Holy trichomes!!! It truly is a special day at Honest Bag. The nugs cannot get any more dank than this. Everybody, i want to introduce you to a person for whom i have immense respect: Bart De Paepe of Sloow Tapes. Rewind to Eugene, Oregon circa 2007: The heat was surprisingly oppressive, the herbs sticky, and the water fresh. One of my Turkish friends sent me files from a Hellvete tape titled, Een Duvelse Zak Is Nooit Gevuld on Sloow Tapes. Once Hellvete was baked into my head and the bong smoke dissipated, i immediately contacted Tomentosa. For me, Sloow Tapes is a singular strain in psychedelic music - there's nothing like it. It's time to throw some lovely cosmic sprinkles on the hairy nugs. Let's blaze on together, family style :)
Sloow tapes and crystal-covered nugs make the world go 'round! Peace and love to my friends at Humboldt Relief :)
1) How did Sloow Tapes begin, and who would you cite as an influence? also, the Sloow discography is brimming with diverse beauty. For every Bear Bones or Kohn tape there is Hands of Hydra/Janina Angel Bath or Great Society Mind Destroyers. Recently, you have released tapes of poetry. Can you give us your thoughts about the evolution of Sloow Tapes? Has your main objective behind the label changed since its inception?
Bart: At the time i was hanging out a lot at the freaks end future record shop in antwerp where i received a quick education in esoteric underground music, all these artists i had never heard of before. i got to meet a lot of locals there who were making music, setting up shows and doing their own label: imvated, veglia, audiobot, puik....so after a while i wanted to start my own label, most influential was probably imvated, especially christina carters 'planets' tape lieven did. other influences in the beginning were time lag and eclipse. i don't know if there have been a lot of changes in the evolution of sloow tapes, it's just a reflection of what i listen to and am interested in at the times. The poetry tapes started because after a long search i got in touch with louise landes levi and recorded her reading in my living room, she had all these crazy stories to tell about illustrious poets like ira cohen, angus maclise, daniel moore and simon vinkenoog and couldn't believe i had the habibiya record on my shelves. she was best friends with some of the musicians playing on that one! cosmic.....
2) The singular artwork is such a big part of Sloow Tapes. Particularly, one of my favorites is the artwork for the Bear Bones, Lay Low cs. When you decide to put out a tape, what is the process for creating the artwork?
Bart: glad to hear you're digging the artwork! the making really depends on the release, sometimes the artist suggests something, sometimes i draw inspiration from the music, sometimes i'm working on something else that connects well with a recording. Love. hate. nature. books etc etc
3) Last year, Sloow ventured into vinyl with the Up Tight lp. Do you envision releasing vinyl sporadically, or will this become a regular feature of the label? Also, who do you have in mind for future Sloow Wax?
Bart: i'm very picky as far as lp's go, so it'll probably be very sporadically...at some point there should be a new von himmel recording coming out...working on some cover art for that one
4) What are a few of your favorite Sloow Tapes?
Bart: last couple months i've been listening a lot to den stora vilan, quite amazing swedish west coast psychedelic jams that sound as if it was recorded at the apex of sixties high. those swedes sure know how to deal with the higher states of mind. the embryo tape i like a lot also, they played in antwerp last week, we recorded the gig and might release that one at some point. those guys rule.
5) What music are you currently digging?
Bart: mik quantius, matt baldwin, terry rojvi, franco falsini, kenneth higney, rabab music from afghanistan, franco battiato....
6) Could you give us a brief preview of some Sloow Tapes to be released in the last half of 2012?
Bart: a couple months ago i received a package with some recordings of allen ginsberg in holland, it went with a note saying 'if you like the recordings you can release them', so next batch should include ginsberg/peter orlovsky/steven taylor/harry hoogstraten reading in a small bar in holland late seventies, cult! further: my pal innercity from antwerp and bul-bul tarang band (with ravi padmanabha) those should be out in a couple weeks if all goes well. Peace and love.
