TAPE MUSIC (hard loops and pitched realities)

[Scream & Writhe]

While revisiting some MOT material yesterday I was reminded of how often Paul knocks it out of the park with deranged tape loops. Examples being the unsettling one in the back end of 'Unfit' from the Mangle tape with Violent Shogun (another tape wizard) https://absurdexposition.bandcamp.com/track/unfit and the hard loop on the New Forces tape.

Magnetic Coroner's "MC-19" tape also hits the sweet spot and just goes.

Who else is or was killing it on the tape front (harsh or otherwise)?

[adult human]

Zach Rowden can produce magic with little more than a marantz and a 4 track.

EDIT with link to a recent live show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipy421K ... Serrambana

[Happiness, forever]

Forever and always, Howard Steltzer, master of cassette tape

[murmur]

Great topic. I really enjoy Mercury Hall/Kam Hassah’s music. There’s also tape-y noise, like Haudat and Arthur Canterbury. Moss Harvest is amazing. The project isn’t active, but Fresh Water Girls straddled the line really well.

Edit: links
Mercury Hall: https://youtu.be/TLtyOd405_s
Kam Hassah: https://youtu.be/KSTdw3XWTGo
Haudat: https://satatuhatta.bandcamp.com/album/energiavampyyri
Arthur Canterbury: https://on.soundcloud.com/6ECne
Moss Harvest: https://mossharvest.bandcamp.com/album/aerosol-ep
Fresh Water Girls: https://freshwatergirls.bandcamp.com/al ... -girls-s-t

[Remi]

May I requests links if there are any when you guys mention names or releases, please ? I am obviously interested.

Mandatory mentions as far as I'm concerned, and obvious examples as well, are Altar Of Flies and Höh.

For AOF: https://whitecentipedenoise.bandcamp.com/album/terblick

For Höh : https://youtu.be/DjGOX8ZCaWg

[adult human]

Great topic. I really enjoy Mercury Hall/Kam Hassah’s music. There’s also tape-y noise, like Haudat and Arthur Canterbury. Moss Harvest is amazing. The project isn’t active, but Fresh Water Girls straddled the line really well.

Edit: links
Mercury Hall: https://youtu.be/TLtyOd405_s
Kam Hassah: https://youtu.be/KSTdw3XWTGo
Haudat: https://satatuhatta.bandcamp.com/album/energiavampyyri
Arthur Canterbury: https://on.soundcloud.com/6ECne
Moss Harvest: https://buriedinslaganddebris.bandcamp.com/album/infra
Fresh Water Girls: https://freshwatergirls.bandcamp.com/al ... -girls-s-t

Great recommendations. A few things here such as Haudat and Moss Harvest I hadn't heard before which sound great. Arthur Canterbury is just....something else. For something so simple and kind of harkening back to a cruder time and way of doing things I have no idea how it manages to be so standout and brilliant!

I don't really know if it's right to lump Spring of Life's Underdog into a 'tape music' category, not least because I don't know for sure if tape is a heavy component or not. It definitely sounds like it though so let's run with it, because it remains one of the most perfect things to have come out in the last handful of years. https://youtu.be/1ZAJIFdTwt8

[murmur]

Great topic. I really enjoy Mercury Hall/Kam Hassah’s music. There’s also tape-y noise, like Haudat and Arthur Canterbury. Moss Harvest is amazing. The project isn’t active, but Fresh Water Girls straddled the line really well.

Edit: links
Mercury Hall: https://youtu.be/TLtyOd405_s
Kam Hassah: https://youtu.be/KSTdw3XWTGo
Haudat: https://satatuhatta.bandcamp.com/album/energiavampyyri
Arthur Canterbury: https://on.soundcloud.com/6ECne
Moss Harvest: https://buriedinslaganddebris.bandcamp.com/album/infra
Fresh Water Girls: https://freshwatergirls.bandcamp.com/al ... -girls-s-t

Great recommendations. A few things here such as Haudat and Moss Harvest I hadn't heard before which sound great. Arthur Canterbury is just....something else. For something so simple and kind of harkening back to a cruder time and way of doing things I have no idea how it manages to be so standout and brilliant!

I don't really know if it's right to lump Spring of Life's Underdog into a 'tape music' category, not least because I don't know for sure if tape is a heavy component or not. It definitely sounds like it though so let's run with it, because it remains one of the most perfect things to have come out in the last handful of years. https://youtu.be/1ZAJIFdTwt8

Spring of Life is great - the new tape, Interference, is so good.

[Capers]

Jason Zeh is a favorite. Tape as source while literally torturing the tape, what's not to like? Very different from alot of what has been mentioned here so far though. My favorite is probably the LP on Crippled Intellect, A Vacant Lot To Be In, and the CD on the same label, Heraclitus. A decade since he quit recording noise now, but the stuff is out there, and cheap too. Plenty of live clips on youtube, but little or no streaming of his recorded output. Americans who were arpund to catch him live all attest to the guy's genius.

[adult human]

Jason Zeh is a favorite. Tape as source while literally torturing the tape, what's not to like? Very different from alot of what has been mentioned here so far though. My favorite is probably the LP on Crippled Intellect, A Vacant Lot To Be In, and the CD on the same label, Heraclitus. A decade since he quit recording noise now, but the stuff is out there, and cheap too. Plenty of live clips on youtube, but little or no streaming of his recorded output. Americans who were arpund to catch him live all attest to the guy's genius.

Y'know his name is instantly one of the first I think of whenever questions like this come up. I always stop short of recommending him though, partially because it's been a while since I spun any of it but also because I don't know if my memory of how great it was really accords with how I'd feel about it now? Undoubtedly great to have witnessed him live and I definitely played that LP a few times when I got it but I don't remember anything that striking of it truth told. I even get a faint sense that his live performance may have been somewhat...gimmicky now?! The genius you mention is without question in terms of his innovations with the medium - all kinds of interesting, often brutish modifications to cassettes and playback devices alike. But I can't honestly say whether that translated to captivating sounds or not. The big take away is that I need to revisit, obviously. Perhaps I'll report back so we can all track in real time how in/correct I was!

[SS1535]

Zach Rowden can produce magic with little more than a marantz and a 4 track.

EDIT with link to a recent live show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipy421K ... Serrambana

This sounds FANTASTIC. I only wish that the camera angle allowed a better view of what he is doing!

[adult human]

Zach Rowden can produce magic with little more than a marantz and a 4 track.

EDIT with link to a recent live show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipy421K ... Serrambana

This sounds FANTASTIC. I only wish that the camera angle allowed a better view of what he is doing!

Glad you like it! I urge you to check out his other material https://zachrowden.bandcamp.com/

He does a lot of different things, essentially splitting his time between instrumental/ensemble music and stuff like this. You may have to dig around a bit to find what you want if it's this specific sound you're into but there's plenty of it, all well worth your time.

[SS1535]

Zach Rowden can produce magic with little more than a marantz and a 4 track.

EDIT with link to a recent live show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipy421K ... Serrambana

This sounds FANTASTIC. I only wish that the camera angle allowed a better view of what he is doing!

Glad you like it! I urge you to check out his other material https://zachrowden.bandcamp.com/

He does a lot of different things, essentially splitting his time between instrumental/ensemble music and stuff like this. You may have to dig around a bit to find what you want if it's this specific sound you're into but there's plenty of it, all well worth your time.

Thanks! I really like the ambient-leaning pieces. Acoustic atmospheres, almost post-tribal.

[December Man]

How has Shredded Nerve not been mentioned? I know he has a new album out, but this one in particular is a favorite:
https://chondriticsound.bandcamp.com/al ... f-betrayal

Alleypisser always killed it, too.
https://alleypisser.bandcamp.com

[New Forces]

Yes, Shredded Nerve: https://newforces.bandcamp.com/album/third-sign

[Tribe Tapes]

James Levine in 1987 recorded the aptly-titled “Music To Listen To Other Tapes By” with his project Croiners. Known for his rabble-rousing, often comedic live sets, Jim is still out there (see comments) but most of his physical traces have vanished into the ether.

[Tribe Tapes]

Forever and always, Howard Steltzer, master of cassette tape

Seconded. He could be worthy of a thread of its own for discussion. An incredibly varied discography, touching on tape music in its every form.