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Nate Dionne Fantasy cassette

The hooks alone could have carried this cassette, but NATE adds some effective changes to the mold. The level of distortion and feedback can vary from standard to swallowing the song whole. The closing number switches the drum kit out for a machine. Sometimes the songs transform on the fly: the opening track is rough-and-tumble pop punk until it slows into a sludgy, dreamy pace and becomes a sort of cover or remix of itself. It’s a unique trip through familiar territory.

Repo Fam Venus Fly cassette

This feels a little bit over my head, to be completely honest. It is my opinion that for songs of any genre of music to be memorable, there must be a “hook” of some sort to keep the listener engaged. The definition of a “hook,” in my mind, is incredibly loose, as you can find them in the grimiest of punk music, the most intense of extreme music—they exist truly everywhere. The REPO FAM songs on this cassette almost feel as if any sort of “hook”’ has been intentionally taken out of them, and yet I am still feeling inclined to refer to this as pop music. I’m having a bit of an existential crisis over here about it. Can pop music exist without any semblance of pop sensibility? I don’t know that I have the answer to this question. Listen to these eight songs of avant-garde New York City music yourself and see if you can help me understand.

Tin-Ear Cadastral Maps cassette

Self-described as “tweemo,” this is TIN-EAR’s debut album. Very heavy shoegaze vibes at play, with coy vocals that lead a soft and melancholic tribe. Is my teenage self brushing the hair out of his face and crying somewhere in the kaleidoscope of time? Anyway, this lot hails from the salty shores of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, where we are taken to sea aboard a “rickety ship that may never return to shore,” and are ultimately tossed about with the nearly nine-minute closer, simply named “Untitled.” Concept albums and long-jam enders, the type of thing SONIC YOUTH pulled off, are their own form of bravery in the genre, and for that, I give this a lot of credit.