Read & Listen

Memory Tapes - Seek Magic
[Sincerely Yours, 2009]

Memory Tapes is an ailas of New Jersey DJ Dayve Hawk. Actually, one of his many aliases - Memory Cassette, The Banker from Deal Or No Deal, Weird Tapes. His twitter cutely starts with “found a skull”. He demonstrates, and sometimes gives away his new things on his blog We’re Tapes. That, and of course, the music, makes him my latest adoration.

Seek Magic is a very moving and nostalgic album, the first LP after a series of EPs. Dancing, as if from the past, dropping out of time context. At times it reminds of the latest fashion Empire of the Sun. A bit geeky, very sunny and at the same time mild. Lo-fi flowing sounds of the opening Swimming Field are deceptive - through insects chirping come the first dance rhythms on Bicycle. Here, the slowliness and waking-up mood are gone, and the real cheerfulness begins. By the way, Seek Magic can be compared to a bicycle - a lightweight construction moving forward disregarding all the gas-eating monsters and traffic on the road. Guitars are sometimes like New Order’s, danceability is like a simplified James Murphy. Dayve Hawk has his own, piece-by-piece compiled music universe. It’s like a carefully picked interior for a home. At times DIY, at times customized - each element is in its own place, thought-out and immersed into context. This makes Seek Magic really cozy. If Stop Talking is one of the centerpieces, then Pink Stones or Plain Material are framing it. Designer’s lo-fi at its best.

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