About


Tapes & Tubes, a.k.a. Austin Potter…touches on those deep, isolating, pensive states that come to the forefront when returning from sleep or conversely nodding off to slumber.
-The Deli Magazine
Tapes and Tubes is a project of Austin Potter…a singer-songwriter who plays a lo-fi blend of folk and spoken word, his uncomplicated guitar, paired with openhearted lyrics is both heartrending and inspiring.
…Potter’s songwriting and vocal style puts him squarely in a unique class of musician that transcends trends.
-Strawberry Tongue
Though he lives in Philadelphia now, pieces of Austin Potter’s native Pacific Northwest seep into the recordings he makes as Tapes & Tubes…paired with his lyrical poems, Potter’s recordings are transportive and visceral while still feeling intensely localized to his own private thoughts.
-WXPN’s The Key
…(Tapes & Tubes creates) a mystical atmosphere that is slightly creepy (Austin Potter’s hoarse sing-whisper half-submerged in jangling guitars and thrumming background noise can just as easily send you into slumber as jolt you out of it) but ultimately rewarding — spiritual, even, if you go in with the right mindset. Potter’s yearning and isolation are driven home by his unique vision. The songs feel fragile, like if you listen a little too closely they’ll pop like a bubble.
…Potter explores the edges between folk and drone rock. His deep voice is well-suited to his somber monologues juxtaposed with delicate fingerpicking. It’s perfect for a winter twilight.
-Adobe and Teardrops
…stories told in maudlin half-tones, the acoustic strums and echoed effects pushing us further into contemplation. Rustic ruminations sung from the peripherals.
-Sonic Masala
…whispery vocals tell brief half stories that seem to dance around their dreadful centers. the music is hazy drifts of guitars and a general ambient hiss. austin manages a fine tension between edgy and somnambulent.
…instruments and tape fuzz create vaguely noir backgrounds for potter’s up-close, whispery talk singing. the music has a seriously narrative, cinematic feel to it, more like a modern beatnik radio play than any sort of rock’n’roll.
…sounds more like a poetry reading or even a one man play for which he uses a shimmering electric guitar to create his own atmosphere than an average singer/songwriter show. the stories/poems/songs flow into one another, some with music, some without. the effect is filmic, and the vibe is post-modern noir that is recognizable as 2016 but also feels timeless and distinctly american.
-The Modern Folk Music of America
Tapes & Tubes is Austin Potter, out of Philly, and his whispery talk-singing (hear a bit of Leonard Cohen in there) has an eerie, delicate quality, like you can only listen with the lights off, or your eyes closed, or else everything will shatter.
-Don’t Need No Melody