Northern Tape

09/12/2024

From today until New Year’s Day, all our cassettes (including digital download) are £1.

Worldwide shipping available.

Have a lovely holiday gang 🙏🏻

04/04/2023

Northern Music Collective with the skinny.

25/03/2023

Our fourth Northern Tape split is available to pre-order via our Bandcamp now! It will also be available from our gigs at The Cumberland Arms on April 7th and 8th too.

Facebook event; Northern Tape 2023

NT 004 features the debut release from Space Bros. - a collaborative project between John Dole, Ryan Collins and Mr Blazey. I've known them all through the NE gig scene for many years, being a big fan of both Grey Tapes and John's solo stuff, and so was pretty excited to hear about them all teaming up. If you didn't get a chance to see them at Northern Electric Festival last September, make sure you make it the The Cumby on Saturday April 8th for some interstellar beats.

Eli Hermit shares side one. My good friend Faithful Johannes introduced me through his label Win Big Records. Andy totally hits the spot for me on every front - lyrics, vocals and production are all just right up my street, and I feel really lucky to be able to play a part in his next physical release having been a fan for so long. He'll be joining the bill on April 8th too, so if you've been following his releases, this is a rare chance to catch him down our neck of the woods.

Joey Murphy kicks off side 2, and I think I'm right in saying this is probably the only place you'll ever hear this EP as he doesn't promote himself anywhere near as much as he should. He sends me so many awesome demos, many of which never see the light of day, so I'm extremely happy to be able to share these tracks with everyone. I first met Joey when we were both in Fractions (who?), and was always in awe of his intense blend of electronica, hip hop, and orchestral soundtracks. Seriously, he should be scoring films.

Bert Verso (who featured on NT 002) introduced me to Hurrian Cult Legacy (Lila Darkstar) late 2021 when they were looking into tape duplication for an upcoming release. I really loved what they put out, and asked them to play Northern Electric Festival last year. I'm sure they won't mind me saying they tend to keep to themselves online, and so a lot of people didn't know what to expect. They were awesome, hands down one of the highlights of the fest, and it made perfect sense to invite them to be on our next split.

Hype man duties aside, thanks for reading, and if you don't feel like a cassette is for you but you still want to support us, any shares or recommendations would be hugely appreciated.

Have a lush weekend,
Steve

Artwork by Kub Bradley

09/03/2023

This year’s line up at The Cumberland Arms!

On Friday April 7th we have the very special live debut of Benjamin Fitzgerald and Jon Evan’s new project.

Calum Howard Music will be taking the evening off producing for other talented artists to share some of his own tracks with us in a rare live solo performance.

Matthew Jameson returns after impressing everyone with his first ever gig at last year’s Northern Tape.

Blu_aro opens the show after a much loved performance with Living Body the other week.

Then, we have Saturday 8th. John Dole teamed up with Xaatu on our first release, and he will be returning on our fourth as part of Space Bros. - a collaborative project with Rob Blazey and Ryan Collins who are perhaps best known locally for their work with Grey Tapes.

Eli Hermit travels south for a rare North East perfromance, having already released several EPs on local label Win Big Records.

Hurrian Cult Legacy wowed us at last year's Northern Electric Festival and we couldn't wait to get them back.

Wordsmith slash producer slash promoter slash label owner Faithful Johannes will be open up for us, and we can't wait.

One ticket gets you into both gigs; Northern Tape 2023

24/02/2023

We've been super quiet on Facebook, but have lots planned, including a few gigs and our next split release! We'll be posting here more regularly over the next few weeks, but the best place to keep in the loop is still instagram;

13/05/2022

Whoop! This is tomorrow!

afterlightmanagement · Playlist · 7 songs

25/04/2022

🎉🎉🎉

I’m putting the 4 tracks I contributed to Northern Tape’s NT-003 split cassette release out as an EP on the streams this Friday.

You can pre-save on Spotify here https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/faithfuljohannes/nt3

Tracklist:
The Bear
Chazza Shop Song
Westerns
Oblivion (With You)

Artwork is by the brilliant Joe Munsey ( https://joemunsey.com/ )

There’s still some copies of the tape at https://northerntape.bandcamp.com/album/nt-003

17/04/2022

11/04/2022

30/03/2022

Happy Birthday NARC. Magazine

The April issue of NARC. magazine is out now, available in print from outlets across the North East (www.narcmagazine.com/outlets), and digitally via Issuu – www.bit.ly/narcapril22

Our cover stars this month are North East five-piece Komparrison. Evie Lake talks to the band about embracing their loud, proud, Northern identities and kicking against expectations on their debut EP. Exclusive images by Amelia Read.

Also this month…It’s our birthday!! Check out the annual NARC. Compilation album, which celebrates our 16th birthday! Download tunes from the likes of Holly Rees, Jack Fox, Joe Ramsey, Kate Bond, Motherland, NE-O, Viia, Waves of Dread and more via our Bandcamp page.

Plus…
PREVIEWS: Rachel Sermanni // OhWonder // Cattle & Cane // Gwenifer Raymond // Callum Easter // James Heather // Benefits + loads more; theatre shows including The Hunger at Laurels: The Ultimate Entertainment Venue // Yours Sincerely at Gala Durham // Opolis at Alphabetti Theatre // The White Card at Northern Stage // Head Girl at Central Bar Gateshead // GIFT (Gateshead International Festival of Theatre) among others; check out comedy including Raul Kohli at The Stand Comedy Club, Newcastle // Joe Lycett at The Stockton Globe and Tyne Theatre & Opera House // Hilarity Bites’ three day showcase at Darlington Hippodrome + more; art exhibitions abound throughout the region, including Grayson Perry at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens // Mounira Al Solh at BALTIC Centre For Contemporary Art // Bee Lines Through The City at Shieldfield Art Works - Holy Biscuit // Natalie Sharp’s 36000 Sexes of Fungi at Eston Arts Centre and loads more.

INTERVIEWS: Stockton Calling // Bob Vylan // Luke Royalty // Midlake // The Brothers Gillespie // Jonny Pelham Comedy // Cigar Cigar // Graham and Anthony Dolphin’s exhibition, Cover Versions // Dunes // Sunderland Indie // The Unthanks // Fiona Liquid // Heather Ferrier Music // John Cooper Clarke // The Cumberland Arms // Donny Jevs from TEESOUND Festival

REVIEWS: Live reports from Emma-Jean Thackray // Enola Gay // This Is The Kit // CHVRCHES // Stormzy // ZELA and more; Demos reviews of Matthias Proud // Katie C // Emily Bosher // Cam Iyell // No One Likes Us!; there’s reviews of singles and EPs from North East artists including India Arkin // Michael T Ogilvie // Faye Fantarrow // The Whippet Beans // Tired of Fighting // Dayna Leadbitter and more; plus reviews of new album releases from brb>voicecoil // Pink Poison // Father John Misty // Walt Disco // SCALPING // Kae Tempest // Pillow Queens // Warmduscher // Kathryn Joseph and more

24/03/2022

John Dole hitting The Cumberland Arms on April 2nd in support of Galaxians, courtesy of Endless Window!

Absence makes the shark grow fonderhttps://open.spotify.com/album/6l6MJV5kdLDIVtMQs2loyH?si=aejnrg2BTmeWYUF7QIr9tg&dl_branch=1

21/03/2022

Just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who made the gigs this weekend possible. I had a lot of help, and needed all of it.

Thanks to The Cumberland Arms, The Little Buildings and Tanners Arms - Newcastle for having us, and to Northern Electric Festival, NARC. Magazine, Northern Music Collective and Every Day is a Rhythm for spreading the word.

The artists made it special, every one of them local, we should be proud.

(I’ll be messaging you all this week, just having a little break 😮‍💨)