First tapes from United Cassettes

The first delivery from United Cassettes has arrived. One is "Wasted Nights" from "Woozles." The other is in a language I don't know, and a font I can't read... so that's a good start!!! Actually, the second tape is a freebie thrown in because I opted not to have the sweets that were slated to come with the Patreon subscription, and the greeting card apologised for the length of time the tapes would take to get to me... which actually is no big deal, they get here when they get here, as far as I'm concerned, but if it means an extra tape then I'm happy - Stand by for reviews in due course.

 

"Wasted Nights" by Woozles. On bandcamp under Z Tapes - https://ztapes.bandcamp.com/album/wasted-nights - and there is actually a woozles on bandcamp separately, and given that "Connor Ryan" is on both, I presume it's the same people - https://woozles.bandcamp.com/
The first album was 2016 with Connor Ryan playing all instruments and Lillian Burns-Merrill adding vocals. Assuming that this is Woozle's fourth release it seems that Conor Ryan again worked on the whole thing, but additional vocals on a few tracks by Sabrina Cofer. Also, this was mastered by Cameron Boucher, so it seems that Ryan is gaining traction and progressing.
The first track, "Crushed Out," sounded like an obvious drum machine, but in the subsequent tracks the rythm sounded more natural. On top of this were different instruments at a variety of tempos. Woozles experimented and that's to their (Ryan's?) credit. Some fast, some slow and reflective which ties in with the description, "Songs about remembering."
Some bands just keep going with the same sounds, just changing things out a little, but Woozles have made this release more of a journey; experimenting with instruments in places.
I didn't get on with the lyrics as much on some of the tracks, which felt forced and occasionally stepped out of harmony with the music; but other tracks flowed nicely and overall, I think this is a good effort. Seven out of ten, IMHO.
The cassette itself was normal bias with no NR and was certainly acceptable to my ears.

 

"Mabel" by Eggglub - https://noproblematapes.bandcamp.com/album/mabel

Eggglub hails from Santiago, Chile, but the track names are in English on this release.

This tape is a gentle instrumental (with the exception of a few vocal samples thrown in to some of the tracks) and its style varies throughout the tracks, but I had a very hard job listening to it, and the reason why seems bizarre even to me.

The bass beat is such that, for me, it creates the illusion that the volume is being dropped out for a tiny fraction of a second. I suggest listening to the segment of "Uu Uu" which is at the link for the cassette, to see if it sounds the same for you, but the effect was more pronounced on some of the other tracks. When I first heard that effect, I thought my walkman was faulty, but it was regular enough with the beat for me to conclude that this was part of the music, and it sounded just the same on the K222 ESJ at home. As a result, although I listened to the whole cassette, I couldn't connect with it, in order to give it a rating. I did find myself wondering if it was a duplication problem, but I guess I'll likely never know.

If it wasn't for the sudden volume drops, I think I could quite gel with the relaxing, lay back vibes that this tape is putting out.

 

Yes, there is a Japanese Folk cassette I haven't reviewed here yet, and that's because I've yet to find the right listening environment to do it justice.

In the mean time, I present "Two Faces" by Saint Estrela - https://saintestrela.bandcamp.com/

To start with, this is a nine out of ten. For an Indie presentation, this is good. It sounds like this is a real band, of real people, singing and playing in time... just it it should be. (If it isn't, then they've certainly fooled me) The Indie-pop music is as you'd expect. Some tracks are faster than others, but I took it out for my lunch time walk and when it had finished I let it start again. I enjoyed it and didn't feel the need to switch to my back-up tape. As with any indie-pop presentation, it was easy on the ears and well mixed. Some of the tracks weren't ultimately to my taste and I wondered where they were going, but certainly don't let this put you off. This is the one in ten, which makes the subscription worth while.

On my Aiwa walkman, while out and about on my lunch walk, I noticed no hiss except during the end of tape gaps. Honestly, the music industry should hang its head in shame when the indie industry is putting out work like this.