Right Now Weird Tapes Rule the Summer

Here comes yet another relatively mysterious and anonymous (one-man?) mixmaster who is eternally indebted to the many frivolities of youth in the 1980s. Weird Tape’s sprightly boogaloo remix of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s “Heads Will Roll” is the one that got my attention – before that I’d never heard of this guy behind the curtain. We do know he’s from the Philly/Jersey side of the tracks.

Linked is his We’re Tapes blog, wherein various remix and originals pop-up among you-tube finds and various exotica. Most of it is tits. If you’re looking for one complete work I highly suggest the two EPs he has for free download here. While I do see similarities to Futurecop, Vega, and the Twelves, I’m also hearing a bit of Girl Talk (he’s using some good samples here) but on an entirely different level – in all there’s a dark side among the synthetic baubles and roller-bounce neon, and if you listen closely you’ll recognize the snippets, sped and chopped, mending into wild climaxes of fluorescent melodies.

To top that off – he’s also the solo Memory Cassette. I suppose this would be his rock project, veering close to the heart of that new romantic, post-pop sound. But going even further, it’s the combination of the two – Memory Tapes – that holds the most intrigue. Go and make sure to listen to “Bicycle” to see what I mean. And considering Memory Tapes have a full-length on the way, it feels he’s funneling all of his effort into this.