Notes on Vaporwave Cassette Culture and the Cassette Obi
This is a translation of the fantastic article by 捨てアカ (@Sute__Aca). You can find the original piece in Japanese here.
The obi, a unique Japanese conception.
An obi (帯) is a paper sash usually wrapped around products such as LPs, CDs and computer game packaging. Host to sensationalist slogans devised to pique consumers' desire to buy, the obi is the result of a great deal of accumulated marketing knowledge and smarts. Still, the wrapper is coveted by feverish collectors, and there are even marketplaces where obis alone, without the original product, can change hands for hundreds of thousands of yen. We're not talking just Japan; enthusiastic collectors can be found the world over.
It is a little-known fact that the obi, ever prevalent in the realm of LPs and CDs, is now being adopted by an exciting (and largely non-Japanese) movement known as Vaporwave.
By way of background, I'll take a moment to talk about Vaporwave and its cassette culture. Vaporwave is a musical genre that took the internet by storm around 2012, known foremost for digging out 80s & 90s smooth jazz and forgotten pop songs, and manipulating them with 'chopped & screwed' like techniques. To what extent the Vaporwave scene's love of the cassette format is related to this heavy use of nostalgic samples is uncertain, but there are countless examples of albums released on cassette as opposed to CD. A specialist community, the 'Vaporwave Cassette Club', was established and as of April 2017, the group has approximately 5,780 members.
Proportionate to the rise of the Vaporwave movement, cassette tape releases have been growing year-on-year. According to Discogs, Vaporwave reached its apex in 2016 with 2,491 albums released, of which 681 were in cassette format. Due to the nature of Discogs, there are some discrepancies in the numbers, but it is for certain that last year saw a flood of new Vaporwave labels tirelessly putting out scores of releases each month. Tapes are seeing a real rise in popularity in the scene.
Within Vaporwave cassette culture, the most well-known release must be 'Floral Shoppe' by Macintosh Plus, issued by BEER ON THE RUG in 2012 as a 100-copy limited edition tape. In the Discogs marketplace, copies go for a staggering $850.00 (¥95,000 Japanese yen). At one point it was put up for sale for almost ¥110,000, and the price is expected to continue rising.
So, back to the topic at hand. In recent years, the obi has been in the spotlight within Vaporwave cassette culture, the strip being used expressly on cassettes rather than LPs or CDs. This phenomenon began with Netherlands-based artist 猫 シ Corp who together with artist POCARI ステューシー released the split album 'School Days' on handmade cassette. The tape included an adapted CD obi from the Japanese edition of 'Live and Rare' by Jane's Addiction. Initially, the digital album artwork was designed to look like a CD jacket with an obi strip, so the physical cassette release embodied this spirit.
It can't be said for certain whether 猫 シ Corp's design was the catalyst, but the artist Gateway ゲートウェイ also employed the obi on his second album 永遠の道. In addition to the standard version, an ultra-rare limited edition obi cassette appeared, enthralling the Vaporwave community.
Before long, use of the obi amongst independent Vaporwave labels had gained considerable momentum.
On artist 蜃気楼MIRAGE's album 忘れテープ, Washington-based label VICE '98 used a 'waistcloth' type of obi usually seen on books in Japan. Printed on the sky blue design was not the price or catalogue number, but a note of thanks to the buyer. This type of obi has become standard on VICE '98 cassette tapes ever since.
A cassette obi revolution took place last month when BLUDHONEY RECORDS released 'Hold it Together' by w u s o 命 on tape. Two separate designs were prepared and for each a different obi. These cool obis, corresponding in colour to the moody Cyberpunk artwork, surpassed all that had gone before. Zealous fans emerged (myself included), willing to buy two copies of the cassette just to get both obi strips.
BLUDHONEY RECORDS has always been fastidious about its physical releases, for example, issuing wax sealed letters and honey flavoured candy gifts as a nod to their name. The label demonstrates ingenuity at every turn, and same can be said for sub-label CHAMBER 38's cassettes, delivered sealed in biohazard specimen bags. Within broader cassette culture, the Vaporwave quarter is overflowing with imagination and creativity.
BLUDHONEY RECORDS looks set to include an obi on artist kubrixXx's album ‘Listless City’, scheduled for release this month. It is likely that this will propel cassette obi culture further still (amongst us fanatics at least).
I'd have to confess that opening the case of a cassette with an obi takes a little time, and effort is required carefully loosening and unfastening the strip. Cumbersome and inconvenient as this may be, fans remain fascinated by the charm of the cassette obi.
