Cassette Tapes Are Living Things That Die a Little Bit Every Time You Play Them
For today, I will directly pull from this post by Today’s Tape on Instagram:
Remember that monologue by Virginia Madsen’s character in “Sideways,” the one on how a bottle of wine is “actually alive?” I think the same can be said about this album, specifically on tape.
Sometimes when I listen to this, I can’t help but think about the days when The Boss wrote and recorded these songs. Was the sun shining? Did it rain? How far was he from the mic? Just how much time did that Maxell cassette tape spend in his shirt pocket? And is that storied Tascam recorder still functioning now?
There’s evidently an audible hiss running through this album, and due to the circumstances behind its recording, the hiss actually gets louder whenever the songs start playing. It’s like the sonic equivalent of grain on film. At certain points, it gets buried in his voice and the music. We may not notice it, but it’s always just there.
I won’t go as far as saying this sounds better on tape — what “sounds good,” after all, is subjective, and I don’t want to fetishize a format. Still, at the end of every hard-earned day, the music and stories are what draw us in. I’d like to think they’re what actually make this tape alive.
Thank you for that post, TodaysTape.
I love thinking that (more than any other format) a cassette tape is alive. It changes a tiny bit after each listen. No two listens are the same.
Does it get better over time? We know it doesn’t. A cassette is not a bottle of wine or a barrel-aged beer. But it changes. It “lives” as much as an object can. And that is interesting, at least.
Now to go out and get me a Nebraska tape.
New Tape Tuesday
I looked through last Friday’s new releases and there was very little in the way of cassettes. But, I found this newish tape from The Wiffs. And this first-time-on-cassette album from Sleater Kinney ‘The Woods’ - released 19 years ago this week:
Thank you so much for opening. Enjoy your week and I hope no tapes die on you this week.
-Mikey