Electronic music is our "folk" and the cassette (combined with the Internet) is the community conduit. Like the broadside and radio (pre-TV), cassettes are the medium with a message, available on the cheap, and away from the GREED merchants of the 1%. Maybe it's because today is Woody Guthrie's birthday that I'm ruminating on such notions. The technologies of the day and the crazy affordable nature of music producing tools have caused my mind to race with the beats (& spacey waves) of three high quality electronic releases from Pretty All Right records. As I write, popping in tape after tape, my ideals, dreams, and fears mix with Casio tones & banger dance vibes. I wanna rail against the man, but I'm sweating my ass off to the boogie...
First up is Beach Dawgz self-titled freakout. BD is a trio consisting of George de Moura, Tom Owens, and Drew Gibson. All three individuals have outside projects, but for this release they came together to work off of one another. The results are psychedelic, fun, and surprising. I found this tape to be my favorite of the batch because the sounds coaxed from the player's instruments were obviously heightened by working as a unit.
Second on the playlist is Potions' album One Buck. This is the most lighthearted listen of the three. Recorded by Roland Potions sometime in 2009, his thumps and circuit bending whiplash keys, represent some of his earliest recording experiments. Side B's final piece is a trance inducing love-in gropefest of monotonous organ chords and percussion. I feel like the minimalism here succeeds where others might be unable to keep the interest going for six plus minutes.
Finally, on my tripping rave analog journey I meet Chicago Jim. His self-titled tape is traditionally electro and solidly "dance." Recorded using Tr808, Tr707, June 106, MicroKorg, MC202, and MPC2000XL, Jim's quirky electronica isn't as exciting or sonically inviting as the previous two titles, but it pounds the floor the most. It has a good beat and you can dry hump the air for about an hour.
Bottom line: Chicago has some great electronic mad musicians and they're doing it on tape.
If all that wasn't enough, enjoy this vid clip by Potions:
POTIONS - UNTITLED I from broken machine films on Vimeo.
If all that wasn't enough, enjoy this vid clip by Potions:
POTIONS - UNTITLED I from broken machine films on Vimeo.
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