by don campau

As I close in on the one year anniversary of The Living Archive ( on August 1, 2010) I want to take a moment and thank everyone who has contributed to this project. Cassette Culture may be a narrow niche but it is an intriguing and spread out community and I appreciate the involvement of you now and in the future. Next month I will be re-announcing my intentions with a fully fleshed out "Mission Statement" for those not fully familiar with what I am trying to do here.

This month I am happy to report a nice collection of new content.

In the Artist Spotlight this month is Harald "Sack" Ziegler , who has been presenting his extremely unique music from Germany for many years. One might put Sack into the "outsider" category I suppose because of his singularly odd vision and humorously sly material. I've always considered Harald's music very special and his personality no less so.

Our Tape Of The Month is, "Spank" by Swinebolt 45 aka, Roger Moneymaker of Memphis, TN. This guitar oriented tape is one rocking ride but also includes more subdued, introspective moments. This is one of my favorite releases ever on Chris Phinney's Harsh Reality label.

In the Interviews section you will find Sack, of course, but also Eric Hausmann of the Spilling Audio label, and also previously published interviews with Alain Neffe of Insane Music. Both of these gentlemen have very interesting and divergent paths which I found personally interesting. Also, a long interview with Italy's Alessandro Crestani who ran the Best Kept Secret tape label for many yaers.

In the Features section, you will discover a special interview with Blue Sausage Infant. This Washington D.C. area experimental musician is profiled by Jack Hurwitz. In the Perspectives section, film maker and electronic musician Andrew Szava-Kovats  goes behind the scenes of the making of the only film documentary so far about Cassette Culture's electronic music esthetic in his film ,"Grindstone Redux". My thanks to Jack and  Andrew for their big time efforts here.

Also, there is a couple of new entries in the "Early Experiences" section, both from outstanding and important contributors to the underground scene. Alan Davidson has released tons of quality home recorded music from his home in Scotland as The Kitchen Cynics and Alan Herrick has been an instrumental part of the SF Bay Area experimental scene with his Auricular Records label and store, not to mention his own fascinating musical endeavors.

You will also find more cassette covers from my collection, another archival "No Pigeonholes" radio program to hear and more.

As always, feel free to submit your comments or articles for publication. Use the "contact" button above right to send me an email.

News

Ian C. Stewart is now hosting some real nice podcasts and has a variety of material he is offering.From home tapers, drone specialists to more "known" artistes. Check out his AUTOreverse and Mouthy podcasts here.

Charles Rice Goff presents his latest installment of his underground music podcasts. Listen to this excellent program which features many European electronic musicians. Listen to Lo Finest now.

Charles also attended and performed at the first annual Denver Noise festival in May and shot and edited this youtube footage.

Keith Macfarland has been documenting his own cassette collection on Flickr. He has put a lot of work into this project. Take a look.

Hal McGee has started up his Homemade Alien Music podcasts once again. He features newer material now with incisive comments and review. Listen now to #19.

Yours truly was the guest of dAS and Ninah Pixie on their outstanding ubRadio salon show in June. You can hear our live performance as a podcast now here.  Don't forget to tune in every Wednesday afternoon between 4-6 PM Pacific Time for their show on DFM radio.

Eclectic home recording musician from Ohio, Eric Wallack is recording an album a month and giving them away for free. The first two albums have used acoustic guitar and Chapman Stick in a creative instrumental fashion. Hear what he is up to now. These will also be offered on my Lonely Whistle Catalog page for him here.

My interview with Brian John Mitchell of the QRD webzine is here. He also interviews several other guitarists in this series.

Ken Clinger offers collaborative works at his Bovine Productions podcasts.

Here's a supplemental article to accompany this month's profile of Alain Neffe of Insane Music.

The film by Andrew Szava-Kovats "Grindstone Redux" gets reviewed by realeyz.tv web site. They also feature other interesting content.

Excellent download site for experimental music at I Heart Noise. PBK, Beequeen, Aeon and more.

The Tape Germ Collective recently did a two CD project that incorporated loops made by yours truly. CD one is here.  CD two is here.

Some old home taper correspondence between Jerry Kranitz and Carl Howard.

Home taper correspondence from Michael Gira to Phillip B. Klingler.

My latest CD, an instrumental guitar rock outing, "Days Out Of Order" is free for you here.

British home taper, Andy Xport's music blog of new and collaborative material.

The latest edition of Improvijazzation Nation by Dick Metcalf is now out. Read all about independent expression here.