Friday, May 30, 2014

CASSETTE REVIEW: Phoebe Little “Radio Gujarat” (Standard Issue Press)


            What I understand based upon the Bandcamp description and listening to this is that these are a collection of audio samples that came from radio stations in India, as Phoebe Little visited there, and there are some of her own sounds mixed in as well, which gives it that sort of personal touch.

            When I was a kid growing up, before I even had a double tape deck, I used to make mixed tapes by recording songs off of the radio.  If I haven’t said it before, I’m still ashamed to admit that a lot of the songs I remember recording back then were U2 (and at the time, I’d record something like four or five U2 songs in a row and not realize they were all U2), but that is my past.  If I could go into my parents attic and find a box with my old cassettes in it (Some do still exist up there) and I could find some of these older cassettes I made as a kid, recording songs off of the radio it would be nostalgic for me. 

            Hearing this cassette reminds me of that, but it also makes me think about what a great concept is, and it is one that I’d never heard of someone doing before-- but what a great way to sort of immortalize your vacation to another country.   I’ve never been outside of the United States, but one day I will do something of this nature myself and I only hope it can be half as good.

            This also gets me thinking about what other ways we could capture the moments of our lives with cassettes.    I don’t have any specific ideas right now to share, but it’s definitely got me thinking and thinking is always a good thing.  







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