Well, here I am! I was gone for a while but have returned to bring you more lovely tape releases, obscure albums, and who knows what else!

To get things started here is another Crawling With Tarts tape. Very different from the Bled Es Siba set, some of these even qualify as songs. Again, this will come as a shock to those who have only heard the Operas records or similar conceptual fare.

Enjoy and thanks for all the comments while I was gone!

The Tudor Tapes (C30)

UPDATE: reupped by request

I can't resist... here's one more. An early tape from Einsturzende Neubauten, recently bootlegged on LP. Burned directly from LP version.

Stahlversion

Back in late June!

One more post before I take a break, this is a rare early tape from Attrition on the Third Mind label (TMT 06). More like a cassette EP, really. Burned to CD from the original tape, converted in LAME.

Attrition - Onslaught

Perhaps I will get around to one more, but I doubt it... I'll be back at the end of June!

Another super rare cassette only release, this time from Viennese Aktionist and composer Hermann Nitsch. Although his large-scale "actions" and symphonic work have been fairly well documented, his solo pieces are less available. As far as solo harmonium (he recorded a ton of tapes in the 80's) I think the "Harmoniumwerk" series is probably out of print like the rest of the Cortical Foundation stuff. Perhaps I will up that in a few months. Today I bring you Nitsch on pipe organ, massive and relentless. The only other solo organ release of his that I know of is the Komposition Fuer Orgel CD from circa 2000.

This is a double C60 tape put out in 1987 by the Hundertmark gallery imprint in a limited, signed edition of 200 copies. Burned to a standalone CD burner from original copies, transferred to MP3 via LAME in iTunes. Some tracks are split where there were long pauses.

UPDATE: Since the files got taken down these tapes have become available at Mutantsounds, so I will not bother reupping them.

If you've never heard this infamous Culturcide album, well... It's basically a noisy karaoke version of 80's hit songs that are given new lyrics. Thankfully, these versions are the ones I end up having in my head. The lyrics really make the project, they are funny and scathingly relevant. This ZIP file is the Tacky Souveniers Of Pre-revolutionary America album from 1987. Enjoy!

Culturcide

P.S. I am posting a lot because I am leaving the country for three months and will not be updating/uploading during that time. I will moderate comments, though!

And another new post here... Sue Ann Harkey was part of the squatting scene of New York's Lower East Side during the 80's, she is also featured in the Cassette Mythos book on cassette culture. She released at least two tapes and one album. The LP is now available on CD, I just checked Amazon! I highly recommend it.

Her music is similar in some respects to gamelan music or ragas, she plays koto and other unusual instruments. There is a very mature political sensibility. She did a lot of collage art for anarchist magazines back in the day, and still does art for a living today in Seattle. Here's her current web site.

This is her first tape that I know of, called I Tell You Everything, Just Not Out Loud. I used to have the track titles and liner notes for this, but I have misplaced them. Any info would be welcome.

Sue Ann Harkey

A quick one here, another Legendary Pink Dots related post. This is a split tape they did with Attrition on the ill-fated Ding Dong label. Live recordings from both bands, documenting a tour they did together in 1984.

The Terminal Kaleidoscope

Crawling With Tarts - Bled Es Siba (tape 2)

Here is the second part of the Crawling With Tarts tape Bled Es Siba. Quite different than the first part, there are even vocals on one track! Again, this is highly recommended. Thanks to Lisa Emily for mailing me WAV files of these tracks!

Bled Es Siba Tape 2 side a

Bled Es Siba Tape 2 side b

In light of Charles Gocher's untimely passing, here is a live set from the Sun City Girls. Info says San Francisco 1993 and that sounds about right, I haven't ID'd all of these tracks yet but one is a stellar cover of the Thinking Fellers Union Local 282's song "Hive".

May your spirit continue its hellacious ways, CG.

SCG Live 1993

Legendary Pink Dots - Chemical Playschool 3/4

For people who might have missed this, here are two more early Legendary Pink Dots tapes... this is my very favorite LPD release! Highly recommended!

Chemical Playschool 3/4 was originally a double 90-minute tape, just like 1/2. Released in 1983, the tapes represent a real creative high point for the Dots. When it was reissued on CD (in the mid-90's) one track was left off and others were edited, this version restores over 20 minutes of music! Tracks were taken from the CD where possible, otherwise they are from the original tapes.

Here's Volume 3 side a

Volume 3 side b

and Volume 4 side a

Volume 4 side b

all links fixed (I hope) as of 10/31/10

Cyrnai was in the San Francisco punk band Crucifix, and later played in the decidedly post-punk Trial. In the mid-80's she released a string of fascinating tapes and one EP. Here is the second tape, much more rhythmic than the first one (which will be coming soon, along with more Crawling With Tarts).

My apologies for such a delay between posts, I have been busy in the real world.

Cyrnai - To Subtle-Drive cassette

The Legendary Pink Dots, Part 4: Prayer For Aradia

This tape came out in 1982, it was reissued on CD sometime in the mid-90's. I have included the one previously unreleased bonus track but left off the Chemical Playschool tracks that were also added to the reissue... they are on the tapes I upped earlier. This CD has been out of print for a while, hope the Pink Dots reissue it soon.

Prayer For Aradia

The Legendary Pink Dots, Part 3:

The Kleine Krieg tape was yet another 90-minute outing for the Dots, also released in 1981. It shares some songs with the Chemical Playschool tapes below, but usually they are in new versions.

KK

The Legendary Pink Dots, Part 2:

Chemical Playschool #2 (90 minute tape, 1981)

Side A

Side B

This is a real high point of early LPD work... recommended. Again, only a very small bit of this has ever made it to CD.

The Legendary Pink Dots, Part 1.

I'm going to do a series of rare Pink Dots tapes for ya, in conjunction with work I'm doing elsewhere.

First up is the double 90-minute tape Chemical Playschool #1/#2. Conceived of as a "best of" for their first year together, most of this has never been on CD. Here's the first tape, C.P. #1:

Side A

Side B

I'll be uploading the second one tomorrow, then three more out-of-print tapes!

3 Teens Kill 4 were a New York City band from the early 80's. Loosely grouped in the post punk and/or no wave scene, their EP was requested somewhere else in a comments section, I forget where. I thought I'd rip my copy and post it.

Wikipedia says, in a brief entry on the band, that "They are most notable for featuring David Wojnarowicz, a famous artist, as a member." That seems unfair to me, the record is fairly good on its own.

My copy of this mini LP (or EP, or whatever) is on the original Point Blank label. There was also a reissue on the French label Invitation Au Suicide.

"Hut" and "Bean Song" are listed as one track on the albun, I kept it that way.

3 Teens Kill 4 - No Motive

Crawling With Tarts - Bled Es Siba (Part One)

Michael Gendreau and Suzanne Dycus-Gendreau have been making music as Crawling With Tarts since sometime in the mid-80's. They were a big part of the "Cassette Culture" scene, and their tapes from that era really stand out. Later on in the 90's they turned into more of a Mills College academic style of music, putting out CD's of cutup opera 78's and double singles of motor sounds. Not really that exciting compared to this stuff.

I am giving you my favorite tape here, less song oriented than some of the others that I will post later. This is the first tape in a double set, unfortunately I do not have the second one. Long, utterly alien tracks that sound like being inside of some creepy hive of insects. Truly unique and highly recommended.

Side 1

Side 2

(reupped on 3/1/11)

Pussy Galore - Exile On Main Street

This tape was supposedly a response to Sonic Youth's musings about recording a cover version of The Beatles' "White Album". Circa 1987, cassette only. An abridged version was released on LP but I can't tell whether or not it's a bootleg even though I own a copy. This version is complete, except perhaps for a bit at the end (even I can't tell), and is a copy of an original tape. Encoded via LAME just for you, dear listener.

Next up we will be getting back to our roots with some rare tapes by Crawling With Tarts, much more interesting than their more recent output!

The Cravats - In Toytown

Some newer blogs have been putting up various neat-o obscurities from the mighty Cravats, aka The Babymen, aka DCL Locomotive, aka The Very Things. Thanks to all of you!

Here is the first Cravats LP, released on Small Wonder Records around 1980. An anthology reissue is forthcoming on Overground Records, buy it!

Sun City Girls - Tibetan Jazz 666

This hasn't been reissued yet in Eclipse Records' series of LP versions of the seemingly endless series of tapes this band put out in the 80's. I am eagerly awaiting further installments, perhaps you are too. Here's a little something to fill the time. Not from an original, I got this from the net. Still, it has a good bitrate. Enjoy!