Jim Carroll on music
After 31 years, 220 million sales and countless chewed-up tapes, Sony have decided to take the batteries out of the Walkman.
This week, Sony announced plans to halt the manufacture and distribution of the Walkman cassette player. Once remaining stocks are gone, that will be the end of the once popular portable tape player.
Radio shows and newspapers marked the news with an outbreak of nostalgia during an episode of Reeling in the Years. Some of us who still use a Walkman – I use one to record all my interviews – made a mental note to stock up on tapes.
The death knell for the Walkman was sounded some time ago. The move to CD led Sony to develop the Discman, but it was the arrival of the iPod that really put the skids on the Walkman.
Yes, there were other MP3 players before Steve Jobs launched the iPod in October 2001, but the Apple device is the one that has truly matched the Walkman in the iconic stakes. It has already outstripped the tape player in the sales stakes: Apple had sold 220 million iPods by September 2008.
There’s now speculation that Apple may buy its competitor. Earlier this week, Sony shares rose 3 per cent on the back of rumours that Apple might take over the Japanese electronics giant.
Apple currently has $51 billion (€37 billion) in cash and convertible assets on hand and, having declined to answer Brian Linehan’s phone calls about that surplus, the company is reported to be sizing up Adobe, Disney, Spotify or Sony for purchase, depending on which insider you believe. Now, that would be a corporate takeover to behold.
APACHE BEAT
Yes, Apache Beat are another Brooklyn band, but before you run away screaming in horror, check out their debut album, Lost Chants, a collection loaded with kooky art-rock melodies, epic tribal sounds and a great sense of musical ambition. myspace.com/ apachebeat
VISIONAIR
You’ll recognise these men: Redneck Manifesto dudes Richie “Jape” Egan and Niall Byrne head off on a spacey adventure armed with vintage synths and lovely warm grooves. Good reports from the live shows and their first few tracks (on Soundcloud) are smashing. soundcloud.com/ vvisionairr
CHAD VALLEY
Post-Foals, Oxford is in fine electro-pop fettle and Hugo Manuel’s sunny, hazy, washed-out jams are further proof of that. He’s also a member of local act Jonquil, but the lo-fi, stoned charms of his solo grooves are topping the agenda right now. Debut four-track EP due end of November. myspace.com/hugomanuel
Now playing
Tom Tom Club Tom Tom Club (Island) Time to dig this funky side-project of Talking Heads’ Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz all over again. Hands up who saw them in Dublin back in the day?
Jamie Woon Night Air (Candent) David “Ramadanman” Kennedy’s refix catapults Woon’s soulful vocals to another dimension. Further proof of dubstep’s growing pop prowess.
Jessie Ware SBTRKT Nervous (Numbers) Bass buccaneer SBTRKT teams up with vocalist Ware for this futuristic pop slam-dunk.
Lykke Li Get Some (LL) OTR’s favourite Swedish singer returns with a bang, a stomp and a snarl. Album number two lands in 2011.
Melodica Deathship Doom Your Cities, Doom Your Towns (Self release) Irish rapper Exile Eye is aided by Deep Burial’s George on an album of deep, dramatic atmospherics and rhymes.
