LINDA SMITH - "Do You Know The Way...?" (1988)

 Recorded by Linda in her home in Baltimore, Md on a Fostex X-15!

This is simply pure music! That's it!

 Linda Smith - "All I Did"

N 33 - "Nuremberg Virgin" - Hayoon Limit Tapes (1987)

I wish I had written this stuff back when it was still fresh in my mind, but all I remember is that I sent one of our tapes to the Hayoon Limit label in France in December of 1987, and this is what they sent back to me, a tape by a band called N 33 with five songs on it! Here for your audio enlightenment is:

Nuremberg Virgin by N33

LOVE, CALVIN - "Breakdown" (1987)

Who'd a ever thunk some of the best music from 1987 would have come out of South Dakota?

Well, here's the proof!

Love, Calvin - "Breakdown"

Get Down!!

And from their best selling tape titled "Surfin' On The Moon," here's a tune by Hermanos Guzanos and Lord Litter with lyrics by Love, Calvin called 

"Don't!"

STONEGOD - "Me" & "Pain (Can't Get Through)" (1994)

 Since I've been slacking off again, here's a special treat for you: from Stum, Wisconsin circa 1994, two songs from the lords of rock

STONEGOD!

Stonegod - "Me"

Stonegod - "Pain (Can't Get Through)" 

REFRIED DREAMS - Various Artistes Compilation (Early 90's)

Lots of people were putting out various artist compilation tapes, and I thought I can do this,so I reached out to all the cool musicians I'd been trading tapes with from all over the world and this was the end result, a project I called

 REFRIED DREAMS! 

Personally, I think it might have been the best Various Artists tape of the era! Every song is a keeper! 

If you don't believe me, then just check out a few of these tunes!

Al Perry - Misguided 

Big Jed- My Town First 

Andrews-Ligon - Tadpole 

Crash and Burn - Last Night Stand

HYSTERIA WARD - "From Breakfast To Madness" (Late 1980's)

I don't think I actually got this tape from Hysteria Ward, I think it was sent to me by Claus Korn because they were an artist on his "Individual Pop" cassette label, and he wanted me to hear how good they were!
Hailing out of London, members included Louise, Bogdan, m.w. smith, Phillip Staines, Darren, Mark Clifford, Squid, and Dave Harper!
Here's a cut from their "Breakfast To Madness" tape called "As Was!"

EDGAR SCHWARTZ (1991)

Edgar Schwartz was the 1990's Indie cassette version of Steely Dan!  Thoughtful, well written, and just a groove to listen to! If you doubt me, here's a couple of songs to prove my point! Constructed and performed by James Nicholson and Dennis Steinseifer!  This is some mighty fine music for free! You're welcome!

"Everything's Beautiful"

"Surf Til I Bleed" 

"Uncle Blues"

KRONSTADT/TOSHIYUKI HIRAOKA - IRRE-Tapes (1988)

From a 1988 split tape by Kronstadt from Berlin and Toshiyuki Hiraoka from Japan that was released by Matthias Lang on his IRRE-Tapes label, here's the whole of side 01 featuring the funky guitar madness of Toshiyuki Hiraoka! There are actually 15 short songs, but they all run together very nicely as one piece! You're welcome! Enjoy!

Toshiyuki Hiraoka - "MAI, YOSHIKAWA, ORE, IMPROVISATION WITH DEALY, FUNKY, 8 BEAT, PARANOID, SHORT, NOISE, TERAO, EBBA, FUNKY, KING OF POVERTY, MUSIC MAKES STUPIDS, DASHINAGE!"

X-NEGROES - "Mr. Neo Nazi" (1988)

"THIS SUDDEN REMOVAL OF MILLIONS FROM THE EARTH will bring about a mysterious world crisis; CONFUSION, has never known WILL ENGULF THE CHAOS, AND PANIC such as this world WHOLE EARTH! - We need a permanent bass player and vocalist!" (Exact words taken off of the cassette sleeve)

Hailing out of New York City, the X-Negroes were one of those bands I traded tapes with that made it all worthwhile! I can only hope these talented guys are all rich and famous today!

Featuring Malcolm Plummer on guitar and vocals

Maceo Cleaver on guitar

and

Eddie Scales on drums and vocals

Produced and Engineered by Abdullah Rufus

Here's "Mr. Neo Nazi"

SWITCHBLADE NIXON - "Like It Like That" (1992)

 I'll admit that a lot of tapes I received in trade back in the day were by guys just wanking off in their bedroom or garage, but I would also trade tapes with actual bands, and that's the case tonight! Ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to present to you from San Francisco, California.......

 Switchblade Nixon,

  and a song off their 1992 Knucklehead release:

"Like It Like That"

Greg Buncke - Vocals and Bass

Dave Froker - Vocals and Guitars

Harold Ohashi  - Drums and Background Vocals 

Ken Smith - Harmonica and Background Vocals

 Just an observation, but the way I see it, the internet has become so encompassing, that a lot of really good stuff goes totally unnoticed these days, just like another stranger in the crowd, and whereas in the past, music fans would be stomping all over themselves in an effort to get great music like this for free, now it almost completely overlooked, so if you're reading this, enjoy, but if you're not, then oh, well, I guess you'll never know what you missed! Too bad, so sad!!

UXORIA - "Dead Relatives" (1989)

Straight outta Tickfaw, Louisiana, here's Steven Boone and Uxoria with:

"THE UXORIA THEME"

All instruments were played by Steven and recorded on a Fostex X-26 in his bedroom!

And that's just one of the reasons that home taping ruled in the late 1980's!

KC 20 KC 6 Vil 2 - Ken Clinger (1988)

Well, I just noticed on Facebook that today is Ken Clinger's birthday, and since it just so happens that his cassette release "KC 21 KC 6 Vol 2" was the next one I had ready to go, it must be fate!

From 1988, Here's "Flying (Blind)" from the very creative mind of Ken Clinger!

RISCONTI MENASITRANEV - "Bombs Are Not Buicks" (1987)

In 1987, the 9th tape I ever traded was with a guy from Fayetteville, NY named Eric Iverson!

On the Rat Lab Steamworks label, Eric and his pals Tim Hansen, Nate Johnson and Erik Osterberg made music/sounds unlike anything else I had ever heard before!

This is my favourite song from this cassette; I guess it's just your lucky day!

 Here's Risconti Menasitranev with

"Bombs Are Not Buicks"

AMY DENIO - "fbi/birthing chair blues" (1988)

Amy Denio was/is a very talented singer/songwriter! I got this Spoot Music cassette from her back in 1988. I distinctly remember writing her to say that she must have had quite the birthing experience to have written such a powerful song! Her reply was that she had never given birth!

 Here's a link to her website so you can check out what she is up to today!

"Birthing Chair Blues" (1988)

LMNOP - Sampler Tape (1993)

One of the most prolific musicians of the 80's & 90's was from Decatur, Georgia, a fellah by the name of S.M. Flevet, "one of the longest running cassette artists in the U.S." 

From the "Baby Sue" catalogue of 1993, here's just one cool song out of a gazillion entitled:

"Right Through It!"

You're welcome!

PLASTIC EYE MIRACLE - "Euphoric Voyeurs" (1989)

Plastic Eye Miracle was two guys who also happened to be incredible musicians from Ohio named Michael Gonzales and Doug Wofsey! This tape called "Euphoric Voyeurs" escaped in 1989! We were lucky enough to also do a cross-country release with Michael in 1992 called Hermanos Gonzales - "The Miracle Of The Worms" that had a song played on Dr. Demento's show, that was called "Beer In My Underwear!"

Here's a cut from this tape called "GodBloodPower"   ENJOY!

ZAKONA$ - "Demo" (1989)

 ZAKONA$ hailed out of West Germany! The line up was Ralf Real Shock on vocals, Klint on guitar, Bernie Blitz playing the bass, and Willi Wurcher banging the skins! This particular cassette was distributed by Lord Litter's Out Of The Blue label! Here's a funky punky number I think you're gonna like!!

ZAKONA$ - "The Wind"

1990's INDIE MUSIC ZINES

The whole Indie Cassette scene was something that wouldn't have been as pervasive if it wasn't for college radio stations, and independent radio stations like WFMU, and a new wave of Indie publishers willing to brave a new frontier unheard of by the likes of Rolling Stone! These guys were willing to review anything that was sent to them, and so the word was spread throughout the world! Unfortunately, 99.9% of the general public still never knew anything about it!

File 13 is a great example!

 Mike Gunderloy and Factsheet Five were champions of Cassette Culture!

 Some zines were slackers and some came out on a regular basis like GAJOOB!

Sound Choice was indeed just what the title implied!

The Affiliate came out of Canada! They had a big music festival we were invited to play at, but unfortunately we couldn't make it! I'm sure it was a freak fest!

UNDERGROUND POP? - Rattus Rex - "Different Ways"

One of my favourite things about trading tapes in the 80's was compilation tapes. What could be better than a sampling of a bunch of different artists?

Here's a snappy little number off of a worldwide compilation called "Underground Pop?" by

Rattus Rex called "Different Ways!"

Other artists on this comp were Nostalgie Eternelle, V-SOR-X, Morgan Bryan, Shadow Play, Lord Litter, and of course, Hermanos Guzanos!!

V - SØr, X - "Home Still Home" (1989)

It used to be a blast getting all these tapes from all over the world, and music by real musicians like Jacqueline Hemmings, Morgan Bryan, Alex Newton, and Alastair Boyle collectively known as........
V - SØr, X 
Straight outta late 1980's London, here's  "Home Still Home!"

SABOTAGE - "Qu'est-ce Que C'est" (1992)

Want to get your ass up and moving this morning? Then listen to this Sabotape cut from 1992, and a great band from France called Sabotage! The title of the tape was "Qu'est-ce Que C'est," and the name of the song is called

"Hroshima-Hoyerswerde!"

GARY WRAY - "Back From Pluto" (1990)

I'm going to make a concerted effort to be more active here! It's not like I don't have 500+ cassettes from Indie artists from all over the world! I'm not making any promises, but I'm going to try! That being said, here's a 1990 tape from my buddy, and  fellow Guzano, Gruesome Gary Wray!

Gary is busting his ass these days making sculptures and other various artistic objects! He still plays his guitar almost every day! Here's a snappy little instrumental cut from his solo tape titled "Back From Pluto" with Yours Truly on harmonica............

     "Moon Trine Venus"

I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did!!

Here's just a couple examples of Gary's artwork! You can check out his art auctions on eBay by searching for a seller named bongo52, or you can always leave a comment here, and I'm sure I can get him to send you some pictures of what he has at amazingly inexpensive prices for handmade original art!

MOTHERTONGUE - "Hellbound" (1989)

Mothertongue was from San Francoisco, California! The members at the time were Larry Capron, Don Osborne, John Rogers, Cindy Jones, and Alvin Young! 

 From their 1989 release titled "Mothertongue!" Here's something to enjoy in this new year!!

HELLBOUND!