: El Ten Eleven
reviewed by Larry Crane
I've always felt that the best way to check out an artist is to see them perform live. In the current age of digital nip and tuck, a great performance carries even more weight in my opinion. When I...
Music Reviews
What we are listening to. Non-critically.
: Sorry to Bother You
reviewed by Larry Crane
Is this a hip-hop record? What is considered a hip-hop record, at this point in time? These days some rock albums are made from the same amount of bits and pieces as any sample-based production....
: The Beatles Stereo Vinyl Box Set
reviewed by Jeff Slate
A few weeks ago, I spoke with some of the brass from The Beatles' Apple Corps Ltd and EMI Records at the New York City screening of Magical Mystery Tour. Surprisingly, they turned the cocktail...
: Beasts of the Southern Wild
reviewed by
While Tape Op is a magazine about music recording, I can't help but notice the parallels between great albums and movies made outside of the major music and film industries and their respective...
: Lux
reviewed by Larry Crane
When we interviewed Brain Eno [Tape Op #85] one of the questions surrounding Eno and Peter Chilvers' iPhone app, Bloom, was whether one could record their own instance of the generative music Bloom...
: Eight
reviewed by Larry Crane
Jim Putnam [Tape Op #24] and crew have been turning out quality records exactly as long as Tape Op has been publishing, and I can guarantee you that our offices have been buzzing with the sublime...
: Small Faces (Decca), From the Beginning, Small Faces (Immediate), Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake
reviewed by Larry Crane
The Small Faces are criminally overlooked here in the United States. "To most people over here we had just one song, 'Itchycoo Park,'" keyboardist Ian McLagan told me recently. In fact, the band had a...
: What Kind of World
reviewed by Larry Crane
In Tape Op #82 I picked Brendan's brain about his thoughts and experiences with recording. Here he drops his fifth solo album, this one recorded at the decidedly retro-ish Welcome to 1979 Studios in...
: A Wasteland Companion
reviewed by Larry Crane
As a recording engineer I can't even count the number of albums I've worked on where my participation didn't end up on the final album - hell, some records never even came out. I'm by no means saying...
: Smoking In Heaven
reviewed by Larry Crane
Last issue, #88, Liam Watson opined, "using older equipment or simpler recording techniques doesn't necessarily mean you intend things to sound 'lo-fi.'" In Tape Op #67 we interviewed Lewis Durham,...
: El Camino
reviewed by Larry Crane
Brian Joseph "Danger Mouse" Burton co-wrote and co-produced the seventh Black Keys studio album with band members Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach. There's something really great and crunchy about...
: Home Again
reviewed by John Baccigaluppi, Larry Crane
I just sat through several hours of SiriusXM's "The Coffee House" radio station while I was grabbing some Internet and espresso at a tiny café. The endless parade of shitty cover songs,...