Recently I noticed a little drama on Twitter about someone declaring cassettes “out of date” – now like any internet drama, much of that shouldn’t impact your life and be avoided at all costs. But the crash raised an interesting duality: From a data storage perspective, the tape is definitely obsolete. The limited data density, the need to rewind it, and its susceptibility to degradation make it a poor candidate for attempting to authentically store anything, music or the like. However, its value as a musical medium is actually improved Through all of this, it is a low cost vessel for music that provides an intentionally flawed, unoptimized way of delivering music to listeners.

Truth be told, some music just seems made for cassettes, like the industrial rock noise trio from Baltimore. Ugly twinThe upcoming eponymous debut of (which indeed receives a tape release). This is not a drive that aims to transmit a carefully calibrated set of frequencies with minimal distortion, fine-tuned in a pristine environment for maximum fidelity. No, Ugly twin is a hoarse, puffed celebration of gloriously imperfect rock, a monument constructed from hissing, rumbling blocks of indulgent noise. This should be started on a tape recorder harvested by Goodwill, where the circuitry regulating the balance of high and low frequencies has long failed and at least one or two knobs are not functioning properly. But, in a pinch, it also goes great with some weird music videos, so here’s one for the band’s first single “Burn”.

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True to its name, “Burn” sounds like it’s being played from a burning stereo system, always seeming to move forward as if the engine propelling its tape is about to stop at any moment and succumb to the blows. flames. He never does, however, stomping pugnaciously to the mechanical beat of a drum machine as fuzzy rhythm guitar and more fuzzy leads conspire to drown out the screaming vocals of the track. As the tires hurtle down the ramps in his video, only much more edgy, “Burn” is unstoppable and continuous.

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Ugly twin releases November 22 with a limited cassette via Anathemata Editions.