Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago

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DEAR GOD this tape was a pain to split into tracks! A very cool artifact nonetheless, this tape documents the making of Delicate Tension, which many would argue Stevie's finest official LP. The sessions on Side A would kick off the recording for what would be compiled into the final Delicate Tension (with apologies to Norway and You Are Living Too Far), and in fact the first five tracks here make up the opening suite on the final LP. The rest of Side A is like peering into a bizarro world version of Delicate Tension with the cynical lounge music of My Little Automobile and Bulk of Knowledge, the biting mock-social commentary of Let's, and the profoundly sad yet profoundly catchy Adjacent Species Like You.
Side B was where my job got interesting. You see, I don't listen to Side B much (beyond that GNARLY analogue synth demo of Same), it's entirely made up of tape experiments (only REAL RSM fans listen to The Leather Shoppe), field recordings of Stevie sequencing out and producing the final Delicate Tension LP (including an absolutely adorable moment where Stevie can't choke out the full title of "Don't Blame The..."), ending with some wonderful recordings of Stevie promoting the record on local station WMSC. The Bandcamp version ends with "Are You There?", a skit where Stevie tries calling into the station, but my tape copy here ends with a delightful skit where Stevie and the DJ swap roles, with Stevie interviewing the DJ about his record.
This tape was one of Stevie's very first recordings out of New Jersey (not even six months after The North and Pow Wow), and as such contains many feelings of sorrow, longing, failure, and excitement. It's a great--if often hard to listen to document of tumultuous times, and all they bring.

0:00 Cool Daddio
2:41 Delicate Tension
6:37 Schoolgirl
8:39 Don't Blame the Nuzlockes
12:09 Zebra Standards 29
16:00 My Little Automobile is Sad
18:44 Caffeine Boy
21:25 Let's
23:37 Thinking
29:23 New Strings
32:04 An Expl. of an Expr.
35:07 It Really Comes as No Surprise to Learn About This
40:46 Bulk of Knowledge
42:46 Adjacent Species Like You

46:13 Intro
47:39 Same
50:28 Scenario Monologue
52:38 The Leather Shoppe
56:09 Birthday in Boston
59:28 Girltalk
1:01:00 Opera Houses
1:04:53 Loud Nothing
1:06:25 Maxphone & Irwindrum
1:11:14 Symphony Eight Double
1:12:58 Rather Ripped
1:14:02 Idiot Opium Track
1:20:23 Automatic Understanding
1:27:10 Moore on WMSC
1:29:33 Can You Do That?

Download: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TpdS02YnOMFAzwXPR4kMtk08oSyAdhir