ELBOW is a portable cassette player reduced to the core.
XXI century has been a hard time for an audio cassette. The rise of cheap and convenient digital formats has made all physical media „outdated”, if not altogether extinct. Still, there remains a niche audience willing to appreciate the tape medium, with all it’s intricacies and flaws. The tactile intimacy of physical formats is dearly missed. That’s the reason behind the resurgence of vinyl, and also motivation behind ELBOW.
Despite being such an ordinary everyday object, the audio cassette is not just a medium – it’s a cultural icon. Therefore we feel it should not be obscured inside a device, but brought to the forefront of user’s attention. By exposing the cassette to the elements, ELBOW offers a fresh user experience, allowing the listener to directly appreciate the mechanical motion, or even forcibly interrupt playback. The music player becomes more like an additional element – in a way, the cassette plays itself.
