A revolutionary new triumph in tape

One of the places I recently discovered is the living room/private cinema/studio/gallery (playground as Simonetta describes it) of Udo Noll, in the Bürknerstrasse 9 in Berlin Neukölln. On the evenings I have visited so far, Udo astounded me with his accurate research. To the blitz exhibition performance by trashtape artist Ben Roberts he found a short sales movie by RCA Victor, with a painfully perfect American family, introducing the first cassette tape ever.

The B-Boyz of Tapemosphere - HarS reports in

"Until only very recently the use of cassette tapes has been so widespread, that though relatively young - in their mid-twenties - also the three B-boyz's belong to one of the generations for which the 'cassette tape' has been a medium that would have seemed indispensable (being there as a 'given', a fact of life) and whose sudden disappearance, had it not happened under their very eyes, would have been unimaginable. As a kid, Béla told us while we were zipping wine in Christian's kitchen, rather than reading, he used to listen a lot to audio plays (Hörspiele) on cassette tape. And later on he became part of the hip-hop scene, where mix-tapes were an essential means for sharing and spreading one's favorite tracks. "For me there was this really strong feeling," he explained, "that something of my personal history was getting lost along with the replacement of cassette tape by other media ... first the CD , and later the mp3's ..."."

further reading Harold Schellinx's SoundBlog

Ancestors

Morning Edition, February 7, 2005 · The 1956 sci-fi thriller Forbidden Planet was the first major motion picture to feature an all-electronic film score -- a soundtrack that predated synthesizers and samplers. It was like nothing the audience had seen -- or heard. The composers were two little-known and little-appreciated pioneers in the field of electronic music, Louis and Bebe Barron.

Married in 1947, the Barrons received a tape recorder as a wedding gift. They used it to record friends and parties, and later opened one of the first private sound studios in America. The 1948 book Cybernetics: Or, Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, by MIT mathematician Norbert Wiener, inspired Louis Barron to build electronic circuits, which he manipulated to generate sounds. Bebe's job was to sort through hours and hours of tape. Together they manipulated the sounds to create an otherworldly auditory experience.

The Barrons' music caught the ear of the avant-garde scene: In the early 1950s, they worked on a year-long project with composer John Cage. They also scored several short experimental films.

But avant-garde didn't pay, and the Barrons decided to cash in by turning to Hollywood. Their score for Forbidden Planet drew critical praise, but a dispute with the American Federation of Musicians prevented them from receiving proper credit for the soundtrack. Their names were also left off the film's Oscar nomination.

Union rules continued to be an obstacle, and technology eventually passed the Barrons by. Though they never scored another film, Louis and Bebe Barron, who divorced in 1970, continued to collaborate until his death in 1989.

Bebe Barron didn't compose for a decade, but in 1999 she was invited to create a new work at the University of California-Santa Barbara, using the latest in sound-generating technology. The work, completed in 2000, is called Mixed

source + soundexcerpts

Thanks to Mark R. from soundasart mailing group for pointing this out.

wedding concert of 9th march cancelled

No rendez vous
with der tapeman at scherer8
this friday
due to a friendly demand by the landlord.

next show might contain surprises

9. Mars Scherer8-apes

We go visit onkel Tapeman in Wedding.
and celebrate
la laala la

friday 9th of mars.
if you don't know by now where to find scherer8
you might as well be too late to remember.

7-12 february Harold Schellinx's Found Tape Exhibition

Exhibition/Installation of Found Tapes
in Gallery Transitlounge (chez Culturia)

From the 7th of February onwards Harold Schellinx
will explore various places in Berlin,
recording and looking out for tape salad, or old recorders

He will restore the tapes,
and manifacture a brandnew tape: Found in Berlin,
to be added to his evolving exhibition of cast away sounds.

His personal installation/exhibition will be a
live version of his online Found Tapes Exhibition,
including objects, tapes, photographs and samples to listen to.

Soundtransit/Culturia
Josetti Höfe
Rungestr. 22-24
Berlin Mitte
U-Bahn Heinrich Heine
or Janowitzbrücke

7 to 12th of February
15.00-18.00hrs

transit lounge
culturia

6 january - tape care of scherer8

side a: yes sir, I can boogie, if you play a simple song
side b: I can boogie, boogie-woogie, all night long

Tape care patriots
will play their warm songs of desire
at the home of der Tapeman
in Wedding.

january 6
Galerie scherer8
Schererstraße 8
S+U Wedding (U6, Ring), U Nauener Platz (U9)