Books on Tape
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Books on Tape

Los Angeles, California, United States | SELF

Los Angeles, California, United States | SELF
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"MTVHive: Books on Tape's Pulsating New Remix"

For L.A. producer Books on Tape, his song “Johnny Drunk on the Rocks” used to be a crowd favorite at live shows. But when the track lost its luster, he decided to bolster the remix with punk rock and reggae. “We’ve been listening to a ton of reggae and dub in my house these days — my toddler seems to love it,” the producer says. “The remix started out by applying some dub-style tape delay to the samples from the original.” As a result, “Johnny Drums on the Rocks” is a lively reggaeton mix of hard percussion and edgy synths. Hope the kid approves. - MTV Hive


"Bust Magazine review (4 out of 5 boobs)"

I'm often bored by electronic music, but Books on Tape is an exception. Retired Numbers, the latest from one-man electronic act Todd Drootin, offers a symphony of noise in each track. Comprised of "lost" and unreleased songs from his archives, this album contains schizophrenic tunes that change from one second to the next, creating a mixtape of noise that sounds like an orchestra of DJs working together. "Johnny Drunk on the Rocks" begins with a retro cocktail party vibe before it launches into a raucous assault of pulsing tones that leaves listeners thinking they can see the titular Johnny slipping and sliding in his stupor. Meanwhile, album-closer "Safety First" does anything but adhere to the rules. Sample after sample is rendered unrecognizable by Drootin's wizardry, culminating in an abrupt ending that leaves you moving in place even after the music has stopped. - Melynda Fuller - Bust Magazine


"Bust Magazine review (4 out of 5 boobs)"

I'm often bored by electronic music, but Books on Tape is an exception. Retired Numbers, the latest from one-man electronic act Todd Drootin, offers a symphony of noise in each track. Comprised of "lost" and unreleased songs from his archives, this album contains schizophrenic tunes that change from one second to the next, creating a mixtape of noise that sounds like an orchestra of DJs working together. "Johnny Drunk on the Rocks" begins with a retro cocktail party vibe before it launches into a raucous assault of pulsing tones that leaves listeners thinking they can see the titular Johnny slipping and sliding in his stupor. Meanwhile, album-closer "Safety First" does anything but adhere to the rules. Sample after sample is rendered unrecognizable by Drootin's wizardry, culminating in an abrupt ending that leaves you moving in place even after the music has stopped. - Melynda Fuller - Bust Magazine


"Crate Digging: Retired Numbers"

Books on Tape … eh, doesn’t really exist anymore. Not in the technical way a band or artist should, as in occupying a functional space within the space-time continuum. No, Books on Tape doesn’t exist like that. Todd Drootin is/was Books on Tape, and has/had been from at least since 2006 when it ended to about 199something when it started, and even before then he liked music and was in bands so he had that going for him. I’ve had a little to drink and I’m much more interested in where this is going in my head than any sort of critical analysis, so bear with me for like two seconds.

Oh right, this isn’t really new music – this was recorded in 2006. Drootin dusted it off and released it to you as Retired Numbers. You’re fucking welcome.

That’s somewhat important. Also important is the fact that I simply had to drink before I started writing about Retired Numbers. Here’s why that’s important – I made this tweet the other day when I first heard the album, and its relevance to the present situation is more than a little bit passing.

oh lord, the new @_booksontape is bzzt. i can’t even type real words about it. hear it! deathbomb.tumblr.com/post/355810001…

— RM Jenkins (@CM_rmjenkins) November 20, 2012



Bzzt, indeed. As you can see, I’m still fairly mushmouthed about the whole thing. The experience has left me semi-vocab-less, but since this is a blog entry and you’re reading it, I’ll suck it up and get past the silliness and try to populate this page with some vestige of coherence. Yeah, I know it’ll be a stretch, but bear with it. Remember, there’s beer in me. (Don’t worry, it’s good beer. Shoutout to Weyerbacher and Southern Tier.)

So Books on Tape’s been around, and somehow there’s a new record and it’s not on No Type and I’m really psyched about it. Like Andrew WK “\m/” psyched, because before I sat down and really gave it a good listen, I heard “Super Dr.,” track one. Not only is the spirit of beatpunk alive (I love that designation by the way – let’s narrowly define it for our purposes as a sample/laptop-based genre that’s as weird and energetic and in your face as honest-to-god punk rock), but it’s going to kill every song released this year. Don’t believe me? I’ve embedded the album below, and if you’re not freaking out by the time the track descends, geniusly, into noir paranoia, you’re crazy and I don’t want to be your friend anymore. That sounds hyperbolic, but it’s not, because I’m listening to it again and I’m bouncing around in my chair.

“Super Dr.,” a clusterfuck of samples, chaos, and cartoonish buffoonery, is the sound of Todd Drootin firmly wrapping his hands around your neck and squeezing until you see a kaleidoscope of stars popping under the spell of a dope breakbeat. And then “Have You Seen This Man?” opens with a sampled acoustic riff that devolves into a European spy chase, except that Norman Cook is the spy and everybody’s cheering against him. I’m cheering against him. The track is so much more indebted to cocky, in-your-face noise than dance that it’s actually making me laugh right now. Maybe it’s the booze … but “Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls” does almost the exact same thing, but this time stretches out for a while and makes me laugh at its TLC-baiting title and Looney Tunes–conveyor belt mayhem.

This is all great. All GREAT. And at only six songs and twenty-seven minutes, it only begs to be expanded. “Johnny Drunk on the Rocks” is a funk score to my hangover tomorrow, but even it rips itself apart and reconstructs itself by its closing notes. “Big League Animal” is a hip hop party in a medieval lake containing … spirits. And “Safety First” is nothing if not cutthroat, belying its caring title.

I’m pretty sure I had a Conor Oberst dig in here somewhere, because Drootin’s sister played in Bright Eyes – I want to make fun of Conor Oberst so bad. But it just didn’t fit until the end here, long after I’ve left the euphoria of Retired Numbers behind and I’m just cynical and ready for bed. But no amount of unpleasantness on my part is going to take away from the absolute knockout that is Books on Tape’s swan song … which happened to occur a while ago … so is this even relevant? Am I relevant? Is Retired Numbers even relevant? Maybe I should listen to “Super Dr.” again, punch myself in the face, and get a grip. In fact, maybe we all should do that. Retired Numbers sounds as fresh today as it ever would have. Relevant? Shut up. It’s action personified. Try to tell me that isn’t relevant. - Critical Masses


"Retired Numbers: Unrelenting Layers"

Books on Tape, a one man project formed by Todd Drootin in 1999, made a name in the early part of the 2000s through a self described “beatpunk” sound spanning four albums. The group’s frantic approach to sampling became its signature sound. After a series of tours, Drootin put the band to rest in 2006 due to a foreboding indifference with music. Last year, while digging through old boxes, Drootin re-discovered a series of unreleased Books on Tape songs which make up “Retired Numbers”, the groups’ first release in six years.

“Retired Numbers” consists of six songs, though the album can be seen as one large tapestry with several movements. The opening song and lead single “Super Dr.” offers an immediate introduction to Books on Tape’s unrelenting, layered approach. “Have You Seen This Man?” picks up off the opening song and features an interplay between guitar/synth/vocal riff, a scrambled noise, and an acoustic guitar sample. The album never lets up from this frenetic pacing.

I find three qualities define “Retired Numbers” – first, as described above, its pacing (if I were on Twitter, I’d say something like this album is the Jeremy Lin of beatpunk sampled music). Secondly, the incorporation of sound in all forms which add depth to each song. Thirdly, storytelling. BoT switches sonic storylines at will, at times within a few seconds into an idea. BoT unapologetically combines these three aspects. It’s difficult to describe specific songs in a usual manner. The final song, “Safety First”, begins with guitar chords, and slowly incorporates drums, a vocal track, and a synth line before morphing into a separate song 50 seconds in. That’s how it is.

Books on Tape retired in 2006. Six years is an eternity in anything, much less music where new genres and movements seem to pop up on a daily basis. Perhaps the most significant theme of the album is that the songs were recorded in the early half of the 2000s and they do not sound out of place today. May all our past ideas be this relevant. - Digital Refrain


"Retired Numbers: Unrelenting Layers"

Books on Tape, a one man project formed by Todd Drootin in 1999, made a name in the early part of the 2000s through a self described “beatpunk” sound spanning four albums. The group’s frantic approach to sampling became its signature sound. After a series of tours, Drootin put the band to rest in 2006 due to a foreboding indifference with music. Last year, while digging through old boxes, Drootin re-discovered a series of unreleased Books on Tape songs which make up “Retired Numbers”, the groups’ first release in six years.

“Retired Numbers” consists of six songs, though the album can be seen as one large tapestry with several movements. The opening song and lead single “Super Dr.” offers an immediate introduction to Books on Tape’s unrelenting, layered approach. “Have You Seen This Man?” picks up off the opening song and features an interplay between guitar/synth/vocal riff, a scrambled noise, and an acoustic guitar sample. The album never lets up from this frenetic pacing.

I find three qualities define “Retired Numbers” – first, as described above, its pacing (if I were on Twitter, I’d say something like this album is the Jeremy Lin of beatpunk sampled music). Secondly, the incorporation of sound in all forms which add depth to each song. Thirdly, storytelling. BoT switches sonic storylines at will, at times within a few seconds into an idea. BoT unapologetically combines these three aspects. It’s difficult to describe specific songs in a usual manner. The final song, “Safety First”, begins with guitar chords, and slowly incorporates drums, a vocal track, and a synth line before morphing into a separate song 50 seconds in. That’s how it is.

Books on Tape retired in 2006. Six years is an eternity in anything, much less music where new genres and movements seem to pop up on a daily basis. Perhaps the most significant theme of the album is that the songs were recorded in the early half of the 2000s and they do not sound out of place today. May all our past ideas be this relevant. - Digital Refrain


"Retired Numbers"

When we premiered Books On Tape's "Super Dr", we called it a "cartoonish joy ride at warp speed". While that was merely track one, the duration of Retired Numbers rarely strays from that description.

Todd Drootin, pka Books On Tape, thought he'd lost these songs from a computer crash. But as luck would have it, they were catalogued on a DVD, labeled "BoT ARCHIVES". Upon revisiting the music, he discovered the songs held up, far from cutting-room floor demos or half-cooked snippets. On "Johnny On The Rocks" he's somewhere between glitch hop and 90s Jock Jams dance records, while "Big League Animal" stutters briefly before blowing out the woofers with a heavy metal riff drone. Not only does Retired Numbers hold up in a six-year hiatus, it proves Drootin was years ahead of his time, as he rests comfortably among modern beatmakers and bedroom artists. - Impose


"Sings The Blues review"

Todd Drootin (a.k.a. Books on Tape) also wants to rock. The difference is, he knows how. Nothing sums him up better than the Pixies sticker on the side of his mixer. His rollicking approach to IDM deconstructs live guitar and bass loops via injections of white noise and hyper- distorted beats. Simultaneously gorgeous, fun and ear-splitting. Sings the Blues feels as important as drill’n’bass masterworks by Aphex Twin, Squarepusher and µ-ziq, only it trades animosity for swagger. The album’s title is a big lie: infrequent vocals are hacked to bits and fuzzed out like the rest of it. - Magnet


"Sings The Blues review"

Todd Drootin (a.k.a. Books on Tape) also wants to rock. The difference is, he knows how. Nothing sums him up better than the Pixies sticker on the side of his mixer. His rollicking approach to IDM deconstructs live guitar and bass loops via injections of white noise and hyper- distorted beats. Simultaneously gorgeous, fun and ear-splitting. Sings the Blues feels as important as drill’n’bass masterworks by Aphex Twin, Squarepusher and µ-ziq, only it trades animosity for swagger. The album’s title is a big lie: infrequent vocals are hacked to bits and fuzzed out like the rest of it. - Magnet


"Books on Tape’s new EP tells a story without any lyrics"

Instrumental albums are tricky. Electronica albums, for me, are even trickier. Would you classify it as music, or just noise? Is there enough substance there to be worth a listen, or more? How listenable is it? Am I getting anything out of it, or am I just listening and zoning out while the music repeats and drones and repeats some more? Fortunately, on one-man-machine Books on Tape’s newest EP Retired Numbers, most of these questions answer themselves after the first listen. It’s the second listen, though, that really makes it rich.

As you listen to opening track “Super Dr.,” you’re bound to notice the sequencing that draws you in. There are flourishes on this song (and spread throughout the others) that take you by surprise but fit perfectly, like you should have expected it to be there but you didn’t. Every song is layered using such a wide variety of notes, sounds and other effects that you can almost see them stacked on top of one another, one by one. They aren’t simply stacked, though; they’re almost woven together, attached in ways they shouldn’t be but are anyway. “Super Dr.” in particular uses short bursts of female voice as the main instrument, but supplements with cymbals, beats and such a variety of other sounds it’s impossible to completely break down. Yet he does break it down. After he weaves these complex patterns of notes together, he wipes out several layers and, like a game of Tetris, starts again with the leftover notes, each one falling perfectly into place.

It’s not often that you can hear (or see) a story unfold so clearly in music, but Retired Numbers is just that. It’s like a collection of short stories told through the complex beats and rhythms of the music. Let alone that “Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls” (which bears absolutely no resemblance to the more popular song of the same name) makes me think I’m playing a boss in an 8-bit video game, the music on each track builds as the story progresses — and at the end, leaves you feeling satisfied. - Cyril Wood

Grade: A- - Stereo Subversion


"Books On Tape, "Super Dr.""

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Books On Tape, "Super Dr."

By Blake Gillespie » An unearthed song from his Alien8 and Deathbomb Arc days of the mid-Aughts.
Books On Tape, Retired Numbers

For those that don't remember Books on Tape, the ear-blistering beat project of Todd Drootin, think of him as the West Coast's answer to Dan Friel with a bit of Eric Copeland thrown in. Like his contemporaries, he's a punk dude at heart who has a wild hair for hip hop and electronic music that informs his manic productions. Books on Tapes' last and most critically decorated album, excluding the remix record Who Shot Ya? (2006), was Dinosaur Dinosaur in 2005. With six-years of silence clocked in, We're not sure if Retired Numbers is putting the jersey in the rafters or pulling it down for a Jordan-esque season with the Washington Wizards.

All we have to offer is "Super Dr.", a cartoonish joy ride at warp speed that passes bunnies on acid and tazmanian devils pounding themselves over the head with oversized mallets. The song is an unearthed piece Drootin found, possibly while clearing an old harddrive or just going down memory lane. Recorded around the time of his Alien8 and Deathbomb Arc records, "Super Dr." is vintage Books on Tape, still analog and still unorthodox punk. - Impose


"Books On Tape, "Super Dr.""

Impose Magazine

Bytes
Features
Photos
TV
Reviews
Calendar
Store

Cart (0) Impose Instagram
Debut
Brand new
49 7StumbleUpon0
Books On Tape, "Super Dr."

By Blake Gillespie » An unearthed song from his Alien8 and Deathbomb Arc days of the mid-Aughts.
Books On Tape, Retired Numbers

For those that don't remember Books on Tape, the ear-blistering beat project of Todd Drootin, think of him as the West Coast's answer to Dan Friel with a bit of Eric Copeland thrown in. Like his contemporaries, he's a punk dude at heart who has a wild hair for hip hop and electronic music that informs his manic productions. Books on Tapes' last and most critically decorated album, excluding the remix record Who Shot Ya? (2006), was Dinosaur Dinosaur in 2005. With six-years of silence clocked in, We're not sure if Retired Numbers is putting the jersey in the rafters or pulling it down for a Jordan-esque season with the Washington Wizards.

All we have to offer is "Super Dr.", a cartoonish joy ride at warp speed that passes bunnies on acid and tazmanian devils pounding themselves over the head with oversized mallets. The song is an unearthed piece Drootin found, possibly while clearing an old harddrive or just going down memory lane. Recorded around the time of his Alien8 and Deathbomb Arc records, "Super Dr." is vintage Books on Tape, still analog and still unorthodox punk. - Impose


Discography

2002 - Throw Down Your Laptops - CD (Deathbomb Arc)
2003 - Winning Record - 3"CD (Piehead)
2003 - Hey Typical! - 10" Vinyl EP (No Type)
2003 - Books on Tape Sings The Blues - CD (No Type/Greyday)
2004 - The Business End - CD (Greyday)
2005 - Dinosaur Dinosaur - CD (alien8)
2011 - "Still Ride" - digital (booksontape1.bandcamp.org)
2012 - Retired Numbers (12" vinyl, Sorry Juniper!)

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Bio

In 2006, Todd Drootin announced to his friends and family that he was putting an end to Books on Tape, his one-man electronic “beatpunk” project. After four full-length releases (the most recent being 2005's Dinosaur Dinosaur on Alien8) and hundreds of shows across the US and Canada, he realized the thrill was, if not gone, at very least fading fast, and wanted to put the project to bed before it got tedious for everyone. Sure, BoT would pop up a few more times – one last trip to Nova Scotia, a pair of shows as the Books on Tape Family Band with his wife Kerri joining on drums -- but for all practical purposes, Books on Tape was done. Todd was disappointed that the songs he was performing in the later days of BoT would never see a proper release, but life moved on. He took a bizarre job evaluating vinyl pressings for audiophiles and basically left creating music behind.

Fast forward to April 2011. Todd, an avid cyclist, broke his collarbone in an accident that would keep him off his bike for a long time. Crushed, he decided that he would put that downtime to good use and record one of the “lost” songs – “Super Dr.” – that had never been finished. He leaked it online and the response was strong enough to plant some seeds in his mind about taking care of unfinished BoT business.

Fast forward again to early 2012. Todd was digging around in his garage when he found a DVD labeled “BoT ARCHIVES”. On there were completed versions of five more “lost” tracks that had been missing all these years. To his surprise, the tracks were in way better shape than he remembered leaving them. With very little polishing, they would be ready for some kind of release. Initially he planned to just throw them online, but after getting strong feedback from friends the idea of putting these tracks on vinyl started gaining momentum. Todd, a lifelong record geek and somebody who works with vinyl every day, decided that having a proper 12” record release for this material was very important to him.

The result is Retired Numbers, six previously unreleased tracks that represent where Books on Tape was at when it was put to bed. This is not your classic “crappy leftover odds and ends” posthumous release; instead it might just be the strongest Books on Tape release to date. All of the BoT signatures are here – oddball tempo changes, clashing samples colliding, punk rock energy, hip-hop swagger and more – but there's a smoothness and cohesion here that weren't always the hallmarks of a BoT release.

As all of this material was road-tested back in the day, longtime BoT fans will likely recognize much of this material from live sets, but these recordings appear here for the first time, including “Super Dr.” which received a 2012 remix. Todd plans on bringing Books on Tape out for select live shows over the next year, where fans can expect to hear high-energy versions songs from Retired Numbers, the earlier albums, and perhaps even some new cuts.

Books on Tape's notoriously raucuos live shows have occured on bills with such diverse and respected acts as Cursive, Restiform Bodies, The Go! Team, Shonen Knife, Parts and Labor, TV on the Radio, John Frusciante and Flea, Daedelus, Stars as Eyes, Rilo Kiley, The Good Life, Prefuse 73 and many more.