deserving of getting a wax treatment in 2020. These are, in effect, the ones I’d be a guaranteed buyer of. Here they are:

Marsy + HER by Marsy

Admittedly, I stumbled on Marsy’s work just by scrolling through the list of releases through Bogus Collective, which over the course of 2019 has rocketed to the top of my list of favorite digital labels for discovering new artists. While this is of course a fine way to discover an artist — I’m stunned that I didn’t first encounter Marsy’s work on the two most visible channels for future funk discovery and appreciation — Artzie & Real Love Music. Unfortunately Real Love and Artzie haven’t been keeping up with their releases, with the most recent video on youtube from either curator dating back to November 2018. While I do get a deja vu feeling with Marsy — as in, I must have seen them on these platforms before -- perhaps with actually being cognizant, an artist of this caliber should be all over those channels on a basis at least roughly corresponding with their releases.

Do better, fellas!

Marsy’s most recent work is an absolute banger with one of the widest mixes I’ve listened to this year. The JBLs absolutely ate up the rich bass and low-range in most of Marsy’s tracks, and for a moment I had to ask myself how this release was sitting around as a digital-only. This is just one of those funky profiles made for vinyl. That being said, 7 tracks seems a bit light for a twelve-inch LP, so if I was advising a label (happy to do this pro-bono!) I’d maybe pair this album with another robust, high-energy release from Marsy: 2018’s 5-track Her EP, which coincidentally has one of my favorite individual future funk tracks (愛のFantasy) and absolutely brilliant cover art.

 Star Virgin -- サクラSAKURA-LEE 

I’m going to go on a soapbox for a moment here: I don’t like Qrates. I’ve bought from Qrates campaigns before and often find their wax brittle and their presses tinny. Now, there are a whole host of reasons why this could be the case — vinyl necessitates a much longer production line — and this inevitably creates errors. But these errors should be corrected by someone in a quality control department. And if you talk to any of the major labels, relationships with QC/QA people are some of the most essential recipes to a good physical release. This is in effect the primary function of a physical-oriented underground label: ensuring a proper quality press by ordering tests, and keeping limited back stock in case there’s some kind of slip-up. Qrates campaigns don’t offer this in sufficient degrees — and as a result makes a lot of potential buyers feel insecure.

This all said, Sakura-Lee’s unsuccessful Qrates campaign shouldn’t be seen as a lack of desire to support a proper wax release of their iconic Star Virgin release — I genuinely think it’s regarding people’s reservations about dropping $30 or more for vinyl of potentially mediocre quality. Ultimately, this is where labels should step in, build up some buzz, and provide a modicum of quality assurance to truly finalize that sale. I’ve talked to a lot of audiophiles who would love the hear tracks like The Sweet Escape and Feelings with the warmth of vinyl. Sakura-Lee’s sound is so unique and so well-suited to the format. As an owner of the Star Virgin minidisc, I can certainly attest to the quality of that release and the great sound it’s produced on my hi-fi. But minidisc is cold. Crisp, but cold. Star Virgin is musical joie de vivre -- it has all the energy of life itself, and contrasts with the almost archival and clinical nature of the minidisc format. In my view, there’s no doubt that with the right master and press, this would produce an otherworldly sound worthy of its title once it finds its way onto wax -- hopefully in 2020!

Kween Pepsi -- Jesse Cassettes 

Latin future funk is the warmest of all future funk. This is partially because us Latins (your humble reviewer is named Sebastião, after all) are the warmest people in all the world. It stands to reason then, that vinyl, music’s warmest medium — is a natural fit for for the funkiest of all music. I first discovered Jesse Casettes on the Eternal Vibes compilation, which is a compilation full of warm, Latin sounds and Jesse Cassette’s contribution to it was my absolute favorite. I’ve been a huge fan of their work ever since. 

Kween Pepsi is a masterwork that toys with a good speaker’s treble response like nothing else I’ve listened to. Only a few future funk artists can reach this level of playfulness on the high end — Night Tempo, Cosmic Bae, and a few others. But almost none sound quite as fun as Jesse Casettes, and none sound as polished and well-mixed. Kween Pepsi hits you with banger after banger, and the Seikomart tape was already a commercial success. It stands to reason that Kween Pepsi could get a nice master and fly off the market, giving audiophiles another grail on vinyl that stands out as one of the genre’s finest albums of the decade. Bringing it into the next with a new physical seems like a great idea. What DJ wouldn’t want to drop the needle on a track as well arranged and layered Osaka Fall Season Nights and let their system shine?

Miss — Flammy

Real Love beat me to the punch very recently by featuring Flammy on their channel, but Flammy is still an under-appreciated artist that I’m hoping to see 2020 herald big things for. I’ve always appreciated their deeply creative sampling, and their mixes consistently sound rich and full on every hi-fi system I play them on. I happened upon “I bet my girlfriend is chinese and aesthetic” (a title very real for me as my girlfriend is both chinese and aesthetic) back in early 2018 and was instantly impressed on how it made my KEFs absolutely werk in spite of my stodgy old British floor-standers never receiving vaportrap/future hop with very much vigor.

After kind of losing track in the waves of new releases over the past year or so, I re-discovered their work this month after Miss released, and their mixes, creative micro-sampling (City Hunter, anyone?) have been just as rich and rewarding to both my system and my ears as on that initial listen. As I said earlier, I genuinely think this Lille, France-based artist is on the verge of a blowup, and when that happens I want to make sure my childish ranting of “I want this on vinyl!” is heard sufficiently by whatever label steps up to the plate. My suggestion: maybe get this EP on a 10-inch.

[concerningwolves]

alriGHT the mystery of “the fairytale where man seduces fairy woman with bread” has had a new development

Turns out I never owned it in book format. It was as a set of Ivory Shell Audiotapes which I still own, even though I have nothing to play them on since my last walkman broke. And not only do I have nothing to play the tapes on -- the tape with the Lady Out of the Lake is missing from the pack. So ofc I start looking up Ivory Shell and can’t find them on the interwebs 

(no, Google, I don’t want the dictionary definition of “ivory shell”)

except as casette tapes. But every single set of tapes is sold out and it doesn’t look like they were re-released on CD. 

HOWEVER, Google did provide me with answers from my original search and it turns out this tale is a Welsh folktale and it’s everything that I remember from the audiotape, except... there is no sword? and no mention of iron??

Like, I swear that in the audiotape, the lake-lady’s father said that she could marry the lad so long as she never touched iron which was fine, until one day she picked up an iron sword to defend their home from thieves or smth. And yet in every version of the folktale I can find online, the lady goes back to the lake because her husband either a) taps her on the shoulder three times, or b) accidentally hits her with a lump of clay while digging a hole for an apple tree. 

So I’m now highkey convinced that i just... invented the entire story and i shall never discover the truth.

UPDATE: IT'S on audible and OH MY GOD y'all that pipe music? the long intros?? Stephanie Pack announcing grandly which story she is about to read??? This is where I began as a tiny little folklore-obsessed gremlin

[binbunmusic]

My vinyl records (71-75)

Part 2 of 2 ^^

Pan Amsterdam’s album Ha Chu (Limited edition, numbered ‘Springtime Green’ vinyl, pre-order)

Oh man. Where to begin with this guy. This album. It’s one of those things you have to listen to, to know whether you’ll like it. I could try my best to describe it in detail, but I’m not going to, ‘cause I want everyone to check this out.  For me personally, Pan Amsterdam was one of those artists I had to ‘get used to’, and I don’t mean that in a negative way, It just took me some time before I felt like I ‘got it.’ It’s the same reason I don’t really have a favourite song by this artist. I’ll do my best to give recommendations below, but I really think it’s about the atmosphere on this album more than anything else.  This was one of the most exciting vinyl-unboxings I’ve experienced to date - hopefully you’ll get why, when you see it. Imo, Pan Amsterdam is one of the most under-rated artists of today. Check it out if you’re in the mood for something experimental yet… soothing?

Favourite tracks: Trix and Dried Saliva

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The Fratellis’ debut-album ‘Costello Music’ (Limited edition, numbered Dark Green Transparent vinyl)

I actually traded my ‘Puddinghead’ vinyl for this one. Might’ve been a mistake if you ask a hardcore vinyl collector ’cause I think the BPM vinyl might be more ‘exculsive’ or whatever. But the simple reason I did it is, I like this album better ^^ I still listen to this more regularly than I do Puddinghead, even though it’s an older album. And this version is cooler than the one I already have, so I’ll probably trade/sell that one at some point. I might be a sucker for limited edition vinyls, but I don’t really need two versions of the same album lol I know I’ve had a couple different versions of this album by now, but I’m pretty confident this is one I’ll end up keeping for good.  Not much else to say, I’ve said it twice before, so...

Favourite tracks: Everybody Knows You Cried Last Night and Chelsea Dagger

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James Blake’s album ‘Assume Form’ (Limited edition, 180 g, Green vinyl)

I don’t know why I’ve been torn for so long with this album. I would’ve bought the vinyl when the album came about, but for some reason it was only released on casette? And then I sort of forgot about the album until he released his first single of 2020. Usually with James Blake it’s a surefire success for me every time he releases something new. About a year after it’s release, and after months of listening to it bit by bit, I came to the conclusion that this might be his best album to date. I know that might be a controversial opinion, but the sheer fact that it took me so long to figure it out is a big pointer, I think. Don’t know if that makes sense... Oh also, for some reason I got a free signed card with my order, which is a pretty sweet bonus, if you ask me ^^

Favourite tracks: I’ll Come Too and Power On

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Nothing But Thieves’ album ‘Moral Panic’ (“Marbled” LP, pre-order)

I was torn with this one. I feel like this band in particular is all about re-imagining their own sound with every album they release. With this one I couldn’t quite tell from the first singles, what direction they were going for. After realizing that they were going for a kind of heavy/emo vibe, I ended up pre-ordering it out of curiosity. It’s not too far from what I expected from them, so I thought it couldn’t possibly disappoint. And I was right for the most part! The album is pretty decent (not their best imo, but still really good) but therea problem with the production of the vinyl itself. I honestly am not sure whether I’m happy about the way it turned out. On one hand, it’s kind of cool to have the “faulty” version, ‘cause not a lot of people do. On the other hand it doesn’t exactly match the album cover like it would have with the intended colour. I can’t say I regret buying it tho, it’s cool either way :)

Favourite tracks: Phobia and Can You Afford To Be An Individual?

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Ball Park Music’s album ‘Every Night the Same Dream’ (180 g White LP)

Like the James Blake album, it took me some time to realize how great this album really is (and by ‘some time’ I mean several years) The songwriting is one thing, but I think it’s all the small details in the mixing that make all the difference. It’s not something I usually pay attention to, so I guess that explains why it took me so long. If you’ve followed me for ‘some time’ you might have noticed that I’m a pretty big fan of Ball Park Music. But I gotta say, at first I thought this album was kind of a mess. But if anything, it now feels like an organized mess, or a representation of just how many different things BPM can be. And the most important thing; they still sound like they’re doing this for fun :D

Favourite tracks: Peppy and Ever Since I Turned the Lights On

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[deathherald]

An update on shop status and upcoming releases: Future is Now - Neon Rising (vol2): Preorders close next week, info at ixcitadel.com Preorders include the "Jasons" print and a surprise set of 3 postcards (you gonna love those) Future is Now 1 - Due to popular demand, I will eventually re-print it, doing some numbers and planning for now. Limited edition prints - Coming soon, I will be releasing some sets of limited edition giclees before the end of the year, stay tuned. Print-Map-Poster pack - Will be back in stock next month! T-shirts - You've been asking for a re-stock of the enemies T-Shirt, working on it. Soundtrack vinyl release - This willbe coming early next year, working on the artwork and it's going to be pretty amazing. I'm also considering a casette release. All this will be at ixcitadel.com Subscribe to the newsletter if you want to get an email when there is a new release or re-stock. Thanks!

[angel-with-a-pipette]

OMG, someone else who saw most Disney movies as an adult! I have seen some Disney series, but the movies were rarely shown on TV, and I never had any video players to watch cassettes/disks. So, like, I literally saw Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty this year, and yes, it was because of BBS (I was having 0.2 feels when it was released, so I decided to finally watch them).

Omg that’s exactly it! xDD I watched Ducktales, I watched the Aladdin series, the little Mermaid (although I did have a cassette as a child), I think Hercules had a series, too? There were so many Disney series! OH WINNIE THE POOH OF COURSE XD Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, the series with Baloo (TaleSpin??) or even just the classic Disney cartoons where Chip and Dale annoy Donald.

I’ve had picture books of the Disney movies, of Robin Hood and the Beauty and the Beast and the little Mermaid. But stuff like Snow White and the likes? I knew all of that from the Fairytales. I watched Cinderella for the first time with my niece xD A few years ago, I saw Tarzan, Mulan, the Hunchback from Notre Dame and Hercules for the first time, too (Bless the Christmas TV program xD) I STILL haven’t seen Aladdin or Beauty and the Beast - although there is a possibility that I just don’t remember, I also don’t remember seeing the Lion King although I distinctly remember renting the movie XD

As a child I kept rewatching the Aristocats because that was the only Disney movie I owned on a VHS casette :3 STILL LOVE IT.

So yeah... back then, movies were pretty expensive unless you rented them and then you needed to return them quickly. And at least around here, the Disney Channel was part of the Pay TV so it wasn’t really accessible. Everything is SO much easier with the streaming devices! Speaking of them, I should probably re-activate my Netflix account someday and check out whether they have Disney movies, I’m REALLY in the mood for Mulan xD

[welovelofi]

Record Store Day In 2019: The Good, The Bad, The Whatever.

Your social media is in no doubt awash in posts from shops, bands, labels and everything in between about record store day. I’m certain that if you’re reading this, you are quite aware of what RSD is and you’re either excited, disgusted or indifferent to the day on principle.

RSD of course started as an initiative over a decade ago to get warm bodies into independently owned brick and mortar record shops, which at the time were in big economic trouble due to big chains, the internet, and digital music rendering them obsolete. The idea was that labels and their artists would press limited edition vinyl for this one-day exclusive blitz. This might be anything from a bespoke single, an unreleased recording or a whacky picture disc. Whatever the case, the rules were simple: the goods would be shipped to your struggling neighborhood record shops, you were only allowed to pick it up from them, and there were no reservations and thusly no guarantees on quantity or selection. You had to turn up like the old days when a new record came out that you just had to have.

Whether or not RSD was responsible for the ‘vinyl boom’ of the past say, five years – it was certainly a cause of physical record shops seeing a renaissance in activity. It was too late for many, which couldn’t stay afloat when CDs suddenly became obsolete due to streaming and downloading (legally or otherwise) – but on the flipside, more stores began opening or even re-opening across Europe, North America and certain Asian markets.

Then it seems the big fat cat record industry caught on. What better opportunity to quell the panic of having music buyers actually be able to not have to buy music to listen to it – and at the same time actually choose what music they listen to on their phones! The vinyl boom had to happen. The marketing infrastructure for the music industry was already in place: kill a format (or let it die), repackage, and sell it back to the punters. Lps, Casettes, CDs, Minidisc, Mp3 and now back to Vinyl. Hell, they even started re-issuing cassette tapes again – and of course there is a “Cassette Store Day”! Why not? I have no idea where my tape copy of Nervermind disappeared to, but I feel more authentic if I have it. It’s the same old song and dance – “New Money For Old Rope”.

Now for the special Record Store Day you can expect thousands of releases scheduled to drop for this one special event. Vinyl pressing plants have backlogs of up to 6 months in some cases for orders. This might even include re-pressings on 180g vinyl for shit that you literally can already pick up from your local record shop for ½ the price. How many copies of Supertramp’s “Breakfast In America” do you need, or re-pressed David Bowie 7”s – and do you need a hand numbered copy of Springsteen’s Greatest Hits? C’mon.

The record shops might actually be getting the worst deal out of it. Talk to any record store owner or clerk in the weeks running up to RSD- (if they have time) and you’ll get a semi-bitter earful about how they really don’t have a choice in what and how many LPs their getting from their distributors, how they have to create extra space to accommodate the 100s or even 1000s of stock for the one-day event, and how their shelves are already groaning with the weight of unsold and expensive RSD exclusives from past years that are still gathering dust that they can’t return. All this and now it’s almost compulsory to have in-store concerts, regularly scheduled releases out, and tasty used and vintage LPs as well as swag ready for the herds of customers who will be darkening their door to flip through the racks. This is what we wanted though right?

Personally, I still get excited about record store day. I’m a vinyl junkie and a collector of sorts. I don’t buy records to flip them or fence them online and because I’m a working musician with LPs of my own out, I keep a good rapport with all the record shops I can. You’ll never catch me lining up outside on RSD though to try and snag a copy of something that Iknow will just be in regular print in a few months anyway, or gettable if I really need it on Discogs or even Amazon. For me it’s a healthy mix of being annoyed that I have to wait to browse a rack and excited that there are so many people in my favorite boutique. I’m reserved to the fact that this is ‘everyone else’s’ day in a way, and on Monday, I get to go back and be almost alone in the joint and browsing and shooting the shit with the staff. To me, every day is record store day.

So here’s the run-down. Record store day has been great for raising the profile of record stores as a place or thing where you can go and get your music. Great for elevating the profile of how great physical formats, especially vinyl are. Great for the record industry as a whole from small DIY indie on up to the biggest corporate imprints. It may be a little bad for the actual record stores that are now forced, or at least very compelled to participate and buy in the RSD releases. It’s certainly bad for any bands or labels that want to release a record in Spring, as printing plants, while having a resurgence in production, are completely backed up with manufacturing titles for the big day.

For many hard-core record buyers it’s whatever. If you’re an extreme personal collector, its seldom that anything RSD is going to be unobtainable for you. If you collect Danish children’s music for example, and there is an RSD exclusive for you, you probably already have a line on it anyway. My point is: maybe RSD has run it’s course, maybe its achieved and even surpassed its initial goal – maybe it’s time to say “Enough - job well done.”

Maybe now RSD is actually hurting the economy of the very same businesses that it was meant to help. I would never go so far as to say “boycott record store day”, that would in essence be telling folks not to turn up at their local record shop at all. Nuh-uh. it’s more of an open-ended suggestion to RSD as a concept that maybe it’s time to make Record Store day – every day, or at least every Friday – when new releases come out every week of the year. Even in my lifetime, and certainly in my parents’ youth in the 60s and 70s, there was a time when people lined up outside record stores to get their hands on a new release – to be the first of your friends to grab a copy of a new record – where people were passionate and even stressed about having this piece of vinyl and cardboard that is theirs and nobody else’s. That’s ultimately what we might strive to return to.  

Until then though: happy hunting and listening.

[herselfportrait]

CASETTE REVIEW: SAD CLUB RECORDS PRESENTS ‘THE MUSIC WILL SAVE US VOL.2′

(Written for Let it Happen)

In a music industry that has evolved to favour immediacy; in a music industry that favours getting caught in a riptide of streams and bottlenecking our choices to one-shot singles, it is without a doubt that the physical joy of music has been left behind. The love, the attachment, that comes from having something tangible in your hands has been struck off as “difficult” and “expensive”. Only the truly dedicated go so far as to listen to an album start to finish – but how can you be dedicated when, if a song fails to arrest us in thirty seconds, it’s exiled to the skip button: where music as an artform takes itself off to die? Though vinyl has seen a meteoric resurgence, the cassette – perhaps the most romantic of all formats – has yet to find its foothold. That is why what Sad Club Records do is so important: they are the curators of the cassette, with the impetus to push the independent artists they believe in. 

In tandem with Cassettes Store Day, Sad Club Records have released their latest compilation, ‘The Music Will Save Us Vol. 2’. Without a doubt, every song in this collection is a small pocket of delight: carefully hand-picked jewels excavated from obscurity, dusted off just for us. It welcomes, with open arms, into a world of almost every genre, every subtle shade you could possibly want or hope for.

Without divulging too much about the 16-track-strong cassette, expect to be taken as far as the antique lands of Tuval, with their sun-kissed, baroque leanings on ‘We Can Burn’; all the way to the bedroom for Bill Nickson’s infectious, lo-fi distortion on ‘Don’t Be Sad’.

If soulful grooves are your schtick, then look no further than Leyma’s ‘Lavender’. Harlem funk melds with shrug-of-the-shoulder vocals; it’s beautifully mellow, glowing with conviction. ‘Tongue’ by Ugly enjoys a bruised, slack-jawed croon that calls to mind King Krule. It sprawls, hammering anthemic choruses before letting its pace vanish to a hammock-swinging languor. Plunging us into an electronic dreamscape is the work of CC Honeymoon, championing surrealism with a haunting, post-punk timbre.

Porridge Radio’s ‘Success’ hits us like a nightmarish wall of fuzzed-out distortion. Vocals that drone like a guzzling fly and blunt, grunge guitarwork make this a stand-out track on ‘The Music Will Save Us Vol.2’. Another nod to grunge can be found in ‘Choking’ by Oscar, though rather than being ramped up on energy, instead takes a backseat. Ethereal vocals are matched with an instrumental that straddles the boundary between discordance, with the lurching guitar, and the twinkling tunefulness of the keys.

In listening to this cassette, far more than encouraging a re-emerging format, far more than supporting freelance artists like Jay Daniel Wright who designed the artwork, an independent record label, and the musicians they have procured, you are supporting Music Minds Matter, a campaign created by Help Musicians to provide 24/7 mental health support for musicians. All proceeds made from ‘The Music Will Save Us Vol.2’ go towards such a noble, yet neglected cause. It is the rarest of things, this cassette and everything it stands for. Rightly so, the music will save us.

[qdwriting]

Penpal Diary 30 Sept

Dear Morgan,

     It was a decent day, as far as Mondays go, despite going into work on what is supposed to be my day off-- I started at UPS 2 weeks after our last exchange; the interview was actually on my birthday. The workload wasn't particularly heavy today, but any truck we load on a Monday was partially loaded on Saturday and there's no guarantee that the person who was in the truck before you wasn't an idiot. 😅

     After my post-work nap, I took the money I thought I was going to spend on a rental car and picked up some sundries from the supermarket. Apparently, UPSers, as they call us, get discounts on most products you can think of so the rental car for the wedding I'm attending this weekend cost just over half of what it would have otherwise.

      I would still be under-budget, but Mariah Carey launched pre-sales for the deluxe edition re-release of her X-mas album and I HAD TO HAVE IT! I bought the CD, the Digital Album, The hoodie, and an All I Want For Christmas is You Casette Tape single to go in my Mariah Carey Corner that I've been adorning since November.

     I hope the hoodie fits well. There was no size chart so I based my purchase on the size chart for the hoodie on her non-Xmas related merch site. I went with the medium despite my chest and waist fitting firmly in the small range because hoodies tend not to account for my orangutan arms. I lost my Longwood hoodie in the move, but the 1-2 inch deficit in the sleeves always bugged me.

     How's la vida Morgan? Did summer pan out the way you wanted? Any exciting/interesting plans for Fall? Fill me in. Miss you much. Hope to hear from you soon!

-ShaV

[oscarangelreysoto]

I have founded a small DIY record label called Anfänger @anfangerlimitedruns in which I release musicians I like limited runs of 20 cassette tapes, then I make the covers by hand, the runs are unique and limited and are not re-released, the half of the money goes to the musicians and the other half goes to make more tapes, in the @anfangerlimitedruns profile you can find a link to the bandcamp where you can listen to the artists' music and buy it digitally. There are no dates or deadlines I released new tapes when I have the time, energy, desire and resources to do so. He fundado un pequeño sello discográfico DIY llamado Anfänger @anfangerlimitedruns en el que edito a músicos que me gustan tiradas limitadas de 20 cintas de casette, después hago las portadas a mano, las tiradas son únicas y limitadas y no se vuelven a editar, la mitad del dinero va a los músicos y la otra mitad va para hacer más cintas, en el perfil de @anfangerlimitedruns se puede encontrar un enlace al bandcamp donde se puede escuchar la música de los artistas y comprar en formato digital. No hay fechas o plazos fijos, edito nuevas cintas cuando tengo el tiempo, la energía, las ganas y los recursos para hacerlo. #handmade#oscarrey#oscarangelreysoto#oscaratelier#cassette#fineart#cassettetapes#limitedruns#indelabel#contemporaryart#smalllabel#music#hechoamano#contemporary#heads#birds#sun (hier: Berlin, Germany) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl8Itv3IQX4/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mindctrlaltdel]

124 Days of Empire: A Star Wars Countdown

Two years ago, on a blog not far away…

I reviewed all 121 minutes of the original Star Wars during the 121 days before The Force Awakens. As of today… There are 124 days until Star Wars: Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. There are 124 minutes in the original theatrical version of Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

​Dear Dellow Felegates,

With the second film in this new Star Wars trilogy opening on December 15th, I am going to review the greatest sequel of all time… 

But since that’s 3 and a half hours long, I’m just going to watch the original theatrical version of The Empire Strikes Back in small increments from now until Christmas. If you came for the Star Wars commentary, you found the right place. If you thought we were watching Fox’s hit show, Empire – that’s ok! The Empire Strikes Back is proud, takes risks and fully embraces its dark side –  IT'S THE COOKIE LYON OF CINEMA!

Taraji P. Henson pictured with Mufasa, who played Darth Vader in Star Wars. BOOM. Two degrees of separation.

​“But wait a parsec,” you’re probably saying. “How can you have the stamina to break down each minute in painstaking detail?” Oh, I can handle it, I’m strong enough to pull the ears off a gundark. “Strong? You haven’t worked out in ages?” Joke’s on you. That makes me perfect for staring at screens all day. “So that means you’ll be able to handle all the rabid trolls disagreeing with any of your opinions?” Hey, the chances of successfully navigating a message board is 3,720 to one, BUT NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS.

Like you, I grew up with these movies. Just like you, I wore a homemade Rebel pilot costume to school made of felt and orange sweat pants. Incredibly similar to your fourth grade experience, I interrupted Mrs. Terry’s lessons regularly throughout the day to compare, say, the Revolutionary War to the Alliance’s cause in the great Galactic Civil War. And also exactly like you, my 6th grade classmates made fun of me for a book report in which I vividly drew my interpretation of the Dark Witches of Dathomir from Dave Wolverton’s classic novel, The Courtship of Princess Leia. ​

CBS’ New Fall Comedy, starring Kaley Cuoco!

Is the Empire Strikes Back the greatest Star Wars movie of all time? How does Luke learn to be a ninja in less than a week? Are Han and Leia trapped in a toxic relationship? Will George Lucas find true happiness with Howard the Duck? Through this 124-step program, we’re going to find out! Start your original VHS casettes, remastered laserdiscs or Despecialized Editions and let's begin...

***

Minute 1:00 of 124:00

We open on darkness… Oblivion. Just the quiet meditation that comes with being one with the Force. But before we can truly learn to quiet our mind and hear the midi-chlorians speak to us, we see our first glimpse of civilization. 

The 20th Century Fox logo. And if you’re watching the original theatrical version like me, you’ll see the logo that, according to The Hollywood Reporter, graced screens from 1953 to 1981. If it was created today, it would be the Trump Tower of studio logos but it's really just a glamorous holdout from Hollywood's classic past. It's perfectly appropriate for a film like Star Wars which hearkens back to the classically epic thrills, adventure and romance of a bygone era with all the technology of the present. AND, if you're watching Episode 1, a fair helping of racial stereotypes!

“Mind tricks don’t-a work on me, only spaghetti!”

BUT I DIGRESS… As enjoyable as The Force Awakens was (even though I was left a little unfulfilled by the lack of a Luke, Han and Leia group reunion), it’s sad that Episode VII didn’t open with this mainstay logo which defines classic cinema. This particular version of the logo is imperfect, with an odd-shaped “0” that extends in a weird angle as if it were Greta Gerwig dressed as a 'zero,' saying “look how quirky I am,” but it's shaped that way to span the aspect ratio of the that era's theater screens. You see, nobody cared about the home viewing experience back then. VCR’s in the late 1970’s cost on average $1400! When converted to today's money, that equals the amount it cost to make Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (which is ironically going to be released exclusively on VHS). Anyway, this 20th Century Fox logo is a great throwback that puts even the whiniest Sith in a viewing mood, so I rate it 19 out of 20 Centuries of Foxes.

The horn-filled Fox fanfare plays over the Lucasfilm logo as well, which is fitting considering Lucas was able to wrestle the majority of control over the creative and financial direction of Empire, unlike the original Star Wars. He didn’t want to experience the same stress and servitude he felt he owed Fox in the mid-to-late 70’s and he was able to turn Star Wars into a fully independent brand. Unfortunately, Empire arguably cost him just as much mental and physical stress as the last installment and probably played a strong factor in his eventual divorce. But enough about the man’s image, let’s talk about his company. The Lucasfilm logo of this period is a real Snorlax. Yes, it’s only 1980, but come on, Lucas! At this time, you were considered one of cinema’s greatest innovators, along with the three Stevens - Steven Spielberg, Stephen King and Steven Guttenberg. You couldn’t be bothered to come up with something fancier? Fox gets a lot of crap for being just another tyrannical studio but at least they have something grander than a boring green name-plate. While it gets some bonus points for being the color of Luke’s lightsaber, that's not enough to find a place in this reviewer's cold, cold heart. I’m giving it a lower ranking than I did when reviewing the original Star Wars because, like a fine glass of blue milk, it doesn’t get better with age. Although Lucasfilm eventually fancies up its logo with a classier font, reflecting light like a shiny piece of treasure, we’re judging this clunker for the fool's gold that it is, not what it will become. I give it $2 billion out of the $4 billion dollars it cost selling Lucasfilm to Disney. 

At 0:22 seconds in we get our second ever glimpse of the iconic title card – “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” Without any sharp images, impressive special effects or any sound to speak of, this text is a gut punch immediately sending the audience back to the universe they first met in May of ’77. With the "galaxy far, far away" reference we feel the science fiction element, with the "long time ago" setting we get fantasy. Combine the two and it’s a formula that’s been imitated so much the list of copycat movies is longer than a list of SyFy movie titles beginning with "Shark-" and ending with "-nado." And, just to be different, this text ends in a four-period ellipses rather than three. It's throwback still full of surprises. This card gets 4 out of 4 Periods....

Then, 0:29 seconds in, we get the opening blare of John Williams’ trumpets, the background starfield, and yellow-outlined text: Star Wars. Covering the screen and then receding into hyperspace. It jolts you out of your seat and then makes a run for it, like the kids' room from Poltergeist.  Following Empire, this action became a reality… as George Lucas kept trying to make the perfect followup, that original magic kept eluding him. From Return of the Jedi to Revenge of the Sith, the original “Star Wars” magic that many of the original audiences fell in love with, grew a bit less sharp with each additional sequel. No offense to Dexter Jettster. ​

Afterward, the backstory scrolls onscreen, filling us in on the events leading up to this moment. Without any opening credits, we’re immediately thrown into the action. It’s the first time we see “Episode V,” which is a shock because, unless you followed the news closely in Starlog Magazine, you’d think there were three movies you somehow missed between this one and the last one. “Episode IV: A New Hope” wasn’t added to original’s opening crawl until the re-release of the original Star Wars opened on April 10th, 1981. Empire made around $200 million less than Star Wars at the box office and maybe this played a small factor in it.

The crawl continues, telling us that things are bleak for our heroes, they're on the run, and a tradition is born - carried through to each successive episode.  There's urgency, there's stately grandeur and a repeat on themes telling the audience that while no new Star Wars films made it to theaters in the three years between A New Hope and Empire, the creative team hasn't forgotten the Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon-formatted opening that made audiences fall in love with the whole epic in the first place. 

In fact, here's a great visual comparison between the styles that Lucas borrowed from Flash Gordon when making his modern-day update:

Overall, this opening moment gets 24 out of 26 letters in the space-alphabet.

Stay tuned tomorrow for Minute 2:00, where we finish out this opening crawl, see what Star Destroyers can shoot out of their undercarriages and discover what our friends have been up to since they blew up Starkiller Base - I mean - the Second Death Star - I mean - the Droid Command Ship over Naboo - I mean... the OG Death Star.

{Richie Pepio is a writer and performer in New York City who tumbls @mindctrlaltdel and tweets @RichiePepio.}