Ken Clinger
Perhaps the most distinctive stylist in all of underground music, Ken Clinger, from Pittsburgh, produces his own music, collaborates constantly, produces podcasts and tirelessly catalogs his own huge body of work.
Above, a tape with Tom Furgas in the ambient style they explored on a few releases. To the right, one of his many compilation tapes, “Winnie’s Universe” which contains a veritable roll call of home tapers.
Ken and Beeg Srahka also had a seriously wacked group, Bored Young Men, which probed the humorous underbelly of squiggly, bedroom casiotone home taping.
Ken’s solo works are almost always only titled with his initials and the number of release. He has running characters in his songs such as Sallymae Hogsby, Hayley Mills and Bossy The Cow. Ken also does many songs. including hilarious celebrity namechecks in Esperanto.
Above, a tape with Tom Furgas in the ambient style they explored on a few releases.
One of his many compilation tapes, “Winnie’s Universe” which contains a veritable roll call of home tapers.
I don’t actually remember who my first trade was with. I do know that it was connected with OP magazine, around August 1983. The reviews of tapes in OP generally ended with a price for the tape, and whether the tape was available for trade. So after I put my first tape put together (of pieces created by cassette-to-cassette bouncing), I sent it out to several people whose tapes were for trade. One of the very first trades that came back was from Tom Furgas. He mentioned being impressed with how my recordings seemed to be complete, while remaining very sparse. I remember being impressed with how his recordings seemed to inhabit a world between rock and classical (both traditional and experimental). We’re still trading today.
