Z. Saint James over at Drapeaux Rouges has been very kind to kassette klub, posting interviews with the ever-thoughtful Noah (of philip seymour hoffman), myself, and reviewing Holy Spirits now out of print cassette. We happened to like his style and maybe you will to.
these puppies finally arrived yesterday! we’ve been folding / packing / shipping to make up for lost time. there’s 10 left if you wanna get in on some philip seymour hoffman + mutual benefit action.
kassette klub thoughts and feelings:
First off a huge sorry for the delay on the philip seymour hoffman + mutual benefit tapes getting shipped. The duplication plant accidentally sent them to the wrong address and I wasn’t able to get UPS to turn it around in time so it will probably be another week until I can get them out in the midst of holiday craziness. I’m so, so sorry if that messes up any gift-giving plans you have. If you need to get a hold of us for some reason or another we’re at kassetteklub@gmail.com.
On a more pleasant note the resident k/k visual artist and gchat allstar, Nathaniel Whitcomb got interviewed over LDWT and there’s some great insights into his creative process.
I haven’t been surfing the net too much lately but it seems like people are listing their favorite albums in list fashion a lot. I have a hard time quantifying music like that but here are some things I have loved this year (that we didn’t make):
For downloading old records - Ghost Capital + Holy Warbles
Bostoncentric Event Blog - Boston Hassle/Boston Counter Cultural Compass
Online Music Magazines - IMPOSE / Dusted / Foxy Digitalis
Cassette to wake up to - Cache / Do While split (Culture Dealer)
Cassette I wish wasn’t sold out - Ricky Eat Acid - Seeing Little Ghosts Everywhere
Baltimore Labels doing amazing things - Friends / Culture Dealer / Wigflip
Official Pop God of 2011 - Sean Nicholas Savage
#OhioPride - Monster Rally + RumTum collab and/or Psychedelic Horseshit
Maybe the most important experimental art archive of 2011 - ubuWEB
Favorite fake tv channel - Network Awesome
Band who makes my favorite visual art - Lizard Kisses
Favorite #occupier/music writer combo - @LizPelly
Tape label friends always doing cool shit - Crash Symbols / Wonder Beard / MJMJ
Bands who deserve the hype they got - Julian Lynch / La Big Vic
Most Fun Live Show - Happy Jawbone Family
Thanks for all the love and support this year! We already got big things a’brewin for 2012 from some old and new faces and fingers
jordan
Lady Lazarus - Kurosawa’s Dreams and Me
Another hypnotic and beautiful music video shot and edited by Melissa A. Sweat aka Lady Lazarus. Kurosawa’s Dreams and Me is taken from the album Mantic
++++++ NEW RELEASE ++++++
phillip seymour hoffman + mutual benefit
split cassette
For our last tape of the year we are releasing “your loving brother” by phillip seymour hoffman and “the cowboy’s prayer” by mutual benefit on one c32 cassette with beautiful artwork and layout by Nathaniel Whitcomb.
After playing a handful of New England shows together earlier in the year the two bands began conceptualizing a split to try to keep the friendship spirit alive and glowing and share some feelings you only get after being on the road for a bit.
phillip seymour hoffman is the moniker of new yorkerite/global citizen, Noah Klein. His shows border into performance art in the best way. Here’s one of my favorite videos that captures it best. We are also quite fond of the other art/activist collective he helps with called FMLY. I’m really happy that his EP was able to capture the unique feeling that I get from his live performances. Low key yet profound, occasionally emotionally devastating, and always poignant. We couldn’t be more thrilled to add him to the kassette klub family.
I feel too weird talking about the mutual benefit side since that’s my band so instead I’ll leave you with some heartfelt words and keen observations that Noah wrote about it over on FMLY.
The cassette and digital downloads are available now on kassette klub and will ship next week (hopefully in time for Christmas/Holiday/Saturnalia sacrifices). The two EP’s are also available separately on the psh and mb bandcamps.
So many thanks to Stadiums and Shrines, Head Underwater, IMPOSE, I Guess I’m Floating, TerrorEyes, Tiny Waves, Zen Tapes, Magic RPM, Friends With Both Arms, The Boston Phoenix, Get Off The Coast, No Fear of Pop and anyone else we forgot for the digital blog high 5’s!
There are about 20 tapes left so make sure to snatch ‘em up before they all snatched up if you’re planning on owning these sounds in a deliberate and physical way.
MP3’S4U
mutual benefit - Auburn Epitaphs (single version)
philip seymour hoffman - tulips for my buds
“remember to do cool stuff and be kind to each other”
Flamingods have been tearing it up over in London, opening for Lucky Dragons and Dustin Wong. Their new album Away is out on cassette thanks to zine/book/tape label Belly Kids. We really dig it.
make sure to check out whiskey sherpa’s site for weekly minimixes. we love those guys
Whiskey Sherpa Mix 53 by whiskeysherpa
Get To Know A Label: Kassette Klub
Mutual Benefit is the project of Jordan Lee, the intersection of his beautifully bare folk songs and dreamy, psychedelic landscapes. When he’s not making the records that I keep dear to my heart, he manages the Kassette Klub label, a home for like-minded artists with a fondness for fuzzy organs and other musical toys. For some bands, like Sleep Good, Kassette Klub is a refuge for their experiments in tape and mono recording. All their releases are very cheap on Bandcamp (like, cup-of-coffee prices), and many are free — check them out.
Mutual Benefit - Exit
Sleep Good - Schlitterbahn
Share-a-tories - Penumbral Exits
Burywood - Things Which Give Us Pause
Mutual Benefit - Nite Bike
art by Katy Edling
~Orr
The Hear Hums tapes are back from the factory and were just voted most professional looking kassette klub release to date
If you are in Orlando make sure to hit up their show with Prince Rama and Dark Sea of Awareness on wednesday at Will’s Pub. We miss ‘em already after seeing their incredible shows in Boston and Amherst.
also her daydreamy debut album Mantic is now available for free here
LOVE
kassette klub news and feelings
As I was getting ready to write about what all the k/k bands have been up to I realized that its been almost exactly two years since kassette klub was first conceived. Although I was never quite sure what it was exactly or how long it would last, k/k ended up becoming what I always hoped it would be; a truly collaborative effort between tons of beautiful people. Thanks to everyone for the support, generosity and inspiration!
Above is a video about our newest members, Hear Hums for one of our favorite websites, Tiny Waves. They’ll be bringing their incredible live show up the East Coast and playing a couple dates with Mutual Benefit in Boston and Amherst. Be sure to pick up our reissue of Psyche Cycles. It should be getting in from the duplication plant next week.
Lady Lazarus, the hardest working artist in show business, has a new video up on Impose for “What It’s Like”. She’ll be performing in LA this December for FMLY FEST (which will be 100% solar powered this year!).
We are putting the finishing touches on the Philip Seymour Hoffman/Mutual Benefit split which is turning out real pretty. Also before the end of the year we’ll be putting out a cassette ep by our favorite Baltimore dreamweaver, Cache who Altered Zones conveniently introduced to the world today.
Be on the lookout for new sounds from Flamingods, an awesome remix EP from Magical Mistakes and a “next-level” 7” from Sleep Good before the end of the year.
LOVE
+++++ REISSUE +++++
Hear Hums - Psyche Cycles
Psyche Cycles was originally released (and quickly sold out) as one of the first cassettes for Crash Symbols. We thought this record was special enough to give it a second run for anyone that missed out the first time.
This hour long cassette is full of organic drones and joyous rhythms that make their current hometown of Gainesville, FL seem like hallowed ground. Although the focus is on sonic exploration it is still an extraordinarily coherent piece of music; one succinctly beautiful thought explored to the fullest.
Preorder (ships early November)
Thanks to our friends at Crash Symbols for the permission to rerelease Psyche Cycles. Be sure to check out all of their amazing tapes!
MP3’S
Share-a-tories // Dissolved In the Dark
I receive a lot of music submissions. It’s something that is still very bizarre to me and I try my best to make it through all that I can, but it gets to the point where if I neglect to check my email for a day or two the inbox numbers are staggering! And while I appreciate anyone who thinks enough of my blog to send me their music, there are some that just immediately catch my eye. These are folks who semi-frequently recommend music to me that they genuinely think I’ll like. It’s not their music but they just think that I’d dig it. John of Solar Bears is one, My pal Riley over at The Leaving Scene is another, there is always my partner in crime Unholy Rhythms, and now I’m happy to say that Jordan of Mutual Benefit is another (although he might have been a bit biased).
Straight from his cassette label Kassette Klub comes the newest release from Share-a-tories. The mind behind the music is a dude named Andrew Morehart who, according to Jordan, is a near-constant member of Mutual Benefit by playing live and recording with them. Listening to his solo project it’s easy to see why the two are such a good fit. It’s mostly very stripped-down and has a feeling of spontaneity about it, much like Mutual Benefit; but on Dissolved In the Dark Andrew passes up sparseness for youthful energy. To personify Share-a-tories would be easy. It’s as if it walks straight up to you, introduces itself, and reaches out for a friendly handshake. I dig.
…
“Cycling” - Share-a-tories
The second of seven wonderful tracks off Share-a-tories latest EP Dissolved in the Dark, “Cycling” has a sense of fun with its quick beat and pluck, which is counterbalanced well with the lovely lo-fi and the enchanting atmosphere. The little effects interspersed throughout add greatly to the overall effect, especially the layers of vocals throughout. The whole EP is a testament to Andrew Morehart’s ability to create music that is intimate and enrapturing, as each track here has a fair dose of both. Dissolved in the Dark is available through Mutual Benefit bandmate Jordan Lee’s Kassette Klub [link], and each track has it’s own artwork courtesy of Nathaniel Whitcomb of Think or Smile [link]. Do yourself a favor and check this out. [link]
- Tyler Hanan
1/2 of Holy Spirits performing at Gem Club’s record release show in Boston. Good times!
Make sure to catch both bands on their upcoming east coast tour
NEW RELEASE
Share-a-tories is the sounds made by the brain-fingers of Andrew Morehart. You may know him as a near-permanent fixture of mutual benefit or maybe you picked up his brilliant debut full-length that we put out last year.
Dissolved in the Dark is his newest EP. These are seven songs covering a wide range of styles, born like baby phoenixes from the ashes of an insanely tough year. Andrew is one of my favorite people to play music with and his diverse pop arrangements really shine on this EP. His sentiments capture exactly how I felt after listening to it for the first time:
While I might have previously categorized this year as something of a downer, I ended up finding love, refortified friendships, and a whole new way to look at life as a series of events that, while sometimes are seemingly uncontrollable and filled with sadness, can reshape and revitalize one’s ability to find love and beauty in this absurd thing we call “being alive”.
We’ll be putting up one song each day for free for the next week on the share-a-tories bandcamp starting today with the motown-y sounds of the title track, Dissolved in the Dark. Last but certainly not least, the artwork was expertly handled by k/k favorite, Nathaniel Whitcomb who really outdid himself by making a piece for each song.
We’re printing off the covers for the tape right now so they should be ready to ship soon. More details to come!
