A thought, an impression.
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Danse Society, KTP and Obscurity
I was listening to the Danse Society today. Their greatest hits or something like that. I only bought the CD for 1 track which I really liked and was unable to find anywhere as a single track download.
This got me thinking about other obscure music I’ve been hunting of late. I recently got back into Kissing the Pink, who’s later albums are very hard to get hold of except on vinyl, and whilst I do like vinyl I don’t find it practical on a day to day basis.
Every time I hunt down something obscure that I’ve remembered and decide that I really must get again I think that this will be the last bit of obscurity I need to locate, but in fact it turns out that it reminds me of another 2 or 3 tracks or albums that I’d love to hear again that don’t seem to be available anywhere on this planet.
I’m sure I’m not the only one though, and I guess it keeps things interesting.
Sorry if this doesn’t make sense, it is late and I think I’m rambling. I’ll stop now.
The Last of the Current Series: Sarah Jane Adventures
It was the last episode in the current series tonight and it was brilliant!
I really think that this show has been one of the best children’s shows in a long time, and in many ways it is better than Dr Who, certainly better than many of the David Tenant series, Matt Smith has been a big improvement in my book.
But The Sarah Jane Adventures has always delivered as far as I’m concerned, and not just for children. Each story has been well thought through and superbly executed. For a spin off series it has done really well and I’m looking forward to the next series in 2011.
More SJA! Keep up the good work BBC!
Everyday
It seems like everyday anyway.
Words
You might be seeing a few more like this over the coming days and weeks. Just fun really.
Old tech
This is what I’ve been using to retrieve my old songs from often crumbling cassettes. Sadly it too is somewhat past it’s best and I’m not sure how much longer it will last.
I’m considering getting an old cassette 8 track. Probably not immediately, but in a while I think.
Some more about old multitracks
If you’re interested in old multitrack stuff then here’s a few more posts on the subject.
I can’t believe I missed Cassette Store Day
It was last weekend and I missed it completely. Which is a real shame for me. So, to make it up to myself I thought I’d post a few of my favourite cassette pictures.
Cassette Store Day 2015: The Awesome Tascam
Thinking about cassettes for me has to include a tape 4-track, or in this case, 8-track. A beautiful and highly functional piece of hardware.
Look what I found
I haven’t seen one of these in ages, but in unearthing loads of old cassettes you can find some real treasures. This is a TDK Metal tape with an aluminum body. A great find, and I think they were pretty expensive when they first came out.
I wonder what else I’ll discover?
A cassette magazine from a long time ago
SFX was a cassette magazine from the 80s. I remember it well and thought it was really innovative back in the day
Finding my first cassette recorder
When I was about 11 or maybe 12 I really desperately wanted a tape recorder, and for Christmas I got one. It was a fergusson and it looked like this. I found it again at a very weird museum a few weeks ago. It took me right back. I used to use it for recording…
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Four Track Futures
Since I started going back over my old tapes and retrieving them I’ve been thinking about the process of recording to tape, or if not to tape in a linear way and not wholly sequenced.
I liked that way of doing things in the past. There was more room for error and because of that more room for inspired accidents. I miss that. You just don’t get that so much with sequencing.
So I am giving serious consideration to tape again. I might even consider getting a tape 8 track at some point!
Tascam Cassette Multitrack 
Teac Blue Reel to Reel Cassette 
TDK Metal Cassette 
Teac Black Reel to Reel Cassette 
You won’t see one of these I’ll bet
I checked the tapedeck site to see if they had one of these in the list of cassettes and they don’t, so I sent them some photos.
I have 3 of these Teac cassettes and I can remember that when I bought them that they were pretty hard to get hold of back then. Now, well I doubt that there would be many of them around any more.
I’ve only got one of the blue ones and the other two are black and not in as good condition.
Beautiful though isn’t it?
I love tape, so I love this …
I’m a fan of Deerful’s music so it was good news when she announced a cassette release. It’s a really nice EP too and very well put togeher.
Old fashioned Cassette Recorder (biscuit tin)
I had one of these years ago. In fact, I had a number of these. But one that was very like this one. I think it was the Ferguson that was almost identical to this. It was excellent. Ok, not excellent, but really good for its time. I used it to record all sorts of…
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Listening to myself
I’ve mentioned before that I’m currently going through a process of moving all my old cassettes to digital. It will take a long, long, long, time. I assure you.
But part of the process is listening to music I haven’t heard in years. Mostly things I’ve recorded myself, some great, some terrible, some embarrassing, and all enjoyable in one way or another.
It is a good reminder of why I love music, why I love the creative process. A reminder that software and hardware are just tools for doing something creative and should be looked at as that.
I think it can be really easy to get lost in tools you’re using to the point where you focus so much on what the tool can do and can’t do that you forget what it is you’re trying to achieve. That’s the danger and listening to my old stuff made with simple hardware and usually no software at all made me realise that perhaps I need to think long and hard about where my music is going, or more importantly the fact that it isn’t going anywhere at the moment.
A signed copy of Steve Jansen’s ‘Slope’
I already have this album, I got it when it first came out, but when I heard that Steve Jansen was selling off the last remaining stock and signing them I thought I ought to buy it again. It’s always lovely to have a signed copy of things and this album especially so. I hope…
Listening to the West Norwood Cassette Library
With a band name like that I could do nothing else but listen to them. I remember the days of using cassette libraries and borrowing tapes. All too often the tapes would be somewhat damaged and wobbly, but that was in many ways the nature of cassettes themselves. Of course cassette libraries are all but…
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I am Ashley Elsdon 