CASSETTE CULTURE

FRANCESCA BAKER INVESTIGATES THE ENDURING APPEAL OF THE TAPE & SPEAKS TO THE LABELS & BANDS BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO THE FORMAT

Ask anyone over a certain age the best way to express affection, or to while away an afternoon in musical reverie, and they will give you the same answer. Make a mixtape. Being able to blend the perfect combination of songs, and record them without hissing or someone talking over it was an art. And it’s not just due to the music on them, as we can make a playlist on any electronic device, but the format itself. A sort of inexplicable magic.

Sales of the cassette peaked in the eighties when Sony introduced the Walkman, before CDs took over in the nineties, and mp3s rendered both formats almost obsolete in more recent years. Although the mp3 is certainly convenient, it’s never really inspired a passion in people. Many bands and listeners still like the physical

product, but whilst CDs have never evoked an affection in music listeners, records and cassettes have managed to forge an emotional connection, and more bands and labels are embracing them as a medium for their music. Vinyl sales have soared, reaching their highest levels in fifteen years in 2013, with the superior sound quality being cited as one reason.

But why tapes? The sound isn’t great, they take ages to produce, and hardly anyone owns a cassette player any more. Yet ‘it feels they're more precious than say a CD, like a musical jewel forgotten in the sands of time that's fighting its way back’ says Al from Whitechapel based Fluffer Records.

There is certainly a romance in the underdog coming back. Tapes are cool, creative and cheap; the latter being one of the predominant appeals.

As record company budgets decrease and fewer risks are being taken on new bands, there is a resurgence in the DIY mentality. As a cheap, organic and easy way of putting music out there, with a physical product to remain, cassettes are ideal. The low cost makes them hugely attractive to labels, bands and consumers. Number 4 Door was started from Gus’s bedroom, funding it with the last of his student loan after dropping out of university. So many bands and labels have released on vinyl only to find themselves with 500 records under their coffee table for the next six years. Tapes can be cheaply and simply produced in small batches, meaning that there is a lower financial risk – facilitating a greater creative one. Owen from Liquid Library (motto: lo- fi ‘til we die) confirms that a big incentive for them was that ‘They’re currently super- cheap to make and sell and we were/are pretty damn broke.’

Cassette tapes will never have the monopoly on sound quality, but there’s a certain authenticity that comes from them, and the slightly scuzzy, fuzzed out C86 sound has seen a resurgence in recent years. There’s a roughness and quirkiness to the recording which allows for each band to share their personality through their delivery. ‘Cassettes offer the artist/band the freedom to create a home grown sound that reflects them completely’ say Two Piece Records. ‘Each artist harvests a different sound with their own little kinks, in

Contrast to crisp, high quality recordings.’

And of course when bands are recording, they want their music to be listened to. All of their music. The cry of the death of the album is one that music lovers are used to hearing, and the temptation to skip tracks and select certain songs has meant that the story and process of an album is often lost. Anyone who has wasted what seems like hours fast forwarding and rewinding a tape to find the perfect place to stop will know that it is easier just to let the whole thing play, and so the tape recording offers an experience that mp3s do not.

As with all new fads, or resurgences of old ones, there’s a hint of hipsterdom in the air. It might not be practical to buy cassettes, but that doesn’t stop people wanting them. Iosu from Bournemouth band GGGHOST TOWNNN notes how they are ‘seen as vintage objects and despite them being a pain in the ass to use, things

from the past will always have a lot of charm.’ But it’s not always about nostalgia. Hitoe and Tasmin who run Two Piece Records only started listening to cassettes recently when they started noticing great looking tapes on merch tables, going for free. Pocket sized and able to be tucked into a bag after a gig, they seemed an easy and tangible way of fans keeping a momento of the gig and the band. ‘Never trust a format you can't throw at someone.’ advises Jed from POST/POP, only semi- joking.

This physicality is important. Whilst we may blame the internet for the initial decline of cassettes and records, Owen from Liquid Library reminds us that we can also praise it for the resurgence. ‘With the rise of MP3s and non- physical music consumption came a realisation of how much we value music we can actually hold in our



hands. Tapes in a particular are just one little rectangular piece of a larger process.’

The resurgence of vinyl has helped drag the analogue format up, albeit on a slightly smaller scale. There’s even a Cassette Store Day now, following the success of Record Store Day. Figures for cassette sales are difficult to come by, and fractional compared to other formats, but there have been some successes. POST/POP released a new record by Ash for Cassette Store Day 2014 and it became the best selling album on Bandcamp across any format. It outsold CDs, Vinyl AND MP3s that weekend, which is the first time a cassette tape has ever done that in Bandcamp history. Tape.ly takes the offline online with its web based version of the mix tape, drawing on the imagery of cassettes for the playlist interface.

The overall aesthetic appeal is not to be underestimated. Take a look at the covers for releases from Liquid Librarian and you will find old photos, papier mache and tobacco used to decorate. One Post/Pop release, featuring Johnny Foreigner, Dutch Uncles, Pulled Apart By Horses and Joy Formidable came with free 3D glasses. GGGHOST TOWNNN released a rather