Music Label: UHU Tapes Color: White Insert: Black, with drawings by Brace Paine of Gossip Quantity: 30 Replayability: 7/10 At first I didn't notice it. Printed in tiny blue ink at the top of ASSS' Stay at Home tape is a number: 28. It might be a lucky number. Or maybe it's the age of ASSS' Sean Sumler or Alex Smith. Maybe it's totally random. But most likely, the number is a signifier: this tape is ...   More

Music Label: Eggy Records Color: Red Insert: Hand painted on blue construction paper Replayability: 9/10 Rex Marshall was born to record music straight to a cassette tape. Or at least, I like to imagine that this was all in the cards at some point; that Marshall, growing up outside the Vegas strip, took in just as many cheap, warped Human League and Duran Duran tapes as wheezing Elvis impersonators. ...   More

Music Label: Self-released? Color: White Insert: Yellow, with song titles printed on the front Quantity: ??? Replayability: 9/10 I have no idea who is actually in the band Sad Horse. And honestly, I don't really care. I could dig around online and find clues—its a boy/girl duo that's rarely played live this year and released one wonderful (and super out-of-print) 7-inch on Mississippi Records. ...   More