Cassettes on the Way Back In?

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by Joe Wallace

Is this really happening? According to the Dallas Observer, yes. Cassettes are apparently getting their own little renaissance. I personally have spotted cassettes–new ones–for sale in my neighborhood home of all things vinyl and groovy, Laurie’s Planet of Sound, which I highly recommend.

Tapes have been on the pop culture radar for ages–you can buy cassette tape themed tees at Old Navy, Threadless and elsewhere, and I myself just purchased a mix tape button from one of my fellow Etsy sellers, Buttonhead.

Butthonhead seems to be a fellow retro junkie, and if her work–and all those tape tees–can be used as a barometer of the rise of tape culture, we might just be in for an interesting new collector frenzy.

Suits me just fine–I drive a vehicle still equipped with a tape deck in spite of having been made in 2003. But it’s strange, isn’t it? In the age of CD Baby, iTunes, and digital distro that the physicality of cassettes–not just vinyl or even 8-track tapes–is still in demand. A cultural meme. A fetish?

The mix tape was definitely a major part of 80s and 90s culture and nothing has come along to quite replace it–it was a unique animal to be sure, and no matter how hard you try, “mix disc” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

What’s YOUR take on this trend? I’d welcome a return of the mix tape, myself…

One-inch Mix Tape buttons by Buttonhead. I own the blue one.

WTF Album Covers Ludacris Chicken N Beer

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Some complain that a staggering majority of rap albums are insultingly stupid, repetitive, sexist, and that the genre is piled to the sky with “me too” copycats. But I defy ANYONE to find anything “me too” about a rap record with cannibalism front and center on the cover.

The way Ludacris is poised to devour that human leg on the cover of Chicken N Beer is worthy of any Romero film, and while the image alone escalates the WTF factor as high as it could possibly go, the fact that the album is called CHICKEN N Beer makes it that much more bewildering.

Shouldn’t it really be HUMAN FLESH N BEER instead? Damn, boys, put some more thought into these titles…don’t fool around now, give us the cannibal rap and stop teasing.

Continue reading WTF Album Covers Ludacris Chicken N Beer →

Vinyl Junkie Art

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I’ve been busy here at Turntabling HQ working on a series of vinyl-related art prints that are now available for sale at the Turntable shop at Etsy.com. I’ve got some of this stuff on my own walls at home now and thought it would be fun to put the images up for sale as a fundraiser for Turntabling. Vinyl collectors, this is especially for you.

Since it’s the holiday season, what could be better than a simple, easy gift idea like this for the vinyl junkies in our lives? I know of three people these prints are headed out to before the holiday season kicks off…how many collectors do you know that could use some spruced-up wall space? Check out Turntabling shop at Esty to see these prints and many others…I have to confess, making this turntable art is addictive…I might be on to a new sideline here!

By the way, one of my early experiments is with a set of images specific to certain bands like Goblin, like this print:

Right now, this is one of the most affordable prints for sale at the Turntabling shop. It comes as a print only (no frame). If you like the concept but have a request for a different artist or album, drop me a line via Etsy or here (jwallace at turntabling dot net) and let me know, I’d be happy to do a custom order in small or large sizes. I can do everything from 4 x 6, 12 x 12 and even larger poster sizes if necessary.

Happy Thanksgiving

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Turntabling is taking the Thanksgiving holiday off–we’re off to enjoy too much wine, turkey and dessert with friends and family. The posts resume on Saturday when I’ll dish on my Thanksgiving vinyl finds–I hit record shops in Bloomington, Illinois and Springfield–including some rarities I didn’t expect to find featuring horror icons Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Basil Rathbone.

Enjoy your turkey day holiday and be sure to indulge far too much in EVERYTHING–but do not operate a motor vehicle, please. Instead, why not operate a turntable?

Til Saturday…

Joe Wallace