Cut Copy’s January Tape, an ambient project originally released in 2016 as a limited-edition run of 400 cassette tapes, comes to vinyl for the first time on January 28, 2023, via Cutters Records and Diggers Factory.
Dan Whitford said the project took shape after the band took a break from recording the follow-up to 2013’s Free Your Mind. “Having worked for much of the previous 12 months on a new Cut Copy album, we decided in January it was time to give ourselves a well-earned break, "Whitford stated. “But instead of retreating to the wilderness or decompressing on a beach somewhere, we spent ten days in the studio making a collection of ambient instrumental works. We wanted to share outtakes from these sessions in all their unedited glory with you." The original cassettes are now a long-gone and are a highly coveted collector’s item.
Now with this limited vinyl release, more fans will be able to grab a hold of a physical copy of the music.
January Tape was composed and recorded by Whitford and guitarist Tim Hoey.
Cut Copy is a GRAMMY® nominated, ARIA award-winning musical act that has led a trailblazing path between the worlds of alternative/indie music and dance music, with numerous festival-headlining slots and over 1,000 sold-out headline shows spanning several continents to date.
Initially the bedroom recording project of Dan Whitford, Cut Copy evolved into a full-fledged band with guitarist Tim Hoey, drummer Mitchell Scott, and bass player Ben Browning. The quartet’s studio albums include In Ghost Colours, which Pitchfork named as one of the best albums of 2008 and among the top albums of the 2000s, and 2011’s Zonoscope, which won two ARIA Awards and was nominated for a GRAMMY®.
In 2022, Cut Copy announced the March 18th release of Collected Works 2001-2011, a vinyl box set chronicling the first decade of the group. The re-pressed records are in limited edition colors, and the set features a 72-page ‘zine curated by Cut Copy frontman Dan Whitford, as well as a holographic box set cover. This release documents Cut Copy’s fearless experimentation that blurred the lines between a rock group and dance music since their inception and their explorations with dub, Afrobeat, 70s Southern California harmonies, and more. Along with early EPs, 1981 and I Thought of Numbers (previously unavailable on vinyl), Bright Like Neon Love, In Ghost Colors, and the GRAMMY nominated Zonoscope are all included.
Their latest full-length album Freeze, Melt was released in 2020, during the beginnings of the pandemic, and was mainly written during a Scandinavian winter when frontman Dan Whitford was living in Denmark. It reflects the time and place in which it was created, with a much more moody and evocative spin on their trademark synthesizers and melodies. Cut Copy have managed the clever hat trick of simultaneously expanding their sound while also refining it. While previous records explored peak-time hedonism, this is a soundtrack to the perfect gentle comedown.
In addition to headlining massive sold-out shows, the band has gained prime slots at prestigious festivals such as Coachella, Ultra, and Lollapalooza in the U.S.; Primavera in Spain, Pitchfork in Paris; Summer Sonic in Japan; and Big Day Out in Australia. DJing and mixes have also been a big part of their identity – from the band’s famed Fabric mix, Fabriclive.29, to the 2014 Melbourne dance compilation, Oceans Apart. Cut Copy’s songs have been licensed for use in television, games and commercials, including FIFA 18, Chevrolet, Netflix, Amazon, and Levi’s® #LiveinLevis campaign.