The Bristol label turn their attention to the ZamZam Sounds-affiliated ’90s US dub outfit.
The Young Echo footsoldiers drop a single track of sombre soul on 7”.
The second week of our end of year round up commences as resident spool collector Tony Poland runs down his top 10 cassette releases of 2014.
A growing obsession is on full display as our editor raids his collection of tapes for a 90-minute mix of ambient, crunched electronics and noise.
Cassettes from El Kid, Filter Dread and Lily will be pressed to vinyl in a deluxe box set from the Bristol label.
Preview the shadowy dub enclave’s upcoming tape for the Bristol label.
If there is one great thing about the cassette revival, it is surely the platform it gives to long-form and willfully obtuse musical exploration. Where a side of vinyl will forever have the potential for club use no matter what the content, the tape is destined to be listened to with a clandestine air around it, the detuning shelf-life of the medium lending itself to degraded music. There is after all a reason that a vast majority of the music released on tape these days appears to be lo-fi industrial, drone, noise and other such avant-garde concerns.
I’m not really a person to make new year’s resolutions that I can’t keep, but this year I’ve decided that on those rare weekend mornings when I’m not wishing to scrape the contents of my own alcohol soaked brain out, I’ll be listening to music for pleasure. Whether it’s the deluge of digital promos, the urge to mix some records together or just using it as a means of blocking out the incessant drone of London life, I find the amount of time I spend properly listening to music greatly reduced. Part of this is undoubtedly the prevalence of MP3s; without a certain physicality listening becomes something we can do anywhere, and not necessarily for the better. As a way of countering that, I’ve been delving into the murky world of cassettes, taking my chances on whatever has the nicest artwork, or the more enticing description and simply waiting for the delivery of a small plastic box contained in a jiffy bag. Confined to the kitchen where my sole cassette radio player resides, I’m locked into one place for as long as it takes the tape to play.
El Kid is the next member of the Young Echo collective to grace the tape imprint No Corner with the soon to drop Labyrinths EP – get a taste of what to expect here.