#and look at the song IN THE CONTEXT OF THE ALBUM

[sufficient-tenacity]

more assorted tape media facts:

There's only 2 ways to make tape hold more data: thinner tape (more fragile, but able to fit a longer line of tape in a cassette) or running the tape slower (basically equivalent to lower bit rate audio today) the Compact Cassette standard also specified the tape run speed, so thinner tape was the only option.

Compact Cassette and its contemporaries and derivatives are linear media, meaning rewinding was required, but the earlier tape music format, 8 track, used a looped tape. (Technically Compact Cassette is older but earlier versions ran the tape slower and thus weren't high fidelity enough for music use)

In the context of 8 Track that means the song would restart when it ended. Each 8 track cassette was so called because it had 8 total audio channels, meaning it was limited to 8 25 minute programs in mono, 4 in stereo, or 2 in quadrophonic, as the loop took 25 minutes to cycle. That meant maximum album length was usually 50 minutes, so double albums were common, and multiple songs would be on each program.

The reason for the looped tape design is that it's an adaptation of a store background music cartridge format. Looping the songs meant you didn't need someone to go in back and change the tapes every 25 minutes (back in the days of the 2 track cassete, the earliest ancestor. 2, 4, and 8 track all share a form factor but are technologically different)

Tapes could store so much more than audio! They could also store binary data. Many early microcomputers came with a cassette reader standard and an optional external floppy drive. Loading from cassette was slower and they held less data than floppies. However, because anybody could produce data cassettes at home by simply recording one data cassette onto another on the family Hi-Fi, they were attractive to bedroom developers.

Because it's possible to record anything onto any cassette, your 1980s super spy could be making off with the nuclear codes on his copy of The Eurythmics' Be Yourself Tonight. (assuming he filled in the write protect (basically the machines had a little feeler that would slide into a notch to check if the tape user wanted to be able to record to a tape. If it fit, the machine wouldn't record to the tape. On blank tapes, you'd break off a little piece when you were done recording to the tape.)

There were multiple Compact Cassette tape media types (as in what the magnetic grains that are aligned by the magnetic field of a write head to write the data were made out of. That's how it works, the degree of alignment of the grains codes for analog data) that varied in audio quality and also look different. The three most popular types were Types I, II, and IV.

Type I used basic iron oxide, and had the lowest bias (bias is a magnetism thing which basically measures how much you can magnetize part of the tape. It's kind of like dynamic range I think, but I'm no audiophile, so, basically higher tape type number, higher fidelity) They were packaged in plastic shells and were ubiquitous.

Type II tapes are high bias tapes and are meant to perform better by having a better signal to noise ratio (basically because the earth is magnetic, there's magnetic background noise and that ends up on a tape.) but also had worse treble response. Their composition was originally Chromium oxide based, meaning they smelled like yellow crayons. They also had plastic cases.

Type III tapes weren't as popular because they didn't perform that much better than type II tapes but were more expensive than type IIs to manufacture.

Type IV tapes were the best available and used pure metal particles as opposed to oxides. They came in precision manufactured metal cartridges, and were the choice of audiophiles.

Younger writers. Please, just know that you could not skip to different songs on a cassette tape, that’s CDs. With tapes you pressed fast forward or rewind and prayed.

Also, VHS tapes did not have menu screens. Your only options were play, fast forward, rewind, pause, stop, or eject.

Y’all are making me feel like the crypt keeper here, I’m begging you 😭

[sunkissedliterarylightofchrist]

sorry not sorry but its twisted that people take Christian media and try to twist it around to fit and affirm their gender ideology

[decarath-s]

Listen ofc all of the Unreal Unearth songs are amazing because it's Hozier we're talking about but holy fuck-

Personally the song in this album that smacked me across the face at first was Abstract (Psychopomp), and I can't believe more people are not going feral over it like I am, look-

H U H

I saw you perform this ultimately fruitless yet incredibly significant, humane and selfless act of kindness. You put your own life at risk for something others would have considered "too small". I saw you run into moving traffic, stain your own hands, just to offer a little comfort to this poor animal in its dying moments. I was terrified, I knew I had no choice but to love you.

[rabbit-rays]

you came in with your jaw torn, still talking

[maulfucker]

So fucked up that obimaul is a rarepair. What do you mean not everyone is obsessed with enemies to lovers with a Force connection, where one side is completely obsessed with the other who barely acknowledges him (but is just as affected)

[raineyraven]

i really love the oh hellos and it always makes me kind of sad to see soldier poet king made into trendy quizes and stuff about who's a soldier who's a king or whatever. because it's a really deep song and an important part of the concept album it's a part of, but it gets simplified and taken out of its original context. the soldier, the poet and the king are not separate, they are the same character, the protagonist of the album whose conflict involves struggling to escape from an abusive relationship. soldier poet king is about the protagonist overcoming their abuse, using the second coming of jesus as a metaphor for the return and self-realisation of the protagonist. it is a triumph of the protagonist depicted through biblical symbolism. the soldier, the poet and the king all refer to jesus, and also to the protagonist.

like this song is so deep and meaningful!!! i strongly encourage people who like soldier poet king to listen to the full dear wormwood album and get the context of the rest of the story; soldier poet king is a midpoint in the narrative. and it is a complex and absolutely beautiful narrative.

[purplespacekitty]

part 2

part 1

[just-rainbow-thoughts]

Missed Chase Brody’s birthday yesterday because this fuck got me in a chokehold

[radio-4-is-static]

「LOST CORNER」 クロスフェード | Kenshi Yonezu listen to the new album here!!

[vaperarmand]

just rediscovered the fact that a raleigh ritchie song was one of the top 5 songs that got me through high school … facts i’m normal about

[gayofthefae]

Mike and Will - Elevator by Lizzy McAlpine, Mike POV

Churned out a quick second one for you tonight! Didn't expect to finish it, but here it is!

@urchindog @throne-of-crows @imatotallynormalteengirlok

[catboyloghain]

breaking my silence as the resident swiftie mutual. it was bad.

[thewhizzyhead]

okay but AJR'S new song "Yes I'm A Mess" is one of their coolest concepts to date cause like, AJR has been hyping up the chorus for a long while now and from the frequently tiktoked verses "I could hate my guts when the sun comes up but I like myself like this" and the overall tune of the chorus, the most common impression on the song is that it's a song about the brothers "blowing up their lives" through partying and all that because they "like themselves like this". Basically it's your "wooo let's fucking party song" but in the perspective of them using it as a means of escape in a way. This impression is confirmed with the release of the full song whose lyrics include them wanting to quit their jobs and start over ("I'm in it now, I'm in it now, could I start again somehow?)

And of course, the theme of wanting to escae start over and becoming what you like yourself to be even if you make yourself into a mess is something quite relatable especially for young adults right? So that concept is good in it of itself but what makes this song so much fucking different IS HOW AJR FLIPS IT BY THE BRIDGE. By the time Jack sings "I could hate my guts when the sun comes up but I guess that's what this is. I like myself like this", there is a layer of acknowledged resignation that them blowing up their lives and escaping in the interest of starting over and "liking themselves" is something that's not that all good AND THAT POINT IS ESTABLISHED WITH HOW THE SONG ENDS - WITH THE OUTRO BEING ALL SLOWED DOWN AND REVERBED AS IF THE PARTY IS STOPPING AND YOU'RE COMING DOWN FROM YOUR EUPHORIC PARTY HIGHS.

This part especially took a lot of people off guard because they simply weren't expecting this shift of tempo to happen in a song marketed as a partying fun song and holy shit that's the whole point! The constant escape for a new and clean slate through indulging yourself into becoming someone you like to the point of self sabotage won't ever end up well - cause sooner or later, the tempo will turn slow, verses will be slurred, and the fun beat and whistles will stop. And for a band who prides upon having their songs be fun to dance to while being relatable in its woes of having to grow up and wanting to escape that, holy fuck is that an amazing point to make.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

Full Tech Day One pic today from kiko laureano (denizen of skid row / ensemble) & video (that's four seconds of "ya never know" playing over the static image) from & ft. marcia milgrom dodge (director / choreographer) double captioning "there might be puppets in this musical ;)" & "Well Shake my hand! Come see LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS @guthrietheater featuring @actually_will_roland's hand!"

[viir-tanadhal]

am i simply cursed to not find a hotspot review that i like

[skitskatdacat63]

During the 2020 shut-in era, I basically only listened to Coldplay and god the amnt of emotional nostalgia I get from listening to their music is so