Memory Cassette

With a dreamy, cosmic sound, Memory Cassette makes lush neo-disco music that is cinematic, but also danceable. In early 2009, after leaving his position as the former frontman for Philadelphia indie rockers Hail Social, Dayve Hawk leaked a flurry of singles under three similar aliases: Weird Tapes, Memory Tapes, and Memory Cassette, the last being a name designated to his more delicate-sounding work. Because Hawk's identity was unknown when Memory Cassette's first EPs were initially made available on the web, bloggers began speculating about the person behind the curtain. Some thought that it was a woman singing, some thought the project was a full band, but it was soon discovered that the music was made by a phoneless, carless, computerless, 28-year-old house dad living in southern New Jersey. A bit of a recluse, Hawk admitted that retreating to music was his way of coping from an early age. He started playing drums at nine years old, and began home recording at age 14. Using his extensive back catalog of home tapes, 2009's Call & Response was built on an unusual premise: the "call" of the EP being two songs that he recorded at age 18, and the "response" being two songs he recorded ten years later. Hard copies of the EP were pressed in a limited run of 500 and sold out but were made available digitally. Being an avid fan of the remix, after remixing versions of songs by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Britney Spears, and Peter Bjorn and John, Hawk too offered up the chance to get his Memory Cassette songs remixed. CFCF, Friend, Sail a Whale, and Shadow Self complied, and their remixes were released as a supplement to Call & Response. ~ Jason Lymangrover