Well, it’s time to piss off a lot of people! Hope you’re ready to be disappointed, because we’re recapping the most notable releases of 2019 so far!

A few things:

1. Only releases covered on the site were up for consideration (so from early February this year onward)
2. There’s two lists: Best of Seattle and Best of Beyond Seattle
3. I’ve never done this before, so not sure how it’s gonna go
4. This was really REALLY hard to drum together. Like, seriously. There was so much good music that came out this year I felt bad even  narrowing it to a top 5.

Please enjoy! If there are albums or works you feel should be included or reordered, let me know on your preferred social media! Alternatively, if you make music or represent an artist and want someone to hear your music, shoot me an email at tapedeckpodcast@gmail.com or use my Contact Form! I listen to everything! Really!

TDP’s Best Of 2019 SO FAR!!!

Hallo! Another podcast, another opportunity to discuss artists that aren’t with us anymore. Sorry about all the death. This week we’re discussing Elliott Smith’s discography with Jason Lambeth, member of lo-fi band Red Pants and head of the Madison, WI-based tape label Painted Blonde. Join us as we ramble through a retrospective of most of his solo discography, with some closing words about David Berman (who passed away shortly before recording). Apologies for the telephone-quality recording!!

Elliott Smith Would Have Turned 50 (feat. Jason Lambeth)

Welcome to the Tape Deck Podcast’s Season 1 Finale!! Since early February this year we’ve managed to push out (nearly) an episode a week, and we figure now it’s time for us take a step back and work on making the podcast even better! We’ll be gone for just a couple of months, and then we’ll be back with new guests, new topics, better stuff all around!! If you’ve been listening until now, thank you so much for sticking with us since the beginning as we’ve been getting used to our sea legs, it means the word to us!


Anyway, today’s podcast features Miiko Valkonen of Seattle’s Don Forgetti, as we talk about The ‘Zoid, a U-District DIY festival that occurred the weekend prior. Join us as we talk about the impetus behind its creation, as well as the behind-the-scenes work that allowed the festival to take place.

Also, I realized this as I was editing the episode down, but I completely forgot to talk about a lot of the stuff that made the ‘Zoid special, including that alien abduction! I’m stupid! Here’s a small summary of what happened there:

-Picture this: you’re about six full sets in and you’ve wandered into the front yard of this house with a porch that’s been set up into a stage. There’s this strange dome assembled out of cloth and pipes that’s been set up above everyone’s heads like a giant water tower, and when you realize what its for there’s a wave of excitement mixed with a sudden urge to get out fro underneath it, just in case. Velvet Q's set starts, and they stun, playing like they just arrived from this makeshift UFO, riffing and screaming like they just synthesized the entirety of Frank Zappa’s discography in two minutes. Then guitarist Rebecca Henry sits at the keyboard and embraces the alien role entirely, singing stark words into two vocoders as an organ rings out. It’s silly and moving and monolithic, and when she suddenly leaves the keys to walk toward the black drapes of the UFO’s abduction beam, the band picks up the slack. The excitement builds during the set-up, and then the pieces come together one by one: the bright light illuminating the drapes, the smoke pouring out of the bottom, and Henry, clothes nearly shed and suspended by a cloth rope, twirling and bending and increasingly rapid speeds. She was being abducted. As she climbed upward into the body of the improvised spacecraft and the song slid to a halt, a band with a reputation for theatrics somehow managed to top themselves. At a HOUSE SHOW.

Trapped In The ‘Zoid! (feat. Miiko Valkonen)

You are listening to the Tape Deck! It’s a Seattle-based podcast about music history and music appreciation, featuring a whole ton of local talent from all walks of life.

The Tape Deck