In the Tape Review Show Adrian Shephard and yours truly (=Rinus Van Alebeek) play and review releases on cassette. You can have your cassette reviewed on our show too. But you need to send the cassette, we don’t do digital files. In the show we unpack the tape, describe the artwork, smell the paper, comment on this, sometimes use the sounds of the paper inlay and the cassette case to construct a short sonic intermezzo, and then we play one side of the tape. When the tape is over we give straight forward comments or talk about images, memories and ideas that popped up while listening.

In this show you here one side of Acrid Lactations & Jointhee, another release by Tutore Burlato. Ezio Piermattei, the label boss, sent us all 16 releases, and we are going through all of them. Slowly we get the picture of how special and radical the releases of this label are. I am hesitant to say it, but Acrid Lactations & Jointhee play with elements of Dada and British comedy. Seemingly dilettant use of broken instruments provides the background to recitations. You don’t see this on tape, but they might be wearing self made costumes, with large pointed hats and fake beards and walk around the room. By talking and singing the texts they try to move the magnetic axe of the world a few inches, and this will bring world peace for ever, but it will also move earth slowly out of its orbit. In an other scenario they mimick a jolly old fellows group of ex-secret agents who talk about their experiences. Great tape.

Sam Bakers’ tape At Home, released by Albert’s Basement got this review by Roy Blumenfeld, which I repropose here: “Is there anything musically redeeming, or even entertaining, about a sound collage splicing audio samples for the duration of a whole tape? After listening to Sam Bakers debut release “At Home”, I’m of the opinion there is not. Side B starts with studio laughter. Maybe Sam Bakers is convinced we are in on his joke. Or maybe he’s laughing at those of us who don’t ‘get’ him. Well keep laughing, Sam. If he’s lucky in 200 years someone might find this piece of 2deep4u b.s. and mistake it for genius.”

Roy was clearly not amused. We at Radio On were very enthusiastic about it. Sam’s work is all what tape recording and use of tape is about. Of course everyone can feel free to release his synth doodles, because there is always a group of people who like this. Sam Bakers’ cassette combines audio diary, found sounds, collage, cut up, audio letter, in short all things that tapes once were used for. This tape could have been found at a garage sale; or it could have re-appeared mysteriously after having been lost for 30 years. There is background noises, that give it a hard boiled detective novel touch. The work is cut in a very clever way, that makes you want to listen to the end, eavesdropping on occurences in a life somewhere at the other side of the world, a life whose remains only exist on this tape. If you understand tape, you will be delighted.

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