tapes and tapes.

back in chicago, i used to listen to records all day. it was fun listening to analog audio, where the medium doesn't allow for shuffling songs or skipping tracks with the touch of a button. i want to get back to the point where i think of music in cohesively produced albums, rather than a slew of random tracks.



unfortunately, i don't have space for a record player in my tiny bedroom...so i've changed my analog preference to cassette. i now have a space-saving portable cassette player (with fm tuner), a simple device which you can still purchase at electronic stores for $8-10. i got mine at the kmart in astor place and painted it over with coats of glitter and modge podge.

shopping for cassettes is fun, like treasure-hunting. in record stores, it seems like cassettes are almost always thrown into unorganized piles underneath alphabetized records and cd's, forcing you to dig and poke around to find the good stuff. a few tips: rainbow music on 8th and 1st has mountains and mountains of rare cassettes that you could probably browse for hours. ear wax records in williamsburg has a few boxes of cassettes as well as some rare ones locked away in a display case. and academy annex has some limited release small label cassettes. and plustapes, a chicago-based record label and distro which i recently discovered at pitchfork festival, deals solely with cassette tapes.



here is the small collection that i have built up over the past few days:



roxy music - avalon (1982)

serge gainsbourg - love on the beat (1984)

cocteau twins - heaven or las vegas (1990)

morrissey - bona drag (1990)

rem - out of time (1991/german takt music release)

the afghan whigs - gentlemen (1993)

kate bush - the red shoes (1993)