JAN – let it ride – BRAND NEW CASSETTE TAPE

BRAND NEW TAPE – description from rok lok – As someone who has been doing this label for as long as I have seventeen years to be exact I honestly can’t recall a period of time that has excited me as much as the last few years have. And that excitement is in large part to the sheer breadth of “home recorders” and bedroom musicians. So many interesting and daring creative ideas have been documented and shared with the world. As much as I always speak my love of the 90s lo-fi and home recording tape movement I have to speak as highly of how through the ease of home recording technology (heck many of us walk around with a personal studio of sorts on our smartphones) and how the internet has allowed like-minded creative folks-artists, labels and zines and listeners network with one another to share their niche oriented music. What does all of this have to do with the music Dayton, OH’s Jan you might ask? Well, through the lo-fi and cassette forums of the Reddit community I was introduced to the music created by John Rademaker, the creative force behind Jan. “Let It Ride” is a diverse collection of home recorded sounds that finds the project alternating through personas that are more ambient and bedroom guitar folk oriented while other tracks delve into forays that are more electronic, chill-wave tinged. Rademaker tastefully meshes together found sound with well placed drones and swells, which creates a sound that sounds very organic and not contrived at all. “Let It Ride” ebbs and flows and hosts a variety of sounds-guitar, keyboard, treated vocals, field recordings and electronic triggered percussion but never crowds the listening space rather creates lush environments for the songs to roam around in. For fans of The National Park Service, Screen House Music, and Tortoise. “Let It Ride” is a 7 song mini album that is limited to an edition of 40 home dubbed cassettes (in real time) with full color, numbered cardstock j-cards and stamped labels.<a href=”http://thejan.bandcamp.com/album/let-it-ride”>Let It Ride by JAN</a>