With the success of Record Store Day helping propel vinyl sales to a 28-year high in 2016, it's no surprise that Cassette Store Day, begun in 2013, is picking up steam. As cassettes get more popular again, Cassette Store Day becomes a bigger deal... or maybe it works the opposite way.
The point is, this Saturday (October 8), you'll have a chance to get your hands on some special stuff in everybody's favorite rectangular format and participate, in some way, in the cassette revival. Friends of Sound, a new-ish outpost of the vinyl-worshiping Austin store, is even throwing a sweet show to celebrate the occasion, featuring various vinyl/cassette DJs, and local bands Whatever? (which will have a rad new cassette of its own to sling), Porridge Fist, Wayne Holtz and more. The event will run from noon to 10pm.
Even if you can't make it out for celebration (or shopping) at Friends of Sound, you can still hit up another local cassette purveyor like Imagine Books and Records, Hogwild, or Southtown Vinyl, to participate in the spirit of the day. Pro tip: for new cassette releases Hogwild is probably your best bet, besides the Internet (duh).
As with Record Store Day, there are special cassette releases from a diverse array of labels and artists that will come out on Cassette Store Day. Here are the five Cassette Store Day releases that we mostly highly recommend (though some of them may be hard to come by):
Courtney Barnett, Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit, Mom+Pop
A special cassette issue of Australian alt-grunge wunderkind Courtney Barnett's stellar, star-making 2015 album. Barnett's tunes are as listenable as they are intelligent, funny, biting, and wholly representative of the millennial struggle with apathy, self-doubt, and fear.
Laraaji, Be Still & Glow (3-cassette bundle, previously unreleased 1980s stuff), Leaving Records
This special three-cassette package contains all unreleased music by Philadelphia drone/ambient/new age pioneer Laraaji. These peaceful tunes for meditative moments connect elements of Eastern spirituality with experimental musical approaches in novel, striking ways. Brian Eno is a fan.
DJ Shadow, The Mountain Will Fall, Mass Appeal
Released back in June, The Mountain Will Fall is the excellent fifth studio album by DJ Shadow, one of the most important hip-hop instrumental producers that's ever lived.
Xiu Xiu, Plays the Music of Twin Peaks, Polyvinyl Records
Art-rock/experimental noise group has released quite an onslaught of mind-melting music since debuting in 2002. This year, in a well-timed move, the group released its own take on the creepy atmospheric music from David Lynch's classic series Twin Peaks, which will continue on Showtime in 2017, after a 25-year break.
Big Star, Box Set: #1 Record, Radio City, Third/Sister Lovers, Burger/Ardent/Stax
This unique release collects, on three cassettes, the seminal first three albums from alt-rock forerunners Big Star. A must for any Big Star fanatic, these cassettes play to our sense of nostalgia not just with the music, but with the format, which would have been a cutting-edge curiosity in the 1970s when these albums first came out.
