Cassette Review: Future Ape Tapes "1093" (Fall Break Records)

[$5 // Edition of 50 // http://store.fallbreakrecords.com/album/1093]

I will admit that I enjoy when bands have the word "cassette" or "tape" in their name but only if they actually release their music on that format.   It's kind of like... Why would you call yourself "The Cassettes" and then have your music be only digital or on vinyl?   It's not that hard (nor expensive) to put some songs onto a cassette and the more that I can find artists who are willing to have words related to "cassette" in their name the more I like them because, to be blunt, it looks good on a t-shirt.    Future Ape Tapes does sound like a label name as well, which is probably another reason why I enjoy it so much.

The sounds on "1093" are psychedelic.   There is banging and there is singing.   It's trippy as we go through drum machines and tribal chanting.   In some ways, it reminds me of being lost in the desert with The Doors.    Complex guitar riffs take us into a speaking sense, which almost sounds like rapping to me, and then you get into this whole Talking Heads vibe as well (If only because you want to be in that 1980's/1990's era to proclaim this is not your beautiful house)    Hints of The Cure bring about lyrics about going back in time while I can hear the bliss of What Made Milwaukee Famous and the chaos of The Lot Six.

An interesting aspect of cassettes- which has always fascinated me- is that they have two sides.   So, if you have an album with ten tracks on it and you listen to either a compact disc or digital files, when it is over it will typically stop unless you have that repeat option enabled.    The thing with cassettes is that after listening to Side A you always go to Side B.   It's just what you do.   And sometimes you can have different songs on Side A and Side B, but sometimes, like with Future Ape Tapes here, the program can repeat on both sides.   I recognized this but admittedly it was not right away.

Listening to Side B- which was really my second time through "1093"- I heard more swirly psych with these deliberate plucks, bass and even a post-punk sound which for some reason made me want to go to the beach.    While it might feel like I just wasn't paying as close attention on Side A as I should have been (Like "You jerk! You should've recognized that it was the same on both sides right away!") I like to attribute it more to the complexity of the music rather than my ear failing.    And it just goes to further my point that you can listen to "1093" several times over- as I have- and take something different out of it each time.   Though, of course, I know now that Side A and Side B are the same... Sort of.    They are the same music, but they will provide you with a different experience.