Obiwanshinobi wrote:
All is fine and dandy BUT - why not a CD?
Well, this is kind of a
thing unto itself, the cassette that is. There is a portion of musical subgenres that have been using cassette as their primary distribution for awhile now.
Sometimes it has to do with a specific subgenre, such as vaporwave, and their adherence to the format as part of their aesthetic. The center of Vaporwave is Morgantown WV, strangely enough. Crash Symbols is the major label there:
https://crashsymbols.bandcamp.com/Sometimes it's geographic; in the case of this tape, it's a Baltimore thing. A certain group of small labels and artists generally release on cassette as part of the aesthetic. Friends Record's and Eshe Records are both big proponents of this.
The DIY music scene in Baltimore is rooted in electronic music ala Berlin mostly. The two cities are very close in terms of musicians moving between the cities (mostly through organizations or universities)
The cassette tape is a favorite medium of the Noise scene because the tape hiss is practically part of the aesthetic.
If you're interested at all in that stuff, you can check out the High Zero Foundation, which is the public face of the Noise scene in Baltimore. They don't necessarily reflect the breadth of the genre here, but they are the most "legitimate" organization devoted to fostering artistic sound in Baltimore. It's some really out-there shit.
http://highzerofoundation.org/John, the friend who's tape I posted here, is not part of that scene, but is on the fringes of it. Most of his work is more dance music, more club, more house.
However, it's a small city and there are many artist warehouses here where group shows happen (before Covid), and most of us know each other and there is "cross-pollination."
Here's something he did a year or so ago that is more like him:
https://u-udios.bandcamp.com/album/u-udios-2The new tape that I linked in the above post is the most atmospheric thing I think he's done. I like it a lot, but if it's too fluffy for you, you might like the other stuff a lot better. He also was part of a band here in the 2010's called Dope Body, which had some renown in certain circles. It's very post-punk art blah blah blah. Not my thing, but people love it.
Thanks for taking the time to check it out!