Cassette Store Day?

[bearman🐻]

The best part of cassettes was making mix tapes. But the format (specifically store-bought mass-produced tapes) really had inferior sound quality. I never understood their allure. Cassette store day just sounds dumb.

[Nigel Tufnel]

The best part of cassettes was making mix tapes. But the format (specifically store-bought mass-produced tapes) really had inferior sound quality. I never understood their allure. Cassette store day just sounds dumb.

It's the same thing as MP3's - cassettes were a lot more convenient than any of the other options - you could play them in your car, you could rewind/FF, you could make mix tapes -  so nobody really cared about the sound quality.

[atomicfront]

The best part of cassettes was making mix tapes. But the format (specifically store-bought mass-produced tapes) really had inferior sound quality. I never understood their allure. Cassette store day just sounds dumb.

It's the same thing as MP3's - cassettes were a lot more convenient than any of the other options - you could play them in your car, you could rewind/FF, you could make mix tapes -  so nobody really cared about the sound quality.

If you bought quality metal based tapes you could get pretty good quality.  The problem is the ones that came pre-loaded with music.  That and they tended to break.  I remember when record and tape traders used to rent records I would rent everything that came out and put it on tape. 

[killsaly]

http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/why-weve-created-cassette-store-day-and-why-its-not-just-hipster-nonsense

I?ve been a fan of the cassette for as long as I can remember. My mum gave me my first tapes when I was little; a copy of ABBA?s 'Greatest Hits' and Michael Jackson?s 'Thriller' which didn?t leave my ears for the entire summer. Since then, even as my Walkman changed to a Discman, changed to an iPod, cassette tapes have stayed a large part of my music collection. In 2011 I started Kissability, the label on which I?ve released tapes for the likes of DZ Deathrays, Splashh, and Thumpers.

The inaugural Cassette Store Day will take place on September 7. It began with an email from Steve Rose who runs the Sexbeat label (Fear of Men, Eagulls). ?I had an idea this weekend? Why not International Cassette Store Day??

Steve emailed Matt Flag from Suplex Cassettes (Spectrals, Fair Ohs), and the three of us set about contacting a few of our friends who run tape labels in the UK and US. And then it snowballed. Releases now include At The Drive In?s 'Relationship of Command', Haim?s 'Forever' EP, and Deerhunter?s 'Monomania'.

In London, we will run an afternoon at Rough Trade East with a couple of instore performances, and there will also be events at Burger Records in LA, Big Love in Tokyo, and Mirror Universe, Godmode, and Gimme Tinnitus blog are doing a cassette fair and show at Silent Barn in Brooklyn.

Unlike Record Store Day, this is less about supporting shops and more about celebrating the cassette format that has been making a comeback for a while. I can imagine that outside my indie circle this announcement is being greeted with rolls of eyes and a sigh of, ?Fucking hipsters.? But it?s not all nostalgic cool. Tapes make sense in not only our current economic climate, but in our musical one too.

Music today moves faster than ever before. We are swamped hourly with new acts, new tracks, and endless free downloads. It becomes addictive, with more and more bands wanting to release their music, and most importantly, more fans than ever wanting to become a part of this world and start a label. However, you can't sell mp3s from the merch table (and it isn't the most romantic way of introducing someone to a great band). Plus cassettes are cheap to make and you don?t have to commit to large quantities, unlike vinyl.

I?ll leave Matt from Suplex to have the final say:

    Tapes have been the most constant musical format in my life. As a kid it enabled me to cheaply buy new releases but more importantly, it allowed my friendship group to grow our music tastes by swapping blank tapes filled with gems and even our own home-recorded forays into music. Today it is the most affordable showcase for a band that is not ready to spend £1000 to drop 500 7"s into the world, so I can run a label that takes chances and puts out as many releases as I want to due to the cheapness and convenience of the format. Plus they look rad!

(i like tapes)

[i am gay and i like cats]

so . . . when is vhs tape day?  i got a shit load of those fucking things to get rid of, and best of all, no memories attached to a damn one of them.  except akira, the japanese anime that rules, because it is the only version with the original american voice actors and killer soundtrack by yamashiro shoji.  oh ok, and janes addictions soul kiss.

[killsaly]

We need some limited edition, small run VHS tapes, or it wouldn't make sense.   

[hutch]

oh ok, and janes addictions soul kiss.

i got that a few months ago at a thrift store i think..

[i am gay and i like cats]

the entire thing is on youtube.  that is sad and cool at the same time.

[killsaly]

http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/baltimore-tape-club
Baltimore Tape Club first post

[Justin Tonation]

Some people are taking this too seriously, and it's not the cassette fans.

And this, too.

[i am gay and i like cats]

memories control all.  i enjoy the power and appeal of such controls that anythings with rich memorexies of the events you live while experiencing such entertainment, can convince the crowds that to create, is blown out of the fucking water by the reissue.  hollywood is dying on the vine under such a sun of over saturation . . . god that is really getting fucking annoying now, all those words with the same first letter. 

[grateful]

memories control all.  i enjoy the power and appeal of such controls that anythings with rich memorexies of the events you live while experiencing such entertainment, can convince the crowds that to create, is blown out of the fucking water by the reissue.  hollywood is dying on the vine under such a sun of over saturation . . . god that is really getting fucking annoying now, all those words with the same first letter. 

This makes me feel like you got started waaaaay sooner that I did, and that I've got some catching up to do....

[grateful]

I?m not interested in ?back in the day.? I?m not one of those guys who goes around saying the music was better when I was younger, ?cause it wasn?t. You see this happen over and over again with people in their 30s, who start describing the music of their youth as some special place. Special to you, I get that, ?cause you were going through youth. I think part of why our audience is miraculously all ages is because we are always in the present moment.  Always, always.


-- The Mountain Goat

[i am gay and i like cats]

memories control all.  i enjoy the power and appeal of such controls that anythings with rich memorexies of the events you live while experiencing such entertainment, can convince the crowds that to create, is blown out of the fucking water by the reissue.  hollywood is dying on the vine under such a sun of over saturation . . . god that is really getting fucking annoying now, all those words with the same first letter. 

This makes me feel like you got started waaaaay sooner that I did, and that I've got some catching up to do....

what . . . doing drugs?

[atomicfront]

I?m not interested in ?back in the day.? I?m not one of those guys who goes around saying the music was better when I was younger, ?cause it wasn?t. You see this happen over and over again with people in their 30s, who start describing the music of their youth as some special place. Special to you, I get that, ?cause you were going through youth. I think part of why our audience is miraculously all ages is because we are always in the present moment.  Always, always.


-- The Mountain Goat

It was raining on Friday Night at Newport.  I mean pouring.  And I was in a tented stage.   And the Last Bison just finished and they were incredibly good.  Mountain Goat was going to come on next.  And I wanted to see Amanda Palmer who was on after him in the same tent.   But all these douchebag hipsters were coming in to see Mountain Goats.  And I knew it is bad enough that I don't like Mountain Goats but to have a bunch of a-holes in the tent with me was too much to bare.  So I went into the pouring rain to watch Feist play.  It turned into a torrential downpour.  By the time I got back to the tent for Amanda Palmer there was no space left so I had to watch from outside getting drenched.  But it was worth it to see Feist instead of Mountain Goats.