START-TRACK is a music blog, cassette label, cassette shop, and Youtube channel run by Filip Zemčík (founder of Z Tapes & United Cassettes). We curate Spotify playlist(s). We release music on cassettes from time to time.
If you want to send us your music, please use SubmitHub. If you want to contact us, please use our social media.
OUR STORY
Start Track has existed in various shapes and sizes since way back in 2011. It was born as a humble Tumblr blog, consisting of short posts dedicated to DIY bands and artists admired by owner, Filip Zemčík. Roots had most certainly been planted and the foundations of a multinational, internet-based community of keen bedroom musicians were firmly in place. Progressing from its microblog origins, it was time to move to a new online home, where it still resides today.
Fast forward a little to 2013, Zemčík founded the prolific and influential cassette label Z Tapes, with which he endeavored to give a platform to small, independent musicians the world over. The label released an abundance of music that touched the hearts of many, working with acclaimed bands and artists such as Orchid Mantis, Pickle Darling, fuvk, Fog Lake, and many more – all equally worth mentioning. During this time, Filip and collaborators ploughed on with Start Track, using it as a medium to spread homemade, sincere, and unique art to anyone smart enough to listen.
Writer Nadine Galleguez, who produces music as savedhistory, became a regular contributor, helping out at Start Track for several years. As well as blog posts, there has been a much-loved Bedroom Session series and several long-running Spotify playlists that are constantly updated with newly-received submissions. The site continues to expand and steadily reach a larger audience, this has been aided by the growth of the Start Track team. Chris Marks (Lake Michigan, Permanent Vacation) joined as a writer in late 2023 and the site boasts many more guest writers who contribute their talent.
In November 2023, on its 10th birthday, Z Tapes was retired, giving way to the newest iteration of Start Track. As well as tirelessly writing about new music, Start Track is now following in the footsteps of Z Tapes as a label, maintaining working relationships with many of the same artists and sticking with a community-first ethos. The first proper release with this new incarnation of the label and blog was a genre-hopping compilation in April 2023, since then Start Track has gone on to put out a string of striking and beautiful records with many more in the works.