Cassette boy

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Photos: Jack Western

Tempted by the excitement of exclusive releases, limited edition goodies, free hotdogs and armed with my trusty Philips SkyMaster 4 cassette player, I ambled down to The Inkwell on Gillygate to sample the delights of the inaugural Cassette Store Day, held on September 7th.

This new annual festival was conceived and is marketed along the same format at Record Store Day to promote and celebrate the format of the cassette tape and to promote local bands and labels.

On arrival, I was pleasantly surprised by the welcoming and laid-back atmosphere of the store and the varied range of local music available for purchase on the day, ranging from the noisy and energetic Fawn Spots, through local singer-songwriter Mark Wynn to electronic and alternative material such as Xiu Xiu’s latest remix compilation ‘Women as Lovers’. There were also more established national bands who had releases on the day such The Flaming Lips and Fucked Up.

In addition to the cassettes available there was obviously the usual range of vinyl and CD delights that The Inkwell offers including other format releases from local record label Bad Paintings, run by Mike Harrison and Jon (of Fawn Spots), including the the intriguing Chalk White Nights by Stranger by Starlight, described by Jon as “listening to someone taking heroin”. Ace.

Chatting to Paul Lowman, the owner and manager of The Inkwell, he seemed very optimistic about CSD, both for lovers of cassettes as ‘they are a cheap way to put out music and that they have a heritage of their own and a history of their own’. Paul also mentioned that it had “built awareness of the shop on what would have typically been a very quiet Saturday”. Mike Harrison, of Bad Painting Records agreed that the event was a success, commenting that ‘the interest in the shops involved (in CSD) has been incredible’.