Agog was the project of Damian Bisciglia from Southern California. This fascinating 1987 cassette has him leaping from one avant garde complex to the next. Sound collage, field recordings, imposing textures of sound laminates...a great tape of uncompromising aural delights.

LMNOP was the project of Steven Fievet who , at the time, lived in Decatur, GA. His tapes ( and later CDs) were filled with high energy, high quality pop music. Hs also published a wacky and irreverent comic journal called babysue, which was also the name of his label. In my opinion, he recorded some of the greatest home made pop music ever. 

Farces Wanna Mo is the unusual name of Dave Woycechowsky's home recording band. During the day, he is an attorney and when he gets home he records his nutty, skewed and sometimes demented music. It occasionally veers towards rock but is really in a category by itself.  At the time I met him he lived in the San Diego area but has since moved to Canada and now Detroit I believe.

To the right, the 1995 cassette of Peter Tonks , aka Cowtown. Peter recorded many tapes of sung-spoken poetry and was usually backed by some music played by him or local mates from the Denver area. His lyrics were the central focus though commenting on social issues, personal relationships and pulled no punches with frank and sometimes caustic assessments of life's absurdity.

From Washington State came Ken Hunt who called himself, Animanarcana. His very humble and lo if repertoire was funny, reflected his own experience and many times just involved him singing into a cheap mic with no instruments. Sometimes he would pluck on a bass and other sound making device. In a way, I usually slotted him in the same category as Dan Fioretti: outsider, naive but sneakily clever. I don't know what Ken is doing now but am glad I have his tapes. The one to the right was from 1987.

Sometimes I would hear a home taper and go, "whoa, this person's got a lot of talent". That's what I always thought about Greg Segal's work from the early 80s with his improvising ensemble, PaperBag ( with his brother Mark and others) in Los Angeles to his later solo work in Portland, OR. His main axe is guitar which he wails on expertly but he also handles drums, keyboards, flute, bass and vocals just to name a few. His tunes have ranged from punky rock to spacey jazz to out and out noise. His 1987 "Water From The Moon" was also later re-issued on his Phantom Airship label. Another one of the most outstanding musicians in the scene.

At the time operating out of Brooklyn, the duo of Dan and Detta Andreana called themselves Dada Frolic. And this was a good name because of their skittering, exploring sound they acheived by incorporating weird effects, fractured guitar, radio and more all thrown into a pot and cooked. At one point in the 90s they visited me at KKUP and were wonderful people and guests.  The tape to the left, "K-9" was an early self release and they went on to put out tapes on Sound Of Pig and work with Al Margolis in some live projects.

Another Sound Of Pig alum was John Eberly who released this tape of dense, out of focus rumblings. Eberly had the project called " The Mumbles" from his home studio in Wichita and released quite a few tapes. He's still going strong here. This must have come out in the mid 1980s.

Synthetic Products was the project of Malcolm and CJ Ryder from Cleveland. They were always a favorite of mine because of their wacked humor applied to the geeky home taping rock music they produced. I mean, "Carol Gets An Oboe" is a great title, isn't it? This was their second tape I think and not long after they had to change their name because of legal concerns from a local manufacturing company. So, of course, they used their frivolous nature and changed their name to Sosumi. These guys went on to do a local public access TV show and last I heard were still active although I don't know how much music they were still doing.

 

Mike Tetrault was a poet from Massachusetts who also produced several very fine compilation tapes with special, unusual themes. Much of his work was dark, brooding and veiled in a curtain of eeriness. On this tape from approximately 1988, he compiles the sounds of Croiners, James Hill, Vox Populi, J. Greinke, Illusion Of Safety, NoMuzic and others into beautiful, coherent collection.  Mike also has worked extensively with Ken Clinger in addition to his many compilations. One of my favorites was the "ambient Sex Pistols" theme.

From Minneapolis came the project called ZXQ. The tape "Hypnagog" inhabits a radio theater space with all sorts of silliness that reminds me of The Musical Transportation Spree, the radio project of Chris Waterbury and Jerry Modjeski who were also involved (Chris and Greg Mathieson and others) in the group, Bat Lenny. Akin to Firesign Theater this 1988 release was the only tape by ZXQ I received.

Free form rock improvisations from the original Zendik Farm, then located in California. Headed up by Wulf who intones a tremulous, sort of Robbie Basho tone, with psychedelic backings of keys, drums and bass. Wulf was to pass away not long after this and was replaced by Arol, who I believe was his former partner. The Collective moved back east at some point and continue their activities and their music. 

Goofy improvs was the calling card of Mashpot, a  quartet from Florida . This 1990 tape features their trademark sound of garage riffing with silly lyrics chanted and sung on top. Fun stuff, in small doses.

 

Known as a real king of sampling, Washington's Steve Fisk was actually much more than that. His use of the early sampling technology just allowed him to create complex atmospheres and moods and it wasn't used as a "see what I can do" showoff presentation. This split release on K Cassettes (Olympia, WA) and ARP Cassettes (Oakland, CA) is a good example of his early work. Droney patches are interrupted by scary voices and found sounds that equally comfort and disturb.

The Molecules were a very entertaining band from Oakland, CA and the tape to the left is from 1991. Ron Anderson, Chris Millner and Thomas Scandura were the members of this hard charging group. Influenced as much by free jazz as punk, their short songs hit hard and to the point. Some bunched them in with The Minutemen and I suppose this is a good signpost but The Molecules really ran with the ball in their own way.

Chris Mezzolesta was a fine home taper from Ohio and this tape was released on the GGE label ( run by Mike Crooker) in 1987. His sound quality is high and his songs are well crafted with sarcastic jabbing, pop knowingness and excellent chops to make it all work. He released several other tapes and CDs later as well.

Old fashioned rockin' was the central theme of James Richard Oliver from Georgia. He would occasionally stray into acoustic introspection but generally locked into  rockabilly guitars, twangy vocals and toe tapping good time fun. This tape was from 1997 and he later went on to produce CDs.

Dan Stearns from MA was an incredibly fine guitarist and musician with a real ear for producing mind blowing music in the progressive rock and experimental veins. He really stood out to me as being way above most home producers in ability and execution. This tape is actually just one 6 minute song with shifting moods, stop on a dime precision and tasteful but brilliant musicianship. He made several other great tapes and is still active today.

I received a couple of tapes in the late 1980s from one "Chief Justice" who in fact, was a very young Jim O'Rourke calling himself The Elvis Messiahs. Although Jim may want to distance himself from these early home recordings I don't know why. His skill as an improviser, the space he is able to leave to let the music breathe, the various instruments he commands is still impressive.

Founding member of the legendary Bay Area avant garde cult band, The Roots Of Madness, Geoff Alexander's first solo cassette was a mix of varying styles incorporating the farfisa organ, vocals and his penchant for a style he called "anthro". He would follow this up with "San Jose Confidential" a couple years later and an organ collection culled from these tapes later as well.I believe this came out in 1987.

Geoff also is the world's expert on 16 mm "academic films" and has written the definitive book about the subject.

Please visit his extensive and informative sites on these and other matters including a page about The Roots Of Madness. Here.

 

Mitch Sanders released this cassette on Red Nail Tapes , run by Bunk Nesbit in West Virginia. This is some pretty cool lo fi garage rocking with weird things going on in the fix to make it even more perplexing. This one was a collection of tunes from 1982-8.  

David LaDuke hailed from Louisville and played balls out guitar rock that often featured short songs with no vocals. I think this one came from the early 1990s. He released a few things then and would tout his guitar rocker image. Hints of Zep abound. Good stuff. 

I don't remember much about Rude Guest, a band from Illinois. Their up tempo, dance oriented pop was actually pretty good and I'm betting they did lively live shows. This tape was an EP and rode reggae and pop rock grooves for the most part.

 

 

  

Phillip B Klingler ( PBK) was ( and still is) an amazingly prolific electronic musician with the highest standards of quality. He has collaborated with countless others and has released a vast amount of material on tape and CD. This 1990 cassette has him dangling noise, nighttime electronic shadows and hidden ephemeral shades that are close to imaginary.

A beautiful loopy tape of improvised ambience and elegance by these Brooklyn musicians. Bob and Pete were A Hawk And A Handsaw although I think there was a commercial group later who also used that name. These guys were real good at creating atmosphere and letting it all breathe. This 1986 cassette still sounds great even today.

The Tone Poets tape was  a very enjoyable experience for me. The variety that musician (and WFMU DJ) Dave Mandl mixed into this 1986 cassette was wonderful. Drum machines glided along, well played bass and synth played roles along with occasional voice. There was a bit of a jazz feel at times, some mild experimenting and a highly creative feel to it all. I don't know if Dave did another tape although I do know he still has his WFMU show. An early favorite of home taping to me.