Memory Tapes
Player Piano
Player Piano, the excellent second album from Memory Tapes is released this summer on Something In Construction in Europe and Carpark in the US. It was, like its predecessor, recorded at Dayve Hawke’s home studio in rural New Jersey, where he juggles looking after his young daughter and being a musician.
Seek Magic was released properly in March 2010 and has since sold over 30,000 copies worldwide. It received almost exclusively excellent reviews. Memory Tapes debuted his live show in January 2010 in Manchester, England and has since criss-crossed North America and played shows all across Europe and as far away as Australia. His remixes of the likes of Crystal Castles, Gucci Mane and Britney Spears have had consistent acclaim.
The template / motif for Player Piano was that it would be “keyboard-based psychedelic girl group songs, a sort of Motown suicide note†and so it is. Largely eschewing modern beats this time in favour of “drums that sound like The Kinks’ 60s recordsâ€, there are still the spaces of modern R’n’B, along with 50s doo wop, krautrock and a couple of nods to Aphex Twin. Dayve is already working on Memory Tapes’ third album, which is going to be a “space rock, kind of Sabbath†guitar based set.
So, while Seek Magic was quite an electronic sounding record with lots of dance music tropes, Player Piano is all about the melody.
Simply put, there are lots of catchy tunes here, singalong choruses throughout the album and songs that feel very immediate and accessible, despite consistently dark lyrics that describe a disconnected mindset and a profound sense of isolation.
Tracklist
1. Musicbox (in)
2. Wait In The Dark
3. Today is Our Life
4. Yes I Know
5. Offers
6. Humming
7. Sun Hits
8. Worries
9. Fell Thru Ice
10. Fell Thru Ice II
11. Trance Sisters
12. Musicbox (out)
Related Items
Memory Tapes
Yes I Know / First Hills