Orchid Tapes

OCT015 : HAPPY TRENDY - Old Friends

2011-01-02T13:53:00.000-08:00

HAPPY TRENDY : OLD FRIENDS

Happy new year!! This is a new collection of lo-fi synth pop songs by HAPPY TRENDY (Dylan Khotin-Foote of Kumon Plaza) that I'm happy to be helping to put out. I won't be selling cassettes for these but anyone interested in buying one of the 50 copies can contact Dylan directly at imhappytrendy@gmail.com.

When designing the inserts for these tapes, Dylan and I decided we wanted to do something special and unique, so we ended up colour-coding every group of 5 inserts according to NHL team colours (a total of 10 different teams). The one above is for the Montreal Canadiens.

EDIT: Cassettes are now sold out.

Download from Mediafire here.

OCT009: FOXES IN FICTION - Alberto EP

2010-12-20T19:58:00.000-08:00

These are 7 songs that I had been working on since about summer of this year, and would have finished a lot sooner had it not been for all the recording gear I had systematically break down on me over the course of the past six months (and not having the money to fix or replace it).

That being said, this EP is mostly an exercise in trying to focus on more structured forms of songwriting, trying to record alternate versions of some preexisting songs, incorporating a wider range of sounds into my recordings, and trying to not be so afraid of making my singing audible.

This EP is dedicated to and named after my friend Alberto who was the first person to invite me to New York to play some shows during the time his band Viernes was touring there. In return for his kind gesture, I told him I’m dedicate a release to him.

Expertly mastered by Lance Smith.

For lyrics / more info about these songs, please visit the Foxes in Fiction website.

DOWNLOAD HERE

FOXES IN FICTION
Alberto
Total time: 26:43

1. Bathurst
2. School Night
3. Sadiya
4. Borders (Galleries & Foxes in Fiction)
5. Fifteen Ativan (Alternate Version)
6. To Josef, In Texas
7. OCAD Flu

OCT014: WEED - Down in The Valley

2010-11-26T10:10:00.000-08:00

It's with great pleasure that I announce the release of Down in The Valley, the latest release by my friend and collaborator Will Anderson, otherwise known to the world as Weed. Recorded from July to October of this year during his transition from Brooklyn to Vancouver, Down in The Valley represents a huge positive growth in his sound and contains some of Will's best songwriting to date with what has become his signature use of distortion coating each track. Right down to the beautiful artwork that was commissioned for this release, everything about this release feels perfect to me.

Download it from his Bandcamp page below:

Weed
Down in the Valley
Total time: 19:32

1. Am I Alone Already?
2. Release Party
3. Songs for Girls
4. Back Half
5. Join Forces
6. Best in Pieces
7. Paul's Machine

OCT013: PANEYE - Lost in a Dark Aquarium

2010-11-23T02:02:00.000-08:00

This sprawling collection of songs was recorded solely by Will Treffry while living alone in a guesthouse in Tokyo, Japan over the past year. And while all the singing of the album remains generally obscured, the environment they create coupled with the evocative song titles lead you into a detailed sketch of Will's state of mind at the time. The result is a dark and austere album of ambient compositions that reflect upon claustrophobia, isolation and other human emotions. Losing yourself in Lost in a Dark Aquarium is a perfectly easy and wonderful task that makes it fit in perfectly with the growing roster of Orchid Tapes musicians and releases. Cassettes limited to 30 copies.

Download here.

OCT012: TRANS-BEDROOM SOUND: Descending Dusk

2010-10-20T15:25:00.000-07:00

"The music that Ben Van Patten makes under the guise of Trans-Bedroom Sound is the music I can only dream of having made when I was his age (sixteen). He is the creator of some of the most exquisite and refined ambient music I’ve ever come across and I often wish that songs like this one would go on forever and ever. Vocals aren’t necessary in his songs like this because it feels like you’re listening to the tonal equivalent of a feeling."

Descending Dusk marks a huge step in Ben Van Patten's work at Trans-Bedroom Sound. The 16 year-old Iowa native with a gift for making strikingly acute ambient compositions, his techniques as a musician have never been more refined or sounded better. Cassettes limited to 15 copies.

Download here.

OCT011: LAZY DRE - Octogasm

2010-10-20T15:07:00.000-07:00

A schizophrenic collage of samples from various different sources, Octogasm is a beautifully arranged experimental hip-hop album created by the Sydney duo Leon Conolly & Hamish Duncan of (Sleep In). The more I listen to this the more entranced I become over how much life and energy this album has and also by how well everything fits together. Something for fans of Flying Lotus and J Dilla. Cassettes limited to 25 copies.

A download can be found at Lazy Dre's Bandcamp:

OCT010: ACTUAL WATER - Double Negatives

2010-10-18T03:37:00.000-07:00

I'm thrilled to announce that Orchid Tapes is reissuing the Toronto band Actual Water's sophomore album from 2008, and one of my favourite albums of all time, Double Negatives. This album was an important element in giving me the urge to want to move to the city of Toronto due to forces encoded in each one of these songs that I knew I had to get closer to.

Double Negatives is bookended by two sections of low fidelity distortion-rich pop songs that take a good deal of inspiration from post-punk bands like the Fall and 1970s German repetition masters Neu! all coated with a beautiful later of propulsive noise. The surprise middle section of ambient compositions fits in perfectly and help to control the pacing of the album and gives better context for the inspiration and influence around this album.
Note: The drums from the track Boutique Neighbourhoods was sampled for the Foxes in Fiction song Jimi Bleachball.

It's hard to put into words how much this album means to me and I hope you end up liking it as much as I do. Cassette quantities + booklet limited to 25.

ACTUAL WATER
Double Negatives (2008)
Total time: 34:22

1. Floorboard Speculation
2. Junk
3. Caroline Ave.
4. Pencil-Legged
5. Rosebushes of Latin Homework
6. Lake Ippising Cabin
7. Open Votes
8. Orange Lights
9. Gemini Entourage
10. Boutique Neighbourhoods
11. Abstract Terminology
12. Double Negatives

Download it here.

Notes: All new future Orchid Tapes releases, including this one, I will be giving away zine-style booklets with each order. Each booklet will contain photos, information about the band and album and several interview questions with the bands, musicians or people who worked on the release. They're looking really cool so far, I'm excited for people to see them!

I'm gonna be in New York City for CMJ fest and then in Los Angeles the following week for a few days, so I should be able to get the first of these shipped near the beginning of November. I'm going to be doing about three new releases in the next few days, and the same thing goes for them. Thanks to everyone who was patient enough to wait through the weird shipping issues I was having last month.

Also, the catalog number 009 was skipped for the time being because I'm still working on the Foxes in Fiction EP that's going to be releases under that number. Soon, promise.

OCT008: GHOST ANIMAL - Summertime In Heaven

2010-09-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

I'm really proud and excited to announce (slightly behind the times) that Orchid Tapes, in collaboration with Summertime In Hell, has released the cassette version of (my friend) Ghost Animal's debut release Summertime In Heaven.

From Friends with Both Arms:

"Ghost Animal plays the kind of scratchy distorted garage rock that I theorize is best consumed live. Among other like-minded, flourescently dressed, PBR drinking kids. It’s the kind of welcoming noise that suggests a party."

Trust me, it's good. If you're so inclined to, support Sumemrtime in Hell and Ghost Animal by picking up a cassette off of Mat Cothran's Summertime in Hell website here for a mere $5.

Ghost Animal
Summertime in Heaven
Total time: 36:09

1. Change Your Mind
2. Dreams
3. Single Man
4. Vanity Affair
5. One Night
6. Summertime In Heaven

7. Through Your Eyes
8. Fever Not Dead
9. Some Other Time
10. Out of Reach
11. California Summer Pt. 1
12. In Your Room

A free download to the whole album can be found here.

xoxo

Shipping issues.

2010-09-24T15:32:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

This is Warren of Orchid Tapes. I've been getting some emails from people lately asking about late tape orders. I'm really sorry that these have been coming in so far away from the date that people placed their orders. It seems as though a lot of the international orders that I've been sending out have been being held at the border and then returned to me several weeks later. This is still an issue I'm trying to sort out, but I've been re-sending the orders in smaller batches and this seems to be working.

Again, I'm really sorry that there has been this delay. For those who have asked, I do have all of your orders saved and you will get your tapes very soon. I greatly appreciate your business and your willingness to understand. It's very rare that people are willing to spend their hard-earned money on physical copies of music these days and I deeply appreciate everyone who has been willing to do this on Orchid Tapes releases.

If you've got any other questions, just send me an email at orchidtapes@gmail.com

Love forever,

Warren
Orchid Tapes

OCT007: Beko_CS02 August Compilation

2010-08-01T10:01:00.006-07:00

beko
cs02 august comp.
Total time: 1:12:52

DOWNLOAD VIA BEKO

Having been a fan and follower of the online single label Beko, it's my honour not only to have a Foxes in Fiction track featured amongst an unbelievable assemblage of highly talented musicians, but also to be doing a collaborative release of their entire August summer compilation on cassette tapes, giving it the mark of a real summer mixtape. Hope you enjoy. First run of tapes limited to 50 copies.

a_side

foxes in fiction_bathurst
black coffee & cherry pie_fountains
fluker love_cold collage
blackbird blackbird_dreams I create
petit tambour_un billet
wizard oz_i can't remember
raw moans/party trash_drunk dial
porcelain raft_moonwalk
kites sail high_palm villa
cosmic sound_video tape
pandit_litchfield

b_side

liquid days_ex-icicles
lay bac_stay out tonight
the beauty_gold star
kiss kiss fantastic_soft lighting
vacation dad_fights
mon insomnie_river
the cq_instrumental a
coma cinema_greater vultures
hardmix_sonar
winter drones_between the leaves

Note: These are slightly more expensive due to the increased cost of tapes at this length.

OCT001: Foxes in Fiction - Swung from The Branches (repress)

2010-07-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

Foxes in Fiction
Swung from The Branches
Total time: 1:03:35

2nd Pressing (20 copies available)

Due to a delay in CD production for this album, I'm taking pre-orders for the cassette tape repressing of Swung from The Branches. As always, the download is located below as well.

DOWNLOAD (cassettes for sale below)

1. Operating Room
2. Basement Window
3. Thank You, Sunday Morning
4. Sleeping Building Unsuspecting
5. Coffee Cups That Won't Break Down
6. Ninth Floor View
7. Cream Screen
8. 8 / 29 / 91
9. Mialectric (Side B transition)
10. Bronte Balloons
11. New Panic Cure
12. Jimi Bleachball
13. Please Note
14. Snow Angels
15. 15 Ativan (Song for Erika)
16. To Go Home
17. Memory Pools
18. Insomnia Keys
19. Visiting Hours

From Groovemine.com:

"This is the kind of music that is, essentially, perfect. Every nuance from the soothing reverb to the soft vocal delivery to the sputtering tape edits and buzz helps contribute to this breathy and ethereal sound. In a way that's hard to explain, this album brings to mind a dark winter night in a quiet city; the carless streets amplify each echo, the twinkling stars seem to cast a bit of shimmer all over everything, and the enormous skyscrapers pale in comparison to the emotions the music brings out. It seems almost intentional that one of the more robust compositions on the album is titled 'Sleeping Building Unsuspecting'.

After years of frustration, I can finally describe the particular style of music that had eluded me. The next time a collaborator inquires about a musical style to explore, I will look no further for inspiration than Swung From The Branches."

SOLD OUT

Thanks so much for supporting Orchid Tapes.
xoxo

OCT006: MICKEY MICKEY ROURKE - M M R

2010-07-20T15:39:00.000-07:00

Mickey Mickey Rourke
M M R
Total time: 44:38

1. BIGGIE
2. BUBBLES
3. CHANGE MY WAY
4. CUTE CUB
5. DREAMCAST
6. G O R G E O U S
7. Hildebrand Brothers
8. HOPPER COLEMAN JACKSON
9. I USED TO SMOKE METH
10. LIQUID KIDS
11. LOVE SONG
12. PRETTY PUKE

FREE DOWNLOAD

On it's first-time physical release on Orchid Tapes, this collection of gorgeous washed out ambient song by my close friend and soon-to-be collaborator Mickey Mickey Rourke will take you away. Insane amounts of respect to him for writing a song about my brother and I.

Taken from Royal Flying Rhinos Wordpress:

"Mickey Mickey Rourke’s sort of self-titled sophomore release M M R is twelve tracks shamelessly intended to make you relax; a recent release announcement even says “let time & distance disappear.” Absent these dimensions, the only thing left to suggest any kind of passage or motion from one thing to another is an awareness of the music, though the album’s hypnotic layers of ambience and drone aren’t communicating with your active consciousness: your subconscious is sated and you relax of your own accord. This isn’t to say that scrutinizing the album from track to track isn’t gratifying, it’s just a very different proposition. M M R is beautifully composed, and pleasant for both its sonic architecture and the peaceful change that it can affect."

Cassette limited to about 35.

OCT005 - The Concrete Thoughts of Felix Tengen

2010-07-20T15:04:00.000-07:00

The Concrete Thoughts of Felix Tengen
Total time: 19:37

1. Audio Sausage
2. Brachiosaurus
3. More Joy, Right Now
4. Ocean Palace
5. The Narcissist
6. The Original Mouth Remains Wordless
7. The Suchness
8. Prism Power

FREE DOWNLOAD

This is another project from Ryan Welfle (*luhn) that I'm really excited about being able to release on Orchid Tapes.

In the same lo-fi vein as his other project, Felix Tengen explores warped bedroom pop songwriting through waves of distorted drum beats, cryptic vocal samples, and shoegazey walls of guitar noise. Some really lovely surprise moments like halfway through 'The Original Mouth Remains Wordless' where simple guitar noodlings shift into chimey 4/4 kick drum dance beats.

Limited to 10 cassette tapes. Purchase below while they're hot!

OCT004: luhn - luhn

2010-06-29T17:16:00.000-07:00

*luhn
*luhn
Total time: 38:11

1. Ganymede
2. Io
3. Siren
4. Vdrgr Trondra
5. Callisto
6. Empyrean
7. Xyter
8. Myriad

OMFG FREE DOWNLOAD

From Toronto, *luhn (pronounced 'loon') is one of the solo musical vehicles of Ryan S. Welfle, the first Orchid Tapes artist that I actually gotten the chance to know in real life, and not strictly over the internet. I first met Ryan last summer while looking for roommates on Craigslist when planning my move to Toronto, which is oddly approriate considering the homegrown apartment-confined nature of this recording. Upon meeting we instantly bonded over our mutual love for certain types of music, like shoegaze, and using cassettes as an aesthetic tool, which is very apparent on this album.

This wonderfully diverse catalog of recordings, with similarly interesting song titles, rannges from minimalistic ambient music to experimental pop, a lot of the time in the same song. All bearing the grain of cassette-recorded home production and psychedelic hintings, Ryan's songs contain enough sonic textures and variety to leave you feeling captivated and wanting more (I'm going to be posting another release by Ryan under a different name shortly). Cassettes extremely limited (to about 10)

OCT003: TRANS-BEDROOM SOUND - Elmwood

2010-06-08T23:08:00.000-07:00

Trans-Bedroom Sound
Elmwood
Total time: 10:06

1. The Aural Field
2. Dream Recorder
3. Elmwood
4. May 31st

OMG FREE DOWNLOAD

Even though there won't be any tapes issued with this release by my long-time friend Ben Van Patten (mostly due to brevity) I can't help but feel like this collection of song fits in perfectly with Orchid Tapes.

Comprised of four separate tracks, Elmwood explores the depths of sonic texture through a series of instrumental tracks that evoke rich images of the natural world, faded Polaroids and fragmented memories. Formatted to the duration of pop songs, each ambient passage makes a definitive statement and never overstays its' welcome, keeping it short and very much sweet. I'm constantly wondering about the origin of the sounds on this album, and this I find is one of the things that keeps me coming back to Bens' songs.

EDIT: Ben and I have had a change of heart and we've decided to make 10 tapes available for his release. Order below:

SOLD OUT

OCT002: TEENAGE REVERB - Isolation Tape Night

2010-06-07T13:52:00.000-07:00

Teenage Reverb
Isolation Tape Night
Total time: 19:13

1. Wintro
2. Weekends
3. Damp For a Good While
4. Point of Tangency
5. Under The Weather
6. Dust
7. Ghostgaze
8. Beach Fear

EDIT: The cassette version of this contains two extra tracks (mostly to fill tape space):
1. Nice Lights These Days
2. Save For Later

OMG FREE DOWNLOAD:

<a href="http://teenagereverb.bandcamp.com/album/isolation-tape-night">Wintro by Teenage Reverb</a>

Isolation Tape Night is the first release by Teenager Reverb, or Joe Zucco, a fellow musician I met on the Deerhunter forums who has an ear for crafting a diverse catalog of song ranging from nostalgic summer lamentations to straight up garage rock. I'm really excited about adding his album to the Orchid Tapes catalog, and I hope you guys dig it as much as I do. "Dust" and "Weekends" are personal favourites. Hand made cassette tapes are limited to a supply of 25 (for now).

OCT001: Foxes in Fiction - Swung from The Branches

2010-04-11T00:46:00.000-07:00

Foxes in Fiction - Swung From The Branches
Total time: 1:03:35

1. Operating Room
2. Basement Window
3. Thank You, Sunday Morning
4. Sleeping Building Unsuspecting
5. Coffee Cups That Won't Break Down
6. Ninth Floor View
7. Cream Screen
8. 8 / 29 / 91
9. Mialectric (Side B transition)

10. Bronte Balloons
11. New Panic Cure
12. Jimi Bleachball
13. Please Note
14. Snow Angels
15. 15 Ativan (Song for Erika)
16. To Go Home
17. Memory Pools
18. Insomnia Keys
19. Visiting Hours

From I Guess I'm Floating: "The solo work of creative Canadian Warren Hildebrand, Foxes In Fiction create lo-fi tunes with great melodies and enough fuzz around the edges to coax your eardrums into submission. "Jimi Bleachball" is a solid track featuring looped percussion and complimentary guitar licks, with spots of wonderfully warped distortion. "New Panic Cure" drifts in a realm of reverb with great guitar melodies and spacey, looped vocals."

DOWNLOAD or purchase a cassette copy (numbered / limited to 100) for $5 + shipping: SOLD OUT