tapes
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“a mic at a window…”
Presque Tout launched in 2019 as a Bandcamp page, a humble ongoing digital archive of field recordings from around the world. Anyone can participate, and the parameters for inclusion are very straightforward: Make a recording from an open window, with no editing and minimal signal processing, and then email it to them. Submissions took off during the pandemic,…
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COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
This episode features Giuseppe Esposito, a Neapolitan musician who runs the tape label Archivio Diafònico, an operation that mostly documents artists who are based in Napoli. The chaotic and bustling capital of the South of Italy undeservedly gets a bad reputation, and the city has a vibrant cultural scene and rich history that is sorely…
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Sound Propositions: The Tapeworm
This year marks the tenth anniversary of The Tapeworm, the London-based cassette-only label founded by Philip Marshall. In the years since, the label has branched out into The Wormhole, an avenue for experiments with non-tape formats, and The Bookworm, their publishing venture. The broader press reaction to the so-called tape revival of the last decade…
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Inverted Microphones: Giovanni Lami’s Tapeocracy
In the film Il Postino (1994), the titular Postman becomes inspired to express himself after encountering the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, living in exile on a small island in the south of Italy. Neruda helps the Postman, Mario, to pursue his own Beatrice, standing in for Dante’s ideal woman. The Postman successfully courts his love,…
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Canti Magnetici ~ Tape Batch #2: Luca Garino, Videobasic, Absent Outfit, Danny Clay + Greg Gorlen
Serious question: Why release music on tape? The resurgence of tape labels in recent years has been met with a seemingly never-ending flood of condescending think pieces. I’m against fetishization and nostalgia more than most, yet I think it’s important we take seriously that for some the tape never went away, and if the current…
Sound Propositions 