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Universe Of The Wyrd: The Cold Spring Story
At the forefront of Industrial and dark electronic music since the 1980s, Cold Spring Records emerged from the cassette underground to become a significant independent record label. We unpack the story of label founder Justin Mitchell, an underground music dot connector who started in the UK tape trading and mail art networks, and working within the influential Temple Of Psychic Youth. Cold Spring stayed close to it’s underground ethos to become a respected purveyor of the strange and the obscure, championing artists like Genesis P.Orridge, Psychic TV, Coil, Satori, and taking in releases by giant talents like William Burroughs, Lull, Merzbow, Mark Almond, British Electronic Foundation along the way. Along the way, we explore the label's transition from cassettes to vinyl and CD, the importance of context and curation in their releases, and the organic way in which Cold Spring has connected the dots to create a universe of the wyrd. Episode hosted by Martin FranklinTheme music: ”This Is Concrete” The Happy Citizen MUSIC Rabbits Wear Boots “Why are you here?” Trans-Human Dystopia, 3Rio Art Hybryds “Wanderers without destinations” Mythopia, 3Rio Art Psychic TV “Unclean” Live, INRI, Cold Spring cassette (CS 001) Angels Ov Light and Thee Angry Love Orchestra "VI” (CS002) William Burroughs, Brian Gysin, Genesis P. Orridge, extract from “Interview & Readings” Cold Spring (CS006) cassette The Hafler Trio & Willem de Ridder “Report”, ...And The Wolf Shall Lick The Jewels From Your Belly… Cold Spring (CSR 1LP) Sandor Kalios “Northern Tale” ANS Electronic Music, Cold Spring Sleep Research Facility “B Deck” Nostromo, Cold Spring The Horses Of The Gods “John Barleycorn”, John Barleycorn Reborn, Cold Spring The Sea Of Wires “The Nightmare continues”, The Sea Of Wires, Cold Spring LINKS Cold Spring Recordshttps://coldspring.co.uk/https://coldspring.bandcamp.com/ Rabbits Wear Bootshttps://rabbitswearboots.bandcamp.com/ Hybrydshttps://hybrydsmusic.bandcamp.com/ "Premonitions: Underground Cassette Network 1989 - 90" SoundImage Tapes cassette reissue, Infinite Expanse, 2024https://infiniteexpanse.bandcamp.com Podcast produced by Martin Franklin for East Coast Studio (https://eastcoaststudio.com.au/) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Contact-Exchange-Document: The Story of ND
DIY passion, artistic discovery, and the power of community. This is a story of the kind friendly networking that typified the cassette scene and it shines through in this episode. We dive into the fascinating history of the ND fanzine and influential label, founded by Daniel Plunkett in Austin, Texas. ND became a hub for the international mail art and cassette culture scenes, connecting artists from around the world through its fanzine, events, cassette, vinyl and CD releases. Through his early correspondence with artist, Phillip Johnson in the UK, Dan got backstage to hang out with Mark E. Smith and The Fall. Moving on to becoming a stop over for European artists looking for a local Texas gig, he promoted performances by artists like Bee Queen/Frans de Waard and staged “Undercurrents” a Mail Art exhibition at the Mexi-Arte Museum (https://mexic-artemuseum.org/). The ND label published releases by Jeff Greinke, PBK, Vidna Obmana, Maeror Tri, Alio Die among others.N D 11 was a project which featured work filmed and submitted from 1986 to 1991. Michael Northam mastered and edited the material in Bloomington IN Sept 1991. Included material originally sent and shown at Mexic-Arte Museum in October 1988. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIjpg9a1IuUDan now runs the End Of An Ear record store in Austin, Texas and goes out of his way to stock significant obscure recordings even if he knows they won't sell in large numbers. Episode hosted by Martin FranklinTheme music: ”This Is Concrete” The Happy Citizen Music Phillip Johnson “Helmetpoofy” 0714, Year Zero Records Phillip Johnson Tracks from “Heartache’s Worst Assistants Versus the Genius With the Secret of Making Gold Into Dynamite!”. Year Zero Records ND 7 “Performance In A Staircase” Haupunkt Fix (Cassette Issue) ND11 Lon Speigelman, Lon Spiegelman (Los Angeles, CA, USA) ND7 “Psychotic” Die Form (Cassette Issue) Maeror Tri “Desiderium” Myein ND CD008Now available from Infinite Fog Productions Jeff Grienke - ND Fragment 01 Links End Of An Ear(https://endofanear.com/) Year Zero Records/Phillip Johnson(https://year-zero-records.blogspot.com/p/ohilip-johnson.html)Infinite Fog Productions(https://infinitefog.bandcamp.com/)"Premonitions: Underground Cassette Network 1989-90" SoundImage Tapes cassette reissue, Infinite Expanse, 2024https://infiniteexpanse.bandcamp.com Podcast produced by Martin Franklin for East Coast Studio (https://eastcoaststudio.com.au/) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Evolution of Noise: The 40 Year Journey of Satori
With a pile of scrap metal and a disused railway tunnel nearby, unemployed youths Dave Kirby and Rob Maycock began recording sounds that they’d use as material for their Throbbing Gristle-inspired noise project, Psychopath. Forty years later, on the eve of his international tour we speak with Dave about his early cassette scene releases and continued artistic evolution in Satori. Touching on his motivations, artistic confidence… and his sample library of road drill sounds. His early meeting with Justin Mitchell of Cold Spring Records led to his music finding a worldwide audience. Hosted by Martin Franklin & Hudson Graham. Music: “Pressing Down” Satori, The Woods (Cold Spring Records)‘The Kill”“Post Mortem”“Heavy Sadist” Psychopath, The Final Bow “The Entity” Satori, Kanishibari (Cold Spring Records) ”This Is Concrete” The Happy Citizen The recording "How things used to be in Margate" at 0:51 used by kind permission of Stuart Fowkes/Cities And Memory. (https://citiesandmemory.com/) LinksCold Spring Recordshttps://coldspring.co.uk/ Satorihttps://satori-industrial.bandcamp.com/Mindscan Tapeshttps://www.discogs.com/label/18022-Mindscan-Tapes "Premonitions: Underground Cassette Network 1989-90" cassette reissue, Infinite Expanse, 2024https://infiniteexpanse.bandcamp.com Podcast Produced by Martin Franklin/East Coast Studio (http://eastcoaststudio.com.au)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The British Library Sound Archive Calls
We share the news of the preservation of the Cassette Culture podcast by the British Library Sound Archive and talk about some upcoming interviews. Coming Next: Psychedelia in the Home Counties with Richard Allen of Delerium Records, and Texas' ND fanzine and label with Daniel Plunkett, plus the evolution of experimental/Industrial music with Davie Kirby of Satori. Our new "Cassette Culture" stickers get unboxed ready for distribution to anywhere we can get them. Hosted by Martin Franklin & Hudson Graham Links "Premonitions: Underground Cassette Network 1989-90" cassette reissue, Infinite Expanse, 2024https://infiniteexpanse.bandcamp.com Podcast Produced by Martin Franklin/East Coast Studio (http://eastcoaststudio.com.au) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Underground 'Zines And The Hunt For Lost Music
The Vital fanzine evolved from hand typed, xeroxed pages to pioneering online distribution, and connected artists from the USA and Europe. We dive into an interview with Frans de Waard, creator of the Dutch fanzine Vital and the Korm Plastics label to talk about his journey of collaboration in the underground cassette scene. Covering his early zine projects like Nul Nul, growing his label network, work with renowned record store and experimental music label, Staalplaat, and steps into authoring books about experimental music and zines. Our final segment follows the next steps of Discogs Detective, Tom Gibbs as he travels the UK South Coast to track down members of enigmatic ’80’s improvisors, Omega Ensemble. Hosted by Martin Franklin & Hudson Graham.Guests:Frans de Waard (Vital/Korm Plastics)Tom Gibbs (Infinite Expanse)Theme Music: "This Is Concrete" The Happy Citizen Featured Music: The Haters, “Performance 12 01 1989”, PuinhoopBlackhumour “Weeds in Barren Soil”, PoetryJohn Hudak “The Talk”, BrainboxArcane Device “Live at the Clocktower 27 04 1989” SixIos Smoulders “Composition Nr121”, Abstract ArtBig City Orchestra “The Smart Thing”, Everyman is a Volume. All music released on cassette by Korm Plastics (https://www.kormplastics.nl/) “Piece 2” by the Omega Ensemble, Sil Lim Tao LinksVital Weekly (https://www.vitalweekly.net/)Vital: The Complete Collection book (https://www.kormplastics.nl/vital-the-complete-collection-1987-1995/) "Premonitions: Underground Cassette Network 1989-90" cassette reissue, Infinite Expanse, 2024https://infiniteexpanse.bandcamp.com Podcast Produced by Martin Franklin/East Coast Studio (http://eastcoaststudio.com.au) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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About Cassette Culture

For two decades during the 80's-90's, the international mail system fostered a network of underground artists, exchanging cassette tapes of music and homemade artwork - all under the radar of main stream media. Taking the DIY message of Punk as a jumping off point, our travel through the network departs from the bleak 1980's Thatcher-era UK, community radio and fanzines and all points in a journey to a thriving self sustaining culture. We track down some key figures in the cassette scene, and follow the web of connections outward from the UK around the world, mapping the impacts and their ongoing effects. We speak with musicians, label runners, and fanzine writers, who share their experiences of connecting through the mail system and its ongoing effects on their lives.

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