101 Cassette Labels

walkman-aiwa-girl2.jpg

In the 1980s, cassette labels played a vital role in the distribution of underground music, most notably in the noise, industrial, and punk scenes of the time. Easy and relatively inexpensive to produce, cassettes became a common format for the circulation of music lacking popular appeal. Although the majors produced cassettes as well, many of the producers of these underground labels saw their DIY business model as a stance against the greed of the mainstream music industry. Connections made through distribution and information sharing among the artists and musicians in these circles helped to establish a network for those involved.

In the age of GarageBand, Myspace, and file sharing, it may come as a surprise to some that cassette labels are still very much in operation. Tapes now function as a basic form of patronage between musicians and their audience; since a physical format is no longer necessary to send or receive music, these objects become a gesture of support. Tapes act to make tangible the connection between a creator and their listeners, and the attentive and often handmade packaging speaks to this exchange. One instance of this relationship is revealed in the description provided for the Gilgongo Records “Singular Set” series, a run of cassette releases recorded directly onto the tape by the musician in an edition of one. Gilgongo’s James Fella explains that for the project, “…the emphasis is on reaching out and sharing something specific with one other person, that an unrepeated portion of time and creation was individually cut and passed on to one other person to hold onto as their own.”

Cassettes also yield a grainy, degraded sound quality, an aspect that has its own appeal. The draw to this sound can be read as a type of nostalgia, Paul Hegarty in “The Hallucinatory Life of Tape” writes:

Within the dying of media comes the passing or slow dying of individual units - tapes, records, cylinders, cartridges - all of which decay, and in so doing, seem to take on characteristics of having lived. Once digital media arrive as ‘other’, as cyborg sound, the analogue seems to breathe, however rasping the sound. Nostalgia and melancholy imbue formats in general and individual items with pneuma (the essential lifeforce or breath of everything in the universe, according to the Stoics).

Thus, the interest in cassette releases today can, in part, be understood as a response to the proliferation of digital media. Within the realm of experimental music, where the sonic and aesthetic attributes of technological decay hold a particular importance and history, one could argue that the current emphasis on cassette releases extends from this lineage, now only heightened by the influence and expanse of digital media. (Perhaps for this reason many of the labels below would fall under the “experimental” or “noise” category.)

In an effort to provide a snapshot of this active community, I’ve decided to compile a list of 101 contemporary cassette labels as a resource. Feel free to insert additional links in the comments field.



American Tapes

jg20.jpg
Image: The D.L Savings T.X "Cleopatra...Ruler of the Yard"



Yeay! Tapes

y024front.jpg
Image: Bromp Treb "Bricktown Shuffle"



Period Tapes

periodtapes.jpg
Image: Mother Flock, Untitled



Really Coastal

reallycoastal.jpg
Image: Antique Brothers, "Hot Shit"



Pizza Night

pizzanight.jpg
Image: Jeff Host, "In Memoriam: Joybubbles"



Gift Tapes

giftapes.jpg
Image: Brother Raven, diving into the pineapple portal



Night People

nightpeople.jpg
Image: Sewn Leather - "s/t"



Young Tapes

youngtapes.gif
Image: Steve Young "Wedge of Light"



Slime City Tapes

slimecity.JPG
Image: Various Artists, "THE BLEND" CASSETTE



Open Range Records

openrangel.jpg
Image: Vesuvan - Swamp Doctor



Drone Errant Cassettes

droneerrant.jpg
Image: NIGHTMOVES U.K. "RECORDS & GOLD"



Near Tapes
neartapesaed0.jpg
Image: Knitted Abyss, 'Summer Barn'



Midori Records
midori382.jpg
Image: the Midori Box Set



Jugular Forest
jugular.jpg
Image: mirror to mirror, "rerest"



Attic Cassettes
atticcas2e.jpg
Image: Attic Cassettes



Rayon Records

rayon.jpg
Image: Mariners/ Head Effort split



Sloow Tapes

sloowr.jpg
Image: Benjamin Franklin, Splitsing



Ruido Horrible

debuta.jpg
Image: Le Scrambled Debutante



Sky Fi

sky fi9b6.jpg
Image: Dead Luke CS



bumtapes

bumtapes.jpg
Image: BURNT HILLS, Blunt Greeper



Ick Ick Records

ickick.jpg
THE VIBRARIANS, "get out of town"



kindertapes

eggtape.jpg
Image: f\_oeuf, "dieu est un oeuf"



Split Tapes

numberone1-1.gif
Image: OLD BLOOD / TWIN LION SPLIT CASSETTE



Darbolistic Rex

rastat.jpg
Image: BONUS BEAST - RASTAFARIAN BACK SCRATCHER



Trapdoor Tapes

trapdoor2c9.jpg



Ark Tarp

juliebo\_collectedsongs\_ms.jpg
Image: JULIE BO, COLLECTED SONGS 2007 - 2009



Tapetektoniks

uuhuu.jpg
Image: UUHUU "buch"



Blossom Rust Tapes

blossomrust.jpg
Image: kinit her - menial as archivists & bone marrow artifacts



Peasant Magik

peasantmagi.jpg
Image: Expo 70, White Ohms



Wagon

emeralds.jpg
Image: Emeralds - Smoke Signals


Relax with Nature

heatsick 007.JPG
Image: Heatsick, "pre-cum fog ballet" & "total afternoon sundae"



Chondritic Sound

raglieeg.jpg
Image: Raglani - Vanity Well



Deep Fried Tapes
300.gif
Image: Super Natural Hot Rug and Not Used - "self titled"



905 Tapes

socialjunkc2d.jpg
Image: SOCIAL JUNK - "EIGHT YEARS AGO"



Baked Tapes
porkloin.jpg
Image: Pork Lion - Contact High



Senseless Empire

trigal\_3cruces.jpg
Image: Trigal - 3 Cruces



Fuck It Tapes

Rfuckit.jpg
Image: The Wooden Wand & Vanishing Voice - Michel's Portal And Crow Jane Variations



Isolated Now Waves

StarvingWeirdossplit.jpg
Image: STARVING WEIRDOS/SHEARING PINX - Split Cassette



Catholic Tapes

beemask36.jpg
Image: BEE MASK/SAM GOLDBERG Split



Mistake By The Lake

rto ton5eda.jpg
Image: ROT TON BONE - WHERE DID YOU GET ALL THOSE ROTTON TONES?



Meudiademorte Records

cones.jpg
Image: CONES - "USE YOUR ILLUSION III"



Existential Cloth Recordings

derek7c49f7.jpg
Image: derek rogers & hashem assadullahi - "tape loop sax hiss"



El Tule

breadofthedead.jpg
Image: Dylan Ettinger - "Bread of the Dead"



Moon Glyph Tapes

mg02.jpg
Image: Soothsayer - "Neptune's Daughter"



Digitalis Ltd

spacedive\_lrg.jpg
Image: space dive - "twenty-first century sport"



Sonic Meditations

umberto\_fromgrave.jpg
Image: UMBERTO - "From the Grave"



5nakefork

IMAGEZ.jpg
Image: Leavenworth / Hunting Rituals - "steel city sermon"



Buried Valley

bonecloud.jpg
Image: Bonecloud - "XI:XI"



Sick Head Tapes

skaters.jpg
Image: Skaters - "Dripping Avenues / Wind Drapeing Incense"



Pasalymany Tapes

pasalymany47e2.jpg
Image: METIS YETI - "Dear Despair"



Jerkwave Tapes

pinknoisemenagpic.jpg
Image: PINK NOISE - "MENAGERIE"



Bezoar Formations

causeways-.jpg
Image: Sudden Oak-"Causeways of the Sun"



Caligulan Records

caligulan.jpg
Image: Robedoor - Painted Seer


Plustapes

plustapes.jpg
Image: Radius - Scatterbrain Tapes Vol. 1



Goaty Tapes

goaty.jpg
Image: Caethua/Ancestral Diet - split



FLA Records & Tapes

flarecordsandtapes1.jpg
Image: A Pink Cloud - Gyogyul



Cloud Valley

cloud valley54b.jpg
Image: Unmuzzled Ox - Untitled



Shark Bite Tapes

sharbite1347.jpg
Image: Yellow Crystal Star - Birds of Vesta



Pendu Sound Recordings

pendusound recordings.jpg
Image: Mialessot - Birds



Hospital Productions

hospital2.jpg
Image: Prurient - Time Began In A Garden



Tired Trails Collective

tired trails.jpg
Image: Harps of Fuchsia Kalmia w/ Delphine Dora-Pantomima Terrrestre



Heavy Tapes

heavytapes.jpg
Image: Failing Lights - Dismal Winds



Paradise Vendors Inc

paradisevendors.jpg
Image: CHEATAHS 'MAGIC WEAPONS'



Suplex Cassettes

suplex.jpg
Image: An Emergency - 'Wrecked Angles'



Klorofyll Kassetter

kloro2a.jpg
Image: Altar of Flies - Eremiten



exbx tapes

exbx.jpg
Image: Color Dream - Darkslide on the Moon




Two Thousand Tapes

twothousandtapes.jpg
Image: Chen Santa Maria - Live KFJC cassette



hardscrabble amateurs

hardscarbble.jpg
Image: U.S. Girls - U.S. Girls Cassingle



Rampart Tapes

ramparts3.jpg
Image: Walter Carson - Hilltop Reverie



Factotum Tapes

factotum.jpg
Image: TEETH COLLECTION - "oddities"



NNA Tapes

NNA004\_4WEB.jpg
Image: Jefre Sei Getsu Ledesma "Namu Kie Butsu"



Together Tapes

togethertapes957.jpg
Image: the moisturizer - 3 headed howl 2



deception island

deceptionislan.jpg
Image: Chris Benedetto Madak “Bees Removed” , Fragments “Kinetic Sphere”,
Bee Mask “Shimmering Braid”, Skin Graft “Brick in the Mouth of a Corpse”


Twonicorn

twon.jpg
Image: Envenomist - Black Bile



The Trilogy Tapes

triology.jpg
Image: Field Of Hats - Myriad Features



Oms-b
omsb.jpg
Image: Matomeri - "im spitting on my grave"



The Rub*A*Dub Tape Club
rubadub.jpg
Image: V/A "The Hello! Project"



Taped Sounds

tapedsounds.jpg
Image: Steve Hauschildt - Resplendent



Scumbag Relations

scumbag.jpg
Image: Leslie Keffer / God Willing - Split



Abandon Ship Records

abandsho[l.jpg
Image: Time Life - Open To Both Sides



Not Not Fun

notnotfun.jpg
Image: Blank Realm - The Returner



Inverted^Crux

inverted.jpg
Image: WASTED TRUTH



Lost Ghosts Records

lostghosts.jpg
Image: Brendan Sullivan/ Bear & Pieces split tape



Gnar Tapes & Shit

gnar.jpg
Image: Argumentix - Quest for Faults



Gilgongo Records
gilgongo.jpg
Image: JAMES FELLA - "Singular Set" (series) cassette



Must Finish

mustfinish.jpg
Image: GIRL TALK - HONOR AMONG THIEVES



Obsolete Units

obsoleteunits.jpg
Image: Hells Hills - Little Matter Of Death



Earjerk

earjerk1.jpg
Image: Drunjus - Chainmail Future



U|H|U

uhu.jpg
Image: RABBITS 'fur'



Tape Drift

stonebaby.jpg
Image: Stone Baby - "Vir Heroicus Subliminus"



Anathema Sound

RobeDesolateMosaic.jpg
Image: Robe. - Desolate Mosaic



Hanson Records

hanson.jpg
Image: Andrew Coltrane - Gongs Of Violence


Housecraft Records

housecraft.jpg
Image: Pink Buffalo - Bearded Tooth



They Live We Sleep Cassettes

they live we sleep.jpg
Image: TOBIN'S SPIRIT GUIDE - WASTED DAZE



Monorail Trespassing

monorail.jpg
Image: Marble Sky - Sway



Stunned Records

stunned.jpg

Image: Fabric/ Sparkling Wide Pressure - Late Clothes / Blue Doorways I - III



Poor Little Music

poorlittlemusic.jpg

Image: Rob Michalchuk - Venus



Disappearance

disappe8864.jpg
Treehouse People - "Bubble Nuts"



Husk Records

husk.jpg
Image: Wretched Worst - Bleeder



RRRecords

rrrfinal.jpg

Image: Textured Bird Transmission - Recycled Music



Middle James Co.

middlejames.jpg
Image: Fossils - Four Cassette Box



Tapeworm Tapes

tapeworm.jpg
Image: Lilypad - The Moon And Air Sparkle