Vinyl may not be the ultimate in the technological delivery of music, but there are all kinds of reasons to support it -- sound warmth and fidelity, increased capacity for album artwork, and so on. But would anyone argue the same kind of fuzzy feelings for cassettes? Honestly, cassettes sucked. They melted in the car, got their guts tangled all over the place, and if you played them too much, the eventually sounded as though they were underwater.
Like many other aesthetic markers of "indie rock" (or
whatever), the recent trend toward bands releasing cassettes expresses a
desire for more innocent times. Also, tapes are cheap and willfully
obscure. It takes a little bit of work to even play one -- seriously,
who has a non-computer-based stereo anymore, let alone one with a tape
deck. So does this make the music on said tape more rewarding when it's
finally heard?
In the case of the latest release by the Band in Heaven,
the answer is yes. Everything about the new three-song tape by the West
Palm Beach-birthed act is a look backward, though in a welcome way.
There's the middle-school-reminiscent title, first off: Seven Minutes in Heaven.
The music, meanwhile, stays firmly planted in a different era. Tape opener "Sleazy Dreams" is pure, driving, Psychocandy-era Jesus and Mary Chain, full of fast chords Big Muffed into mud and chanting, slightly nasal vocals that add a touch of Anglo flair to the proceedings. Meanwhile, the flip side, "If You Only Knew," reaches even further back, to the influences on bands like JAMC. With its droning, atonal guitars and vaguely Eastern flourishes, it sounds like an updated riff on the Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs."
And that's it: two concise songs. Which means you can score a hard copy for just $3 from Norse Korea, an Orlando-based booking outfit and tape-only label.
If you don't own a tape player, luckily you can stream both songs from the release below or hear them live tonight when the Band in Heaven performs live at the Snooze Theatre, 798 Tenth St., Lake Park. Admission is $5 and the band is set to play around 9:30 or 10 p.m. Click here.
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