Weird Tapes - Christian DRUGS is where it's at

Cut from Weird Tapes "WEIRD RADIO" DJ set - an unknown track mixed into a few others with a great spliced-up punchline. ^_^

Recollections of Memory Tapes - Fallout

Via: Carpark Records writeup:

With the foundation of his musical life crumbling, Dayve Hawk was struggling to maintain a relationship with his project Memory Tapes. But through the difficulties, Hawk managed to keep this vital outlet going. Fallout / House On Fire, the new two-song digital single from Memory Tapes, exhibits Hawk’s still strong songwriting talents and an alternative way of working. After the artist’s last LP, Grace/Confusion, he saw several professional and personal relationships end, all in the space of a few months.

At this point, most of the structure built around the band since the first record,Seek Magic, had disintegrated.  The title of “Fallout” seems to suggest Memory Tapes’ situation around this time. The song itself sounds like an early meeting between post-punk and synth-pop, before anyone could polish out the feeling. The somewhat downcast mood of the music is reflected in the vocals, with Hawk singing, “all I want/ to be there, too.”

[...]

The tracks are completely live/hardware based, with no computer manipulation on the vocals. Considering the raw capture of these songs, they feel a little more like intimate demos than part of a traditional single. “I feel like it’s important to just do something and get it out,” Hawk says. “I’m trying to transition out of my hyper-introverted life.” 

I met Dayve once after a small gig he played in Toronto some years ago. After the concert, he awkwardly scrawled his name (using a ballpoint pen) cock-eyed across my Seek Magic LP, and got away from fans as fast as possible. I felt badly for him that he couldn't enjoy the adoration from people who've enjoyed his work so much over the years. His performance live was fantastic, but you could certainly see it was a struggle for him to reconcile being a musician in public with the introverted nature of his life. 

It's that intersection of introspection and the past that grants his music such a unique sound. Like his earlier side projects, Memory Tapes continues to trigger an emotional resonance for me with music keyed to specific times in my early childhood. In the case of "Fallout", it's the curious feeling I had on evenings spent alone in the early 90's, with half-heard music playing on a car radio outside. It also captures the odd wonder I felt while watching a taped copy of "E.T" in an empty house; the flicker of VHS scan lines on my family's old UHF-band television with a soft summer night breeze blowing though a window. Distant smells of a barbecue, and the sound of crickets outside: These are simple, but potent memories of a time that no longer exists - but I can relive them in a way though music.


I hadn't thought about these experiences for years, but Dayve Hawk's music brings them to the forefront of my memory. For that, I'm eternally grateful and hope he continues to make music in any form for years to come.

 

Update: Dayve released what sounds like a demo version of "Fallout" along with a few other new/unleased tracks in April:



I've done a quick cut/edit of the 1st track:

Memory Tapes - Blue to Green Mix

A reoccurring favourite artist of mine who goes by Memory Tapes (and occasionally Weird Tapes) released another eclectic mix set:

https://soundcloud.com/memorytapes/blue-to-green-mix
When I met the artist during a small concert in Toronto, he commented that nothing on the internet is permanent. It exists, then is gone. For that reason, he rarely keeps his mixes posted for very long.

If you like this, or any of his other listed mixes via SoundCloud, be sure to save them offline using a any number of websites.

Memory Tapes - September

Maserati - Psych Post Rock

Given my interest in artists identified as psychedelic rock like Weird / Memory tapes:

 

- it makes sense I'd enjoy Maserati:





More information here on the group's website. There's a scattering of tracks available on their label's Soundcloud, but a better selection can be found on Youtube.

Displaced mix by Memory Tapes [update]

[Update:] This is odd - the original mix, titled "Displaced Mix" was removed by Memory Tapes, and replaced with a similar mix, same artwork, but titled 'Replacement Mix'. No idea why, but it's equally good, if not better:

[Update 2:] Got a reply from the artist, and he removed the original 'Displaced Mix' because one of his remixes was of another artists work whose album was still unreleased. All the same, I wish I'd had the foresight to save that mix. It worked really well together.

Still, 'Replaced mix' is a nice combination of of rarities, B-sides, remixes, and unreleased tracks by Memory Tapes. Check out his music blog that has a surprising amount of free music.

Memory Tapes: Walk Me Home 1 & 2

Thanks to the magic of Soundcloud's notification system, I received word today of a new mixed set by Dayve Hawk of Memory Tapes. One of the first artists I actively followed online (from his time with Hail Social, to Weird / Memory Tapes) - he consistently creates excellent music. The Walk Me Home mixes in particular have a vintage, spooky vibe to them.

Walk Me Home 2 by Memory Tapes

Also,  Memory Tapes "Walk Me Home" mix [free download link], was created originally for the excellent ARAWA.fm back in 2009.

http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/13506-walk-me-home/

DJ Blayne Mixtape: Memory (2012)

Memory Mix (2012) by thisstuffiswonderful

DJ Blayne's : Memory 2012 (Mix Tape):
A mix of chillwave, electro-ambient, and electro-synthpop I find emotionally evocative.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD (Free MP3)

1. Aslan Osiris - When Our Moon Falls vs. Tycho - Ascension [DJ B Edit]
2. Apparat - Arcadia (Telefon Tel Aviv Remix)
3. Telefon Tel Aviv - The Birds [DJ B Edit]
4. M83 - I Guess I'm Floating
5. Kevin Shields - Goodbye (Lost In Translation OST)
6. Cool Angels - Don't Feel Like Holding On (Ft. Stef Hodapp) [DJ B edit]
7. Memory Tapes - Run Out
8. Telefon Tel Aviv - Helen of Troy
9. Gypsy & the Cat - Time to Wander (Joan of Arc Remix)
10. DIIV - Follow (Memory Tapes Remix)
11. Eight and a Half - When I was Twenty Nine
12. M83 - Slight Night Shiver
13. Tycho - A Walk

Mix also streaming on Mixcloud:

DJ Blayne - Memory 2012 Mix Tape by Djblayne on Mixcloud

If you like the artists included in this set, buy their music. Some tracks are already available for free (Soundcloud) or for purchase (via Bandcamp). Mixtape created using Adobe Soundbooth and Premier.

-DJ Blayne 
[ blaynescott@gmail.com ]
http://events.dark-ware.org

Chillwave: In Video

For other interesting examples of (what can loosely be defined as) Chillwave, visit the Videopage of Jamie Harley.

I discovered his (her?) work while browsing VIMO from an edited video they did mixed to a Weird Tapes track recently.

(S?)he's like the ideal art director of your imagined memories: using found footage/retro documentaries/arthouse footage combined with dreamy/chilled out songs by various artists I've never heard of - they craft something amazing.

Memoryhouse - Lately (Deuxième) from Jamie Harley on Vimeo.



Twin Shadow - "Castles In The Snow" from Jamie Harley on Vimeo.



Memory Tapes : "Today Is Our Life" from Jamie Harley on Vimeo.