Cassette Review // Aaron Troyer "Trappings Of A Golden Myth" (No Coast)

$5.99 //

Edition of 75 //

https://nocoastrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/trappings-of-a-golden-myth-2 //

Recently, I watched the movie "Adventureland" again for maybe the fourth time in my life.    While I obviously enjoy the movie since I keep watching it, I also really enjoy the soundtrack to it.   Though it might just be a connection that I make, after listening to this cassette by Aaron Troyer enough times and then having that movie play at some point during my listening (There was actually a day where I listened to this cassette during the afternoon then watched the movie at night) I feel like the two are somehow connected, if only musically.  Which is weird because I've never really thought about "Adventureland" as a soundtrack before.

Throughout these songs there are several variations of rock music but the one I didn't really hear a lot of was modern rock.   Elements of these songs can be traced back to names like John Fogerty, Blue Oyster Cult and CCR.    Somehow, I can even hear a little bit of Jimmy Buffet in here.   There are some folk vibes throughout this cassette as well though- which can lead to the songs being acoustic.   This makes me think of The Get Up Kids, which is probably about as current as this sounds to me.

And then we get into that 1990's scene of rock n roll which was headlined by The Replacements.   That sound is in here and as it mixes with the Americana driving sound of someone in the classic rock genre such as Tom Petty, this just seems to touch all of the right rock bases.   At times, it can even feel psychedelic.  But I also like to think of this as being the soundtrack to another movie- "Juno"- as it goes from those different levels of rock music (and has the folk/acoustic parts) but it amazes me to think how many different artists are on that soundtrack and yet this is all being made by one artist.

The only fault with this cassette is that it might not be rock enough for some folks and others it might be not folk enough.  I'm not sure if there is a lot of crossover between the listeners who would want this to be louder or softer, but I'm hoping that in the year 2021 people can listen to different levels of music by the same artist and not feel so exclusive.  In the 1960's, for example, this could create a real conflict where people would say "I like this song but that other song is for squares", but again, being in modern times I feel like the world is ready to experience this one and it is just so easily accessible to the ears that everyone should be playing it.