Have your tape and listen too

Photo By Graeme Houssin

Winnipeg-based, tape label, Birthday Tapes, have been filling the nostalgic void for analog since their launch in 2016. We sat down with co-founder/owner Austin Boulton, about their busy year, and their upcoming second compilation album, Birthday Wishes Vol. 2 featuring some of the best emerging acts.

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The era of cassette tapes is beginning again.

With less expensive production costs and a nostalgic quality to the medium, it’s easy to see why indie bands across Canada are releasing more and more music on tapes instead of the more modern CD or the expensive, hyper-vintage vinyl format.

Enter Birthday Tapes, a Winnipeg tape label founded and owned by Austin Boulton, Zoe McRea and Isiah Schellenberg.

“We wanted to put out our own music, like everyone else was putting out their own music,” said Boulton. “We got inspired by everyone else.”

The label’s name is a testament to the variety of music they release. The albums they’ve produced have run the gamut from upbeat to miserable, hopeful to hopeless. “Birthdays can be very happy, and they can be very sad,” said Boulton. “All this fun stuff’s happening and you’re just like, ‘yeah, I’m gonna die soon.’”

Birthday Tapes emerged from Boulton and Schellenberg’s desire to break into Winnipeg’s music scene. “We couldn’t get our own shows, so we made our own shows,” Boulton said. “We made our own music scene.”

Thus, Orange Hat Entertainment, Boulton’s now-retired event company, was born. He organized and promoted concerts for local artists, including Schellenberg’s own band, notme.

When the artists he supported wanted to release their own music instead of solely performing live, Boulton’s path of transition was seamless. Orange Hat Entertainment dissolved into Birthday Tapes just in time for their first album release.

We couldn’t get our own shows, so we made our own shows. We made our own music scene.

Birthday Tapes kicked off on August 19, 2016 with sinking, notme’s debut EP. The release show on the same day, hosted at The Handsome Daughter, also featured Sam Singer, Fever Rose and Halcyon.

Since then, Boulton and Birthday Tapes have hardly had time to breathe. “We just started releasing rapid-fire tapes,” said Boulton.

Birthday Tapes has launched eight tapes since the release of sinking, including their first compilation album, Birthday Wishes Vol. 1. Mmars, Viewing Party, Sam Singer and Orlando Gloom were all featured before their individual albums were released in 2017.

“[Birthday Wishes Vol. 1 was] kind of like a ‘what’s to come,’” Boulton said.

Birthday Tapes’ first compilation heavily featured Winnipeg artists. All 12 artists were locally based, with the exception of Halifax’s Family Video and FISH FOOD of London, Ontario.

Their second compilation, Birthday Wishes Vol. 2, is an expansion of the label and a true adoption of their slogan: “releasing new and old friends.” The upcoming album not only features Winnipeg artists like JayWood, iansucks and housepanther, but international artists like doubleu of New Zealand, Sad Photography of Vancouver and New York’s thanks for coming.

“They all have their own unique sound,” said Boulton. “These are bands and artists I’ve found that I liked throughout 2016 and 2017.”

And unique they are. Birthday Wishes Vol. 2 stretches from the glitchy, gothy timbre of “Naivety” by Bored Décor to LOUNGE FM’s groovy, sleepy “Slumber Party.” Bye Bye Blue’s moody rainy-day ballad “Selfish Girl” and notme’s gloomy shoegaze jam “October 1st” rest someone in the middle, or perhaps on two completely separate planes.

The reason for Birthday Wishes Vol. 2’s diverse tracklist and artist lineup is simple: “At a birthday party, there’s lots of different people there,” Boulton said. Like Birthday Tapes’ other album releases, Birthday Wishes Vol. 2 will celebrate its premiere with a live show at The Park Theatre on February 1. This tour de force concert will feature five artists featured on the compilation: JayWood, Ciel, LOUNGE FM, housepanther and Rust Owl.

As for what’s next for Birthday Tapes after their second compilation’s release, Boulton isn’t sure. “We need to make shoes,” he said. “Kendrick Lamar made shoes. I want shoes.”

Visit Facebook.com/BirthdayTapes or Instagram.com/BirthdayTapes for more details.