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One thing is for certain: the pandemic didn’t slow down artistic creativity one bit. Despite the lockdowns, quarantines, curfews, and everything else that may or may not have bruised out spirits, this has been a stellar year for music. We may not have been able to experience these artists live, but they sounded pretty damn good from our living room speakers, not to mention blasting through the Duplication.ca warehouse. These are just a few of our favourite cassettes from the Duplication.ca production line of 2021. Give ‘em a listen, and support the artists if you like what you hear! If anything, you may be inspired to plug in your gear and make 2022 an even better year for underground music.

Our Favourite Cassettes of 2021

Garret’s Pick

Masahiro Takahashi - "Flowering Tree, Distant Moon"
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An album that never raises its voice, Takahashi paints beautiful new age backdrops that dissipate around the edges like a fading memory. Digital synthesis that harkens to early computer music rather than contemporary ambient.

📷 by Masahiro Takahashi / Not Not Fun

Ashly’s Pick

Lil Ugly Mane - “Volcanic Bird Enemy & The Voiced Concern” c58

Purchase

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the year was Lil Ugly Mane’s fundamental shift in style. Teased with his Headboard cassingle released earlier this year, LUM moved from Memphis-worship to musique-concrete-rap to now what can maybe be best described as 90s slacker hip-hop. Think of artists in the Grand Royal family, with the indie nonchalance of The Eels and the impeccable sampling style of the Dust Brothers. The lyrics are still soaked in malaise and depression, but masked by its pop-friendly appearance.

📷 by Fashionable Death

Rob’s Pick

Otaco - "Tomodachi" c30
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Japanese "nu-world" style digital avant-garde. Uncanny but still way off the map, factory-worker rhythmic percussion with warped vocals. Would fit right in with the Orange Milk Records family, sort of like an Inga Copeland album produced by Foodman.

Jerry’s Pick

Killswitch Engage - “Atonement” c40

One of the most dominant metalcore bands of the 2000s have never slowed down, flooring fans with their heavy riffs, intimidating vocals, and militant drumming. Absolutely killer 2-colour pad print design on this 2019 rerelease!

📷 by Killswitch Engage

Special Mentions

Lord Byron - "B4 Fyodor" c28
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At glance you would suspect this album to be blown out phonk beats with slowed down loops as hooks, and it definitely is that, but it's also soulful and dream-like. Sounds like Shawty Pimp on muscle relaxants, with incredible restraint and vision.

Big Window - S/T c36
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A gooey dose of Aphex Twin style experimental-electronic, where the LFOs and blips come at you softly and swiftly. Falls into wonderful segments of intertwined melodies between saxophone and eurorack beats.

Black Dresses - "Forever in Your Heart" c50
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A heavy metalcore chug-fest in one moment, bedroom pop jam the next, and suddenly the audio data is corrupted beyond recognition. This seems to be the inevitable endgame of pop, no longer a sequences of notes but a matryoshka of information.
Recommended if you like m̶̲̻͙̱͋̀̌̒̓̐ū̴̙͓̪̯̗̆̈́̆͜s̵͙͆̽̿̄̇̈ï̵̡̻̋̊͒̊c̸̜̹͕̱̓̈́̇.

Music isn’t meant to be kept secret, you should be sharing it with the world! Start 2022 the right way with your album duplicated on cassette. Duplication.ca offers high-quality cassette duplication with beautiful print and assembly, all in one packaging. Visit our cassette duplication page for an instant quote, and FREE SHIPPING to the United States and Canada!