For me, the most important early magazines
( or zines) were Option and Sound Choice. Both featured cassette reviews and
contact addresses for the artists. The ones that said "will trade" were the
ones I wrote first.Of course
there were other standout publications such as OP, the acknowledged
forerunner of the entire movement. Later came Factsheet Five, Unsound, ND
Magazine, Electrogenesis ( may have come earlier actually). The second
generation of zines included Gajoob, Autoreverse, babysue, Electronic
Cottage, and Improijazzation Nation. There were also many fine European
magazines such as Notions, Second Ave ( UK), Music And Elsewhere News ( UK).
This barely scratches the surface of what was going on at the time. It was a
very active and fertile period for what later came to be called "desktop
publishing". At the time though, hardly anyone was using computers to design
their publications and often there were glaring errors, badly printed
pictures, typos and many rudimentary problems. Still, the excitement of
do-it-yourself publishing was in the air. Some went to more glossy
professional lengths ( such as Option), most went out of business for one
reason or another, and some were even one issue or short series works such
as Kevyn Dymond's Anemic Billfold.
Sound Choice was published by David
Ciaffardini in the mid 1980s and continued until 1992. At the time it
was considered a more underground alternative to Option although both
covered a lot of the same territory.
Scott Becker and Richie Unterberger
began printing Option in 1985 and was a very professional looking
magazine. It featured many reviews, features, ads from indie musicians
and lots of pictures. It continued until 1998.
Bryan Baker began Gajoob Magazine
in the mid 1980s and continued for many years. It went online and
stopped publishing sometime in the 1990s.Gajoob was essential in
picking up where Option and Sound Choice left off. Baker ( with
Chris Phinney) also started the intriguing Tape Germ Collective that
created an interactive atmosphere for collaboration online.
Factsheet Five, a magazine
started by Mike Gunderloy in 1982 ran gobs of reviews and
information about other zines. It also featured reviews of
underground music as well and became another useful tool for
home tapers who wanted to make contact. It stopped running in
1998.
Musician Kevyn Dymond from
Arcata, California branched out into small run publishing
with his Anemic Billfold pamphlet. It had articles on travel
mixed with features about home tapers
( such as Robin O'Brien in this issue). I believe he did
about 5 issues.
From Norway,
Sepulchral Noise was a monthly ( this one was from
2003) that delved into the goth/doom rock scene. The
usual reviews, features, drawings and discussion of
death and blood pervade.
Fight
Amnesia was the mouthpiece for Greek rock
band, Into The Abyss, but was actually much
more then just a promotional tool for them.
Publisher and musician, Janis Kalifatidis
reviewed tapes, CDs and other publications
and had a lot of interesting information.
His band was also very good, incorporating
goth and progressive rock with some ethnic
and world influences. I believe this was a
quarterly publication during the mid to late
1990s.
Irreverence, humor and sarcasm were
the main concepts in babysue, a
magazine published by Steven Fievet,
who also called himself Don Seven.
In addition to his publication,
Fievet had the most excellent LMNOP
music project, one of the greatest
home taping pop projects ever. He
had a real flair for comic
illustrations and poignant, pointed
and razor sharp observations. In his
review section that included not
only home tapes but commercial CDs
he would rate them with little "babysue"
heads from 1-5. He reviewed my tapes
for awhile then opted out because he
did not want to "rate" friends.
Truly one of the most essential
musicians and publishers ever in the
underground.
Out of Australia came Samhain, a
publication that covered the
international goth scene in the
mid 1990s. Run by Azriel and
mates, this smaller format zine
ran ads, reviews and the usual
features about death rockers
especially from Down Under. Lots
of white face and black lipstick
pics and really a rather well
done enterprise.
In addition to their own
powerful jazz-rock
improvisation tapes, San
Francisco Bay Area home
producers Peter and John
Hinds also published a
fascinating journal of their
exploits and adventures
hanging around Sun Ra and
his band. They had
befriended Ra, gained his
confidence with their
enthusiasm and willingness
to document the inner
workings of this legendary
group. They had special
access to rare and unknown
music and were able to
interview Ra and the band
while he was still alive.
Some amazing pictures and
information over the course
of many years doing this
publication.
Veteran music maker Dick
Metcalf also known as
Rotcod Zzaj published
the hard copy edition of
Improvijazzation Nation
for quite awhile before
going exclusively onlne.
Reviews, poetry and news
were the main focus of
this stapled tome which
he issued a few times a
year.
You can check out his
latest edition online
at:
http://zzaj.freehostia.com/
File 13 was
edited and
published by
Mark Lo from
Concord MA. This
issue from 1990
has a long
interview by
Chris Phinney
with Hal McGee
about his own
projects
including his
Electronic
Cottage magazine
which was being
published at the
time. Also, a
nice mix of home
tape reviews
mixed in with
more "known"
artists. Oddly,
there isn't
trace of
information on
the internet
that I can find
now.
Although
The
Improvisor
was not
a zine
about
Cassette
Cutlure,
it did
have a
similar
trajectory
and
spirit.
Davey
Williams
and
LaDonna
Smith's
zine was
a rare
resource
in those
days
covering
the free
improvisation
scene
which
occasionally
overlapped
with the
home
taper
movement.
This
issue
was from
1986 and
was
chock
full of
reviews,
info and
features
all
xeroxed
and
stapled
together
for the
true
underground
traveler.
Scorcher was a Canadian mag that was really more about hair metal than anything else. Falling to their knees in worship of groups like LA Guns or Krokus they would seldom cover the real underground home taper scene. Edited by Tracy James and Mark St John who were very nice people however. A true fanzine.
British home taper, Trevor Hall ( also known for his Third State music project) published Second Avenue for awhile from his home near Norfolk on the northeast coast of England. Trevor would go into great analytical detail about the tapes received and although his type font was difficult to read at times he delivered a lot of good information and turned people on to a lot of interesting tapes.
Mainly addressing the electronic music side of the home recording movement, the issue of Electrogenesis to the right is from 1987. Edited and designed by Robin and Len Wiles in Oxnard, California this publication also featured contributions from Phillip B. Klingler, Bill Rhodes and others. This particular issue had a long interview with Doug Walker of Alien Planetscapes and articles by Klingler and ads by Minoy, Nefilim Universal, Jazzical Records, Random Bullet Records and others.I'm not sure how many issues of this mag were produced but it was a valuable mouthpiece for the burgeoning electronic scene at the time.
Objekt was an information and review zine done by Brian Ladd, who also ran his own Ladd-Frith label and had the band, The Psyclones in Eureka, California with Julie Frith. I can't find a date in the magazine but I'm guessing 1986-7 or so. It has all sorts of home taper reviews, ads from bookstores, RRRecords, a stereo store in Eureka and even Option Magazine.
The Kettle Black was done by Jason Mundok, also a musician. At the time this was published from Tennessee and was also assisted by Dave Bellard ( his musical partner in Jesters Longevity) and Mike D. The obligatory reviews and info plus a profile of Ernesto Diaz-Infante. No year is listed but I'd guess 1992 approx.
Dead Eyes was published in Bradley, Illinois by Mykel Boyd, also a musician. This zine veered more into experimental and industrial territory and I believe this issue came from about 1993.Articles on The Haters, Attrition, Angelhood and more.
Psuedo'zine was edited by Mike Crooker ( of the GGE label) and musician, Ray Carmen of Ohio. Lots of neat little reviews, interviews and features. This issue from 1989 had pieces on Carl Howard's audiofile label, my own Lonely Whistle practices and Chris Phinney's Harsh Reality among others.
From England, Peace And Freedom was the project of Paul Rance. Paul was involved in politics, animal rights, music, poetry and many others things. This particular issue was done in 1988 . The helter skelter design was punk influenced it appears now although Paul's own music group, The Peace And Freedom Band ( with Andy Xport, Andy Darlington) was an odd quasi, rock load of lo fi music and odd rantings. The usual reviews and features and even a hand pasted advert for the Peace And Freedom Band's "White Album".
The KFR Infomagazine was done by musician, Lord Litter in 1990. The idea behind KFR ( Kentucky Fried Royalty) was to make international distribution of tapes easier by doing it on a regional basis. Thus, master tapes would be sent to the various KFR stations ( Stephen Parsons in the UK, Guido Erfen in Germany, Jennifer McKinnis in the USA, later taken over by myself, and Carlos Alberto Alfonso in Argentina ) and then copied and sent more locally. Lord Litter ran the News Dept from Berlin. This was all done on a non profit basis and although a good idea was very labor and cost intensive at each local station. It didn't last long but did circulate tapes and even had an early conference in Cologne, Germany. The Infomagazine ( written in German and English) did not include reviews but contact information with plenty of international artists.
In addition to running the audiofile Tapes label, Carl Howard also published the A/a zine for awhile. It was done on newsprint and covered lots of underground territory. In this issue from 1986, there are features on Heldon, Michael Gira ( called Mike then), ND magazine. Pollution Control, and Elliott Sharp.
comments by Ray Carmen
Pop Cult was the brainchild of Michael Devine
(Mr. Michael) and Julia Devine, who were married at the time (he actually took
her last name--his last name was Gonzalez--and still uses it even though he is
remarried...to a girl named Julie!). Lots of people contributed to it,
including me, Lawrence Salvatore, Raymond Scott Woolson, Craig Marks, and I
think Mike Crooker contributed to it at some point as well. There were other
sort of semi-famous underground zine people who also contributed but I'd have to
look at the back issues to see who they were. And of course each issue came
with a cassette of underground music.
I also made the cover of
Ian C. Stewart's Autoreverse in the early 1990s. Stewart
published for several years and even began another zine
after Autoreverse folded called Mouthy. Unfortunately,
health problems became too much for Ian and he had to
discontinue his activities.
My own 15 minutes came in
1991 when Hal McGee ran me on the cover of Electronic
Cottage. Carl Howard also conducted an interview with me and
there were many other features as well.
OP Magazine from Olympia , Washington
published 26 editions that were alphabetically sequenced. Was published
from 1979-1984 by John Foster and The Lost Music Network. Both Option
and Sound Choice sprung from the ashes of OP.
