Memory Tapes' Dayve Hawk in classic "I'm an artist, right?" pose

Usually I can’t last for a whole 3 mins 53 seconds (that’s nearly four minutes!) without either skipping through or getting distracted by an interestingly shaped lump of Blu-Tack on my desk, but this video is really good, as is the track – the second single from new Memory Tapes album Player Piano.

I also stumbled across this mixtape of tunes he was listening to when he was making the album, which I like to think of as a joyous ‘fuuuuuck you!’ to any journalists who think googling “memory tapes” in preparation for an interview would be a step to far and decide to go with “what are your influences please”. Yes, I’ve asked it a few times, but it’s always good to go to the effort of checking they haven’t answered this question a gazillion times before or, as with Dayve Hawk, made a little mixtape to answer your question in musical form and save themselves from dying of boredom or some kind of mental RSI.

Hawk has actually titillated the lazy journalist even further by including a fairly broad selection of songs. I say ‘fairly’ because, let’s face it, being a fan of David Bowie, The Cookies AND Black Keys isn’t really that wacky or far out. Nevertheless, even a brief scan of the tracklist and you KNOW there will be at least one arse-licking description of it as “eclectic”.

Memory Tapes – Ghosting Notes mixtape on Soundcloud

Personal highlights have to be the Memory Tapes tracks towards the end, which are a very promising sign of what’s to come on the new album, and this track, which transports me back to the heady days of Optimo with one opening plink. The Larry Levan mix, bien sur.

He’s playing Glasgow on Friday 8th July at the Arches with support from Star Slinger and Air France DJs.

Memory Tapes – Bicycle (right click to download)
Buy on iTunes // Buy on Juno