Malian guitarist Mdou Moctar's new release, Funeral for Justice, is a wild ride. From the almost Iron Maiden-sounding moments of the title track "Funeral for Justice", to the frentic energy of "Sousoume Tamacheq", to the ethereal and more traditional sounding tracks "Takoba" and "Imajighen", the album pushes the Toureg blues/rock genre into new territory, both sonically and musically. Funeral for Justice was produced by Mikey Coltun, who also plays bass in the band, and the album was mastered by Heba Kadry.
One of our esteemed contributors, Allen Farmelo, posted this quick, interesting little personal look into the different ways of summing a mix. My opinion? I just know that I like having a console in front of me and lots of nice outboard gear to run...
Arooj Aftab's Night Reign
Arooj Aftab is a four time Grammy-nominated artist we featured in Tape Op issue #157. With Pakistani roots, she sings in Urdu and English, and became one of my favorite vocalists the moment I saw her performing on a live...
In editor Larry Crane's recent End Rant [Tape Op #127], he talked about how people are currently learning recording techniques, all of the misinformation on the internet, and how this leads to the homogenization of music making in general. All of the...
We got this letter from J. Robert Lennon, a sometimes contributor here at Tape Op. I figured I'd better answer it. -Larry Crane
"A thought struck me while I was reading Adam Kagan's very informative review of the Chandler Little Devil...
Here's a tip that costs nothing for materials, might be good for the environment, and can save some headaches down the road. I don't know about you, but our Postal Delivery Person insists on bundling our mail in rubber bands (gum bands for our...
My pal Howard Bilerman of Hotel2Tango studios in Montreal is hosting and interviewing for this excellent event. It's in conjunction with the fantastic PopMontreal music fest. OCTOBER 2nd, 4:30pm. The secret you get here is that "the following day,...
Remember Nino from issue #67? His new Bird and Egg Recording Studio is hosting "an open house of sorts. On Sunday, October 18th between the hours of 2pm and 6pm Bird and Egg will be open for you to see and feel. There will be wine and hors d'ouvres...
The Decemberists' ninth album, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again, is out now. In 2003 I got a call from Colin Meloy about maybe recording his band, The Decemberists. Tape Op contributor, Adam Selzer, had already recorded some tracks for what...