gtaylor@lasspvax.UUCP (Greg Taylor) (03/08/85)
Welcome to the second half of our guided tour of cassette culture. This time out, I'd like to talk a little about _w_h_a_t _s_o_r_t _o_f _s_t_u_f_f is out there. There's a good reason for decid- ing to do that: it's much more likely you can find something on cassette that interests you but seems "only marginally commercial". There is a much greater wealth of spoken word material, storytelling, audio collage/text work, and so forth in cassette because it is easier for the producer to make it available that way. Alvin Toffler coined a handy term to describe people who are seriously into alternative distribution networking-- prosumers. The prosumer is, in many cases, actively involved in either making the same sort of work that they consume--or involved in making it known. In the passive everyday world of consumer culture, that is precisely the sort of sales people we appreciate. It is also the sort of shared enthusiasm that makes the experience of art such a delight. So, prosumers out there, here is a general outline of what cassette culture offers: _T_h_e _C_o_l_l_e_c_t_i_o_n: Typically, a group of people will go together in a co-operative of some sort and produce a col- lection of individual works that the individuals themselves can't (or produce a cassette that allows you to sample a wide variety of work in the threat-free environment of the c-90 shopping spree). The motives for this vary widely. In some cases, a publication will organize a representative sampling of work. The British Nusic Mag New Musical Express does this about twice or three times per year, and offers a pack of old R&B or Jazz standards along with a tape of the xt big thing" for about 3 bucks. In America, The Skateboarder/Hardcore magazine Thrasher has just such a hardcore extravaganza out that will give you windburn in a stationary position. Often, a group of recording artists will simply go together and put out a sampler: Trance Port tapes out of Lost Angeles has produced several "live perfor- mance" and compilation tapes of work centered around their peculiar form of Postmodern Ambient stuff. _T_h_e _P_e_r_i_o_d_i_c_a_l; Journalism comes to the cassette world. SOme of this stuff is the rough equivalent of those novels on cassettes that grownups listen to on their tape players while driving to work. On the whole, their approach is usu- ally either the standard magazine/interview/review format, or something a bit artier. The novice might want to try Tellus, a snazzy audio magazine covering a whole range of things from performance work to new music composers. Garage band freaks will probably love Bang Zoom, a sort of "Musi- cian" magazine approach to the garage culture. Those of you whose tastes run to the more Industrial/throbbing Gristle school of "Industrial Electronics" might be advised to look for copies of On-Slaught, a magazine/cassette that issues from the heart of darkest Leftcoast. I'd like to add a personal push for the next two little numbers. Both of them encapsulate what is most pleasant about the periodical form--that balance between surprise and the well crafted object. TRA comes out of Japan about twice or three times a year. Unless your grasp of Kanji is great, you'll have a little trouble reading the adds, but the music and packaging more than makes up for that limitation. Each issue is a little different in style and content, and packaged differently, too. TRA 2 comes as a collection of comics, and a tape which is really a tiger in a little box which is a cage which also has the comics.... well, you get the idea.The third issue is an art catalog, and the fifth one is a special "German" issue. You haven't heard anything until you've heard a Japanese band doing Joy Division clone music, sung in Ger- man. It's brilliant, odd stuff. Cultivate a couple of Japanese speakers, and you can even figure out the magazine! Touch is a slightly more restrained, British version of TRA, without the magazine. Each issue is different, and organized around an idea that's usually seen through is great detail. They did an issue on Bali, which is a wonderful tour through the culture. It's an hour plus of Songs and stories, wild dogs barking at the edge of the village, Music and Mopeds at war in the marketplace, and a sense of the place.Their last release is a long ambient study of water, with a gentle bit of process music mixed in. There is a photograph of the water that was recorded tucked inside the cassette. Their earlier recordings come from all over the world. It's obvi- ous that Touch is a real labour of love...getting a new issue is like a package from an old friend. _T_h_e _R_u_g_g_e_d _I_n_d_i_v_i_d_u_a_l_i_s_t_s: There are literally a million of them out there. Some of them are people like the guitarist Robbie Basho, who during a lucrative recording career decided to collect and produce his _o_w_n collections for his friends. The New York cassette-only recording label ROIR will give you stuff by Television, Feminist Reggae stars The Raincoats, Richard Hell, and the MC5 that never saw the light of day. REM fans will almost certainly want to check out the cassette work of Stumble. Some labels, like Palace of Lights in Seattle, have their own cassette release program which runs alongside their indie vinyl. The best way to find out what's out there is to check out the publications I mentioned last time. You'll get a feel in no time for the kind of music they talk about (it's usually described as an extension of something you probably _h_a_v_e heard of), and be able to pick and choose. It also doesn't hurt to ask around a little bit. I was surprised to discover in the week since part one came out _h_o_w _m_a_n_y people knew about this stuff already, and how many had little recommendations of their own. A couple of those people actu- ally work in local book and record stores, and know where to find the stuff. Find them, and cultivate their friendship. And most importantly, Keep listening. Whatever things are of good report.... If any of you would like the addresses for this stuff, pop me a line, and I'll post them along.