Tapes ’n’ Tapes Nihilist Records

Welcome to Tapes ‘n’ Tapes, a bimonthly video series focusing on local cassette labels to help get the feel for why some people have turned to tapes for their musical medium.

Founder of noise band Panicsville and solo experimental musician Andy Ortmann is no stranger to cassettes: He used the format for some of the first releases for Nihilist Records when he was living in St. Louis back in the ’90s. Though Ortmann phased tapes out later that decade, he’s returned to the format in the past few years. Recently, he’s released cassettes by synth freakout artist Anthony Janas and paranoid noise duo Casual Encounter, as well as an experimental music compilation he created for WFMU’s 2011 fundraising marathon called I Never Promised You A Rose Garden.

The A.V. Club headed to the Nihilist Records headquarters in Pilsen to discuss the resurgence of cassettes, what inspires the art he creates for some of his releases, and the importance of the tangible nature of the music he produces.