English post-punk badasses, Idles, has a new album TANGK (February), and a new song that features somebody using a Walkman… at least I think it is. Actually I don’t think it is. Well it’s rad either way, yes?
Check it for yourself, you’ll see:
It just says “detachable cassette player” on her tape player. Not sure if that what the actual player says of if that is a prop. It might be a Jensen, but I couldn’t find a match.
But do they have a cassette tape version of their new album?
No. It does not appear they do. A quick check of their website reveals no cassette tape being released for TANGK.
“In Times New Roman” the new Queens OTSA is out. I have been pretty excited about. Although it’s getting lukewarm reviews:
Even if it’s room temp, I still want it. They are simply an excellent ass rock band and I refuse to not have a copy of it.
Really the only question is should I buy it on cassette or tape or CD or vinyl?
Ideally, all three. But I don’t have even enough cash to buy one format (if I am being honest), let alone three. So, I choose cassette (after all, this isn’t the CD Player blog).
But wait… [after much searching of the Internet] it appears a cassette of “In Times New Roman” was not released. They simply didn’t make one. This is weird to me. This is the kind of band that you would think would be all about tapes – I am not sure why I think that, but I feel I am right.
I guess a CD, or record will have to do. They can be found on Amazon (the Green and Silver – they might be gone now) or through QOTSA’s Bandcamp page – only the CD and standard record is still available.
The lineup for this year’s Riot Fest in Chicago looks amazing (better than any Coachella, if you ask me). It has inspired me to start looking for tapes from bands playing this year.
Here is a quick pull of the first batch:
Foo Fighters
Their first album and I was hella surprised to see that (at the moment of writing this) it’s $55.05 on Amazon. I am going to assume there are not many copies around.
Turnstile
At the moment I have not found any Turnstile tapes to buy. I am going to assume they pop up on Discogs and Ebay from time to time, but that is it. All I know is I would love to find the tape above someday. You can at least check it out on Discogs – it looks freaking magical.
Pennywise: About Time
Another one I wasn’t expecting to have such a pricey cassette. Running $24.90 right now on Amazon. It’s hard to find on eBay so finding one on Amazon is a little surprising.
This one is the only Bowling For Soup cassette I could find. The Great Burrito Extortion Case – Indonesia Cassette. It’s currently on EBay for around $29 bucks. This looks to be something only a completest would be interested in though.
Tegan & Sara: Hey, I’m Just Like You
Oh, this is kind of exciting. On eBay I discovered a rare cassette by Tegan & Sara, “Hey I’m Just Like You” – Tape Sire PURPLE Tape SEALED. Going for $100 bucks, if it’s still there. Seems like it would be a must-have for a Tegan & Sara fan.
There are so many good bands. I won’t be going but I will be posting more of these all Summer. Plenty more tape finds to pull.
Indeed, Sub Pop artist, Fleet Foxes’, legendary EP “Sun Giant” is available on cassette tape.
I saw Sub Pop paying respect to the 15th anniversary of “Sun Giant” on their Instagram and it made me wonder “Is Sun Giant available on cassette?” Indeed, it is.
You can find it on Amazon. At the time of this post, it will run you $15.04. What an odd price. But okay.
Woah, that’s like life-size.
I must admit that I have never stopped to have a real listen of some Fleet Foxes stuff. That should maybe change:
Okay. Cool. Definitely for mood listening. If nothing else, I want the tape.
Alright, so, I am going to start a new thing on the blog; find a recent tape release or an upcoming one to feature every week. I will probably do a separate post for a classic one that looks interesting.
True, this is not some mind-blowing original idea I have here. But there are not many places posting about tape releases on any kind of regular basis (besides the awesome Tapehead City) so I want to change that maybe a little.
This week’s cassette tape featured release (the feature will need a better name): Mudhoney “Plastic Eternity”.
Hi. It’s Mikey The Tape Player here – playing tapes because I don’t have to.
Today, we are going to figure out how to start collecting cassette tapes. Where are the best places to begin learning?
I have been looking around the Internet, and these are the best blogs, websites, newsletters, and boards I have found for tape collecting, tape players, and cassette nerds. Hopefully, there are some you don’t know about yet, and you’ll be all “Oh rad! I didn’t know about this one!”
Tabs Out. A hilarious podcast that plays tapes of mostly experimental music from dedicated tape labels. Also, reviews submitted tapes.
Tapehead City. An online tape store, the ultimate spot for buying new releases and hard-to-find tapes.
Cassette Chronicles. This is a series on a website that looks back at some old albums and the tapes released around them.
Cassette Gods. It’s an old cassette review blog that was thought to be retired, but they did just put up a post wondering if anyone is still around. We are.
Cassette Comeback. A great website for buying sealed blank tapes and tape players.
Tape Lab. All kinds of music and tape stuff going on there.
I will come back to this post and add blogs or sites when I find another one worthy.
Links to Cassette Tape History and Important Collector Posts
Photo Ryan J Lane/Getty Images
I have been trying to learn about what I have been missing out on with tape collecting and the history of it. There has always been a huge nostalgia element for me, but I have left it there, previously, not letting myself go down the tape nerd rabbit hole.
But now I am ready to listen deeper and find out more. So, here are some posts that I found to help me and I hope they will help you.
There is a pretty decent amount of cassette tape-related YouTube channels and videos. I am just showing a couple of basic starting out relevant videos – I will do another post with some of the best people to follow.
A positive take on why cassettes right now:
And a more negative? stance:
Okay, hope this helps you start or solidify your tape collecting. If there are any you think I missed, please feel free to comment on this post with the website I missed.
Soon I will be digging into the eBay and Amazon world of collecting tapes and I will rewind and playback my experiences.
