The story of Big Star, one of the best-known cult bands in rock history, is unveiled in the documentary Nothing Can Hurt Me. It traces the glorious, and confounding, history of a group of talented musicians who hailed from Memphis in the early '70s. Watching the first part of the film, which...
Sessions for Bowie's 24th studio album, his first in ten years, began several years ago "in secret" at The Magic Shop, New York City [owned by Steve Rosenthal, Tape Op #29]. Long-time collaborator Tony Visconti [Tape Op #29] co- produced, engineered, arranged strings, and played...
This is one of my favorite records I've heard lately, with some of the most interesting production and arrangements. It reminds me of some of the best work of Mitchell Froom [Tape Op #10] and Valgeir Sigurðsson [#85]. Singer/songwriter Simone White's first three records were made in a...
This excellent collaboration between Emmylou and Rodney, her former Hot Band cohort, presents a clean, straightforward recording of two legendary country singers laying down some great takes. Emmylou says, "I always hoped we would someday do this record, and now I can finally cross it off...
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. Listening to Sorry to Bother You, I’m finally realizing this is more of a “band” than I assumed. Live...
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 walked into a club several years ago and caught El Ten Eleven, I was impressed. This duo could...
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 "machines." Beasts of the Southern Wild is one of the best films I've seen in several...
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 chit-chat to talk about the then-upcoming vinyl box set by the band. They all wanted to know why the...
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 creates and call it their own. We may have been joking that day, but I believe Eno carried on...
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 sounds of their albums for just as long. Eight (guess which album number this is) picks up where...
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 string of chart-toppers in the UK, not to mention one of the best songwriting...
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 Nashville, and mixed by Brendan and Tape Op contributor Chris Mara. Chris says, "It was...