I’m still shocked at the passing of Martin Phillips of The Chills. He made a number of songs and albums that truly inspired me and many others. Please check out the interview I did with him in 1997, and listen to his song “Pink Frost” if you’ve never heard his music. You’ll find the beauty and sadness of this song quite fitting. It’s one of many great songs from a great writer. -Larry Crane
Tape Op is a bi-monthly magazine devoted to the art of record making.
I pulled short straw and had to go pick up the take out tonight (take away for our UK readers). The radio was set to NPR, so I let it alone. The announcer introduced a new segment called “Listen to This,” that features famous musicians...
Guitarist Michael Belfer passed away March 20, 2022 from a series of compounding health issues. He was a friend and my bandmate in Black Lab back in the late ’90s. His unique playing and sound was an influence on players such as Sonic...
In the never-ending, century-old battle between corporations and content producers: I give you the latest bit of pro-artist activism. This is taken directly from the Grammy Foundation's website:
Tell Congress to Save Music and Stop the "Pandora...
THE ERA OF HI-RES DIGITAL AUDIO IS HERE
I’ve been watching the rise of hi-end digital audio recently, and as I put the individual pieces together over the past year or so a picture is emerging that has inspired me to claim that we are...
I came across Blitzen Trapper's self-titled debut album back in 2003, and have followed their career and counted myself as a fan since. I interviewed the band's leader, songwriter, and producer Eric Earley about his 2020 release, Holy Smokes Future...
In February 2000, I was lucky enough to record the legendary Australian group, The Go-Betweens, for their "comeback" album, The Friends of Rachel Worth. I'd done an interview with Robert Forster for Tape Op the year before, which – along with...
by Alex Maiolo
The term “linchpin” tends to get chucked around pretty liberally when we discuss music scenes, but Ed Ackerson, who succumbed to pancreatic cancer on October 4th, was the very embodiment of it. Ed was one of those...