Behind Pleasure Tapes
With buzz of the label reverberating from Los Angeles all the way to Louisiana, the physical media label is slowly garnering an audience nationwide with no signs of stopping (By. Matt Brady)
When it comes to personal space outside of their passion project, for Kayla Gold, there is no separation, as they live in the same poster-covered room as the Harman Kardon and five cassette decks used to homedub their tapes and printer to print out their J-cards.
Based outside of Portland, Oregon, Gold is the sole force behind Pleasure Tapes, a queer-focused, non-profit cassette tape and CD label. Since starting in the early 2020s, the project has seen gradual growth with an extensive and diverse roster in not only up-and-coming bands, but with ranch of releases across different regional scenes, such as Stalled, Daundry and Interlay from Chicago, They Are Gutting a Body of Water from Philadelphia, Linus from Minneapolis, Mourning Star from Bloomington, Indiana, Strainer from Pueblo, Colorado and too many more to count.
“I found Pleasure Tapes after they put out a cassette for our friends in Seventh Cloud,” said Alex Sanchez, guitarist in the Indianapolis-based band Nothing Club, who recently had a release on the label. “I’ve been big on physical media recently, and I couldn’t be more stoked on how these tapes turned out.”
Along with putting out other merch items, such as posters and screenprinting services, Gold has partnered Pleasure Tapes with other independent record label releases on multiple occasions, including labels such as Flesh and Bone Records, New Morality Zine, Candlepin Records and Julia’s War- run by singer and guitarist Doug Dulgarian of TAGABOW.
“Dude, getting to work with NMZ and Julia’s War is so huge to me, because those labels are so iconic and the bands that are on them are definitely my favorite bands around,” Gold said. “Doug is such a sweetheart. He’s such a busy guy, but when you get in touch with him, he’s super positive [and] Nick from New Morality Zine is super chill, super based.”
Gold’s passion for cassette tapes stems from their parents, who had a collection that consisted of classics such as the jams of the Grateful Dead and the croons of Bob Dylan, but their obsession with collecting tapes would start after leaving college, though lacking a deck to spin them. Citing their love for the medium due to its chunkiness and low cost, accessibility was also a standout, as it served as a juxtaposition, price-wise, to vinyl.
Not feeling connected to Portland’s at the time dead music scene, mixed with the inaccessibility to their local label, Gold started Pleasure Tapes in 2021 by putting out their friends’ 45-minute DJ mixes. During the initial days of running the label, releases on Pleasure Tapes consisted of bands Gold reached out to, such as Sword II and TAGABOW, but as time has gotten busier, Gold has relied on submissions from bands and artists. “I think one of the biggest things in the music industry that I’m realizing is that it’s such a trust. Everything’s kind of built on trusting people not to fuck you over or whatever,” Gold said. “Having those bands that people respect and working with them, that really helped get stuff started.”
TJ Strohmer, guitarist and singer in the Philadelphia-based alt-rock band Knifeplay, first discovered Pleasure Tapes after they reissued TAGABOW’s “gestures been” album, and continued following the label’s activity from afar until Gold reached out expressing interest in reissuing Knifeplay’s First Two EPs onto one tape. “I thought this was a great idea, and we proceeded,” Strohmer said. “Kayla has an ear for music, an eye for aesthetics and a very equitable business practice.”
Gold does not handle any type of digital distribution of music, meaning that they do not take any cut from the bands’ digital stream pot and only focus on physical distribution of the tapes, CDs, etc. They will send the bulk of the band’s merch directly to them and keep a small portion to sell on the Pleasure Tapes website, and if the band sees fit, Gold will distribute the tapes to record stores in the Portland and Vancouver area.
“I discovered Pleasure Tapes when they reached out to us offering tapes, CDs or screenprinting,” said Will Jones, singer and guitarist of the Inland Empire-based grungegaze band Smother. “After seeing them do releases along Julia’s War, a personal favorite independent label, I thought it’d be a perfect fit. They’ve also helped us a lot with planning our tour. It’s really refreshing to get so much help from a passionate label a state over.”
Gold views their label as a way to help bands get recognition and visibility they otherwise wouldn’t have received, citing their personal mission of “queering” the music space and “disrupting the system” of the music industry as a factor pushing the project forward. Another driving force behind the label is their overarching “non-profit” practice, meaning that Gold does not personally profit from music sales.
“We’ve become this monolithic industry where we’re all just giving all our money to Spotify and shit,” they said. “It can be hard to feel music is accessible to everybody, but I think it should be. I mean, I only charge $10.50 for a tape because people should be able to buy music.”
Gold will be taking the month of June off, not just because of the overwhelming 10-hour days that they drop into this project, but to stay close to home to take care of their father, who is dealing with a serious sickness. You can support Kayla and Pleasure Tapes through their website and their Instagram. Consider buying a tape from a dope band to show your support during these tough times.
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