New Year and New Format
Amazing new way of listening to music.
Hey, Gary here, and I’m writing the first Grinning Soul newsletter of 2025 as excited as a weasel in a bald man’s hat. The reason being we - yes we - have discovered an entirely new format of musical ear-imbibing. And we have some examples in store for you to purchase if you’re bold enough.
The format is called “the cassette” (pronounced tape), and we haves some truly invigorating, emulsifying, and exotic examples in the shop waiting for your hungry ears to wrap around. Here’s what they look like (a small selection of what we have…
But wait… there’s more. The above photo is just of the case in which the cassette tape in encased. The actual machinery inside is much more exciting and radical. And looks like this…
You will need a special machine to play them, currently known as a “cassette” or “tape” “player”, although my contacts tell me the Russian Bureau of Cassette Tape Theory, the Cassetteburo, headed by Professor Vassily Walkmanski, is working on a new name for it. I’ll keep you posted on developments there.
The selection we have in ranges many genres, from hip hop to country to punk to pop, and there are some classic albums in there as well as classic curiosities. One highlight is the Joy Division live album, Still, rendered as a double tape, and, for me at least, their greatest moment. Still cements them as a live experience band, distilled and softened by the studio production of their sound on their albums Closer and Unknown Pleasures. Great albums, both, and two of my favourites, but if you don’t know Still, then… well… it’s now available on cassette.
In celebration of this new format, we’ve built a playlist selecting a few of the songs from this treasure trove of tapes on the tired old format of online streaming.
Enjoy - and hope to see you in the shop very soon.