Indeed you read right – seems some wag has hit upon the idea of a Cassette Store Day -this weekend in fact – I must admit I’m still a sucker for the old tape cassette, now celebrating its 50th anniversary it seems the much derided tape is coming back into prominence – the more cynical among you might be inclined to think it’s a marketing ploy enacted by a music industry still reeling from its loosening of control at the arrival of the digital age selling it back to a post cassette generation as the new cool with the buzzword retro tagged somewhere in the sell to ensure the more foolhardy take the bait. And now I’m getting all misty eyed reminiscing to hours spent rewinding and fast forwarding trying to find your favourite moments, using the tape count device as a means to aiding your guess work, then there was the un-joy of snapped, gnarled and chewed tapes – hours spent repairing them by hand with thin slithers of cello tape – strange as it may seem it always happened to your favourites.
My favourite makes / types whilst we are only a nostalgia streak were the TDK D60’s and the AD90’S, then came Maxell with their Pete Murphy ads who for many a year became of tape of choice until in the 90’s the emergence of the that’s range in particular their mg-x100 range – the dreaded metal variety which proved near impossible to tape over given that they left a permanency that when taped over left a ghostly echo effect of previous recordings – still style wise they looked the bollocks. And while cassettes where prone to warping – leaving them out in the sun or near magnetic objects – the results at times humorous and surreal – the ex’s prized collection of ‘Now That’s What I Call Music’ where often summarily used in home made experiments – added factors needed to be taken into account, your playing devices tape heads – either playing / recording to slow or to fast – I’ve got many a cassette of recorded Peel shows where he sounds rather excitable and chipmunkish. Our early endeavours into mixing – but we didn’t know it then – was scored at the hand of the trusty cassette / and recorder – splicing segments, multi dubbing and twin play delays – it all sounds rather tame these days but hell the patience, the time and the sheer meticulous nature of the processes took a degree of creativity. I even remember reading at the time that having cassettes in the house warded off evil spirits (it was this small bit of useless information that would always come to my rescue when having to account and defend the reasons why small towers of cassettes kept appearing on horizontal surfaces around the gaff) – something to do with the ferric oxide on them mind you with the amount of tapes I had in our gaff the blighters might have had trouble actually getting through the door – last count we reckon we still have something approaching just over 3000 cassettes – most are old Peel shows and various Radcliffe / Lard graveyard shift shows from the 90’s. And spare a thought about the dreaded mix tape especially those compiled for the opposite sex – there was more care and attention given you actually had to sit through and listen to the tracks you were compiling – not just lazily dragging tracks of your PC play list or your Spotify account – oh and dare we forget to mention the accompanying hand written listings and play lists all done in your bestest hand. Them where the days. Those wanting details o what’s in the offing on CSD can redirect yourselves to www.cassettestoreday.com/releases for the current crop of scheduled releases along with details of the participating stores.
List of Cassette Store Day Releases
Fucked Up – Hidden World (SEXBEAT)
Los Campesinos! – A Good Night For a Fist Fight Live Album (Kissability)
The Proper Ornaments – Demos (Suplex Cassettes)
Fair Ohs – Jams Volume 2 (Suplex Cassettes)
Lets Wrestle – Demo’s (Suplex)
At The Drive-In – Acrobatic Tenement (Transgressive)
At The Drive-In – Relationship Of Command (Transgressive)
Pulled Apart By Horses – Pulled Apart By Horses (Transgressive)
Pulled Apart By Horses – Tough Love (Transgressive)
The Flaming Lips – The Terror (Bella Union)
Suicidal Tendencies – Debut (Burger)
Twink – Think Pink (Burger)
Molly Nilsson – The Travels (Night People)
The Pastels – TBA (Domino)
Hard Skin – On The Balls (Wichita)
Hard Skin – Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear (Wichita)
V/A – Faux Discx Compilation (Faux Discx)
Haim – Forever EP (Polydor)
Efterklang – Tripper (Blood & Biscuits)
Mum – Smilewound (Blood & Biscuits)
Dolphinz – Pagan Dating (Tye Die Tapes)
Fear of Men – Early Fragments (Kanine)
The Blow – The Blow (Kanine)
Teen Suicide – Waste Yrself (Birdtapes)
V/A – Heart Throb Compilation (Heart Throb)
Animal Collective – Sung Tongs (Fat Cat)
His Clancyness – Covering Up (Fat Cat)
JJ Doom – Keys To The Kuffs Butter Edition (Lex)
Younghusband – Silver Sisters (Sonic Cathedral)
Guided By Voices – English Little League (Fire / Bad Paintings)
Refrigerator – Live At The American Legion Hall (Shrimper)
Xiu Xiu – Women As Lovers (Bad Paintings)
Rolo Tomassi – Astrea (DPLR)
Volcano Choir – Reprave (Secretly Candian)
V/A – Compilation (Hate Hate Hate)
Potty Mouth – The Spins (Marshall Teller)
TBA – TBA (Where To Now?)
The Casket Girls – S/T (Graveface)
Peter Broderick – Float (Erased Tapes)
Bright Light Bright Light – Make Me believe In Hope (Self Raising Records)
Playlounge / YRRS / Birdskulls – Sick of Hits Vol. 1 (Reeks of Effort)
Sur – Dog Daze EP (Mirror Universe)
Spakkiano – Spakkiano (Mirror Universe)
Lame Drivers – Live & Rare (Mirror Universe)
Laraaji – Cosmic Tape Experiments 1979 – 1987 (All Saints)
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