In honor of this past weekend’s Cassette Store Day, STLPR went out and found six tracks from St. Louis bands that release music on cassette. Don’t worry, the irony of presenting cassette-based recordings in a digital format does not escape us. Enjoy!
Brainstems – Straight up garage rock in the vein of The Black Lips. Treble-y guitars and handclaps employed. All around good time. Music to speed to.
Bad Dates – Their first song features a super rough recording that sounds like it was made live in someone’s basement or living room, which is likely the case. Muffled vocals and high energy chaos. The second track features cleaner production and displays the band’s penchant for early British punk.
Boreal Hills – Slightly more aggressive overtones. Blown out vocals and questionable tuning. Multi-tracked vocals and heavy bass on the first recording. The second track is a few years old and sounds more in line with the garage rock of Brainstems.
Cassette Day took place Saturday and featured deals and one-time only releases in an effort to boost music store sales. According to the official Cassette Day website only local music shop, Music Record Shop on Manchester is participating in the event. Look for it again next year and always keep an eye out for the elder statesman of music format appreciation days: Record Store Day.
Audio Agitation is a reoccurring six-song playlist culled from recent releases or shaped by events in St. Louis's ever-changing music scene. If you're from the STL area or Missouri and you're putting out a record you think we should hear, send a heads' up to warnold@stlpublicradio.org.
