January 2012
read/ submit letters to the editor
Living Archive Commentary January-February 2012
First of all, welcome to the brand new design of The Living Archive Of Underground Music.
The work has been intense to move over all of the old pages to the new URL. And the credit lies solely in the hands of outstanding web designer, Jim Santo ( also a tremendous independent musician).
Jim has slaved on this project and really believes in what goes on here. My never ending thanks and gratitude to him for making this happen. Plus, he has had to put up with my slow learning curve to eventually handle this web site myself.
I hope you enjoy the new look of The Living Archive and will contribute feedback or feature articles.
When I first started this web site devoted to Cassette Culture I foresaw it as a sort of online magazine and dealt with it for a long time that way. You know, regular issues, updates and monthly ( or quarterly) content.
Things have changed though. First of all, I could no longer handle the monthly duties, I had major computer trouble and perhaps most importantly, the idea of a magazine style is out dated and doesn’t really serve the best interest of this concept.
From now on, The Living Archive will be an ever evolving project. Not monthly or quarterly but constantly. There will be a facebook link and every so often I will sum up recent activities with a mass emailing.
So, all content may not be fresh every month, or, extra content may appear at random times.
However, for the time being, I am going to stick with titles like “Tape Of The Month” or list Cassettes as a monthly release. They will simply be listed in the month that I create them. So, some months there may not be “Artist Spotlight”, or other sections.
To kick off the return of this project I am presenting some good articles and features. Our Artist Spotlight falls on long time experimentalist, Francisco Lopez, one of the leading sound immersion artists of our times.
The Tape Of The Month is a 1990 work by Chris Gross and his project Men In Black, that was never released at the time. It is fascinating to hear this older work especially contrasted with his newer electronic sounds.
There are entries in the Cassettes USA and International sections accompanied by musical selections from each.
There is also an interview and feature on the Doomsday Transmissions/ The Ceiling labels, run by Canadian, Jim De Jong.
You will also notice an early experience entry by New York home taper, Lawrence Fishberg.
There is a lengthy News section which includes numerous resources for free underground music, among other things.
You will notice that any “letters to the editor” will appear in the sidebar ( below, grey area) on this Commentary page.
In addition, all of the old content from the previous two host sites of The Living Archive is now available is easy to read and navigate form.
As always, your input, suggestions and interest are much appreciated. I would love it if you would author a piece for this site. Something about your own experience as a home taper or underground, independent musician or radio host. Or, a feature about an artist you particularly admire or would like to see more exposure for. Yes, this site is about the history of Cassette Culture but not exclusively so. This web site will also attempt to update you on current trends and resources that might be useful.
Be sure to write me and get on the mailing list at:
campaudj ( at) comcast.net
or contact me at The Living Archive facebook page ( links on each page). Feel free to leave comments there as well for the “letters” section.