"Lost cause" department:
Tapes are making a comeback. Chunky and hissy, plastic in custom colors, with crafty artwork on tiny rectangle sleeves and custom-made “j-cards,'' they're finding a second life as the go-to medium for underground bands working on shoestring budgets. For a handful of fans, tapes are the perfect antidote for the information overload ignited by digital music and blown up by the iPod.
“Tapes are cheap to buy, cheap to make, and easy to carry around,'' says Potrykus. “You never see someone walking home from a house show in Allston with a CD or seven'' in their pocket.''
For Boston's latest crop of cassette-carrying bands, the medium fits the message. A horde of psychedelic and garage rock bands — bands like Girlfriends, MMOSS, Quilt, and Doomstar! — translate well to the imperfections of tape. All find common ground in flavors of '60s rock, typified by fuzzed-out guitar and dusty, echoing vocals. Historically, the genre doesn't exactly match up with the heyday of the cassette, but the quality of the recordings are uncannily complementary.
Well, let's just go all the way and bring back eight-tracks, too, or better yet, fire up the reel-to-reels if tape is all that wonderful. I can understand the comback of vinyl records; they're cool enough a medium that we can overlook the sound-quality shortcomings, and the (sometimes) really great cover art is a true loss. But tape? Don't think so.
