CCPS 2.0 is Live!

After a few months of hard work and sticktoitiveness, the CCPS is back and slightly improved. This old blogger-based site will be decommissioned in the coming months as content is migrated over to our fancy new website at calgarycassettes.org.

The new site is way more searchable, way more linked, and... just the beginning. We're going to be adding in new features, including our much dreamed of gig poster archive.

Huge thanks to Tom Atkinson and Aaron Booth for their help with migrating posts - we've brought over just under half of the content from this site as of this date. Phew! If you want to volunteer to help migrate content - or create new content (like adding in artist details), email us at info@calgarycassettes.org.

Telstar Drugs - Unknown Tape

This is a tape we picked up at one of the record collectors shows last year... it had been sitting on our desk waiting for more info - but we couldn't find anything, so we'll make something up (as usual). We were told this is a Telstar Drugs tape, which checks out - two of the tracks on the A side also show up on a 2014 cassette of theirs (the B side is random bits of noise that sound disturbingly like a failing cassette player), but there's no indication that this is an official release. We're also not sure if this came out before or after their move to Montreal... so we're just going to send you towards the download.

Urethane - Urethane (2023)

There's been an amazing resurgence of hardcore bands in Calgary over the past year, a bunch of them centered around the Half Rabid label. Driven by an amazingly precise drummer and fronted by a singer who has at least a bit of Iggy Pop in him (or at least a penchant for getting accidentally bloodied at shows), Urethane rages hard. This tape is a good one. 

Get the download from the Urethane bandcamp.

Ariel Ulysses - A Song For A Rainy Day (2020)

We believe this cassette is a 2023 release of an album Ariel Ulysses put out in mid-2020, in the exciting, early days of the pandemic. We'd picked up the digital download back then, so we're pleased to have a physical copy of this quiet, introspective release which blends softly strummed guitars, electronics and field recordings. The result is somewhere between ambient and dream pop, and it's highly compelling.

Get the tape from Ariel Ulysses' bandcamp.

Cheer - Time and Space (2018)

We're late to the party with Cheer, and we're kind of sad that it took us so long to get clued in. Fronted by Rus Rendell (also of Brain Bent), Cheer mine a pretty great nugget of rock that melds equal parts psychedelia and prog that we quite like. Time and Space is a four part journey that kicks off with the anthemic Part I, heads into Jeff Buckley-ish territory for Part II, gets sludgy for Part III, and emerges with a blistering rocket for Part IV. It's a great ride throughout.

Get it via the Cheer bandcamp.

Trilogy - Two Thousand Years Of Christmas

Trilogy is a Celtic-tinged trio (hence the name) featuring Eileen McGann and her frequent collaborator David K, along with Cathy Miller. Our scan of the cover doesn't quite do this one justice - there's a bit of gold paint on this which is quite amazing. The songs on this tape are a mix of traditional English songs, original compositions by Miller and McGann... and "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch." It's maybe a weird one in the mix... but we're always suckers for that song.

Get it here.

Minks - Von Gundy (2002)

 

The Minks are a band we had missed/forgotten about until Andrew Wedderburn name-checked them in his list of picks for the Calgary Songs Project. We're glad we took the time to find this CD - it's a scrappy batch of power pop-skewing punk that reminds us of the Hardship Post and early Thrush Hermit. We know NOTHING about this band, though - as far as we know, the Minks were the only band the members played in. If you know otherwise, please let us know!

And if you don't know, grab the download.

Mannequin Depressives - Trash-Eighty (2002)

Up until the mid 2010's, Calgary felt like a no-fly zone for synthpop. Mannequin Depressives always kicked against that - and we're quite happy they did. Trash-Eighty is the first of two full-length CDs they put out (along with a few CDR EPs) and it's a pretty great thing. Drawing on the sounds of bands like Depeche Mode, Psyche, and Cabaret Voltaire, this is an ambitious and highly enjoyable affair. We remember it being panned a bit for sounding overly retro when it came out - but with so much darkwave and synthwave coming out now, it's really hard to make that argument about the Mannequin Depressives these days.

This one's streaming on Apple Music.

Lorrie Mateson - You Should Know By Now (2002)

 

After the demise of the excellent National Dust, Lorrie Matheson embraced playing and recording under his own name and released this, his first solo CD. This picks up where National Dust left off - maybe skewing more power pop than that band. It's always struck us as a bit weird that Matheson recorded this in Edmonton with a bunch of session musicians, but maybe that was just him trying to distance himself from the legacies of National Dust and Fire Engine Red.

This one is available for streaming via Spotify.

Kara Keith - The Love Years (2002)

In between playing in the Earthquake Pills and launching Falconhawk, Kara Keith released this excellent CDR (featuring a few of our favourite songs from the first Falconhawk CD). The songs on here are primarily just Keith and the talented Dave Alcock on drums/recording... but it still sounds great, if lacking the heavier production that came with Falconhawk's releases. 

It looks like this CD (with different art - our copy is obviously a one-off, handmade affair) is available for your streaming pleasure on Kara Keith's Spotify.