THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2021 • THE BULLETIN
GO! MAGAZINE • PAGE 3
ALL THINGS MUSIC
LIVE
MUSIC FOR
THE WEEK
p.23
bendbulletin.com/golisten
Audiophiles, physical media fans
embrace cassettes in Bend
BY BRIAN MCELHINEY • The Bulletin
E
rika Windlinx of Prineville grew up listening to rock ’n’ roll bands such as Def Leppard, Guns N’ Roses and AC/DC on rides in her father’s truck. But the
21-year-old didn’t have a physical music collection until about three years ago when her grandfather died, and she inherited his truck. It only had a tape
deck, so Windlinx started scouring Smith Rock Records (formerly Ranch Records) in downtown Bend for cassettes. She now has a collection of between 50
and 100 cassettes.
“It’s something material,” Windlinx said.
“I’m sure I could find some way to hook
up my phone to my truck and play media
through MP3s and stuff, but I like the ma-
terial. I like having the little flip booklet that
you have that has all the funny little pictures
of rock stars in them, and then it has a little
cover picture. … In this day and age we’re
definitely losing that, and I feel like that’s a
bit pricier of something to have to pay, to
lose the material for more convenience.”
In the last decade, cassettes have seemed
to have a resurgence in popularity — though
nothing close to the vinyl boom. But it’s
more common now to see local bands offer
their releases on cassette, either for practi-
cality, collectibility or both.
For Bend progressive/noise rock band
Zarlok, cassettes give fans the added value
of a physical object. The band’s latest EP,
“Computer, Computer,” is available on cas-
sette at Smith Rock Records.
Releasing music on cassette or vinyl
makes it harder to pirate, said drummer
Andre Antoniou, who owns SOLSK8S Skate
Shop, record label Spice Trader Music and
the connected recording studio, Solside
Sound. And fans don’t seem to be interested
in CDs.
“People don’t buy CDs. My record label
that I run, we do put CDs out usually for
promotional purposes, with two or three
singles, to be able to get them to radio sta-
tions or drop them off at Smith Rock Re-
cords to give out,” Antoniou said. “… For
Zarlok in particular, we’re very adamant
about putting our music out on cassette, so
there are no CD options at this moment for
the catalog.”
Cassettes sell far less than other physical
music mediums on a national scale. The
Recording Industry Association of Amer-
ica lumps cassettes in with CD singles, vinyl
Smith
Rock Re-
cords
owner
Patrick
Smith
shows off
his cas-
sette copy
of Blind
Melon’s
1992,
self-titled
debut al-
bum.
Brian
McElhiney/
The Bulletin
Continued on next page
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