Ray Carmen
From Ohio, Ray Carmen has been producing quality pop music for over 20 years now. His trademark high tenor voice, his jangly guitars and his sense of sweet melody distinguish him as a major underground pop figure. He also has collaborated with others ( including Ken Clinger and myself) and even done some experimental material. He changed his label from Pop! Productions to Cut And Paste a few years ago and continues his work today which includes podcasts of classic home taped songs.
My first tape trade was with Mike Crooker and ice cream blisters, on GGE Records in Kent, OH. I used to listen to Crooker’s radio show on WAUP (at The University Of Akron) in the mid 1980s. His show was the only one (other than WCSB at Cleveland State University) that played The Residents. One night he played something by ice cream blisters, and described their music as being “a little bit to the left of The Residents”. He gave a contact address, so of course I sent off my three bucks or how ever much it was, and sent a tape of mine along with it. So, the first underground tape I ever received was “You Can Never Step In The Same River Twice” by icb. Mike also wound up issuing a couple of my tapes on his label. Thanks Mike!
