Cassette Store Day

Today is the first ever Cassette Store Day, and while the debate remains open as to whether this will be good or bad for the format and the industry, I'm finding it hard to contain my excitement. Stores from around the world will be releasing exclusive tapes from favorites like Deerhunter, Spectrals, Animal Collective, Teen Suicide, Gold Panda, and many others.

To celebrate, all downloads and merch in the DZ store will be marked off 20% this weekend by using the code "CSD" at checkout. And when your eyeballs have a free moment, take a look at these quick reads discussing some of the pros and cons of this new musical holiday.

I also want to thank the dudes at Tabs Out and Ad Hoc for the kind words on DYVNZMBR2, saying it "runs the gamut of electronic music, from glitched-out beats to feedback-laden buzzsaw drones and lo-fi downtempo hazers. It’s like a huge sandwich that’s too big to get your mouth around so you gotta take it home and cut it up cause you and I both know if you even try it, that shit's falling out of the bread and landing in your lap."

Coming and Going

Within the past few weeks, the distro has been raided heavily and has practically sold out of almost every tape in store. In fact, the new Seabright tape was one of Bandcamp's top-selling cassettes of this past week! Thanks to everyone who's made a purchase for your love and support, you all are wind beneath this project's wings and I send my heartfelt appreciation to each and every one of you all around the world. 

With things moving at a slightly faster pace, I'm working hard to get the next few projects in production and I've got the ball rolling with a few other artists in hopes of building on top of what has become the most successful year of DZ TAPES thus far. Stay tuned for more updates on these future releases coming soon!

In live event news, here at the Dougout we quietly put on an acoustic show last week which featured friends old and new, so I wanted to let you in on the fun by checking out some pictures from the event below. Much love goes out to Infinity Crush, Meridian, Morgan Spaner, Ryan Ford, Alex Tebeleff, and Sunset Theme for putting on fantastic performances, and a big thanks as well to everyone who bought merch, donated, and came out to the show last week.

Infinity Crush

Meridian

Morgan Spaner

Ryan Ford (courtesy of Geoff)

Sunset Theme (courtesy of Geoff)

Seabright in the summer sun

While Justin Morales has been revamping his Seabright set around northern California this summer, DZ10 has just started to make the rounds on cassette decks around the world. All orders are now up to date, and the pastel pink beauties should soon be arriving to all you great tape-heads across the globe. Thanks for all the support and enjoy cranking this one up with the top down during this wonderful warm weather.

Check out some of the nice things folks have been saying about the new album below, and tune in to Justin's radio show "The Mystic Brewery Radio Show" on San Jose's KSCU every Saturday night from 8-10pm PST.

"Tomorrow is a woozy shuffle through refracted sunrays, VHS tapes of soaring seagulls and lakeside imaginings, perpetual sunsets and eyelids at half-mast. Seabright seems intent on wash[ing] his sonic palette in shimmering pastels, a swathe of echoed reminisces and liberal doses of liberation." - Sonic Masala 

"a distinctly sunny brand of shoegaze pop" - The Bay Bridged 

"an interesting fusion of chillwave, shoegaze and beach-pop....Tomorrow is easily one of his most accessible albums to date, a truly eclectic sound" - SanJose.com

Our label friend Pregnant has been making fan-inspired songs for the past few months and just put this little number up for me. If you want Daniel to make a song about you, you can buy one here.