The cassette culture refers to the practices associated with amateur production and distribution of music and sound art on compact cassette that emerged in the mid-1970s. The cassette was used by fine artists and poets for the independent distribution of new work. This article focuses on the independent music scene associated with the cassette that burgeoned internationally in the second half of the 1970s.
311 is an American rock band from Omaha, Nebraska. The band was formed in 1988 by vocalist and guitarist Nick Hexum, lead guitarist Jim Watson, bassist Aaron "P-Nut" Wills, and drummer Chad Sexton. Watson was replaced by Tim Mahoney in 1990. In 1992, Doug "SA" Martinez joined as a second vocalist and turntablist.
The Beatles' bootleg recordings are recordings of performances by the Beatles that have attained some level of public circulation without being available as a legal release. The term most often refers to audio recordings, but also includes video performances. Starting with vinyl releases in the 1970s, through CD issues in the late 1980s, and continuing with digital downloads starting in the mid 1990s, the Beatles have been, and continue to be, among the most bootlegged artists.
Cultural Amnesia (CA) are an English post-punk music group, first active between 1979 and 1983 as participants in the so-called cassette culture of the late 1970s and early 1980s in the UK. During this first period the band released three cassette albums: Video Rideo (1981), The Uncle of the Boot (1983) and Sinclair's Luck (1983) on English and German record labels, and contributed to a number of compilation albums. Early on in his career, CA worked with the late Geff Rushton of Coil, who wrote a handful of songs for them and who was an important supporter and enabler due to his contacts as editor of Stabmental magazine, arranging most of their releases and providing constant encouragement. The band has become more widely known since 2000 following release of a number of compilations of their early '80s music in which the members of the group have been fully involved. Since the late '90s the band has also been occasionally active in the recording of new music and there have been a number of releases of new material since the early 2000s.
311 is the third studio album by American rock band 311, released on July 11, 1995, by Capricorn Records. The album contains the successful singles "Don't Stay Home", "All Mixed Up", and "Down", and was certified triple platinum with sales of over three million copies.
Hydroponic is an EP by 311, released in 1992. It was their last independent release before they were signed to Capricorn Records for their first studio album Music. It was considered the first EP with S.A. Martinez as an official member of the band. This EP was a six-track demo that contained four songs that would appear on their debut album Music. The four that made it to Music were all tuned down one half step. Before the official release of Hydroponic, the band made hand-written "pre-release" promo copies of the new EP and sold them at various shows as well as "Joe Voda's Drum City", which was Chad's mother's store, who now works at Dietze's Music in Bellevue, Nebraska. Pre-release promo copies were hand-written by the band and sold at various shows as well as "Joe Voda's Drum City" before its official release on cassette. Most of the copies were hand-written by Chad Sexton himself and have been spotted on eBay.
Tadpoles are an American psychedelic rock band, formed in 1990 in New York City by Todd Parker (guitars/vocals), Michael Kite Audino (drums) and Josh Bracken (bass.) In 1992, Nick Kramer (guitars/vocals), David Max (bass) and Andrew Jackson (guitars) of the fledgling Manhattan group, Hit, joined the Tadpoles after putting Hit on hiatus.
Music is the debut studio album by American rock band 311. It was released on February 9, 1993. "Do You Right" was released as a single. The album was certified gold in 1999 by the RIAA, having sold over 500,000 copies.
From Chaos is the sixth studio album by 311, released on June 19, 2001.
Nicholas Lofton Hexum is an American singer, songwriter and rapper, currently the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the multi-platinum alternative rock band 311 and The Nick Hexum Quintet.
Poor Old Lu was a pioneering Christian alternative rock band based in the American Northwest. The band experimented with a variety of sounds and genres, particularly grunge, funk and psychedelic rock. The band consisted of Scott Hunter (vocals), Jesse Sprinkle (drums), Aaron Sprinkle (guitar), and Nick Barber (bass). Hunter was the lyricist who wrote on philosophical, metaphorical, and spiritually oriented topics. Common themes in the lyrics include introspective struggles with identity and spirituality, struggles with a superficial, secular, and modern society, and hope for life abundant. The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music calls the band "One of the most accomplished and creative Christian bands of the '90s".
A demo is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed format, such as cassette tape, compact disc, or digital audio files, and to thereby pass along those ideas to record labels, producers, or other artists.
Unity was 311's second independent release and first CD release on their own record company, What Have You Records. It was released in 1991 on both CD and Cassette. It is considered by some to be the band's second album if Dammit! is counted as their debut album. This album is no longer in print and is very rare, and there were only 1,000 original copies on CD and 500 on cassette that were pressed and released for this album.
Akifumi Nakajima, better known by his stage name Aube, was a Japanese noise musician. He released many CDs, LPs and cassettes, and was regarded as one of the most important noise musicians of his time. He did not like to term his work "music," preferring the term "design": "I don't think of myself as a musician or an artist. I'm a designer. I therefore consider my sound works to be designs as well".
Girly-Sound is the name under which singer-songwriter Liz Phair recorded three self-produced cassettes in 1991. The cassettes were later made available as bootlegs, some songs saw official releases, and the tapes were released in their entirety in 2018. Girly-Sound is also the name used to refer to the demos or bootlegs collectively. The recordings have been called "legendary" by Spin Magazine and by AllMusic "one of the most popular and sought-after alternative rock bootlegs of all time".
Sore Throat were a British crust punk band formed in Huddersfield in 1987. They are known for being one of the earliest exponents of the grindcore subgenre known as "noisecore", as well as for launching the careers of several prominent members of the British heavy metal community.
Merzbox is a box set compilation by the Japanese noise musician Merzbow. It consists of 50 CDs spanning Merzbow's career from 1979 to 1997. 30 discs are taken from long out of print releases, while 20 are composed mainly of unreleased material. The box also contains two CD-ROMs, six CD-sized round cards, six round stickers, a poster, a black long-sleeve T-shirt, a medallion, and the Merzbook, all packaged together in a "fetish" black rubber box. It is limited to 1000 numbered copies. A Merzbox Sampler was released in 1997.
Fuck the Facts is a Canadian Juno-nominated, grindcore band from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, formed in 1998. They began as the solo recording project of musician Topon Das. Their earliest recording was in January 1997; they began using the name Fuck the Facts in 1998. After many early recordings, including split tapes with groups from around the world, Fuck the Facts began developing a name in the underground with fans of grind. In 2001, the first full-length CD-R, Discoing the Dead, was recorded. The same year, Das would assemble a full band to continue with the project. The band has since coined the terms "bastardized grindcore" and "mullet-core" to describe their sound.
Dirty Heads is an American reggae rock band from Huntington Beach, California. Their debut album, Any Port in a Storm, was released on September 23, 2008 by Executive Music Group (Fontana/Universal). Their newest album, Midnight Control, was released on August 26, 2023, by Better Noise Music. They have been associated with music groups such as Sublime with Rome, 311, and Pepper and have toured with groups including Cobra Starship, Aer, and Gym Class Heroes.
Disco Fries is an American DJ and music production duo from New York consisting of Nick Ditri and Danny Boselovic.
