Top 200 Tapes Of 2016

Let’s not kid ourselves - 2016 was a fucking disaster. The entire year was like a waiter clearing a table, stacking up far too many plates and glasses in a Jenga-like tower, and the second they step away from the table the restaurant explodes. But tapes? Tapes did just fine in 2016. Actually, I take that back. Tapes had a blast in 2016, with familiar and fresh names both permeating profound vibes on the fringes of weirdo tape culture. Over the last twelve months around 1,000 little spooled suckers made their way over to Tabs Out headquarters, and we listened to every one of them. Some not all the way through of course . Let’s be real, A LOT of them were garbage, but most were fantastic and provided a glimmer of hope during this jerk of a year. So here they are: Our 200 favorite tapes from the year - IN PERFECT ORDER!!! Please do not tell us what you think should or shouldn’t be on the list. We are literally the smartest people we know and got this very VERY right. Just like previous years [‘13, ‘14, ‘15] we only included tapes that we had a physical copy of. Enjoy!

#1: Jake Tobin “Sorta Upset!” (Haord)

#2: Belarisk “Greys, Escaped” (Moss Archive)

#3: TALsounds “Lifter + Lighter” (Hausu Mountain)

#4: Khaki Blazer “Gelatinous Ground” (Unifactor)

#5: Charles Barabé “Les Dernières Confessions” (Orange Milk)

#6: Ben Bennett “Trap”(Astral Spirits)

#7: 75 Dollar Bill “Wood/Metal/Plastic Pattern/Rhythm/Rock” (Thin Wrist)

#8: Hippies Wearing Muzzles “Animist Pools” (Human Pitch)

#9: Brett Naucke “Executable Dreamtime” (Umor Rex)

#10: Sam Goldberg “Kiss Me While I Excuse The Sky”(Unifactor)

#11: The Spiritual Switchboard “Post-Age Variations” (Baked)

#12: Fletcher Pratt “Dub Sessions Vol.3” (Crash Symbols)

#13: Joseph Bastardo “deCordova” (Phinery)

#14: P.H.O.R.K. “Time Is The Instrument” (Pastel Voids)

#15: German Army “Yanomami” (Sacred Phrases)

#16: Maharadja Sweets “The Caprice Of Young Gods” (Oxtail)

#17: Various Artists “Compilation Two” (Noumenal Loom)

#18: 21st Century Wolf “Ideographic Space” (Sacred Phrases)

#19: M. Geddes Gengras “Two Variations” (Umor Rex)

#20: Max Eilbacher, Alex Moskos, Duncan Moore “SEF III” (Ehse)

#21: Mukqs / DJWWWW split (Phinery)

#22: Energy Star s/t (Perfect Wave)

#23: Bastian Void “Nippon” (Moss Archive)

#24: Doberman “Alley Walkers” (Castle Bravo)

#25: Emerging Industries of Wuppertal “Transformation Cues” (Strategic Tape Reserve)

#26: Shingles “Untitled Jazz Tape” (self released)

#27: Jake Tobin “Accidently On Purpose” (OSR)

#28: M.Sage “Rife W/ Typo” (Orange Milk)

#29: MrDougDoug “SOS Forks AI REM” (Hausu Mountain)

#30: IMF “Harlem Electronics” (Pilgrim Talk)

#31: Yves Malone “Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life” (Field Hymns)

#32: TALsounds “Natal Host” (Twin Spring)

#33: Tether “Mirror Finish” (Refulgent Sepulcher)

#34: Trogpite “Wife And Kid” (No Rent)

#35: Bary Center “No Stars” (MJMJ)

#36: LRN GRN “Easy Spirits/Grape Perfume” (Keeled Scales)

#37: Sparkling Wide Pressure “Answerer” (Patient Sounds)

#38: Kyle Landstra/Ross Fish split (Oxtail)

#39: AAA “Fruit” (Elestial Sound)

#40: Network Glass “100 Busy” (No Rent)

#41: Euglossine “Canopy Stories” (Orange Milk)

#42: Charles Barabé “Cicatrices” (Never Anything)

#43: Alexandra Atnif “Fatt Grabbers: 015” (Fatt Grabbers)

#44: Sea Of Dogs “Through The Fog And The Driftwood” (Bedlam)

#45: Mukqs “Walkthrough” (Hausu Mountain)

#46: Semănat “Duobė” (III Arms)

#47: Peter Kris “Labrador” (Never Anything)

#48: Final Machine “Lohaden” (Entertainment Systems)

#49: Hatchers “The Riverside Suite” (Heat Retention)

#50: Plains Druid / Lost Trail / Leaaves / Linden Pomeroy “Outdoor Games” (Third Kind)

#51: William Cody Watson “Patriot” (Lime Lodge)

#52: Various Artists “Half A Decade Of Chrome” (Field Hymns)

#53: Max Eisenberg / Max Eilbacher split (Ultraviolet Light)

#54: Stellfox / Low Flung split (Tandem)

#55: Various Artists “Stray Dog Volume 2” (Oxen)

#56: Andy Ortmann “Buchla On Tape” (Nihilist)

#57: Howard Stelzer “Normal Bias” (Ballast)

#58: Sodalite “Liquid Earth” (Illuminated Paths)

#59: Yves Malone “Death House 4” (Field Hymns)

#60: Panos Alexiadis “Promnesia” (Thalamos)

#61: Ink Jet “Cold Shoulder” (Gohan)

#62: M.Sage “Needleworks” (Patient Sounds)

#63: Tralphaz “Vortex” (Ratskin)

#64: German Army “General Survey On Growing Concerns” (Metaphysical Circuits)

#65: Rene Kia / Synaplop split (Lal Lal Lal)

#66: Body Morph “Keep Still And Be Devoured” (Soundholes)

#67: Nigro / Glass Frog split (Crescent)

#68: Talibam! And Alan Wilkinson “It Is Dangerous To Lean Out” (Astral Spirits)

#69: MrDougDoug “These Magical Numbers”  (self released)

#70: Andreas Brandal “Flames and Ether” (Oxtail)

#71: Curved Light “Prismatic / Loomstate” (Gentle Reminder)

#72: Howard Stelzer “Dawn Songs” (No Rent)

#73: Endurance “City Of Signals” (Illuminated Paths)

#74: Kösmonaut “Master Generator” (A Giant Fern)

#75: Mukqs / Constellation Botsu split (Suite 309)

#76: Photography “Letter Phone” (Playing Records)

#77: R. Stevie Moore “Nobody Pays Me Much Mind Until I’m Gone” (Doom Trip)

#78: Black Sand Desert & Unsustainable Social Condition (Oxen)

#79: Gelba / My Cat Is An Alien split (Old Bicycle)

#80: Bang! Bros “Food For Thoth” (Hausu Mountain)

#81: Mot “Rebecca’s Spit” (self released)

#82: rawmean / S/H/A/R/R/P/S & Ragged Lines split (Metaphysical Circuits)

#83: MUFF “Gunk” (FTAM)

#84: Gloga “Material Hangover” (Plush Oragnics)

#85: Rode Grey “Fiasco” (Nostorca)

#86: Christina Schneider “Violence Etcetera” (OSR)

#87: Nickolas Mohanna “Mantis” (Preservation)

#88: Mike Nigro “Vertical Music” (Oxtail)

#89: Shingles “Guantanamo Patchbay Vol. 4: Drift Studies “ (self released)

#90: Bitchin Bajas & Bonnie Prince Billy “Live - Cafe Oto Residency” (self released)

#91: German Army “Diego Garcia” (Wounded Knife)

#92: Synthetic Juice s/t (self released)

#93: Mudd Corp “Loserlord” (Third Kind)

#94: Gerritt Wittmer “Unknowns” (No Rent)

#95: Chefkirk / S27E152 split (Bicephalic)

#96: Ama Divers “An Echo In The Sound” (No Rent)

#97: -otron “Doze On” (self released)

#98: Glass Frog “Hakuna Montuno” (Oxtail)

#99: Max Eilbacher “Schizophrenia As Architecture” (NNA)

#100: UFO Över Lappland s/t (Fluere)

#101: Marshall Art “Gallery” (self released)

#102: Constrain “The Boundary” (Oxen)

#103: Giulio Aldinucci / Moon Ra split (No Problema)

#104: R Magellin “Sleepy TV” (OJC)

#105: Yorishiro “I” (Constellation Tatsu)

#106: ROM “Possible Mountain” (Hausu Mountain)

#107: Die Reihe “Housed” (NNA)

#108: Obligate Surrogate s/t (The Order Of The End Result)

#109: Glou Glou “Fey Flight Founders” (Full Spectrum)

#110: Knives of Spain “Telluric” (Hairy Spider Legs)

#111: Kiran Arora “The Good Times Are Over For Good” (Oxen)

#112: Fenkoff “Slweep Diwrms” (Tingo Tongo)

#113: Ottaven “Sequenze Per Raffigurazioni Mentali #1” (Sincope)

#114: Softest “Six Wishes” (Inner Islands)

#115: Rambutan “Universal Impulses” (These Are Not Records)

#116: Ethereal And The Queer Show “Fairy Super Crystal Blue” (Noumenal Loom)

#117: Dang Olsten Dream Tape “Zonk” (Constellation Tatsu)

#118: Jimmie Packard “Singing Your Requests” (OSR)

#119: Spliff Jacksun “Memory Display” (Haju)

#120: Tata Duende s/t (self released)

#121: Jeweled Snakes “Flesh Lab” (Midori)

#122: Lunaria “All Is Dream” (Sounds Of The Dawn)

#123: Ovis Aurum “Nocturnal Pools” (Fort Evil Fruit)

#124: C. Reider “Sophist I & II” (self released)

#125: Astrokade “Memoryfoam” (Kitchen Dweller)

#126: Ela Orleans “Circles of Upper Hell” (Oma333)

#127: Avery Gabbiano “Oracles & Chambers” (Spring Break)

#128: ARU Meets Black Saturn “Saturated” (Personal Archives)

#129: Giovanni Lami “Opale” (Dinzu Artefacts)

#130: Hillboggle “Up The Country With Hillboggle” (Crash Symbols)

#131: Seabuckthorn “I Could See the Smoke” (Lost Tribe Sound)

#132: Various Artists “Eclectic Sessions Volume 2” (Ramp Local)

#133: Fame Circle “Fail Circle” (Social Harmony)

#134: Bridges of Konigsberg “The Lawrence Tapes” (Phage)

#135: Cob Raw s/t (Gleauxing)

#136: Jay Glass Dubs “New Teeth For An Old Country” (Bokeh Versions)

#137: Various Artists “Death On The Hour” (Geographic North)

#138: Stress Orphan “Cadaver Politik” (Denver State)

#139: Shapes / Melfi split (Umor Rex)

#140: Max Kuiper & Thorsten Soltau “Animi Sub Volpe Latentes” (Chondritic Sound)

#141: Kösmonaut “Songs For Healing” (These Are Not Records)

#142: Wild Anima “Blue Twenty-Two” (Blue Tapes)

#143: Miguel A. García / August Traeger split (Bicephalic)

#144: $3.33 “Just A Dip, No Why” (Dzang)

#145: Data Rainbow “Rave Death” (Crippled Sounds)

#146: Maar “Absolute Delay” (Umor Rex)

#147: DJWWWW “Arigato” (Orange Milk)

#148: Sister / Body “Spells” (Baba Vanga)

#149: Rat Killer “Odor Orienting” (Crash Symbols)

#150: A Bleaker Teen Lip “Downgraded Saved Arrow” (FTAM)

#151: V N C F “P L E A S U R E D I S T R I C T” (Bonding)

#152: Christian Mirande “Foxbat” (No Rent)

#153: qualchan. “Smoke Break” (Magical Garage Taste)

#154: Comfort Food “Waffle Frolic” (Already Dead)

#155: Reef Frequent “Emperor” (Bedlam)

#156: Tim Gray “Sandstone” (Ethernet)

#157: East Of The Valley Blue s/t (self released)

#158: Kane Pour “Vision Crayon” (Field Hymns)

#159: Map Collection s/t (Midori)

#160: Apple ][プラス ‎“Applesoft” (Poor Little Music)

#161: Sun Hammer “Mahamudra” (Full Spectrum)

#162: Braeyden Jae / Amulets split (Horror Fiction)

#163: Pay The Rent “Soft On Glass” (White Reeves Productions)

#164: Bean Snack “Crispy Duct” (Personal Archives)

#165: Flux Bikes / Sueñolas split (Lake Paradise)

#166: The Kendal Mintcake “All​-​Star Erotic Hypnosis” (Big Sleep)

#167: Beast Nest “Taste Of India” (Ratskin)

#168: Tape000 “Dream” (OTA)

#169: Bilhazia / Soy Fan Del Dark split (CountryM)

#170: Anime Love Hotel “Mami” (Oxen)

#171: Ozark “Boombox” (Haju)

#172: Poop Dood / Igor Amokian split (Tingo Tongo)

#173: Hard Bodies s/t (III Arms)

#174: Moon Lagoon “How Do I Get Out Of Here” (5nakefork)

#175: Dino Felipe “PRŌJEKT​!​” (Other Electricities)

#176: Pal+ “Pictorial” (OTA)

#177: Cop Funeral “2Stressed 2B Blessed” (Already Dead)

#178: Myttys “Sloggilukio” (Oma333)

#179: Sir Baar “Never Woke Up” (self released)

#180: SCY1E “Canard” (Speaker Footage)

#181: Used Condo “American Birthstone” (Suite 309)

#182: Jake Meginsky “Seven Psychotropic Sinewave Palindromes” (NNA)

#183: Lady Shame s/t (Hairy Spider Legs)

#184: Dwayne Rifle s/t (White Reeves Productions)

#185: Church Shuttle “Zone6 Chiller” (Irrational Tentent)

#186: Endless Chasm “Harm Health” (Lurker Bias)

#187: Bastard Noise “Dedicated To Koji Tano” (Kitty Play)

#188: Noel Meek “The Lothian Tapes”(Bunkland)

#189: Future Ape Tapes “1093” (Fall Break)

#190: Jeffry Astin + J.P. Wright “Fragrant Bush” (Housecraft)

#191: Sapphogeist s/t (No Rent)

#192: Shalt “Acheron” (Astral Plane)

#193: Chimess “Growth” (Cave)

#194: Chemiefaserwerk “Trajet” (Blue Tapes)

#195: Kate Carr “It Was A Time Of Laboured Metaphors” (The Helen Scarsdale Agency)

#196: BBJR “Pareidolia” (Already Dead)

#197: William Ryan Fritch “Ill Tides” (Lost Tribe Sound)

#198: Inner Travels “Clear Seeing” (Inner Islands)

#199: Chik White “Malform” (self released)

#200: Critterbone s/t (self released)