Plus Tapes

July Updates

Heya everyone!

Pitchfork was a HUGE success, and it was great to meet all of you loyal tape fans that managed to hit us up at the booth. We sold a lot of tapes, drank a lot of beer and made a lot of friends.

For those that weren’t able to make it out, we’re going to offer up some of the new jamz via mailorder before they hit the stores.

If you’re interested, hit us up at plustapes @ gmail.com to see what we still have in stock
We can do stuff overseas as well, just drop a line and we’ll figure it out.

PT16 – Radius – Scatterbrain Tapes Vol. 1
Radius’s “Scatterbrain Tapes Vol. 1” beat tape harks back to this golden age of rap producing. But it’s not completely retro-chic either. Born, bred and loved in the city of Chicago, Ramon Norwood’s productions bridge the eras of the MPC60 and the MPC5000, from EPMD’s “Strictly Business” to Flying Lotus’s “Los Angeles.” He sticks to the rhythmic backbone of the hip-hop culture: the acoustic drum loop. But interweaved are the same engaging digital melodies that must’ve haunted Premier’s dreams at night in the pre-Pro Tools age. Hip-hop for the second decade of the new millenium!

PT17 – Mannequin Men – Prehistoric Shit
Must-have, limited-to-100 cassette tape from Chicago’s favorite omni-drunk garage-rockers MANNEQUIN MEN!!! All of the material on this tape is previously unreleased: songs that were only recorded in their practice space, songs only played live, radio show jams, etc.

PT18 – Red River School of Taxidermy –
Chicago band Red River School Of Taxidermy makes the brand of strong, hooky post-punk with distorted vocals that engulfs you with its endless intrigue. Imagine the damaged JOY DIVISION-ness of something on CAPTURED gene-spliced with the hookiness of THE PONYS and you’re somewhere in the ballpark. Limited and essential!
Plus stickers while supplies last.

PT19 – Black Wyrm Seed
The gents from Black Wyrm Seed create a musical menagerie of melodic metal not unlike fellow travelers Dead Meadow (pre- their L.A. makover) or any number of hazy psychedelic rock bands of years gone by. Imagine 1970s private-press jazz-infused metal, all faeries and fauna and shit. Now you’re starting to get the picture. It’s droney without the doom, like a serpent eating its own tail.

PT20 – Death Ships – Notes From The Captains Quarters
Originally setting sail from the landlocked environs of Iowa City, Iowa, Death Ships are not what you’d expect. Now based in Chicago, the band’s sound mixes elements of rock, folk, pop, and alt country into an enchanting array of seaworthy songs. Dan Maloney’s alluring vocals play as much to melody as they do the lamenting lyrics. A little Lou Reed, a little Townes Van Zandt, and a touch of Tom Petty echo out of his twangy coos. It’s earnest, solemn and engulfing; exactly what you’ll need permeating from your cassette deck on the drive home this evening.

PT21 – DJ Wisconsin – Gypsy Kung Fu
Don’t let the moniker fool you, as there’s not much “DJing” to speak of on the brilliant and lengthy Gypsy Kung Fu. The instrumentation here varies from guitar to distant banjo, muted pianos, harmonium, soft drums and even a few minutes of reverb-drenched, garage style saxophone. The poetic ingenuity of the lyrics, delivered in a folksy, country drawl will leave you pondering the whereabouts of ice cream socialists or what it’s like to be a stranger in one’s own mind

PT22 – Implodes
Implodes is a Chicago quartet that prefers to keep the melodies and lyrics hidden in fuzzy distortion, reverb, echo & effects. Mostly the sounds are distant and dissonant, but slyly hidden below the surface are rays of melodic sunshine that peak through the clouds from time to time. Think Jesus & Mary Chain, Spacemen 3, Suicide and Flying Saucer Attack, but, you know, more… schizo.

PT23 – Blasted Diplomats
Blasted Diplomats: “I began to realize that it was all the same- my teenage-dissolution lifestyle and the music of groups like the Troggs, Shadows of Knight, Music Machine, Seeds, Question Mark, Count Five. They were all full of shit and so was I. And none of us cared. We had all heard the Yardbirds’ brilliant innovations, but since almost none of the above listed groups really knew how to play their instruments, all they could do was bang away in rackety imitation. Which was when I first realized that quality and musicianship and taste actually had nothing whatsoever to do with Rock n’ Roll; in fact might be its worst enemies.”

We also have limited quantities of the following two tapes still in stock AND copies of the Chris Connelly LP on our vinyl label Addenda. You want stuff, and we’re happy to send it to you!!

PT15 – Gamelan Bell
Hyper limited release (50) by a one-off, super-stoned group of high school kids called Gamelan Bell. It’s a meandering mess, but somehow endearingly likeable. Packaged with 4 (count ‘em, 4) photocopied comic books.
LAST COPIES!!!!!

PT06 – Disappears – Live Over the Rainbo (Pro-dubbed edition)
Holy shit was this band amazing at the Pitchfork festival. We love them so much that we begged them to let us have another go at releasing their tape, and this time we went with pro-dubbing, so the sound is even sweeeeeter. We’re down to the last few copies of these, and there will not be any represses, we promise.

If you missed picking up the limited tour CD-R from Chicago’s next-big-thing in underground rock, Plustapes has got your back! Re-Re-pressed on your favorite Ludditian medium – the irreplaceable cassette tape (this time professionally dubbed!!)- Live Over the Rainbo captures Disappears’ stellar live show from 10/26/08. Encapsulating that moment when post-punk first took notice of the power soaring electric guitars can have and slowly morphed its sound into what we now lovingly called shoegaze, it’s tough not to get caught up in Disappears’ subterranean grooves! Prepare yourself now, because we have a feeling 2009 is going to be a big year for these Chicagoans.

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Plustapes on Facebook? Ridiculous!

We’re catching up on technologies….sorta.
Become a fan of Plustapes on Facebook

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Tapes for Tacos
4:43 PM
Andy: will you take payment in the form of rare and delicious tacos?
4:44 PM me: whoa
4:46 PM Andy: i absolutely freak out over discovering new foods. especially cheap and authentic
i can’t wait. what do you want?
4:47 PM me: surprise me.
Andy: deal
one goat head coming up
me: that sounds really tasty actually
Andy: i bet it would be goaty

It’s nice to know that the barter system is alive and well. Andy brought me four of the best tacos I’ve ever eaten, and to top it off, he also brought a fermented pineapple juice beverage that I absolutely loved. Seriously, the goat tacos plus whatever that dipping sauce was….oh man, I’m salivating just thinking about it. It’s too bad the Catfish roe tacos aren’t in season yet…I can’t wait until they are.

ps…if anyone is into baking pies, there’s one half of the PlusTapes team that would most definitely trade you some tapes for delicious baked goods.

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Plustapes gets Gapered

Yours truly (the mysterious D), got interviewed over at Gapers Block for their transmissions blog.

"Just as vinyl collectors delight in the pops and snags of their chosen medium, cassette aficionados adore the hiss, the clunky chunk of starting and stopping a tape….Thanks to the Internet, professional connections, and word-of-mouth, stores and distros from both coasts are requesting as many Plustapes as they can. The 100-copy rule holds fast for now, serving as a lessened risk for both the label as well as the band, should they want to rerelease their work in the future. And with each tape running around a measly $5, it’s easy to see where the series quickly sells out. 'We’re not doing this in small runs to be collector scum, but because it generates interest. It’s quick, it’s fun,' says D."

Sounds about right to me! Check out the article in full for the real deal on what we’re up to and why we do it. Then again, if you’re reading this, I’m pretty sure you know exactly why!

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Praise from The Deli

A couple weeks back the folks over at The Deli Chicago wrote about the recently released Dissappears tape, and had the following to say about the label

“Plustapes is one of the cities most original labels, and are leading the effort to bring back cassette tapes.”

That’s some pretty high praise indeed, and while we’re super happy that folks are excited about what we do, I think we’d be remiss to not give a shout out to some other great labels that are still rockin’ on cassette.

Blackest Rainbow

Digitalis

Fuckit Tapes / Woodsist

American Tapes

Animal Disguise Recordings

Chondritic Sound

Breaking World Records

Not Not Fun

Fag Tapes

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Why We Love Aquarius

Ok, maybe we’re suck ups…but so what! Aquarius is a damn fine record store and their reviews of our records are absolutely stellar. They’re so good they make us want to buy the records!

Check out the love:

Dara Puspita Jang Pertama (Plustapes) cassette
Dara Puspita Green Green Grass (Plustapes) cassette
Dara Puspita A Go Go (Plustapes) cassette

From the newly launched Plustapes cassette label comes THREE tapes from this Indonesian sixties all girl garage group. Do you really need to know any thing more? Indonesian. Sixties. All girl. Garage? We didn’t think so, but just for the heck of it…

We were gonna write separate reviews for each of these, but they’re so cheap, and so good, and odds are if you want one, you’re going to want them all. So far pretty much everyone who has heard these has gone totally nuts for these kick ass garage rock girls.

Dara Puspita (Flower Girls in English) were Indonesia’s most successful girl group in the sixties, and one of the few -actual- bands, who played their own instruments as opposed to just singing with all male backing bands. Even though rock and roll was banned at the time, with some bands being jailed for performing rock music live, Dara Puspita took their influence from that banned rock music, borrowing liberally from the Rolling Stones, The Beatles (whose songs they were warned by the authority to not perform) and the like, but giving it their own twist.

Performing a mix of covers and originals, these ladies were legendary for their wild live shows, but they really shone on record, with a totally distinctive and keen pop sensibility, gorgeous lilting vocals, an awesome rhythm section and some really excellent guitar playing. Dara Puspita weren’t avant garde or super far out, not really heavy or psychedelic, instead they were just a kick ass pop group, an awesome garagey rock and roll band, catchy and fun, super energetic and with a distinctly unique vibe that makes this sound so special. Not to mention all the fuzzy record crackle, which only adds to the appeal! For us at least…

Each tape is strictly LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, each one hand numbered, the tapes are the same color as the covers, each of which sports original artwork from Plastic Crimewave!!
ONE PER CUSTOMER!!!

LOS HOLY’S Sueno Sicodelico(Plustapes) cassette

All right! Two of our favorite things, weird limited cassette tapes, and amazing psychedelic and garage music from all over the world. Plustapes is a new cassette only label, specializing, in… well, limited tapes and obscure international psych and garage music!!!

Their first release is a doozy, and it’s darn near criminal that it’s limited to only 100 copies. The debut from Peru’s Los Holy’s, who just happen to count as a member a fella who would go on to play in another aQ fave Peruvian psych act, Tarkus. But unlike the heaviness of Tarkus, Los Holy’s trafficked more in a fuzzy surfy garage music, thick with effects, a mix of the Ventures and Joe Meek. A few tracks are dead ringers for Meek jams, and still others sound like Ventures outtakes, but Los Holy’s definitely add their own spin. There’s plenty of fuzz, these all instrumental jams slip from groovy kitchy garage rock, to super psyched out and fuzzed out under water sounding surf music, often a mix of the two, all slathered in Farfisa organs, moaning Theremins, swirling bloops and bleeps, primitive delays and echo effects, tons of reverb, all packed into kick ass super catchy psychedelic sixties surf garage jams, surprisingly heavy and tripped out for the time (mid ’60s), really awesome.

Essential for anyone into super obscure, super far out sixties psych, especially, from South America, a la groups like Tarkus, Traffic Sound, and Los Nuevos Shain’s.

LIMITED TO 100 COPIES, Each one hand numbered, clear red cassettes in full color sleeves. ONE PER CUSTOMER!!!

And if that’s not cool enough, check out their blog post with a photo of the short lived display of Dara Puspita tapes
The usual lo-fi black metal and floorcore noise cassettes, which primarily populate this cabinet, have been joined by some South American and Indonesian ’60s garage psychedelia reissued by the new cassette-only label Plus Tapes…

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Lots of love from the Digitalis camp

We’re HUGE fans of the Digitalis label, so it was extra heartwarming to see how much they gushed about us in a recent column:

…..there’s a new dog in town and so far it’s shitting diamonds. Like Creel Pone, the purveyors of these fine dice remain anonymous. The bonus, and the thing that makes me love Plus so much, is that all the reissues are on cassette (woohoo!). Such a good way to deliver. The first tape from Los Holys is a minor masterpiece. These guys hailed from Peru and have to be one of the most unheralded members of the South American psych throne. It’s heavy and it’s heady. According to the Plus-site, the back of the original LP says:

“Los Holys symbolize the restless and evolved heart of today’s youth. Do we know all of the sounds that are heard at the bottoms of the sea? Space stations don’t capture sound-waves produced at thousands of light years? We will try to reproduce those sounds with our instruments and maybe they’ll end up being more pleasant than the crashing of waves.”And to that I say fuck yes. That’s pretty much all you need to know about this scorcher. The other three releases are from Indonesian rock outfit, Dara Puspita. Can you think of any other girl bands from Indonesia? I sure as fuck can’t. I would have a hard time thinking of any bands stateside in this vein that was headed up by girls. So right on. This is some pretty rare stuff, so it’s awesome to actually get a chance to hear it any sort of format besides MP3s. There’s three tapes here, all of which are great. They range in rolled-out psych jams to something that resembles ’50s American pop to all sorts of avenues in between. Awesome vocals, too – they’re total party records that will make you want to drop a case or two. Bonus points on the “Dara Puspita a go go” tape for the cover of “To Love Somebody.” It’s so fucking good it hurts. HURTS. There’s an upcoming tape by GRAND NUTZ called “Da Ladies Man.” I’m pretty sure it’s going to be epic, and it’s going to rival that Sheriff tape on Pizza Night. Holy fuck, basically. Man… Plus Tapes, totally good.

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Analog Nostalgia

YES! We are geeks for tapes. And that’s why Tapedeck.org is absolutely droolworthy.

The German Happy Sound cassette might be one of my favorites…but they’re all so good.

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