cassette noise - artists, labels, and scenes

[Stephen]

european distros for these releases?

Yeah, I have been having this problem myself. It seems Metamkine/A-musik don't really go in for cassette noise, and really the scene is pretty US-centric. Having said that in the UK there's Volcanic Tongue, Second Layer and Boa Melody Bar that do stock whatever tapes they can get their hands on. I guess another problem is that as these things tend to come in low-runs a lot of them have gone to local distros before EU shops place an order.

While on the subject the UK does seem to have one decent label that fits this thread: Blackest Rainbow

[bitter milk]

in the UK there's Volcanic Tongue, Second Layer and Boa Melody Bar that do stock whatever tapes they can get their hands on.

i contact all of these people everytime something comes out on monorail, and they never respond back. not sure what i'm doing wrong.

[mudd]

freaks end future is done for good, right? in some degree of scandal?

m

[jkudler]

volcanic tongue?

[mudd]

heather leigh murray and david keenan's shop out of glasgow. it's a cute little joint, but a little fixated on styles and labels. i'd be happy to visit again but i rarely bother with mailorder as the prices aren't competitive across the atlantic.

m

[middlejamesco]

shameless self-promo for my own mostly tape label
Middle James Co.
http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/middlejamesco/

and one of the best distros for tapes in north am/tho ships international
with GREAT stock/prices is tomentosa
http://www.tomentosarecords.com/

what's that Drumm tape mentioned earlier ??
his most recent 2xcs on hospital is incredible

[mudd]

drumm on alku: http://personal.ilimit.es/perkele/alku/ ... ain/ALKU81

haven't managed to get ahold of malaise, but at some point drumm put digital versions up on his short-lived blog, pretty fantastic stuff.

never seen tomentosa before. interesting.

m

[middlejamesco]

thankz i member'd google and discogs.com shortly after i replied~
great to see drumm is leakin more~

more tape talk...

[middlejamesco]

links at least...
http://www.exbxtapes.com/
http://www.thebakeryfloor.com/bt/
http://anathemasound.blogspot.com/

and more local hamilton ont + surrounding rawkers...
http://www.myspace.com/myiasistapes
http://www.myspace.com/cloudvalleyrecordings
http://www.myspace.com/poorlittlemusic

[mudd]

gonna post a series of capsule reviews here, just to keep track of the tapes i've been listening to lately. anyone else should feel welcome to join in.

mist - stole colors

a quartet of short, bliss-colored synthesizer investigations from john elliot of emeralds and sam goldberg. really bright, optimistic swirls and rises. about 20 minutes of music spread out over 4 sides, but i think the deliberate spacing of tape-flip treats the music well.

m

[mudd]

various - one man's trash...

a found sound compilation, which started with a series of answering machine messages directed to someone with my name. confusing. the noise, thus far, is good but a little slight. maybe recording from a pocket? i guess that's to be expected from found material, but anyway the better parts are the slices of some unexplained life.

m

[mudd]

sean mcann - phylum sigh

more big synth sound, this more lazy and psychedelic than the mist. like a slow, drifting bounce. lots of strange synth sounds, lots of layers and washes of sound. probably my favorite of the day so far, too.

m

[mudd]

bee mask - no mutant enemy

side a was a dark and swirly drone, just the right sort of relaxing morass to lead into the evening. side b is a little more tense, starting with a bell and chime echo layer and now a strong glowy drone with some very distant melody approaching from behind. still calm, but not sleepy anymore.

m

[mudd]

listening to the newish emaciator tape on monorail, called 'appease'. it's a lot less dreary than the other emaciator i've heard, even the recent arbor cassette. at times it's just plane beautiful, a lot closer to say, emeralds than i would have anticipated.

which is all fine by me.

on edit: followed up with earn: down the well, also on monorail trespassing. more varied, just as droney. some string sounds, and now this song is sort of hazy but tense. good stuff.

m

[hatta]

... just plane beautiful...

[Stephen]

gonna post a series of capsule reviews here, just to keep track of the tapes i've been listening to lately. anyone else should feel welcome to join in.

Funny, I just started a blog three days ago to do just that without flooding this thread. I'm trying to keep up a Pinnellian posting regime at the moment. The link's in my sig. I won't mention it again.

Yesterday went on a Culver tape hunt, which led me to Turgid Animal (another UK distro), and his involvement in a load of non-solo projects (apart from Skullflower) including a duo Inseminoid and trio Erases. He also has his own label: Matching Head Tapes, but he seems allergic to web presence.

[Zuhzuhzombie!!]

I don't necessarily follow "cassette culture", but a few bands that I follow release the occasional cassette release.

Sunn have a live version of Grimm Robe Demos out on cassette.

Bongripper "remastered" their Hate Ashbury album for the special cassette release. By "remaster", they murkied the whole release up and had it sound like some Darkthrone type doom.

Growing supports the format from time to time, however, since they've moved to Social Registry they've toned down the volume of their releases and pretty much stuck with CD and Vinyl.

You can always check out Animal Disguise, AWWFN, and Phage Tapes.

www.animaldisguise.com
www.atwarwithfalsenoise.com
www.myspace.com/phagetapes

[MRS]

Two leaders in the clubhouse for 2011 tape packaging awards, Brendan Murray's recent release off Tulip in a fur coat and Gomeisa's 4xCS Beta bound Treatise box (no relation prima facie).

[jkudler]

http://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/20 ... ent-study/

Adler, a history major focusing on European history, will travel to Malaysia, Australia, Mexico, Belgium and Sweden for his project titled, “Redubbing the World: Cassette Culture and the Power of DIY Production.”

Adler’s interest in cassette culture stems from running the student radio station in high school, where he hosted local musicians from the Los Angeles area. He observed that most musicians used cheap and recyclable cassette tapes to distribute their own releases and trade music with others.

“[They] issued their cassettes in tiny editions of 10 or 20, each with its distinctive packaging, whether a hand-knit woolen case, a screen-printed poster, or a pile of dead leaves. For these artists, musical production was a labor of love and a way of combining musical and visual arts,” Adler says. “Tapes were rarely sold. Money made people nervous.”

Adler finds that in recent years, musicians have found in cassettes a simple way of restoring engagement to the recording and listening experience. For these artists, cassettes are a vehicle for broadening participation, expressing an anti-commercial aesthetic, and engaging with a range of social and political issues.

“While my Watson Fellowship will be an opportunity to cultivate and broaden my personal interest and commitment to independent art, I hope that it will also encourage cassette producers to take greater interest in each other’s work,” he says. “I would like to share with them what I have learned about the diversity of global cassette culture and stimulate further communication and collaboration.”

[RJMyato]

http://devdformats.blogspot.com

good review blog mostly focusing on tapes

http://www.greenrecordsmi.blogspot.com/
http://www.lightenupsounds.blogspot.com/
http://www.lation.org/jayschleidt/

some great labels - especially recommend the Lighten Up VHS release which is multiple layered film projections and electroacoustic improv audio.

http://www.whirlinghallofknives.com/

band that released one of my favorite tapes recently (celestrian feroxide c30) - great swelling bass synths, scraping, etc. not harsh but very very good weird improv, kind of on an astral social club kind of tip maybe?

http://nnnco.wordpress.com

self-promotion