Quick: name 10 tape labels. Aww, you could only remember 9? Well, you’re in luck; because a brand new one is starting its operation right now! On February 19 (a.k.a. TODAY), Reserve Matinee launches itself into the tape label universe with four releases OUT RIGHT NOW, four more scheduled for release next month (including “Remnants by Cleveland veteran beat-maker and writer SuRAH, a gentle ambient excursion from UK-based artist Sun Curves on Dual Lake, a kaleidoscopic trip with San Diego-based body of water’s Plateau, and the dusty debut of the mysterious Exhibitionist”), and an embarrassingly generous 22 others promised for the rest of 2018! If that’s not a Tape Label, then I don’t know what is.
The label/collective is led by John Daniel, Michael Stumpf, and Jon Macintosh (pictured above) — a trio of musicians based in Uptown Chicago who met in 2017 and have since spent many an evening together, contemplating the future, making music, and plotting their global tape comeback. “The three of us want to support and elevate Chicago musicians, especially peripheral, liminal and generally weirder ones,” says Macintosh.
While globally connected, Reserve Matinee is a label very much in touch with its immediate surroundings. Much like the grand and historic Uptown neighborhood’s (currently abandoned and rotting) Uptown Theatre, Reserve Matinee aim to turn things around and act as a hub for the local avant-garde artists. They trade in outside-the-club, left-field, noise, ambient, and other live improvised sound art from around the world, though the releases will be connected to Uptown Chicago through photography and other visuals.
As I mentioned earlier, the label’s first 4 tapes are dropping in full TODAY. First up, noise trio In Secure Models kick the proceedings off with some living rooms jams condensed into nine concise tracks. The second release is Proud Father’s Creations for Electric Guitar, “a deep journey into a rather forward kosmiche territory”, while release number three — Living Residue by Zone Farmer — is armed with a comforting, foggy glow. Last but not least, the batch ends with Detroit’s avant-techno duo Traag, whose last-minute demo titled Ways To End The Day is an excellent example of the label’s sonic vision. Order your glorious plastic copies of each release right over here and stream ‘em down below while you wait. What’d I tell you? Tapes on tapes on tapes.
Wintermute tracklisting:
01. Joy of Xone
02. Finesse
03. Intensifying proof
04. On a far off prairie, a murmur of Life
05. Unrecognizable
06. Kenmore to Dover
07. Argyle glo
Creations for Electric Guitar tracklisting:
01. Kokoro no jiin de no tomin
02. 輝く畑が再訪される
03. Creation 2
04. The Light That Guides Through Falling Missiles
Living Residue tracklisting:
01. Irretrievable
02. Glean
03. ( - )
04. Kidder
05. Seeker
Ways To End The Day tracklisting:
01. Joker Laugh
02. Treasure of Debt
03. Beat of Monte Carlo
04. Colonnade
05. Luxor 1:51am
06. Play Atlantis
More about: In Secure Models, Proud Father, Traag, Zone Farmer
