iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 04/10/2026

I might need a “turtle x-ing” sign in my driveway

the humble eastern box turtle chilling upon some gravel and small grasses. admire its beauty, grace, and poise.

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 28/06/2026

let’s fucking goooooooo 😤

a sign with a red-throated hummingbird that reads “CERTIFIED BIRD FRIENDLY HABITAT
This property uses native plants, removes invasive plants, and provides other essential elements for birds to thrive.
NewHopeBirdAlliance.org”

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 24/05/2026

RIP to a true ambassador for his species it may seem weird to eulogize a snake, but this boy was like a cat and dog got fused into a tube of liquid glass. truly an honor to have rescued and given him over 3 great years hope you’re snuggling up in the great hoodie pocket in the sky, bud

a beautiful black and white eastern king snake, poking his head out to bask in some sun

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 13/02/2026

this could be anywhere in the world

Billboard outside Old Trafford today: "Immigrants have done more for this city than billionaire tax dodgers ever will"

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 03/10/2025

[emerges from the void to throw some good albums into your feed] [retreats]

a 3x3 grid of my most listened to albums from the past week

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 18/09/2025

looking ahead at next weekend like

three buttons meme with the options of:
- Another Carolina (A) Bookfair in Asheville
- Carrboro Music Festival
- Durham Pride

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 03/09/2025

$5 unlocks 5 of the 20 songs right now. Or, for $8.28, you can get a limited cassette copy. I'm honored to have been able to gather all local-to-NC artists across genres for this project. All funds raised are going directly to The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina.

a light blue cassette and its orange case sit among rocks, minerals, and light vegetation. the tape is labeled "SIDE A" with a background of mountains, while the case has a cover photo of a lichen-covered fence post and blue sky

a light blue cassette and its orange case rests on lambs ear. the tape is labeled "SIDE B" with a background of the ocean

two cassette tapes sit among rocks and garlic shoots. one tape is faced forward and standing vertically while the other is flipped and horizontal

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 02/09/2025

holy shit I actually bought 100 cassettes for a benefit compilation I put together 🤯 (this is box 1 of 4)

a box of 32 cassette copies of Mountains to Sea Vol. 1: a benefit compilation for Western North Carolina

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 29/08/2025

funny how being busy with house-related chaos leads to me listening to fewer full albums 🥲

a 3x3 grid of my most listened to albums from the past week, including mewithoutYou, TWIABP, Foxing, Thrice, Cheekface, Fontaines D.C., Citizen, Tool, and The Dear Hunter

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 25/08/2025

nothing has known pain like the trump robot in the hall of presidents dude looks like maggie thatcher in bad drag and knows it

the robot version of an evil man, yearning for the sweet release of mechanical death

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 15/08/2025

changing this up with a 4x4 because how is it friday already?

a 4x4 grid of albums I listened to this week, including mewithoutYou, Sufjan Stevens, The Armed, Circa Survive, Every Time I Die, Mannequin Pussy, Old Suns, Anxious, Combat, Frank Ocean, Pearl Jam, Her's, Bartees Strange, Ben Folds Five, and Childish Gambino

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 08/08/2025

soundtrack for a week of increasing water damage

a 5x5 grid of my top albums from the past week. mostly I listened to The Armed.

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 05/08/2025

fine art without context for your consumption

a stock photo of a mountain lake with a dock in the foreground. text reads “LAKE LIFE” in a stereotypical handwritten sign font and “(I threw a lot of negativity into the lake)” in bold comic sans

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 01/08/2025

mewithoutYou is the best band

a 5x5 album cover grid from last week via last.fm. don't be fooled, I really just listened to the one in the top left corner about 12 times.

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 25/07/2025

MAKE MY DAY, MEWITHOUTYOU 😍

PRE-ORDER
mewithoutYou
LIVE (vol. Two)
Available to Pre-Order on
Vinyl • Compact Disc • Audio Cassette
Streaming August 8, 2025

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 22/07/2025

me after getting followed by local news orgs:

the "imposter" screen from among us. there's an orange astronaut with a cowboy hat on.

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 18/07/2025

a surprisingly diverse week in retrospect, given how much time I've spent listening to the new Petey and Stay Inside LPs

a 5x5 album grid of my most played albums from the past week

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 10/07/2025

what a week to have an increasingly incompetent property manager 🙃

a water stain in my closet ceiling from monday morning

the same water stain on thursday morning

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 05/07/2025

my family’s new july 4th tradition is to watch this episode (“Lois”) of Detroiters, solely for this scene

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 05/07/2025

arcturus is looking mighty fine tonight

arcturus, a red giant star 36.66 light years away

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 03/07/2025

Excited to announce that submissions are open for Mountains to Sea Vol. 1! With the first anniversary of Blank Tapes coming up, I want to celebrate while supporting our beautiful state. Since our Western NC neighbors are still hurting from Hurricane Helene, an all-NC benefit compilation felt right.

a lichen-covered fence post on a hill surrounded by pine trees and power lines. text on the bottom left reads "MOUNTAINS TO SEA VOL. 1: a benefit compilation for Western North Carolina

How to Submit:

1. Send your WAV/MP3 to jackson@blanktapes.co
- Google Drive links accepted!
- NO COVERS!

2. Please include the following:
- Band/project name
- City/town
- Genre
- Any/all social media links

All genres welcome!

All profits will go to The Community Foundation of Western NC

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT IS JULY 31, 2025

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 27/06/2025

big week for catching up on my 1001 albums list 😅

a 5x5 grid of my most played albums from the past week, including Venom, Anxious, Finley Quaye, letlive., Tears for Fears, Watchhouse, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Hotline TNT, Sugar, Joni Mitchell, Led Zeppelin, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sister Sledge, Rosary, The London Suede, Jacques Brel, Balance and Composure, Beyonce, Chat Pile, Courting, Four Year Strong, Turnstile, and 2Pac

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 26/06/2025

oh great, I’m already dreading yet another blatant attack on election integrity from the NCGOP 🤮

Until recently, the governor appointed the fifth board member-so recently the State Board of Elections website still says as much.
But shortly after the 2024 elections concluded last November, Republicans in the state house passed Senate Bill 382, which stripped power over the state board away from incoming Democratic governor Josh Stein and gave it to Boliek, a Trump devotee with ties to staunch election deniers. The bill also included a myriad of provisions aimed at taking power away from the governor's office and reallocating the responsibilities to positions more favorable to Republicans.

On May 1, Boliek officially assumed power over the state elections board, appointing a 3-
2 Republican majority to serve in office. And on Tuesday, Boliek appointed Republican board chairs to all 100 counties in the state, giving the Republican party overwhelming power over how elections are conducted in North Carolina.

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 26/06/2025

Frog and Toad Are Revolutionaries (1977)

"better to bite the hand that lick the boot," said Frog.

"boots are not a good lunch," Toad agreed. "I will never be that hungry."

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 25/06/2025

this piece absolutely slaps. there are so many parts that I could clip to amplify, but this one made me want to run through the damn wall at 1:20am if a socialist can win power in the world’s biggest city, what’s stopping the rest of us?

Usually the Democratic nomination in New York City is the mayoral election. That won't be the case this year. The Democratic Party machinery will be as intransigent as possible. Capital will flood into this race as never before. The fear-mongering of these past three weeks is likely nothing compared to the way they are going to call a Bronx Science grad who raps about his grandmother a terrorist who will kill Jews.

They will do all of this because they see what the people of New York did tonight as a test case.
And they are correct. If a socialist can wrest power from the servants of oligarchy in the financial capital of the world-well, my friends around this country, around this world, what can you do to take the power back from them where you live?

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 24/06/2025

me hiding from a 110-degree heat index in my 80-degree office:

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 20/06/2025

gone full “2000s hot topic rawr phase” with this new sticker / merch drop 🦖 the stickers are new gifts for interviewees, kids, and literally anyone who asks for one (in the triangle area at least). OR you can get the shirt in a variety of colors via blank-tapes.printify.me (IT’S COZY! 🥰)

a pile of stickers with an illustrated dinosaur screaming and text that reads “blank tapes”

a white dude in a turquoise tshirt with the same screaming dino design on it

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 20/06/2025

one of the more disjointed weeks of music listening I’ve had in a while 😳

a 5x5 grid of my most played albums for the past week, including mewithoutYou, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, McKinley Dixon, letlive., glass beach, blink-182, Turnstile, Fontaines D.C., Foxing, Jessie Ware, Leikeli47, TLC, Westkust, White Denim, Great Grandpa, Joy Division, Todd Rundgren, Def Leopard, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Anderson .Paak, Beyoncé, Outkast, Polar Bear Club, and Against Me!

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 20/06/2025

look how they massacred my boy

the pathetic sight of a trolli sour gummy worms in 2025 (open palm of a 30something white dude for size comparison)

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 14/06/2025

no kings except the egyptian king

curtis jones, mo salah, and dominik szoboszlai after liverpool won the premier league in 2025

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 13/06/2025

a fantastic mix of old and new for an absolutely chaotic week

a 5x5 album cover grid of my top 25 most played for the past week, including Turnstile, mewithoutYou, PUP, The Beach Boys, Fleet Foxes, Little Simz, Sly & the Family Stone, Anxious, Jeff Rosenstock, McKinley Dixon, Pentimento, Thrice, Fairport Convention, Nas, Dispatch, Turnpike Troubadours, Nick Drake, Old Suns, Pulp, Anderson .Paak, Cheekface, Coheed and Cambria, and Combat

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 13/06/2025

hyped for this event tonight! my NC hip-hop knowledge is surface-level at best and there’s no better place to learn than community

a flyer for a screening and Q&A of Carolina Noise, presented by Super Empty. (7-9pm on 6/12/2025 at Yours Durham, 209 N Gregson St in Durham, NC 27701)

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 05/06/2025

the one, the only: ted’s hot dogs

a delicious tray spread of two hot dogs. fries, ketchup and malt vinegar, and a large pop from Ted’s Hot Dogs in Buffalo, NY

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 05/06/2025

this is a quintessential durham, nc event right here apocalypse history doom metal fuck yeah

a crowd gathers at the back room of Beer Study Durham for “The End of The World: A History of Apocalypse” with Dr. John Martin (professor of history at Duke) and Doomsday Profit (NC doom metal)

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 03/06/2025

every music scene needs a good videographer JP D'Argenio brings that hate5six-esque dedication to quality concert footage of his fellow NC bands. just a talented, kind dude who sees labor that needs doing & does it check it 👉 blanktapes.co/interview-jp...

Article text:

I’ve been catching myself filming shows more lately. It’s not a habit I love because I don’t want to be “that guy” experiencing live music through his phone. But the more local shows I go to, the more I feel the urge to document certain songs or parts of a band’s set. Case in point: I had to capture Private Cathedral’s “The Ghost and the Coat” during their record release at The Pinhook.

An old iPhone’s video quality is only going to get you so far, though. That led me to look up what one of my favorite concert archivists, hate5six, has used. Once I went down that rabbit hole, I discovered JP’s Vault, which had already accomplished whatever ambitious ideas I had of buying a used camcorder and a Zoom X4.

The YouTube channel is run by Weymouth drummer JP D’Argenio, who has been refining his approach for the past year and a half. A quick scroll through his video library is a tour of North Carolina’s underground rock, emo, and punk scene. I knew I had to learn more about JP’s love for filming shows and the role he plays in supporting this statewide music community.

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 02/06/2025

tired: of course those tiktok-obsessed zoomers hate reading to their kids wired: don’t have kids in your 20s

The Guardian article titled “Parents and parenting
'It's so boring': Gen Z parents don't like reading to their kids - and educators are worried”

Subtitle: “Screen time has increasingly replaced story time, and experts warn this could lead to children falling behind”

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jackson balling @jax.blanktapes.co · 31/05/2025

sounds like a cool piece 😎

out and about in the triangle

A few links from around the Triangle: An interview with local band Private Cathedral. The lowdown on NCMA's summer expansion plans. Spots where you can still go pick strawberries. This exhibition (opening tonight!) looks good. Raleigh restaurant owners are teaming up for a new project.

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