Welcome to issue #160 of Tape Op.

Known as a drummer (including the band Carissa's Wierd, for singer-songwriter Patrick Park, and in an early version of Band of Horses), Sera Cahoone received much acclaim as a songwriter once her solo albums began appearing in 2005, including two on Sub Pop Records. Her fourth album, From Where I Started, is a great place to check out her intimate, perfectly produced music. It was this album that also led singer/songwriter Margo Cilker to ask Sera to produce and play drums on her debut album, Pohorylle, as well as the recent Valley of Heart's Delight. Margo's career is taking off thanks to this fine work, and it was a treat to chat with Sera, Margo (see Margo interview hereURL), and their engineer (and sometimes co-producer) John Morgan Askew (see John interview hereURL), a way back Tape Op contributor who owns and runs the Bocce recording studio in Vancouver, Washington, just north of Portland, Oregon. L to R: Rebecca Young, Sera Cahoone, Margo Cilker, John Morgan Askew — Photo by Adam Levy

I caught Margo on Zoom while she was gigging in Bozeman, Montana.

I dropped by to see John's studio, Bocce, and ask him about working with Sera Cahoone (see Sera interview here) and Margo Cilker (see Margo interview here).

As a member of New York City's The Strokes, Albert Hammond Jr. has been owning the downstroke for over 20 years. In addition to his work with that band, Albert has managed to find time to record five...

In downtown Bloomington, Indiana, Mike Bridavsky owns and operates Russian Recording, where he's tracked, produced, mixed, and mastered local bands and artists from all over, including M. Ward, The Re...

Jarvis Taveniere is a producer, engineer, and musician working out of Los Angeles, California. His work with his own band, indie favorites Woods, as well as with artists like Purple Mountains, Surf Cu...

When my colleague, professor Amandine Pras of The University of York, visited Mali to study the regional recording studio industry, she was shocked to hear the same person's name come up again and aga...

Every state and every region has its own unique music scene. However, it can be said that New Jersey has produced more than its fair share of popular music's most iconic, diverse, and influential acts...

If there was a Grammy awarded for comparing one's life with others and then suffering about it, I'd be a superstar by now. I have a long history of picking up a magazine, such as this one, comparing m...