Cassette Review: Strange Stains "Bogan Atmosphere" (dubbed tapes)

$5 //
Edition of 50 //
https://dubbedtapes.bandcamp.com/album/bogan-atmosphere //

As soon as this cassette starts there is this electronic looping with the title of the first song being repeated: "What did you say?"   This should immediately bring you in because I've often wondered what someone has said, and the question itself- "What did you say?"- can either be a simple case of not hearing someone and wanting them to repeat what they said or it could be met with more anger in the sense of threatening.   Fun Fact: I recently tried to recall a movie where someone told someone else (an adult telling a child, I believe) not to make people repeat themselves because it's annoying I feel like it was Johnny Depp's version of Willy Wonka, but still, it got me into this google search about people having to repeat themselves and I think it just ties in with this song nicely.

The next song seems to have audio clips mixed with Pong type sounds.  You can hear someone ask "Can you show me on the map where I am?" and the answer to end the track is "You are on the wrong road".    That reminds me of the scene in "Tommy Boy" when the gas station attendant tells David Spade he needs a new map but it might not be from a movie and that's just why I'm thinking that it is.    Big, distorted blasts come out and then we move onto organ drone.  It's like church but, you know, without all the talk about God.    Haunted vocals make their way into the background and this has a sound which is spatial now as well.

A more industrial feel now takes us through the remainder of the songs.   At times it sounds like Garbage.  Dark skip beats turn to big beats and whooshes and then the vocals are just really spliced in as well.  It can have a sound which is triumphant as well, which is odd considering how dark this feels most of the time.   It's not something you might be able to dance to but there is just enough darkness to make it not quite pop.  Is "goth pop" a thing yet because that could describe these songs.  (Though the Bandcamp page describes this as "goth wanna-be pop" which is not quite the same thing)

While there is a meaning to the name Strange Stains I still like to think of it in my own way.   As someone who washes their own clothes, I have gotten to this point where I will occasionally look at things such as pants and see these stains which look like either blood or chocolate and I cannot tell which one nor do I have any actual idea as to how they would have gotten on my pants in the first place.   To me, those are Strange Stains, but I also will be on board with the idea of this being post-sex.

I also somehow received two copies of this cassette.   If you have made it to the end of the review here and are willing to provide me with a valid mailing address, the first person to email me about this cassette will get my second copy of it sent to them in the mail for free.   Don't sleep on this and, yeah, I'll leave this part up forever too so if it's like, 2020 or later assume this offer is no longer valid.