The New Music

Who: Memory Tapes

Sounds like: Well, not unlike the name suggests, dreamy, swirling soundscapes layered with wistful vocals and a melange of clapping percussion that gets as close to a musical score for the life that has passed you.

RIYL: Memory Cassette, Weird Tapes, Washed Out, Toro Y Moi, Air France, Delorean, Nite Jewel, Michel Gondry flicks

Need to know: Since his band Hail Social broke up a couple years back, New Jersey’s Dayve Hawk has been recording and releasing music under three monikers: Weird Tapes, Memory Cassette and Memory Tapes. He released the sold-out-within-seconds Memory Cassette EP Call & Response as well as a few free online EPs earlier this year. Now exclusively using Memory Tapes, Hawk recently released the universally adored Seek Magic LP, as well as a slew of remixes for Taken By Trees, Midnight Juggernauts, Britney Spears, Phoenix and most recently, Yeasayer. You can also pick up his remix of Dem Getaway Boyz’s “Imma G,” along with 16 others (including Flying Lotus, El-P and Hudson Mohawke remixing Gucci Mane, Young Jeezy and B.o.B., respectively) on the brand new [adult swim] mixtape, ATL RMX – download it here.

Track: “Treeship” was originally written for Rough Trade when they asked Hawk to whip up a mixtape. The song was given away on his blog, but also included as a bonus disc with the CD version of Seek Magic. You can see how he justified this as a valuable alternative, as Hawk fills the 22 minutes with as many progressions as the standard DJ mix yet manages to keep a smooth flow without any jarring effects. While it never reaches any sort of clear melodic arch, the shape-shifting textures and tones help add even more depth to Hawk’s already bottomless canon.

Buy: You can pick up the limited vinyl edition of Seek Magic here or the CD version here.