15 Best Cassette Releases Of 2012
Cassettes continued to reign in what sometimes seems like an alternate universe though most of the releases travel far beyond cassette decks with tandem digital releases if not LPs or CDs. Two cassette specialists recently shared their top 15 lists of cassette releases from 2012, Luke Carrell for Impose Magazine and Sean Gray for DCist. Each gives a very different take on what was most outstanding in the land of throwback formats.
I've been wanting to return to the topic of cassette releases and the end of the year gives me two great roundups of top cassette releases for 2012 to reintroduce the topic. Luke Carrell, who writes for International Tapes, presented The Best Cassette Releases of 2012 for Impose Magazine while Sean Gray, of Fan Death Records, debuted his Reality Breakdown column for the DCist with The 15 Best Cassettes of 2012.
The result is two top 15 cassette releases lists that sound rather different. Click through to the articles for more music and links.
Luke Carrell – The Best Cassette Releases of 2012
Angelo Harmsworth – Silent Orgasm (Bathetic Records)
Branches – Ninguém É Como Tu (Solid Melts)
Brother Sun, Sister Moon – Brother Sun, Sister Moon (Cooper Cult)
Free Weed – Free (Lillerne Tapes)
Patrick Higgins – STEREO (Words+Dreams)
hamaYôko – La Tour des cranes (Male Bonding)
HOUNDsds – Phone Thou (Chill Mega Chill Record.)
Katrina Stoneheart – Katrina Stoneheart (Lillerne Tapes)
Lazy Magnet – Crystal Cassette (Night-People)
Magic Eye – Shreddin’ on Heaven’s Floor (Animal Image Search)
Oliwa – Rituals (Zeon Light Kassett)
Parquet Courts – American Specialties (Night Moves)
Power Animal – Exorcism (Crash Symbols)
Troller – Troller (Holodeck Records)
The Undertakers – The Undertakers (Burger Records)
Sean Gray – Reality Breakdown: The 15 Best Cassettes of 2012
Abject Pax – Demo (Self-released)
Astromason and Blue Sabbath Black Cheer – Endless Black (Worthless Recordings)
Black James – im A mirAcle (Farfetched)
Cloudface – Wyre Drive (Nice Up)
East Link – East Link (Creep Dreams)
Hive Mind – They Made Me The Keeper Of The Vineyards (Chondritic Sound)
In School – Demo (Self-released)
Ingrown – Demo (Self-released)
S.H.I.T. – Demo (Self-released)
Shoxx – Demo (c6 Recordings)
Speedy Ortiz – Sports EP (Hidden Temple)
Stillsuit – Demo (Self-released)
Technicolor Teeth – Teenage Pagans (Let's Pretend)
Vatican Shadow – Ghosts of Chechnya (Hospital Productions)
York Factory Complaint – The Grieving Process (Nostilevo)
More:
- Is A Cassette Tape Release In Your Future?
- Dinosaur Jr. Joins Cassette Revival
- CASSETTE: A Documentary In Final Days Of Kickstarter Campaign
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (Twitter/App.net) blogs about music crowdfunding at Crowdfunding For Musicians (@CrowdfundingM). To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
Umm… you guys totally missed the BEST cassette release of the year. It’s called Cassette and it was made by Jonwayne on Stones Throw records.
https://www.stonesthrow.com/news/2012/07/jonwayne-cassette
the real question is Why? talk about a dead format that’s going nowhere again. here’s a tip about cassettes–they sound like crap and wear out quickly. there’s nothing hip about it.
Hold up ! Australian producer Debonair P + Global Platoon released this Ltd Edition Cassette in 2012.
http://six2sixrecords.bandcamp.com/album/g8-summit-12-ep
Cassette featured Bonus tracks not available on 12″ Vinyl release ..