Cassette culture refers to the practices associated with amateur production and distribution of recorded music on compact cassettes that emerged in the late 1970s.
Essential Logic are an English post-punk band formed in 1978 by saxophonist Lora Logic after leaving X-Ray Spex. The band initially consisted of Lora on vocals, Phil Legg on guitar and vocals, William Bennett on guitar, Mark Turner on bass guitar, Rich Tea on drums and Dave Wright on saxophone. Turner was later replaced by Jon Oliver on bass. The band split in 1981 and reformed in 2001.
The Raincoats are a British experimental post-punk band. Ana da Silva and Gina Birch formed the group in 1977 while they were students at Hornsey College of Art in London.
Young Marble Giants were a post-punk band formed in Cardiff, Wales in 1978. Their music was based around the vocals of Alison Statton along with the minimalist instrumentation of brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham. Their early sound was a sharp contrast with the more aggressive punk rock that dominated the underground at the time. Young Marble Giants released just one full-length studio album, Colossal Youth, in 1980.
Cabaret Voltaire are an English music group formed in Sheffield in 1973 and initially composed of Stephen Mallinder, Richard H. Kirk, and Chris Watson. The group was named after the Cabaret Voltaire, the Zürich nightclub that served as a centre for the early Dada movement.
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-punk and indie pop bands such as the Normal and Desperate Bicycles, Travis began to manage acts and distribute bands such as Scritti Politti and began the label, which was informed by left-wing politics and structured as a co-operative. Soon after, Rough Trade also set up a distribution arm that serviced independent retail outlets across Britain, a network that became known as the Cartel. In 1983, Rough Trade signed the Smiths.
Scritti Politti is a British band, originally formed in 1977 in Leeds, England, by Welsh singer-songwriter Green Gartside. He is the only member of the band to have remained throughout the group's history.
The Red Krayola is an American underground rock band from Houston, Texas, formed in 1966 by the original trio of singer/guitarist Mayo Thompson, drummer Frederick Barthelme, and bassist Steve Cunningham.
Mayo Thompson is an American musician and visual artist best known as the leader of the avant-garde rock band Red Krayola.
Cupid & Psyche 85 is the second album by British group Scritti Politti, released in the UK on Virgin Records on 10 June 1985. The release continued frontman Green Gartside's embrace of commercial pop music stylings and state-of-the-art studio production, while its lyrics reflect his preoccupation with issues of language and politics.
Green Gartside is a Welsh songwriter, singer and musician. He is the frontman of the band Scritti Politti.
Songs to Remember is the debut album by the British pop group Scritti Politti. The album's recording had to be delayed for nine months due to frontman Green Gartside's collapse and illness, and then after completion its release was delayed for a further year at the band's request. It was eventually released on Rough Trade Records on 3 September 1982, reaching number 12 on the UK Albums Chart. The album was heavily influenced by disco, reggae, and soul music, and marked the beginning of Scritti Politti's move from their underground DIY post-punk sound towards commercial pop music.
David Gamson is an American keyboardist/musician. Originally hailing from New York, he has worked with, among others, Kesha, Kelly Clarkson, Jessie J, Adam Lambert, Chaka Khan, Charli XCX, Meshell Ndegeocello, Green Gartside, Sheila E., George Benson, Luther Vandross, Donny Osmond, Miles Davis, Al Jarreau, Tony LeMans, Roger Troutman and Eden XO.
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before... is a compilation of Rough Trade's artists covering classics from the label's back-catalogue. It was released to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the legendary indie label, in late 2003. A limited edition 7" split single featuring "Ride It On" by Delays and "Lions After Slumber" by The Veils was released to promote the album.
Post-punk is a broad genre of rock music which emerged in the late 1970s as artists departed from the raw simplicity and traditionalism of punk rock, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-rock influences. Inspired by punk's energy and DIY ethic but determined to break from rock cliches, artists experimented with styles like funk, electronic music, jazz, and dance music; the production techniques of dub and disco; and ideas from art and politics, including critical theory, modernist art, cinema and literature. These communities produced independent record labels, visual art, multimedia performances and fanzines.
New Hormones was a Manchester independent record label founded by Buzzcocks and manager Richard Boon. It was the first independent punk rock label in the UK.
Soldier-Talk is the third studio album by the American experimental rock band The Red Crayola. It was released in 1979 by the record label Radar. By this time, Thompson had moved the project to London and expanded the band for this album to include Lora Logic of X-Ray Spex and Essential Logic and all of the members of Pere Ubu.
C86 is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine NME in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from British independent record labels of the time. As a term, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based musical genre characterized by jangling guitars and melodic power pop song structures, although other musical styles were represented on the tape. In its time, it became a pejorative term for its associations with so-called "shambling" and underachievement. The C86 scene is now recognized as a pivotal moment for independent music in the UK, as was recognized in the subtitle of the compilation's 2006 CD issue: CD86: 48 Tracks from the Birth of Indie Pop. 2014 saw the original compilation reissued in a 3CD expanded edition from Cherry Red Records; the 2014 box-set came with an 11,500-word book of sleevenotes by one of the tape's original curators, former NME journalist Neil Taylor.
