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.
Our pal, Howard Massey, has a new book out, Behind The Glass Volume II. Volume I was a real treat, and Howard also co-wrote Geoff Emerick's excellent Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles. There's a ridiculous amount...
Spring has sprung in the Northwest, which means it's still raining, and possibly snowing with a few stellar sunny days thrown in for good measure. The trees are leafing out and there is that lovely dusting of pollen and fallen cherry blossoms on...
We interviewed Herb Alpert in Tape Op #140, and he hasn't slowed down since. He just released his 50th album, aptly titled 50.
It is yet another prime example of the lounge pop genre he all but invented with The Tijuana Brass starting in the...
Everyone has been talking about Dave Grohl's new documentary Sound City a lot lately. That's cool; it's a fun romp of a movie, even if Dave can't decide whether he's making a film about a Neve console, a dying studio, a rock star jam session or an...
Now that the Tape Op iPad app is available, we've been trying to figure out the best ways to get the magazine to other digital formats. Expansion to other full-fledged tablets (Android, etc) is a fairly straightforward - if laborious - process, in...
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 line with Andy Hong's list of gear (issue #66) he's reviewed in the past that he still finds amazing, here's a list of stuff I was using this last month that I think deserves special credit for the amount of times I fall back on these pieces and...
The husband and wife partnership of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker will forever be remembered for their work in the band Low. Their remarkable vocal harmonies always told a story of a long and storied relationship that went far beyond the music and...
Tape Op lost a good friend last night when our pal Neal Casal left us all behind. Neal was a gifted guitarist, songwriter, singer, photographer, producer, surfer and just an all-around good dude.
I was lucky to work with Neal on some...