The year end episode! The List! Visits from Delaware Dan, Scott Scholz, Liz & Dwight from Crash Symbols, Eamon from Strategic Tape Reserve, and More Eaze!
Chinese Cigarettes – Salty (100% Bootleg Cassette Tape Company) Graphics – The Great Unconfusing (Lurker Bias) Rainbows Made of Meat – Royal Sweet Cantabile (Waste Management Recordings) Carrie DeCunzo – Loam (Hold) Angelwings Marmalade – As The Motherboard Watched Back (Strategic Tape Reserve) Budokan Boys – Are You Sick? (Strategic Tape Reserve) Goodbye Ranger – Live on TBD Vol.1 compilation (TBD Tapes) Stylianos Ou – Voukolika Tragoudia (Drongo) —__–____ – Night of Fire (Orange Milk)
The year end episode! The List! Visits from Delaware Dan, Scott Scholz, Liz & Dwight from Crash Symbols, Eamon from Strategic Tape Reserve, and More Eaze!
Chinese Cigarettes – Salty (100% Bootleg Cassette Tape Company) Graphics – The Great Unconfusing (Lurker Bias) Rainbows Made of Meat – Royal Sweet Cantabile (Waste Management Recordings) Carrie DeCunzo – Loam (Hold) Angelwings Marmalade – As The Motherboard Watched Back (Strategic Tape Reserve) Budokan Boys – Are You Sick? (Strategic Tape Reserve) Goodbye Ranger – Live on TBD Vol.1 compilation (TBD Tapes) Stylianos Ou – Voukolika Tragoudia (Drongo) —__–____ – Night of Fire (Orange Milk)
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Four years into “helping” Tabs Out, I basically went on sabbatical by early January. There’s a combination of factors, mostly school (that which I did graduate and immediately take a full time job that will make future coverage infrequent at best), that really uprooted and took away the passion for tape blogging with depth and whimsy I could really afford. Still, 2024 was probably the most I felt I was actively collecting new releases I was keen on and knew would make for great additions to my library. In that alone, I feel like I kept some semblance of my nose to the brimstone and that this list had something of merit.
And when I did write, it was because the tapes were just that good and I needed to pen a message in a bottle to someone somewhere knowing they were on one. Hopefully 2025 keeps kicking that up, and my plan for an eventual “Top 136 of the Decade So Far” will take off. Until then, I’m going to let the podcast + the list (with a handful of write-ups) take priority.
There are 2 titles in the top 10 this year that to me, set new benchmarks for in a modern, omnibus Americana sound. One that’s been percolating the entire time I’ve been paying attention to tape music, but continually feels more like transmissions between great artists and scenes who just adore each other and are growing together; it’s a sound that gives me hope and seems predestined to continually evolve even in a time where major outposts like Full Spectrum and Never Anything are clocking out and moving on & European tape labels seem to be the bastions for new weird regional sounds, while also doing dutiful documentation of these domestic occurrences.
All of Mari’s music as More Eaze across the 2020s has had an incredible heart and limitless direction; so punchdrunk and inviting, carrying itself assuredly across her many projects. lacuna and parlor is no exception and quite possibly the best introduction to More Eaze as an artist, as well as why ferric remains supreme for the underground sounds of 2024 and beyond.
It is the umpteenth More Eaze album and her umpteenth appearance on the list. Fortunately, Mari briefly hopped on to tell us how the album came out of “The More Eaze method”, which is just a fancy way of saying that one life move to a big city opened a huge network of chances to collaborate (Eisenberg! Tomberlin! Zanca! just to name a few) and make chamber music in a style she’d been teasing for awhile; from 2024’s Paris Paris, Texas Texas to 2022’s Strawberry Season for Leaving, you’ve seen breadcrumbs of this, but never a full blown manipulation of tonal music theory into her own blissed out picnic. The changes are slight yet deep, a treat for the audiophile and patient ear.
lacuna and parlor anchor itself with a peak early on, “blanking intervals'” 19 minutes of minutes of pedal steel minimalism and soft Auto-Tune cooing, amongst Eisenberg’s guitar bringing blazing chaos and calamity. Yet this never once losing control or envelopes the recording whole. Meanwhile the b-side with pieces like “materials for memory”, “chords, room, solo”, and “a(nother) cadence”, sonically also spread out over a room, re-orienting ideas of classical tradition and sonically fluid meshes in ways similar to 75 Dollar Bill.
Of course, that kind of knack may be More Eaze’s leveraging emo-ambient to its fullest potential, expanding those bounds to this palette (and in 2025 she may just do it again with the grandfather of emo-ambient himself). If it is, then that explains how lacuna and parlor presents a fresh take on a tonal optimism last seen somewhere in turn of the century “post-rock”. A lost link between Gastr and Christina Vantzou; the dream of the ECM New Series but for artists who studied the Tomlab 00s roster and field recording microphones, perhaps. One that also puts Mari Rubio in the vanguard of Great American Mavericks (and friends to Cassette Enthusiasts).
This was not supposed to be here. B2B mari?! Well, Orange Milk put the tape up in a limited edition of 15. So you can buy one of the most fearless Orange Milk universe posse projects going . No, we don’t know how to say the name. All we know is that if you put that name in Contra you get 30 lives.
Phil Geraldi’s AM/FM USA was MY album of the year proper and I had that sorted by like January 3rd or 5th of 2024; this was probably why I couldn’t write all year really, like Phil just made the thing I was waiting for! This is the other Best Americana recording of the year, eschewing collaboration or the jubilant warmth of lacuna and parlor for a sort of Americana based on modern pop country inversions mixed with James Ferraro crossed with the landmark Chill Out (see also no. 143 on the list for a TERRIFIC KLF tribute), just without all those pesky rights issues! It still feels ancient and alien as much as an old friend.
The tape is at its core, a 40 minute ambient bro country pedal steel sketch tape. Phil used software to get the sounds and played around with it for a while, before then tying it to radio feedback and debris that could make two seamless suites of endless highway driving sonic roadmapping n’ “truck stop concrete”. Few tapes and few artists in this omnibus Americana have used radio in a way as necessary and engaging here (Lia Kohl & the Bridgette Bardon’t alias still come to mind as other worthy examples). The result is that AM/FM USA sounds like Nebraska from the perspective of the cars over the drivers caught in the cold behemoths. It chases for things that are cyclical and never going to get to, always to fall out of site beyond the horizon line. It channels the sublime and chases its love.
4 Yellow Swans – Out Of Practice I + II (CollectiveJyrk)
Yellow Swans continue a period of being “not quite dormant” with another 2 tapes collecting 2023 reunion live material. And can you believe it? They rock. We prefer I to II, but you gotta take them as a whole.
Tabs Out East Coast HQ favorite! Ingrown’s been on a hot streak after taking a hiatus and the Urusula’s Cartridges is amongst the best tapes in the label’s history. The hyper-octane energy is a concise BOLT to the system. It’ll snap an unsuspecting spine in two and cure any aural migraines you may have.
This was a serendipitous match with my “rave/techno” tape blind listening at that late winter moment. Really loved the deconstruction here not feeling lethargic; just sleek even down to the atmosphere. Especially across headphone listening in pitch black. There’s a cohesion to the AIrdrops and the sonic roadmap our gent here Low End Activist takes us through. Just check in with Aidrops 3 +4, the first cuts which really foregoes dank atmosphere for potent breakbeats. Amongst the most sinister slinking around. A different kind of braindance than I usually turn to, but welcome.
7 Partly Zombish- August Cake and the Clicky Keyboards (Falt)
This is the one tape deserved a Ryan Masteller style tribute. These acoustic musique conrete serious leisure aficionados did something that doesn’t always get documented on tape, and happened to cross with Falt. That label really had something going for it across 2024. At least that was what some advice by Dr. Peter Woods, PhD and advisory, who called it when he heard it: This might be one of the weirder zones this year.
It is really one about using some keyboards to play with some files. Something happens in it here. They say a few good zingers. But the clicky factor…oh MAN is it here. What was being advertised was delivered. Yeah call it weird, but us 101 notes on jazz or Nina Guo enthusiasts know this kind of vibe well.
Tymbal Tapes and Scott Scholz have once again been firing off a new round of heaters in 2023 and 2024. For Scholz, it has made for personal, introspective music that sees one leg firmly in an ancient past thinking of cyclical happenings (see his 2023 CD on No Part of It that looks at plagues) and another rooted here in the present in recovery from an inner ear disorder called semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome. Scholz sought to create music that “emulates states of vertigo and dizziness through sound. Most immediately, they are symbolic of the thin veil that separates our normal perceptions of reality from distortions that can make it hard to do anything,”.
This resulted in Figure and Ground, an instrumental, hazy set of riffs-orineted pieces that share a semblance to the work of Shells up in Michigan; if you like pretty guitar riff music that’s not takoma school, take a shot! It also does though, just happen to lock into that wooziness, the lack of an immediate balance or anchor, that is both quite introspective & otherworldly. Tymbal Tapes carried a strong, pulp-dada character in its best releases and Figure and Ground‘s several dirges reinforce a dissociative, out-of-body character that you learn to lean into and arrive at a balance within.
9 CCL – A Night in the Skull Discotheque (T4TLUVNRG)
Excellent mix from a force within the ever brilliant T4TLUVNRG. CCL had one mission: trace dubstep’s origins up to 2000 across a many extraneous techno and two-step avenues. And holy shit does this think cook the second you snap a bowl. Just like with Low End Activist above, A Night in the Skull Discotheque carried with it a commentary on electronic listening music that 2024 seemed to be a primo year for. I mean, the Warp AI class were all kinda off on new adventures showing advancements or commentaries, but even pieces like The Black Ark & ANITSD made it clear that in digging for the forerunners, you’d find an organic, illuminating character to this era of music
Nyege Nyege Tapes is quite frankly a better vinyl label than tape label at the moment. That’s not a knock against the tapes that happened to make the back of this list (and had amongst the best cover art & packaging afforded by a label in 2024), but the label’s turn towards vinyl big game hunting over the ferric was frustrating to say the least, especially as the label’s curation becomes a bit more omnibus. But then they made up for it with DJ Anderson Do Paraíso’s second release of the year, a swift EP that revels in another side of current generation Brazilian Baile Funk. This is not the hard hitting ferric anachronism that last year’s DJ K afforded, but a moody atmospheric tape that in a better world, would be on the ECM New Series and take front billing at Big Ears with Vijay Iyer on stage just there to nod politely because he’s into the beats and gets it (god I hope he does).
I did listen to a lot of ECM this year and that label effectively rubs off 33% of my listening now. Especially when it comes to vocal mantra/chant tapes in a folk tradition. The sooner you start to elevate Paraiso Sombrio to that realm, the more you realize just how well this could slot on the New Series next to Stephen Micus fucking with a rock or Meredith Monk forcing vocal games on an unsuspecting audience. I can’t recall any of the baile funk comps or snippets I’ve heard that have left behind miami bass or the farthest end of bonkers brostep for just doing sinister as hell liturgical, ritualistic paeans that make me wanna pace around the house for a half hour straight. Shit makes me chilly and I gotta sleep with the covers on!
11 Magic From Space – Of Ritual and Summoning (Istotne Nagr.)
This was Jamie’s third favorite tape. You can knock yrself out.
12 Windy and Carl – Heavy Early & The Creation Of Venus (Blue Flea)
Windy and Carl sit at the tippy top of my wheelhouse. Their music treat you like an esteemed guest, refusing to hold your hand, but gently nudging you to follow along towards something bigger than us all. There’s a deep passionate and depth to their many albums and compositions across 30 years that labeling would misunderstand and undersell.
Windy and Carl were on a hiatus of sorts since late 2020. It hurt because their beloved Stormy Records store had to give up the ghost amongst too many life events that could cause one to recede. So, it was a miracle to see the duo remerge in 2024 doing a few kranky shows as elder statemen, while also truly reinforced their commitment to the ferric with gorgeous, homespun tapes: a sudden drop of 2 concerts (see down the list) and two drone pieces collected here. Those concerts are MUSTS if you have ever wanted anything resembling Consciousness or Depths on cassette in a unique format. Yet, Heavy Early & The Creation Of Venus is a tender snapshot of time and place & everything in between.
Windy and Carl do not fuck around when it comes to explaining what the hell is going on and reading the story on the Bandcamp, you’ll realize you’ve got on yr hands 2 brilliant drones that are deeply tied to this passage of time and a desire to rebuild. I can only hope another release for kranky (krank250?!) makes it here soon. Yet, the timelessness and their deft ears for detail only strengthen their claim as the stealth Best American Music
13 Harry Gorski-Brown – Durt Dronemaker After Dreamboats (GLARC)
GLARC was a new label find in 2024 that I wish I knew about years prior. And Harry Gorski-Brown just happened to hit my radar in February right at a moment I knew he had the sauce. Perhaps the tape leans too much on its novelty in how it takes bagpipe drone and processes it into a digital landscape reconstruction. Perhaps it transported you to the top of a foothill drenched in rain going “Im gonna fight my dad”.
14 Gary Gwadera – Far, far in Chicago. Footberk Suite (Pointless Geometry)
A polish bro thinking about how his folk music traditions can link up with Chicago footwork!? In this economy?! Pointless Geometry has truly set itself up as a Polish Powerhouse when it comes to tape music and happenings, but Far, far in Chicago. Footberk Suite was amongst the most charming and thoughtful of a fusion sound that I feel I’ll be spending years to come with. The VHS may still be on sale and worth the pick up.
How the hell does she do it?! My first couple of minutes had me going “Oh cool, it’s a bit like Lucrecia Dalt! Love that!” and then…it slacked. it dnb’d. it cello’d. It simply had that maverick energy and a voice that is missing from every end of the spectrum.
Is German Army at its terminal endpoint? Or is Peter Kris just being retired? What I know is that Never Anything is done and that they bowed out with a phenomenal 2xCass recording from the legend that takes us on one final journey trawling the omnibus sonic roadmap of generational scars that we all enjoyed.
Ecstatic is the word I come back to when I think of SUMAC’s 2220 Arts performance with Patrick Shiroishi. This is a metal of warmth and transcendence I had not realized I was waiting so dutifully for. It crashes and charges with a precocious flair, as if SUMAC has realized their final form and just what they can show the world.
Sobbing Honey’s been on the LA and Ojai beat for ages; they’ve even done some silent film scoring when the time calls! With Already Dead making the trek to LA proper and setting up shop, that also meant that we finally saw a well needed collab between the label and the gurus themselves. These guys can DRONE for days damnit! Maybe we loaded the list with too much drone? Well I’ll just put this one back on.
Lea’s had a streak of great releases across Astral Spirits and American Dreams. Hold Music‘s two pieces were though simply the funniest, most head scratching (in a good way) endeavors Bertucci has landed to date. Those deconstructive tones of phone hold music are transient documentations of a state that is neither friendly nor evil, some third utilitarian purgatory we have to suffer thru.
Full Spectrum may be done, but it did have a year of heaters (on fire sale!) you’ll find across the list. It also happened to beget us this Lucy Liyou self-release that bridges several of her many mini-eras and major works into a fusion. One that was also oddly funny in its quirks. Far closer to some of the live material/improvs I got to catch her perform (with Andrew Weathers!) back in 2023, +82 K Pop Star only reinforces that Lucy Liyou is one of the best experimental divas in the game right now.
24 Water Shrew Trio – following the lichen into the brush (Drongo)
2 super simple pieces of Ambient Americana (the droney VHF Pelt side of things) that were endlessly replayable and stayed in rotation all year. YUP!
The puppeteer’s shock return in such a short time (after blowing me away in 2023) is only more music in that vein. The deep listening emphasis further engrained. The details and sounds outside her own accordion’s low winter sun of a sound, painting vivid pictures of rustic abodes and pastoral planes. There’s a cosmic sort of psychedelia on this one.
52 Kory Reeder – if the thought evaporates (Full Spectrum)
53 TIE Windy and Carl – Live At ‘Under The Couch’ Atlanta GA, November 18th 1997 (Blue Flea) & Windy and Carl – Live At Community School Of Music And Arts * Ithaca, NY April 24th 2009 (Blue Flea)
A Visit from Ben Dumbauld of the Ephem Aural label. Plus tapes!
Satin Doll – Mong Kok Haruna (Less Loss) Indek – Cringe World (Rubber City Noise) Jet Jaguar – Small Things (Cudighi) Rob Collier – Arriving/Leaving (Ephem Aural) Don Carr – V/A – Tone Guide 2022 (Ephem Aural) Ben Dumbauld – Improvisation for Tambourine and Vibrator (Ephem Aural) Magic From Space – Of Ritual And Summoning (Istotne Nagr) Armand Hammer – They Who Control The Weather Armand Hammer (Backwoodz Studioz) Kenny Segal and Pink Navel – How To Capture Playful (Ruby Yacht) Ursula’s Cartridges – Molten Glass Soup 5000 (Ingrown) African Ghost Valley – V/A – Golly compilation (Jollies)
Mareado – No Que No (Voso) Hal McGee – For Jamie Orlando (self released) Zigra – Nativity in Frank (Firmament) Greg Davis – Blue Fifty-Three (Blue Tapes) Vernal Scuzz – s/t (Sweet Wreath) Used Condo – Domestic: I Went to Heaven (Bumpy) The Dirty Sample – Beats to Murder Rappers 2 (Hand’Solo) Tominksy “In Bog” (Hold) Peter Kris – Death of a Valley (Never Anything) Lusterna – ABCD (Never Anything)
Dictionary – s/t (self released) Ebaugh – TMSD739 (Daft Alliance) Creep Tape – Zoo With Only Bigfoots (self released) Same Day – Let’s Talk Trash (Extended Technique Records) S. Leidig – Fart (self released) Mårble – Exotic Ésotérique Vol.2 (Artetetra) Ben Dumbauld – A Modern Approach to Jacques Delécluse’s Twenty Studies for Timpani (Studies 1-10) (Ephem-Aural) Megafortress – Adversary (Strategy of Tension) Zebras & Bulls Fight Tonight! – Gorilla’s Chest (Quone City Press) Dropdead – Live At AS220 11/3/2020 (King of the Monsters/Armageddon Label)
