Chrome Germs
 Max Gudmunson

Having recovered somewhat from four straight days of ear-numbing bliss at No Fun Fest 2007, I found myself sitting in the dark, looking at a rapidly accumulating wall of cassettes and had one of those "what the hell am I doing?" thoughts. Not really in a negative way. Originally I was going to write a long rambling piece about tape culture, but it's late and a list will have to do.
First, I hope people in the New York area got to check out the excellent cassette exhibition at Printed Matter. "Leaderless" was curated by Michael Bernstein and Maya Miller of Heavy Tapes with PM and featured items from the collections of Dominick Fernow (Hospital Productions), Chris Freeman (Fusetron), Ken Montgomery (Generator), Barbara Moore (Bound/Unbound), and Thurston Moore (Ecstatic Peace). Some of the most jaw-dropping pieces were early American Tapes releases which are basically lacquered found-object sculptures with cassettes somehow stuffed inside (photos of these are at http://www.geocities.com/americantapes/oldstuff.html). Although the show finishes May 26th, there have been hints that it might be going on tour. Printed Matter also has its own ongoing selection of various artist cassettes (http://www.printedmatter.org).

5 TAPES:

UNIVERSAL INDIANS (Recycled Tape)
RRRecords' Recycled series is instantly recognizable and always worth it, even when they're occasionally not dubbed loud enough to play over the previous recording or sometimes not recorded at all. Whenever I cook I bring the portable into the kitchen and inevitably grab this one. Not really for the music, although it's good, but for the filler parts where RRRon dubbed on some sort of recorded book. A hard-knock sounding guy spins a tale of his youth about fighting elementary school thugs. Then there's a guy impersonating an old delicatessen woman, although it's unclear whether that's part of the Universal Indians material. Kinda sounds like a Bukowski book, but not one I'm familiar with. If this isn't playing in the background I have a hard time chopping carrots.

ICE-T "OG: Original Gangsta"
In 1991, my parents did not want me listening to gangsta rap. Nirvana, of course, was fine, even though the subject matter was almost as explicit. My friend Sam's parents weren't crazy about rap either, but having the advantage of a cool older cousin who lived in Seattle, Sam was able to obtain one of those mysterious tapes with the ominous black Parental Advisory sticker. Once in a while he would take it out of its hiding place in his dresser and we would jam "New Jack Hustler" while miming the raps with Sesame Street puppets.

V/A "Prime Kuts" Volumes 1 & 2
At the beginning of a phase in high school where I was obsessed with 1980s west coast rap, this turned up completely randomly in the library out in the boondocks of Washington State. The two cassettes are practically a course in pre-NWA Los Angeles rap. 2 Live Crew (they were in California before Florida) bring one of their all-time best, "Revelation." Pre-"O.G." Ice-T brings "Dog'n the Wax" and the all-time classic "6 in the Morning." Toddy Tee & Mixmaster Spade, The Mistress & DJ Madame E, DJ Muggs' first group 7A3 and a young Ice Cube all get a chance to shine. All that and more, plus most of the best songs from King Tee's "Act a Fool" LP are stuffed in for good measure. This double cassette plus another one called "Electric Breakdance" (not surprisingly a compilation of early to mid 80s electro and R&B) were my soundtrack for at least a year.

THE RITA "Koskimo House Post"
This release on Erratic Sporadicism remains one of the most elaborate and well-designed packaging jobs that I have ever seen. Every time I pick up the screen-printed pine casket it's like a little bit of the Pacific Northwest. Naturally the recording is classic wall-to-wall (no pun intended) TR material, although a little more psychedelic than usual.

3 MELANCHOLY GYPSIES "Gypsy's Luck"
Still one of my favorite Living Legends releases. One of the things that endeared me to this camp was that in the mid-90s, when seemingly all the west coast hiphop releases had shifted to CD or CDr, these people were still rapping about slanging tapes on the corner. Not even out of their car (they didn't have one), just backpacks! And when most were rapping about, well, rap (a horrible trend which unfortunately continues to this day), three kids barely out of the high school battle circuit reflected on friendship, the media, fakeness, love, and only occasionally wack MCs. Concludes with a freestyle over a ridiculous Eligh beat where the producer himself asks, "What you gonna say about that 4-track way? It hisses, yes it does..."

ADDENDUM: I want to sincerely thank everyone who has sent in tapes to Cassette Gods or to me specifically. I know how much effort goes into the production of these, and every time I come home from work to find a package waiting for me it's like Kwanzaa in June. This is probably extremely old hat to anyone who's run a label or reviewed music for some time, but whatever, I'm (relatively) a newbie in this game and not at all burned out. If you haven't seen your tape reviewed yet, please be patient! It will appear in a somewhat timely fashion. Keep on sending me your babies and I'll keep eatin' em, word to Jonathan Swift!