It's a good week for new music!

Jacob Collier [Tape Op#151] released Something Heavy, an EP with three versions of "Something Heavy." It straddles the world between a Coldplay ballad and early 2000's Sting, is beautifully recorded, and as usual, is a top notch song with a great arrangement.

Willow released petal rock black. The album has collaborations from Kamasi Washington, George Clinton, and Tune-Yards {Tape Op#88]. The deep...

I appreciate a reissue of an album I have not listened to in years. In the case of Rhino High Fidelity's new vinyl version of The Stooges' 1970 release, Fun House, it is a opportunity to listen to an old favorite with fresh ears and a new perspective on its place in the annals of rock music history. You can read a more comprehensive review of the entire box set sessions for Fun House fromTape Op #22, but in short, the original LP was...

I just found out that Greg Brown, the guitarist for the band CAKE, passed away this weekend. I had not talked to Greg in many years, but knew him fairly well several decades ago. Before he was in CAKE, he was in a band called Saturday’s Child, and I recorded an album with that band in my 8-track basement studio in Sacramento, CA. There was one particular Saturday evening (a coincidence) recording that album that to this day still ranks as one of the...

Photographer Stephen Jess has created an in-depth project of images and overview histories of historic New York City recording studios titled "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?"

From the author:

"Some of the greatest music in the world was recorded in studios in New York City.
Listen to Kind of Blue, and you can hear the sound of Miles Davis' trumpet bounce off the 50-foot ceiling of an abandoned church on 30th Street. Listen to The...

Harry Styles has a new album, Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally, coming out March 6, and has released the first track and an accompanying video for the song “Aperture.” It’s his first LP since 2022’s Harry’s House, which like the new LP was produced by Kid Harpoon. Look for an interview that Tape Op editor Larry Crane did with Kid Harpoon in our upcoming March issue. In the meantime, check out the video here – it’s a fun watch! The track was...

March 19th in Portland, Oregon, at The Tomorrow Theater, this event is sponsored by Tape Op editor/founder Larry Crane's Jackpot! Recording Studio. Get tickets here.

"Elliott Smith touched the lives of many with his music and artistry. As part of PAM CUT’s March music month, we are presenting this special event in tribute to Elliott and his legacy. The evening will feature two rarely screened short films, Steve Hanft’s Strange Parallel, and...

My first listen to the Grateful Dead was a cassette of Reckoning that I got from the Columbia House Record Club. I thought the cover that had the skull on it looked heavy. It is, of course, a live acoustic record that is very much steeped in traditional Americana music. I think I put it away in a drawer and didn’t break it out for many years. I wasn’t ready yet. My first Grateful Dead show was in 1984. A friend’s dad took us to the Greek Theater in...

At any given party or get-together we've all been asked "What's your favorite album?" For me it's an impossible question, but honestly, if I truly had to choose ten records to take to the grave with me as a document of who I was as a human, two of them would be Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock by Talk Talk. The band had had some significant success prior to these two releases, and most notably with the singles...

When I first heard about the Resonator Awards in 2024, I had recently interviewed artist/producer SASAMI [Tape Op#157] and production great Jennifer DeCilveo [#161] for Tape Op (the former had signed on to perform, the latter was to receive the All-Star Award), and I was simultaneously thrilled to learn of its existence and gutted to realize that I could not attend. What do you mean We Are Moving the Needle, an organization helmed by legendary...

I’ve been following Moby for several decades now as he’s moved between different styles and phases of his career. I can’t say I love everything he’s done, but I really do like quite a bit of it. 1999’s Play was his fifth album and a huge commercial success, but 1995’s Everything Is Wrong and Animal Rights from 1996 are my two favorite albums of that era. In 2013 and 2018 he released Innocents and Everything Is Beautiful, And Nothing Hurt which are...

Maybe I read it on the Tape Op Message Board, or maybe someone told me this tale, but it was many years ago: The band books studio time, shows up, sets up, runs through a take of their first song, and then asks the engineer, “How did that sound to you?” His reply, “It’s on tape.” 

I was mixing an album for a punk band. I always ask who did the recording (and where it was done) when on mix sessions, as I like to do a little research on what went...

I break down boxes pretty much every week. Thankfully, Styrofoam and other plastic-based packaging materials are nowhere near as ubiquitous as they were in the past. But that means studio gear, household items, and even large items like furniture come boxed or wrapped in extra layers of cardboard. I've mentioned before that I use a minimalist Gil-Tek RUK V2 utility knife for normal boxes, but I also carry a thin-and-light Leatherman Skeletool CX...