Super-Cassette

by Dabrye

supported by

JIsmond essential beats for discerning listeners. great album Favorite track: Cascades.

more...

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$10 USD or more
Cassette + Digital Album
Includes unlimited streaming of Super-Cassette via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 3 days

6 remaining

Purchasable with gift card

$14 USD or more

1.	The Most Deliciousest 01:25	buy track
2.	Yaya 03:50	buy track
3.	Toiler on the Creek 01:54	buy track
4.	Ring the Cellarman 03:25	buy track
5.	Uncanny Tales (The Score) 03:42	buy track
6.	Cascades 04:54	buy track
7.	Swamp Lord 03:56	buy track
8.	Bug Copped Village Gini 03:22	buy track
9.	Fantastic Clouds 02:41	buy track
10.	Whoever Got You’s Gonna Get Got Too 03:21	buy track
11.	Gammy’s Full Split Heals 03:10	buy track
12.	Pearlclutcher 03:09	buy track
13.	Rigby’s Dram 01:10	buy track

about

Tadd Mullinix returns to his Dabrye alias for Super-Cassette, his first release of new material since 2018. Comprised of intentionally instrumental hip-hop tracks, referential yet modern, it's both a back-to-basics beat tape and a multi-styled update to the minimalist sound he’s crafted since his breakthrough 2001 One/Three album on Ghostly International. Fans have long hoped that he would revisit this instrumental mode, and the Michigan native responds with a satisfying batch from the lab, applying what he knows now to the formative sound that first propelled him into the scene over two decades ago. Always interested in the space between the beats, here Mullinix shapes a hiss-filled quietness that pulls from drum and bass intros, marital arts VHS tapes, early electro-acoustic composition, and recent forays into film scoring and library music. Titled Super-Cassette, a nod to the Manga comics and blank tapes stacked on his studio floor, the album finds Mullinix loose and inventive, playfully reaffirming his superpower as Dabrye.

Since the release of his trilogy-completing Three/Three, which featured MCs such as DOOM, Ghostface Killah, and Danny Brown, alongside a retrospective box set, Mullinix has operated mostly at home, becoming a new father and favoring studio work and other aliases (JTC, Charles Manier) over live performance. In a reflective headspace, he started sampling from a tape he made in high school, returning to old techniques, flipping the reel backward, bouncing and re-pitching across a Casio SK-1, delay pedals, and tracker software. Like muscle memory, strengthened by knowledge and experience, Mullinix employs the cassette as his instrument. At first blush, it may scan as loop music, but over time, the sensation lands more linear; every measure brings a slight variation, the rhythms double, and the grooves deepen.

The opener, "The Most Deliciousest," flexes a golden-era boom-bap feel informed by DJ PNS of the Molemen crew and Pete Rock. Horns and barely perceptible chatter echo slightly out of pitch in the distance; Mullinix cites the bleed that happens when dubbing over cassettes: "You record silence over it, but you still hear the ghost."

For "Toiler On The Creek," Mullinix leans into his soundtrack side, mapping a pattern of taps, dings, buzzes, and other environmental artifacts into something that simply bumps. He thanks Peter Dale, his former boss at Ann Arbor's Encore Records, in the album credits. A young Tadd and coworkers used to listen to zany post-war era electronic albums in the store as Dale explained the qualities of silence, tension, and attention-holding sonic flourishes.

"Bug Copped Village Gini" captures the vibe of a labyrinthine mission: Mullinix recalls a trip to his wife's home country of Armenia, where they searched the ancient monasteries and villages for the best-kept gini (Armenian for wine). Scored by street whistles, rolling organ, and a smooth drum break, the scene unfolds, stutters, and blurs with a hypnotic effect. "Fantastic Clouds" is one of several moments that ruminate over atmospheric experimentation, lending the universe a sense of negative space.

When he's not making music, Mullinix collects private press comics, a community and dialect he parallels to tape culture. With Super-Cassette, he draws listeners in with an illustrator’s detail and an archivist’s depth. Twenty-plus years into his renowned run, his commitment to the character of a sound remains unmatched.

credits

released March 8, 2024

Produced and Mixed by Tadd Mullinix
Art by Michael Cina
Mastered by Dietrich Schoenemann
GVL LC 47563
All songs written by Tadd Bryan Mullinix and published by The Ghostly International Company (ASCAP)

license

about

Dabrye Ann Arbor, Michigan

contact / help

Contact Dabrye

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Dabrye, you may also like:

Sound Ancestors
by Madlib

supported by 45 fans who also own “Super-Cassette”

I'm a bit anoid with my silf that I only just found this fantastic album yesterday, but also chuffed to fuck that I have at all. Love it so much what a wining collaboration 👊🔥🔥 Toblermone
go to album
Promises
by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra

supported by 34 fans who also own “Super-Cassette”

hypnotic and incredibly moving marsplutomusic
go to album
ITLP09 - Pool
by Skee Mask

supported by 31 fans who also own “Super-Cassette”

just absolute braintickling soundscapes. love it! limecrabbe
go to album
Bells and Whistles
by Blockhead

NYC producer Blockhead steps out with a self-released, soundtrack-worthy, sixth album of exotic instrumentals. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 18, 2014
go to album
Togetherness.
by Various Artists

This new beat tape compilation from Onda Tapes showcases the hard-knocking rhythms of producers from around the world. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 29, 2023
go to album
ILLMAHAL
by ILL SUGI & TAJIMA HAL

featured on Bandcamp Radio Apr 23, 2021
go to album
TAKEN AWAY
by Moodymann

supported by 27 fans who also own “Super-Cassette”

Moodymann creates innovative soul funky music with deep 70s inspiration. The vocals are simply outstanding. A step back in time, 50 years ago! Superb. jef37
go to album