Sharp Pins: the teenage tape, hiss intact

Mod Mayday 23 is a teen tape, and the reissue doesn't claim otherwise. Eleven tracks, thirty-one minutes, recorded onto a Tascam Porta One by Kai Slater before the records that brought him attention: Turtle Rock, Radio DDR, Balloon Balloon Balloon, the single 'Saturday Sun'. It initially appeared in 2023 on Hallogallo Tapes. Now it's back on vinyl and digital, remastered by Amy Dragon. The title references Mods Mayday '79, the compilation that captured the British pop scene surrounding groups like Squire and The Mods, and Slater takes the nod literally. 'Love Only Me' and 'Tonight's The Night' are Mods tracks. 'Live Without Her Love' is Squire's.

What the tape has going for it is its shape. Eleven tracks, none over 4:18, and the shortest one, 'Friday Night', ends at 1:40. 'Days of Change' takes 4:18 and is given the time. The three identified covers arrive from one corner of one year, The Mods twice and Squire once, which makes the reference feel like a choice rather than a pun. Nothing here was reworked in the remaster: 'Race For The Audience (demo)' still keeps demo in its title.

The ceiling lies in the source. A four track in a teenager's bedroom imposes a limit, and Amy Dragon's work heightens the clarity of that limit, not the record above it. What remains is a teenager's copies of other people's songs plus rough recordings of his own, which is a document and not much more. No track here contends that the tape needed thirty one minutes of vinyl, and the reissue, wisely, does not attempt to make one. It is a 3: a tape worth hearing once, in full, with the hiss on.

Slater currently performs in Lifeguard and Dwaal Troupe and does editorial and publishing work for the Chicago zine Hallogallo. Mod Mayday 23 is the first file he opened. Amy Dragon's remaster has accomplished what a remaster does: made the tape clearer, not better.

The tracklist

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