Matthew J. Rolin – Moment (Blue Hole Recordings)

Matthew J. Rolin’s Moment issued in a hand numbered, second edition of 50. C40 cassettes dubbed at home, in real time on a Tascam 202 MKIII. Graphic design by Matthew Boteilho. Cover art by Erin Elizabeth Winter. Mastered by Brian Sulpizio. Artwork text is set in Vesterbro by Black[Foundry] paired with Sharp Grotesk by Sharp Type. Catalog number BHR006, released by Blue Hole Recordings on March 15, 2020.

Blue Hole Recs’ packaging was developed by Matthew Boteilho and William Csorba after more than a decade of buying and listening to cassettes from the global DIY experimental community. The c-card inserts are an obi strip- and book spine-influenced (see: the early 70s paperback Foxfire series) element that uniformly relate across the whole discography by utilizing the same type treatment, print method, and paper lines.

Using commercial vendors with digital machines allows quantities to be kept low while opening up the ability to experiment with the 5th color unit. Loose download cards commonly found inside modern physical media were done away with the help of variable data so that unique codes could be printed direct to the art.

While adhering to a no templates, no mockups mentality—Blue Hole Recs instead places emphasis on making sure that it is the creators and makers themselves who are given the space to spec out the process from start to finish.