Nashville based artist Hannah Cole has a new LP, Switchbacks, out September 4th, and has just released the track “MMA”, and the video to go along with it. The track has loud drums, and noisy, sludgy guitars, with Cole’s catchy vocals on top of it all. Hannah and her producer and engineering collaborator, Josef Kuhn, played almost all the instruments on the record and recorded it in their home studio. 

Sonny DiPerri [Tape Op#129] (who has been...

Andrew Sa, in and of himself, is an interesting artist, his talents shaped by his childhood performances at his mother’s karaoke joint then honed through relationships forged in the Chicago music scene as a young adult, all culminating in his debut full-length album American Rough due out June 26th on Bloodshot Records. Add to this that said album incorporates the influences of Mount Moriah alum and revered singer-songwriter H.C. McEntire as well as...

If I was forced to write four word review of Jack White's new album, Frozen Charlotte, it would go like this: Heavy, grooving, fuzzy, classic.

Jack White [Tape Op#82] has a knack for keeping music simple and boiled down to the basics. Heavy riffs, fat grooves, headbanging tempos, and great tones. Frozen Charlotte delivers all of the above from start to finish. It sounds like just what it is; a tight band captured live. There are wisps of The...

We interviewed Bryce Gonzales in Tape Op#165 and did a deep dive into his technique and handmade tube gear he was using to record live jazz records to 1/4” stereo tape at the Los Angeles, CA venue ETA. 

ETA has sadly shuttered but Bryce has continued to record jazz artists around LA with his trusty stereo Nagra tape machine and custom one-of-a-kind tube mixer. 

In May, the Jeff Parker ETA IVtet released Happy Today that Bryce recorded at the...

We interviewed Emily A. Sprague in Tape Op#171 and her 2025 LP Cloud Time landed on our year end best of list more than once. If you’ve been following Emily’s music then you probably already know that she is the primary songwriter and vocalist for the band Florist, and that she also releases ambient instrumental music under her own name. Now with her new LP, Cyano, due out October 2nd, she is singing on ambient adjacent tracks for the first...

We interviewed British psychedelic rock band Temples back in issue #107. Their 2014 release, Sun Structures, stayed in the CD player for months, and I have followed them loosely since. The band's new album, Bliss, takes a turn towards the dance realm, and leans more heavily on synths than guitars for the bulk of the production. It still feels very much like a Temples record, and it's good to see them exploring new sonics and production...

We’re hard at work here at Tape Op HQ on our July issue, which features an interview with super busy producer Kenny Blume, but it’s going to be a few more weeks, so in the meantime, here are a few recently released tracks that Kenny has been working on:

Fathers is a new collective that, in addition to Kenny, features Kiefer on keyboards, CARRTOONS on bass, and Nate Smith (Tape Op# 143) on drums. The project apparently came about as Kenny was finishing...

Larry interviewed Sadie Dupuis in Tape Op #142 and chatted with her about Aimee Mann’s Lost In Space LP for the Discussions Podcast episode #12. Dupuis has also done several interviews for Tape Op with artists like Tegan And Sara, Suzy Shinn, and Sarah Tudzin. 

On July 10th she will release 1331 under her Sad13 project moniker, with most tracks being around one minute long. It's interesting music, so check it out!

The original release of the Grateful Dead's Steal Your Face album in 1976 was largely panned by fans. The mix was muddy, there were weird phase anomalies, and hardcore Deadheads were perplexed by the lack of extended jams. It was recorded at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco October 16 to 20th during the band's "Wall of Sound" era. It was ironic that this legendary live sound setup brought new levels of defined clarity to...

Uh-oh Shaggy, hide the checkbook. I was largely unaware of WaxPoetics until I saw they were hosting an auction of some of Jimmy "The Senator" Douglass' [Tape Op#130] items. What caught my eye out of the gate was a Telefunken U 47 that was used on the sessions for Aretha Franklin's “I Say a Little Prayer” and "Young, Gifted and Black". Additionally there are listings for Jimmy's vintage UREI 1176LN, Focusrite ISA 430...

I went to college, but not for music, recording, or even writing and editing. I obtained a degree in Communications, with an emphasis on Visual, plus a minor in Art with an emphasis on Studio. This meant most of my studies were in film, filmmaking, photography, graphic design, sculpture, ceramics, illustration, painting, and such. Photography was fun, and I was able to borrow an old Olympus 35 mm camera with a fixed wide-angle lens that my dad...

If you've ever recorded in Nashville, you'll understand that countertop ice machines are ubiquitous here. The first time I walked into Blackbird Studio (years before I moved here), owner John McBride [Tape Op#97] showed me the new ice makers he had just installed. To this day, I smile whenever I set foot in any of Blackbird's lounges and remember that interaction with John. Same with my first visits with Dave Cobb [#122] and F. Reid...