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New Releases From Hard Quartet, The Smile, Fred Thomas

by Geoff Stanfield

October is starting off with a bang and a long list of great new releases. Here are a few notables. Hard Quartet - Heel HighwayThis new indie rock "supergroup" consists of Stephen Malkmus (Tape Op #15), Jim White, Emmett Kelly, and Matt Sweeney....

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Mdou Moctar's New Album, Funeral for Justice

by Geoff Stanfield

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...

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illuminati hotties - "Didn’t" (feat.Cavetown)

by Geoff Stanfield

Take a look/listen to the new video and single "Didn’t" (feat. Cavetown) from Sarah Tudzin, aka illuminati hotties, from their upcoming LP, Power. Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz and Sad13, interviewed Sarah for Tape Op #145 and you can...

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Songatron with Jonathan Mann and the Spinto Band

by Larry Crane

Jonathan Mann is the "song a day guy" of Songatron. Since January 1st 2009 he's posted a song and video a day. Septemeber 28th 2011 he'll have recorded 1000 songs. Wow.  In June Nick Krill and Thomas Hughes of The Spinto Band joined up with...

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Tape Op Staff Heavy Rotation Quarantine Listening

by Geoff Stanfield

Amidst all the bad news and chaos in the world, there are a few silver linings. One of them is having a bit of extra time for listening. Whether it's while you are working from home, maniacally crafting or cooking that 57th batch of cookies, it...

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New Music From Tortoise

by Geoff Stanfield

Members of Tortoise have graced the pages of Tape Op for years. We interviewed John McEntire in 2001 for issue #23, and more recently we covered Jeff Parker's ETA IVtet album Way Out Of Easy. Although it is just one song, I was excited to see...

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How Did Tape Op's Owners Meet? Find Out!

by Larry Crane

So here it is. The fateful letter that relentless talent scout and A&R honcho John Baccigaluppi sent to my band Vomit Launch back in 1988. Little did we know that soon we'd be holed up in his studio making records, and less than a decade later...

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Why Did I think This Would Be Easy?

by Larry Crane

Why did I think I could set up my home studio in a couple of hours when it took four months to move Jackpot! to a new building? Tomorrow's shopping list: Solder, S/PDIF cables, etc... I'm amazed at how tangled and messy this quickly got. All I...

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Visitors In The Studio During Sessions?

by Larry Crane

Tape Op contributor and studio owner/engineer/producer Mike Caffrey recently sent me some thoughts he had about visitors to the studio during sessions. See issue 73’s upcoming end rant for the origins of this piece. -LC   I always tell...