livingarchiveNews3-10

by don campau

Go to the Table Of Contents for March 2010.

Letters

Peter Catham

THANK-YOU FOR SENDING THIS MONTH ARCHIVE. YOU DO A REALLY GREAT JOB WITH IT. THE LAY-OUT IS SO EZ TO USE.

KEEP UP YOUR GREAT WORK.

Little Fyodor

Great issue as always!!

Guido Erfen ( regarding the features on R Stevie Moore and Amy Denio)

no Cassette Underground archive would be complete without these two outstanding artists.

I met Amy again after five years last autumn.

It was the third incarnation of Kulturschock I saw and it was obviously the best ever.
Just imagine a giant gabs you and shakes you thoroughly.
That's to describe how this band makes you dance.
You simply cannot help but move -respectively jump- to some pretty exotic time signatures.
Incredible!

After one and a half hours the audience (mostly Balkan emigrants who knew most of the tunes) seemed more exhausted than the band.
The places owner seemed to become nervous about when the show would end.
"Beware, the disco is coming!" the frontman mocked, "The DJs could become angry! Haha, we better play another one!" And they added another 45 minutes (encores included).

Considering a professional-musicians live: if any anyone still carries a rock'n'roll dream, he should have seen the tiny van for a six-piece-band plus sound engineer, with the entire equipment loaded in (using an ingenious system for using any available gap), touring whole Europe for months with a schedule of one gig almost every day at another place in another city. "Not really a good idea" Amy told me, "I prefer to compose comfortably at home for the dance theatre".

Accommodation? Be grateful if the promoter provides a halfway decent one.

Catering? Luckily enough a Turkish fast-food restaurant was still open at late night after the show. Except for breakfast the group had no dinner the whole day. I was told that the bass player had jammed his finger backstage minutes before the gig. (The bass-player!)

Well, so far about rock'n'roll dreams. Just consider most of the group age-wise are beyond the 40ies ...

Maybe I should have given more impressions of Amy herself?
I could do that if any interest, but I must recollect first. Just let me tell you for now, that I witnessed her as one of the most stunning solo performers (bass, sax and voice) ever! Other spectators will cheeringly agree without hesitation.

Jack Jordan

I love the new format, ever improving and evolving. I noticed links to previous articles within the various sections...e.g., former articles on Featured Artists. I might be blind or just short on time to "explore" more, but has this navigation mode replaced direct links to previous issues as they originally appeared? ( As I have learned about web design I have tried to make navigating easier thus the changes)

Dino DiMuro

Another classic. R Stevie is as out-there as you could ask, and Amy is sweet and very talented."

Mic Gendreau

Thanks a lot for mentioning the CWT tape (called “Broom” actually) in your packaging section! It was great to see how it aged, especially since it contained organic material. I don’t remember one of our tapes having a Styrofoam package; I wonder if I was talking about The Zamisdat Trade Journal package that Joel Haertling made, which CWT had a track on?Anyway, I’ve been enjoying bits of your archive when I have free moments, lot’s of fun. ( Mic and Crawling With Tarts are scheduled for an Artist Spotlight in coming months)

Commentary

News, Letters, Coming Attractions

March 2010

Commentary

This month's issue has a lot of revealing features. From the many new "early experience" comments to interviews with Lord Litter and Chris Phinney, the music of Ray Carmen's Tape Of The Month and much more. Lord Litter is also featured in the Artist Spotlight and he symbolizes the many dimensions and roles many individuals within the underground have played.

His long running radio show has selflessly championed countless diverse artists throughout the world while his own music gives us a peek into his heart and soul. And isn't that what true art is?

Mike Bowman asks the question, "Who were the home tapers?" in Perspectives and Andrew McIntosh waxes on his former zine and the scene in Australia in a Feature Article.

I hope you enjoy this month's offerings and as always your comments are welcome. Your input in future issues of The Living Archive is also heartily encouraged. This is not about me, or any "name" underground artists. This is about a musical and sociological slice of history called Cassette Culture or The Home Tapers Network. But it is mainly about regular people recording and trading their music for fun and the stories that have come from this. This venture is also not just about the "golden years" of this movement from 1980-1995 but an attempt to sketch that out a bit while moving forward with a similar spirit. If you have a story, idea or memory, please let me know by using the contact button above. Please don't be shy. I value anything you can offer.

My thanks to all that have helped so far. Come, join us.

News

Charles Goff presents: Lo Finest #18: The HUGE Homerecordings Special is now up:
http://aural-innovations.com/radio/lofinest.html

It's 6 hours long, only 10 recordings with music by such artists as Zan Hoffman & Associates, Mid-Cult Matrix, Human Flesh, Mike Hovancsek, Gen Ken Montgomery, Conrad Schnitzler, Post Prandials, Lord Litter, Walls Of Genius, Brian Noring & Hal McGee, Ebu and others.

Ray Carmen: his new CD, "Antenna Farm" is available for free here . Use of shortwave radio is prominent and this one leans toward experimental.

Christopher Earl

The main man of The Squires Of The Subterrain's wife, Heather has a fun podcast she produces with her friends in the upstate NY area. Comedy, skits, goofing, music...go ahead tune in

Coming Attractions

Artist Spotlight on Cleaners From Venus and interview with Martin Newell.

Special previously unreleased music from electronic musician John Wiggins.

Tape label feature on Calypso Now, important Swiss tape label run by Rudi Tuescher.

Scans and comments of European and British underground zines.

Spotlight on Bay Area duo, Crawling With Tarts ( probably in May). Mic will also offer free CWT music.

Heather Perkins early tapes are being converted to CD and she will make something available for Living Archive visitors soon.

You got any ideas? Just let me know...this ain't academia, it's just for fun. C'mon!