Black Licorice: The Musings of Alex Ross

It’s been well documented for several years now that the vinyl record is coming back into style as a viable format for music. After all, in a world of downloads where albums are sliced and diced and sold song by song, all music costs the same and is therefore created equal, and everything exists in cyberspace, it’s only natural that music lovers would take refuge in the idea that they still have an actual artifact whereby they can foster a greater sense of connection to the sounds that bubble forth from their speakers. The art on the dust jacket is huge, a masterpiece unto itself, and when that beautiful and glossy black licorice disc is placed gingerly on the turntable and the tone arm is slowly lowered, making contact with a snap crackle and pop, there is a sense of ritual. There’s also no real skipping of tracks, so albums must be listened to all the way through, as cohesive works of art. Yes, it is high time that vinyl had a renaissance.

The Ricecakes Feel Like Human-EP

The Ricecakes, native to Providence, RI, consist of Roz Raskin (vocals and “mostly keyboard”), Casey Belisle (“mostly drums”) and Justin Foster (“mostly bass”).  They are signed by Moose Proof Records, which also hails from Providence. The band was voted Providence’s Best Local Act of 2010 by the Providence Phoenix and performs regularly throughout the East Coast. The Rice Cakes released Feel Like Human in September of 2010 on 10-inch vinyl with MP3 downloads. The album was entirely created by the band members as well, from the album artwork to the actual studio in which they recorded themselves.