Issue 06
Warming Fuzz
By Tony RettmanPhotos By Adam Amengual
“Probably the most ridiculous cassette I released was the Xome tape back in 1997‚” says Joel St. Germain, who runs the Spite label out of a cramped back room in his Brooklyn home. “It came inside two silver dollar pancakes. I shellacked them, but they inevitably rotted. Before I even had the chance to sell them all, they were infested with both a strong-smelling rank and some sort of larvae. The MSBR 5 tape I released that came inside a shellacked pig nose had an infestation problem as well, but it wasn’t as ridiculous as the pancake matter.”
St. Germain’s makeshift office is strewn with scraps of hand-cutout J-cards and cassette cases. Sadomasochistic pornography lies on the floor as well. These disturbing images will adorn his first vinyl release after almost 10 years of releasing solely cassettes on his label. To the uninitiated masses not familiar with the cassette noise underground, this might just sound like the demented self made world of some psychopathic shut-in. But Joel isn’t the only one spewing forth analog noise filth in this day and age of pearly white ear buds and MP3s. Imprints such as White Tape s, Tone Filth, and Heavy Tapes from the U.S. And European labels like Imvated, Chocolate Monk, and Borft all seem dedicated to dispersing spools of warm analog ribbon in limited magnetic runs with ludicrously handcrafted packaging, and they’re not stopping anytime soon.
The history of the gnarled noise cassette underground is a twisted one. Somewhere in the post-punk/industrial landscape of the early ‘80 s, U.K. Labels such as Broken Flag and Snatch Tapes produced small-run tape releases by bands with such names as Male Rape Group and The Storm Bug s. Around the same time, Lowell, Massachusetts, resident Ron Lessard began to reissue some U.K. Releases stateside, and soon started his own label and distribution service, RRR. Later on in the ‘80 s, Ron would be one of the first people in the Western world to distribute giants of Japanese noise like Masonna and Merzbow. He is still as dedicated as ever to spread heinous noise throughout the world.
“Ron is a real inspiration,”states Clay Ruby, who operates the 23 Productions tape label out of Wisconsin. “He has managed to keep in print so many lost classics from the golden age of underground noise, industrial, and psychedelic sound while still curating a vast selection of the worldwide spectrum from the current underground scene, and the best part is it’s all available on cassette for cheap.” Russ Waterhouse, head honcho of the White Tapes label, looks at me like I just peed on his shoes when I ask (for journalistic reasons only, of course) what’s the point of releasing cassettes in this age of the easily-burned CD-R. “CD-Rs seem more disposable than tapes to me. They’re like little,silver turds waiting to be scratched and thrown in the trash. Tapes are these cool little mechanisms with moving parts and a world of mystery in them.” Fair enough.
My history of cassettes doesn’t really involve dark-clothed noise boys or hand-numbered labels; it involves making mix tapes on my brother’s stereo with his records and then listening to the tapes on my sister’s Walkman. I would lie on the roof of my parents’ tool shed and listen to Black Flag into Joy Division into Cockney Rejects into Siouxsie and the Banshee s. Even though the bands clashed musically, they all seemed linked by both my juvenile naiveté and the warming hiss of the clicking brown tape. It was almost like the cassette had some mysterious power that was beyond me. When I told this story to Mike Bernstein, who runs the Heavy Tapes label, I was tickled pink to find out his tape history didn’t revolve around the full-bore noise scene either. “My cassette culture starts with rap mix tapes and Grateful Dead bootleg tapes I would buy for three dollars apiece at the local head shop. When I started to seriously collect music, I was buying all these rare jazz LP s. Somewhere in all that collecting, I remembered that all my fondest and naive memories I have of music are all on cassette.”
The intimate and immediate nature of the cassette lends itself to inspired packaging and recording technique. The U.K.-based Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers label released a clutch of releases in the late ‘90sthat went beyond simply products and into the realm of ludicrous art objects, including a cassette stuck on a loop sealed inside a Walkman and a quadruple-tape release by long-running Japanese noise duo The Incapacitants that resembled a box of assorted chocolates. And then there was the tape they released by Ashtray Navigations that was submerged in water prior to being sold. “Unlike CD s, tapes don’t have damageable playing surface s, and it tends to invite such craziness,”says BWCD head Phil Todd. His label is long gone, but he still prefers the analog format. “Cassettes have a much longer life than CD-Rs and tend to decay with a bit more dignity. In the age of digital sterility, tape his is an asset now, much like how vinyl crackle took on a whole new meaning 10 years ago when CDs became the norm.”
As far as the actual sounds released in this format displaying an abnormal mindset, look no further than the thoroughly anonymous The Sound from the Other Room cassette recently released on Tone Filth. All that label proprietor Justin Meyer could tell me was that it was recorded outside a house in the dead of summer while someone pumped an analog synthesizer in the living room. While listening to it, you can feel the beads of sweat building on your forehead and the lethargic lull of oppressive heat collapsing around you. Another label that works exclusively in the tape medium is the Finland-based Lal Lal Lal imprint. Although the label is mostly known for releasing clamoring free folk by units such as Avarusand The Anaksimandros, the real gems in their catalog seem to be their archival discoveries such as Married With Misanthropy, a teen aged goth band from the early ‘90 s. Their wide-eyed, ham-fisted, four-track trickery and loose-limbed playing practically jumps off the tape deck, an effect that wouldn’t succeed in any other medium.
Even though the cassette underground has slogged along for 20-odd years now, one has to wonder how long it can last. The spirit and fervor might have staying power, but who knows how long cassettes will still be in production? “I really think these next few years might be the swan song for cassettes‚” says Jessica Rylan, who runs the small vanity tape label I.R.F.P. And records under the moniker Can’t. “I’m really not sure how available they will be in another five years.” So should the tape-dubbing army just give up? Pack up their manila envelope s, hot pink paint s, and glue sticks and give in to the already-here digital age? “Oh no! Not at all!” declares Rylan. “Any manufacturer who has an excess of tapes is trying to dump them for cheap. I think now is the time for everyone everywhere to buy them up and put out as many tapes as possible to leave this legacy of weirdness for others to look back on. It’s our duty !”