{"id":20348,"date":"2018-12-10T16:01:12","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T16:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tabsout.com\/\/?p=20348"},"modified":"2019-02-14T16:16:33","modified_gmt":"2019-02-14T16:16:33","slug":"tabs-out-space-age-pressure-pad-5-already-dead-tape-club-and-what-ive-been-listening-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tabsout.com\/?p=20348","title":{"rendered":"Tabs Out | Space Age Pressure Pad #5: Already Dead Tape Club and what I’ve been listening to"},"content":{"rendered":"

Space Age Pressure Pad #5: Already Dead Tape Club and what I’ve been listening to<\/span>
\n12.10.18 by Scott Scholz<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Greetings, dear readers! It\u2019s been a hot minute since the last SAPP<\/a> installment, and I\u2019ve just finished a whirlwind of organizing and computer upgrading with hopes that I\u2019ll be able to do more writing in the coming weeks and months. A big part of organizing was figuring out how to comprehensively address tapes, which have been gradually accumulating into their own drawers and piles all over my house. They\u2019re all comfortably nestled together in my studio now, in an innovative organizational scheme that I like to call \u201cScottological order.\u201d Tapes present some different challenges than vinyl and CDs, in my experience: because tape labels and their clever curation are such a fundamental element of the cassette underground, it makes sense to do most primary sorting by label, and secondarily parse by chronology\/catalog numbers rather than alphabetical order. But then there are always exceptions, particular artists whose bodies of work necessitate keeping them together regardless of label. And of course there are the odd-sized releases and compilations that present their own organizational challenges.<\/p>\n

In the case of making my own space more functional, I found that I had to split three broad categories of material into their own separate shelving system due to the sheer volume of material. German Army<\/a> and their many many many side projects required their own split-off storage space, and even the simple act of placing them together reminded me what a huge impact that artist has had on my own thinking about music and culture in the last five years or so. And two prolific labels necessitated their own more spacious housing, too: Constellation Tatsu<\/a> and Already Dead Tapes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A mere 12 hours after I finished putting the last Already Dead releases into their new digs, the label announced a fascinating new \u201cTape Club\u201d concept for 2019, and the timing couldn\u2019t be more perfect for my thinking about the scope and depth of their work. I was just musing to myself about what an unusual, singular label Already Dead is–they\u2019re far more prolific each year than the typical label, and their curatorial impulses are much broader.<\/p>\n

The idea of the Already Dead Tape Club is pretty straightforward: you make one payment up front, and you\u2019ll get copies of every tape release they do in 2019 shipped straight to your door. You can read all about it and sign up right here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For any other label, I would honestly be pretty skeptical about this concept. But I think Already Dead is the perfect tape label to pull this off: the combination of broad genre representation in the AD catalog, from avant-pop to jazz to rock\/punk\/hardcore to experimental to hip-hop and many points in between (all excellent specimens of their respective approaches), and the unusual volume of tapes they release each year, means that you\u2019re going to go on a lot of adventures if you sign up for this club. And you\u2019re probably going to learn about some new-to-you artists that you\u2019ll want to keep following, and that\u2019s just about the best thing about tape labels, if you ask me.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that time of year where folks who write and think about music start forming \u201cbest of the year\u201d lists in their heads, and just as an example of how killer Already Dead is, there are six AD releases from 2018 on my shortlist for the best of the best. They are:<\/p>\n

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Fuck Lungs – Honeysuckle<\/strong>
\nThe second outing for this Curt Oren\/Joe Hess sax\/drums duo, \u201cHoneysuckle\u201d is a very different experience than their free-jazz blowout debut. These pieces still carry a certain free-improv informality, but this round digs deep into sound exploration. I\u2019m not sure if everything is live with some loops or if there are some overdubs (I\u2019m thinking overdubs?), but these jams have as much vertical density as horizontal at times. Take \u201cNow Is Not the Time,\u201d for example, which starts off in a sonic space between Sun Ra and the latest Bjork album, coalescing into some digitally-manipulated sound exploration, from tribal outer spaces to trippy innerspace in under four minutes. Album closer \u201cYou Live Alone\u201d is spacious and anthemic, and you\u2019d swear Oren\u2019s horns are turning into synth pads. But if you were into the fire music freakouts of the debut, don\u2019t fear–there are jams like \u201cHoneysucker\u201d and \u201cLunar Tunes\u201d waiting to rip your face off.<\/p>\n