CASSETTE CULTURE: HOMEMADE MUSIC AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT IN THE PRE-INTERNET AGE - Jerry Kranitz (2020)

Cassette Culture: Homemade Music and the Creative Spirit in the Pre-Internet Age by Jerry Kranitz (320 pg book + 2-CD compilation)

 

The book takes a social history/analytical approach to the growth of the global cassette culture/homemade music network that sprouted and flourished from the post-punk era through the early 1990s. The author explores how the participants communicated, traded, collaborated, and set up cottage industry labels to distribute their work. A long overdue study of this pivotal yet less than comprehensively documented chapter in the post-punk and 20th century independent arts movement stories.

 

While the book's focus is on how the network and it's participants functioned, it concludes with a 4-part 'Reviews' appendix. The author selected three cassette labels based in different countries whose roster of artists was international in scope:

* Alain Neffe and Insane Music

* Matthias Lang and IRRE Tapes

* Al Margolis and Sound of Pig

The fourth section features a small number of ‘song’ oriented hometapers. In some cases, these artists were known for both songs and more experimental forms of music, making them of particular significance to the cassette culture story.

 

Order at: https://www.vod-records.com/-1-432-675.htm

 

The book also includes a 2-CD, 46-track compilation

 

CD1

01 10-Speed Guillotine 'Temper Tango‘ 1990 (4:24)

02 Aconite 'the truth about Cable TV‘ 1982 (3:05)

03 Another Headache 'Cacophony Continues‘ 1992 (5:31)

04 Autopsia 'Lebensherrgabe‘ 1983 (4:59)

05 Beequeen 'EE EA‘ 1988 (2:18)

06 Big City Orchestra 'Karawane‘ 1987 (3:44)

07 Bret Hart 'Partytime‘ 1985 (3:02)

08 Brume 'An Amphibian‘ 1988 (6:18)

09 Cacophony 33 'Frank‘ 1986 (1:37)

10 Charles Rice Goff III 'Big Surprise' 1990 (4:11)

11 Dog As Master 'Black Body' (Excerpt) 1985 (4:36)

12 Don Campau 'I am Not Satisfied' 1983 (3:02)

13 E Coli 'Lag Phase' 'Djihad‘ 1981 (1:19)

14 E G Oblique Graph 'Fall into Glass' 1982 (2:21)

15 F-i 'Zombie’ 1984 (4:50)

16 Gen Ken Montgomery 'It happened to You' 1983 (3:09)

17 Girls on Fire 'In My Blood' 1985 (1:29)

18 If,Bwana 'Beauty and the Beast’ 1986 (3:28)

19 ITN / Mental Anguish 'Force of Waves' (Edit) 1988 (2:24)

20 Jeff Central 'Tragick' 1988 (4:26)

21 Joseph K Noyce 'The Beat' 1988 (2:37)

22 Kapotte Muziek 'Audio Plagio 2‘ 1988 (3:58)

23 Ken Moore 'Soft Pretense‘ 1986 (2:33)

 

CD2

VOD158.CD2: Artists L-Z (Total Duration 78:56)

01 Larynx 'Graett' 1981 (3:00)

02 Lord Litter 'St James Infirmary' 1990 (3:32)

03 Markus Schwill 'The Advantage Of Tape-Music' 1991 (2:29)

04 Minoy 'Eskalith' 1987 (5:16)

05 Monochrome Bleu 'Imagination' 1986 (2:26)

06 Muslimgauze ‚Cyst' 1983 (4:20)

07 Mystery Hearsay 'Painted‘ 1986 (2:03)

08 Non Toxique Lost 'Statements‘ 1982 (4:18)

09 PBK 'Untitled 04‘ 1990 (4:48)

10 Philip Johnson 'Two Tracks Unused At The Time‘ 1979 (3:07)

11 Psi Nukli Trip Sequence II’ 1988 (5:22)

12  R Stevie Moore 'Puttin' Up The Groceries' 1978 (2:59)

13 Ri Gillham 'Soundtracks for imaginary films‘ 1980 (2:03)

14  Rimbaud Brothers 'Deceit' 1984 (3:41)

15  Rod Summers 'Sad News' 1984 (3:29)

16  Sheer Zed 'Take a Walk Down the Street' (3:26)

17  Storm Bugs 'Hodge' 1978 (4:54)

18 Taste of Stool 'Squeeze Bees’ 1989 (1:01)

19  Viktimized Karcass '3.32 AM Rain‘ 1985 (5:24)

20  Vittore Baroni 'Living with Prosthesis‘ 1985 (2:06)

21  Walls of Genius 'Sunday, Monday Or Always!‘ 1983 (2:42)

22 Wolfgang Wiggers 'l'll Cry Tomorrow‘ 1983 (3:12)

23 Years on Earth 'Opposition‘ 1982 (2:46)

 

(For the record, 320 pages, and not even a mention of  Hermanos Guzanos!)