It’s bright orange, it rattles when you move it just slightly, and the letter “B” litters the orange surface.

Tiny Philadelphia-based record label Ticklebutt Records produced the tape. It’s called 75:24 and it’s packed with unreleased songs from a little more than a couple dozen of the underground’s most visceral bands. There are tunes by Algernon Cadwallader, 1994!, Snowing, Ape Up! and many more.

I ordered the tape in December. I have yet to hear a second of it. And so it sits on my bookshelf.

It’s not that I don’t want to listen to the tape. That’s hardly the case. I wish I could crack that case open and let the music within pour into my ears. Unfortunately, cassette tapes – and most forms of music media for that matter – aren’t really designed to handle that kind of playback. I’ve been meaning to find a cheap cassette player to listen to the tape, but certain things get in the way. School. Work. Sleep. As much as I want to listen to these tunes, finding a way to listen to the tape isn’t at the top of my list of priorities.

There’s been plenty written about the current cassette culture. Even more space has been dedicated to the resurgence in vinyl. Words like “nostalgia” and “aesthetics” get tossed around trying to describe the appeal of these types of quasi-obsolete media. Yet no one seems to really discuss practically in all of this. Perhaps because it’s the kiss of death to mediums like vinyl or cassettes.

Or is it? Impose recently had Bart Records‘ founder Kevin Stebner discuss his all-cassette label. Stebner’s discussion of his selected medium was quite revealing:

As far as the whole “cassette culture” thing goes, it’s all just a joke. It has nothing to do with nostalgia, nothing to do with aesthetics. Tapes are just the way I could get stuff out there with regards to my means. It simply is, straight-up, the most functional and inexpensive format, with superior sound quality (for reals!), incredibly quick turn over, and the ability to do low-production runs. Not to mention, a tape is relatively impossible to destroy. I value DIY ethics very strongly, and I personally fold every cover, dub every tape, stuff every envelope. Every single thing released on BART has been lovingly assembled with love and care. I don’t know how I’d it any other way.

For Stebner, the cassette is the most viable medium. They’re cheap, easy to produce and allows for Stebner to put his DIY-elbow grease into it. It is practical. The medium that helped change the face of Iran has once again proven its worth for many of the same reasons. Only this time, it’s Canadian post-hardcore bands instead of religious Iranians finding a medium for their culture in the cassette.

The popularity of vinyl is a reflection of practicality, at least, in some ways. For a certain set of music listeners, vinyl is something of a practical reflection of one’s lifestyle. If you have the space for a vinyl player and don’t have to worry about lugging around crates of the stuff whenever you move, you may be in this category. And as much as personal aesthetic taste is a factor, if you’re a person who tends to seek out bands that produce vinyl-only releases, then your love of vinyl is just as much a reflection of practicality as it is a personal choice.

However, of the three main selections for physical musical playback, CDs may be the most practical. Of course, from the business angle, CDs continue to be the most viable option in terms of a physical medium. They’re easy and cheap to produce, and easy for listeners to consume. More people have the ability to play and listen to a CD than a record or cassette. If you’re reading this post, chances are your computer has a CD-drive. Pop a CD in and you have immediate access.

It’s hard not to come across any article about the vinyl or cassette resurgence and not see someone bash the format of the CD. And, in some ways, I can see why. For older listeners, the CD appears to be something rolled out as a way for the music industry to make more money in a cost effective manner. To them, CDs seem cold, sterile, almost alien.

I’ve never felt that way about CDs. Growing up, I saw my parents give up their vinyl player and records. Those massive records seemed foreign to me. When I started to get into music, and I mean really get into music, CDs seemed great. I could access the music I wanted to listen to, skip around to certain tracks with ease, and have a nice, compact and (I hope) smartly-designed package. And yes, CDs do have the kind of artwork one can find with a vinyl album release: Sure it’s smaller, but the inventive and creative individual can find a way to work with the medium, in the same way so many people love to reminisce about creating artwork for that perfect mixtape.

And creation is what the CD has above the cassette and record. Considering the personal computer is as common a household item as a refrigerator, it’s lead to the CD becoming the democratizing physical musical medium (sorry cassettes.) Whereas the means of production may have once made the CD appear like the cold hand of industry, chances are you have the ability to produce your own CD right now. Put together a playlist, pop a CD in, and you’ll have your very own CD in no time.

Mixtape lovers lament the decline of painstakingly-created little gems of personalized cassettes. Who’s to say that the ease of creating a CD-R is any less painstaking? Who’s to say a CD can’t have the personal touches of vinyl?

Well, you. You, of course, have the ability to hop onto whatever musical medium your heart desires. But, just because you like a certain medium, it doesn’t make any other less valid so long as tangible, thriving sounds are being recorded and listened to using some random medium. It won’t surprise me one bit if there’s a sudden interest in CD-R culture any time soon: For a young, struggling band, $20 in CD-Rs could very well build a little community.

But, for now, cassettes appear to be the medium of choice for tastemakers. And until then, that little orange tape will sit on my bookshelf, waiting for me to get my act together and find some way of listening to it.

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Gosh, is it almost Record Store Day again? I’ve waited so long for this day to come!

And I’ve been a really good music writer this year, Record Store Day Man. Honest I have. (Well, unless you ask brokeNCYDE.) I wrote my heart out about all the bands I liked, and even the ones I disliked, during the past year. I tried my darndest, and I think I deserve something nice on this Record Store Day.

What I want more than anything else this year is to find a random album that I will immediately love. I want to just stumble upon it, I want it to be a fortuitous occasion where the clouds part and a light beams down on that album cover as if to say, “yes, this is the one!” No press releases, no hype, no nothing. I just want to find a new record I’ll like without any pretension of “cool” or big weighty name behind it or anything. And I promise I’ll take good care of the record, and play it three times a day, and make sure it’s in good condition and everything!

I understand I may not find my dream album on Record Store Day. Even if my dream is crushed to pieces and my heart is ripped out and stomped upon, I still know the true meaning of Record Store Day.

In any case, I’ve also enclosed a list of other items I would be happy to receive on Record Store Day. Any combination of the following Record Store Day releases and exclusives would be much appreciated:

Against Me! – I Was a Teenage Anarchist acoustic 7″

Beach House – Zebra 12″

Beastie Boys – White Label 12″

Black Keys – Tighten Up/Howlin’ for You 12″

Black Moth Super Rainbow – Eating Us double LP

David Bazan – Live at Electrical Audio CD

Devo – Fresh, What We Do 12″

Dum Dum Girls/Male Bonding – Pay For Me/Before It’s Gone 7″

The Get Up Kids – Simple Science CD

Happy Birthday – Shampoo, Alien 7″

The Hold Steady – Heaven is Whenever LP

Hot Water Music – Live in Chicago 7″

LCD Soundsystem – Pow Pow 12″

The Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs 10″ set

The One A.M. Radio – Credible Threats 7″

Queens of the Stone Age – Feel Good Hit of The Summer 10″ picture disc

Soundgarden – Hunted Down/Nothing to Say 7″

Ted Leo & the Pharmacists – The Oldest House, North Coast 7″

The Thermals/The Cribs – mystery split 7″

TV On The Radio – Dear Science, 12″

Weezer – Ratitude Happy Record Store Day CD (NOTE: Despite my previous ripping of Ratitude song “Can’t Stop Partying,” this has reworkings of “classic” Weezer tunes. And Kenny G. Can’t pass that up!)

That should do it…

Oooh, wait! Also, a copy of I Need That Record! on DVD, which is also being released on Record Store Day. And an ION Portable Turntable if possible, as a lot of these vinyl-only deals don’t come with a download card, and I’d like to be able to convert the songs to MP3 format and play them wherever I go!

Anyway, I know you have a big Saturday ahead of you, and I don’t want to disturb you from fulfilling the wishes of all the other music geeks out there!

Merry Record Store Day!

-Leor

P.S. I left you a virtual milk and virtual cookies on your Facebook page. Enjoy!

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Some Kind of Merchandiser from Leor Galil on Vimeo.

“Merchandise, it keeps us alive,” Fugazi proclaimed on their song “Merchandise.” Though the D.C. punk act saw merch as a distraction, many Do It Yourself punk acts use money from selling records and clothing to survive as a band.

When Philadelphia’s Algernon Cadwallader played Strangelight – a new Chicago DIY venue – on Friday, Feb. 5, singer/bassist Peter Helmis took some time to discuss the process of creating and selling merchandise. Peter highlighted an important attribute of creating one’s own records and merchandise that many artists are beginning to take advantage of in the digital era:

It’s really helpful, if you’re a band that’s playing lots of shows, to have a bunch of your records. If someone else puts it out, they’ll give you a bunch of free ones to start out with, then you have to buy them from the label whenever you need them. If you put it out yourself, it’s more money up front, but you have like 1,000 records at your disposal whenever you want. You don’t have to buy them again, you just sell them, have them whenever you go out.

As the band saves money by putting out its own records (Algernon’s DIY label is called Be Happy Records) and bringing their merch on tour, fans have the chance of saving money as well. Buying a record at a concert is usually cheaper than ordering it online or through a mail order, and often some of the merchandise isn’t available online. Three items onsale at the concert – the 75:24 tape, the Fun 7″ record and the tour T-shirt – are either sold out online or not available elsewhere. The group’s CD – Some Kind of Cadwallader – cost $6 at the concert and costs upwards of $8 online (plus shipping and handling).

Like a lot of DIY punk bands, Algernon Cadwallader isn’t getting rich and famous from its merchandise or playing concerts. As Peter said:

It’s anything but full-time, but it’s definitely a full-time hobby. It’s our passion.

To get a glimpse of Algernon Cadwallader’s Friday night performance, take a look at the video below:

Algernon Cadwallader – “Some Kind of Cadwallader” from Leor Galil on Vimeo.