Cassette Review // Katie Vogel "Katie Vogel EP" (Gleamer Disk)
Katie Vogel's EP is the second release on cassette by Gleamer Disk. This release is different from the first because this EP is up and streaming on Bandcamp so you can hear it before getting a cassette, but that doesn't take away any of the importance of physical media. The EP is also $8 to download through Bandcamp digitally, so if you're the type who recognizes music that they like and thus likes to give the artists some money to keep them going, spending two more dollars (plus shipping) will get you the cassette.
The sound of Katie Vogel is an interesting one because it combines that alternative rock and grunge era with something modern. I feel like we're beginning to reach a point where older artists might be more influenced by the 1980's and before, but there is this younger wave coming through who are perhaps most influenced by the mid to late 1990's and grunge as it were. This comes out in the second song, "Can't Come Between Us", as I am reminded of Veruca Salt. There are artists in here, both old and new, which you will likely hear but it will depend upon how far you're willing to dive into the '90's.
"Easy To Be With" has a darker yet dreamy sound with guitar notes and in between songs you can hear what sounds like the stop and pause of a cassette, as if this is home recording. "Floating Up" has the most cutting grunge sound, with cymbal crashes, as we go into spaced out notes and heavy singing on "Knows Your Fears". That fifth song is perhaps the most experimental of the cassette and it really makes it feel like it's not just a modern alternative rock sound but there are other elements to this which you really just have to hear.
At the end of the EP is a song called "It Doesn't Work" which begins as a nice dreamgaze sound. This is one of the ways in which I feel like this overall sound is more modern than nostalgic, but it can definitely also be both. The song gets noisy and ends with a big crash, which just feels like the way to go out. If you think of this cassette as being like a car ride you know it's not just going to end by gently pulling into a driveway and parking in a garage. It must end in the care-free and bold manner which the songs on it represent so well.
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