Oceans Never Listen to Us Anyway

Last year, I presented a paper at the EMP Pop Conference on cassette tape culture and its influence on a new crop of bedroom electronic producers making, um, waves on the Internet with a set of hazy, nostalgic tunes filed under the Chillwave/glo-fi umbrella. I did a lot of research to prep for the presentation—tracking down academic papers, talking to label heads and tape distributors, reading too many music blogs—but I also bought a lot of music on cassette. It tested my patience as a listener; while a lot of the stuff coming out on tape is thrilling, some of it isn’t easy listening, and my tolerance for ambient noise and bad goth-pop ran out after a few fumbled purchases. But there’s also a type of music coming out on tape that is easily digestible, and the medium, though often times frustrating and shamefully archaic, is the perfect home for fuzzy pop songs. 

Lab Coast’s Pictures on the Wall is just that type of record—short, blissful, perfect for a weekend stroll or a pre-run stretching session. The band’s simple tunes don’t really fall in line with any current guitar rock trends; they’re not concerned with 90s hero-worship (Yuck) or psyched-out weirdness (the Woodsist catalog). Instead tracks like “Really Realize” aim for early Nick Lowe territory but come off like the dude from the Capstan Shafts before his morning cup of coffee. I could listen to this stuff all day.