Eight Days of Hometapes and a 2009 tape sampler

Hometapes heads into the new year with the Eight Days of Hometapes and a 2009 tape sampler!

Read All The Way To The Bottom For Info on 2009 Tape Sampler!

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"It’s been a wild year. December always provides that high vantage point for looking back over the months before, as well as the not-so-distant views of the new year to come. We’re definitely standing on top of that proverbial mountain right now, taking it all in, and being humbled by the expanse and our place in it. Hometapes is way more than a record label. Hometapes is the sum of its parts.

As a gift to all of you who comprise the equation that equals Hometapes, we crafted a week of special music from Hometapes artists. We’re calling it The Eight Days of Hometapes, as that sounds holidayish and/or like a bad movie. Over the next week, we’ll be unveiling a new song daily via our website and its digital tentacles. And these are holiday jams — covers or inspired originals — that can soundtrack your next few weeks of celebration, contemplation, and everything in between."

- Sara and Adam of Hometapes

Download Day 1: Slaraffenland -- "Little Drummer Boy"

Download Day 2: Shannon Fields of Stars Like Fleas (featuring the Canizeres family) -- "I'll Be Home For Christmas (If Only In My Dreams)"

Download Day 3: Pattern Is Movement -- "O Holy Night"

Download Day 4: Brad Laner -- "It's Christmas (But I Don't Care)"

Download Day 5: The Caribbean "Christmastime is Here"

Day 6: WEDNESDAY 12/16

Day 7: THURSDAY 12/17

Day 8: FRIDAY 12/18

Stay tuned to www.home-tapes.com or follow Hometapes on Twitter!

With roots now firmly planted (and boxes finally unpacked) in their new hometown of Portland, Oregon (and after blazing a trail from Little Rock to Savannah to Miami to Boulder), Hometapes and its extended family of bands and visual artists took the world by storm in 2009. Six records, including five on vinyl, grew the long-and-lovingly-built catalog to near thirty-five releases.

2009 saw the release of Megafaun's sophomore album, Gather, Form and Fly, as well as nearly constant touring from the band.  Crowds throughout North America and Europe experienced the intimacy, power, and beauty of Megafaun live as the group toured with friends and former bandmates such as Bon Iver, Bowerbirds, and The Dodos.

“Megafaun’s roots are familiar; the bloom is uniquely theirs” - David Fricke, Rolling Stone(4 Stars)

Download: Megafaun - "Kaufman's Ballad"

Thomas Wincek, known for his work in Volcano Choir and Collections of Colonies of Bees, joined the Hometapes family with the limited-edition colored vinyl release of Segni, an EP byAll Tiny Creatures.  ATC also joined labelmates The Caribbean for a 2009 tour.

"Think of likeminded artists such as Terry Riley, Neu!, Cluster, Philip Glass, Phill Niblock or Dieter Möbius and you're getting closer." - Kyle Lemmon, Under The Radar

Download: All Tiny Creatures -- "To All Tiny Creatures"

The Danish quintet Slaraffenland also had a banner year.  Touring the U.S. briefly with Akron/Family (serving as both the opening act and Akron/Family's backing band), Slaraffenland released its new full-length, We're on Your Side, and collaborated with Vincent Moon on Temporary Slaraffenland, a 40 minute film of Slaraffenland playing the songs ofWe're on Your Side throughout the streets of Copenhagen, the band's hometown.

"There is a sublime incipience, a sense that something wonderful is coming, in the way these tunes drive and strive and push to their conclusion." - Jennifer Kelly, Blurt

Download: Slaraffenland -- "Meet and Greet"

Bear In Heaven dominated Autumn.  Hitting first with the "Wholehearted Mess" 12'' single, which features the album version of the title track as well as three club-ready remixes on red marbled vinyl, the group's critically-acclaimed new full-length, Beast Rest Forth Mouth, followed soon after.  A string of live dates up and down the East Coast, including a number of powerful sets at CMJ, will once again serve as an initial salvo before the onslaught of Bear In Heaven touring that will take place in 2010.

“Take out the earbuds and let it fill a space: This is music that’s bigger than your iPod— music you’ll want to feel all around you.” - Eric Harvey, Pitchfork "Best New Music" (8.4)

Download: Bear In Heaven - "Wholehearted Mess"

Bridging the expanse between '09 and '10 is CYNE, whose Water For Mars, released originally in Japan, caught on fire with US fans. Hometapes and CYNE answered the call with their first-ever mailorder-exclusive multimedia package: a CD (with a US-exclusive tracklisting), a t-shirt, and two stickers -- all designed by Cody Hudson. The album, a collection of tracks by the Gainesville hip hop masters, hearkens back to their landmark album Time Being and continues to turn heads since its soft summer release. Hometapes plans a wide release of Water For Mars in 2010.

"Twenty-one cuts of CYNE in peak form: what could be better?" - Ron Schepper, Textura

Download: CYNE -- "Pretty Apollo"

Hometapes squeezed in one more release for 2009, a commemoration of the year on the classic format that their name honors: a cassette tape. The limited run is being dropped out of the Hometapes santa sack over the next couple weeks. Watch your mailbox or feel free to request a copy here: info@home-tapes.com. A downloadable version is available now - staying true to the format with a single track for each side. [http://home-tapes.com/2009tape/]