Tapes ‘n Tapes
Before the iPod, there was the Walkman, spawning an entire musical culture built on the premise of a perfect mixtape. Austin’s Natrix Natrix Records, formed by Rhonda Turnbough and Seth Whaland in 2004, still prefer the comfort of the cassette’s protective plastic shell, hand-dubbing and distributing limited-edition tapes by local anti-folk artists like Ghost Night and Hundts Kup (So We Meet Again tape-split). “We’re willfully naive,” admits Whaland. “There’s a certain intimacy involved with tapes that’s really reflective of the type of music we’re interested in.” The label recently released its first cassette compilation, which comes with spray-painted and Xeroxed covers and features contributions from Jana Hunter and Viking Moses, as well as locals like Leatherbag, Junior League, Ghost Night, the Lovely Sparrows, and Real Live Tigers and will soon embark on a series of 7-inches, including a Deer Tick/Shivers split, and new work from Moth!Fight!, Les Pettit Championettes, and David Israel. “We want our releases to be desirable objects,” says Turnbough, who makes the majority of the label’s artwork. “These are definitely future eBay items.” In the spirit of Jesse’s Bed and Breakfast, Natrix Natrix regularly hosts house parties at 3222 John Campbell’s Trail, beginning two years ago during South by Southwest and continuing Friday with Dinosaur BBQ, Tavo Carbone, and John Rose.This article appears in July 20 • 2007.