The Best Cassette Releases of 2012. Yes, I Said “Cassette.”

You remember cassettes, don’t you?  There are billions upon billions of them out there, both in the form of pre-recorded releases and the mixtapes we used to make.  I have boxes of them in the basement and outside of one machine that I haven’t turned on for years, I have no place to play them.

Yet cassettes live.  In fact, they thrive in some parts of the world like SE Asia, India and Africa.  They’re tough buggers when it comes to things like dust and heat (although not direct sunlight).  And compared to digital machines, cassette players are simple mechanical devices.

We in the West, however, are pretty much done with the things.  Well, most of us.

There are at least a couple of labels that specialize in cassette-only releases for indie bands.  They enjoy their anachronistic, contrarian, luddite stance.  

Hypebot offers two lists on the best cassette releases of 2012.  Who knew?  Listen to this track Magic Eye’s casssette release, Shreddin’ on Heaven’s Floor as you get caught up.