I can’t remember how I came into contact with Joseph Copolovich and heard his project The Herzliyya Boardwalk String Sextet. The fact that it was from Israel was really cool to me then, kind of exotic and far away and I had not received many tapes from that area.
The music was truly alien: a kind of jagged but lush assemblage of scraping, rubbing, dismantling and reforming of brittle and unfamiliar surfaces coated by abuse but also dynamic and full of wondrous shapes. There is confusion and chaos, sure, but there is also a continuity of form and a type of development with highs and lows and peaks and valleys.This is music to immerse oneself in, not use as background or reading material. It is like trying to describe a color to a blind person , mysterious but rooted in the earth with grit and dirt and pieces of broken violins and plumbing and construction material.

Herzliyya Boardwalk String Sextet, “Godzillas In The East”

from Joseph Copolovich

At the time i was fascinated by tape collage and was “researching” it. It started with classic old nww albums through to like-minded artists such as hnas. Then discovered the more 
“Classical” rots via Stockhausen, Pierre Henry. I tend to be very thorough which eventually led me to the tape scene and at some point i wanted to try it out myself with a 4track and some effects and whatever i could find. Never been a musician. It was the fun of experimenting in making weird sounds and networking with people with similar interests.
Kinda amazing having doing that back in the days of no internet or emails, when everything was through letters (and sometimes phone calls or face to face meet ups when traveling). Now that everything is pretty much a a keyboard hit away, its not as exciting.

Wound:experiment was the project of Sascha Kaminski, at that time based in Bremen, Germany. This was always one of my favorite tapes on the audiofile label and the tracks wove their way through many moods and textures similar to the way Lieutenant Caramel or Brume did. This cassette was compiled from several tapes that came before and the liner notes indicate that the sources were from IRRE, and some other German labels.

On discogs I found some evidence of other material by Kaminski. He had a tape in 1993 called “Traumpfad” and there may have been others or compilation tracks by I am not finding much.

Most anyone familiar with Lopez’ body of work may be surprised to hear this particular tape. In place of the immersive and dynamic white noise field of sound this is an Ensoniq keyboard produced affair with actual melodic invention, at least on side one.There appears to be little or no overdubbing and the resulting keyboard jabbings are angular and almost rhythmic in places. The melodies start and stop and poke their heads through doorways.

Francisco Lopez, “Sample 4”

Side two is a drum machine exposition ( possibly using the ensoniq keyboard ) with effected accents. It maintains a rhythmic pulse for 8-9 minutes and then switches to a different looping sequence with odd toms and strange effects. Completely different from side one and another unexpected experience from Señor Lopez.

There was a rumor for a time that Francisco had disowned these early recordings but when I asked him during an interview on this matter he disputed that only claiming that the keyboard was limiting and was not up to further exploration.

In my opinion, Francisco Lopez is one of the most important sound artists working within his particular realm of sound or noise. This is highly subjective of course but I personally have always derived rich emotional experiences from his tapes and CDs. He continues to create today and I am always interested to see where he goes.

I began trading tapes with Timo in around 1986 or so. I can’t recall if he contacted me first or if I read a review of one of his tapes in Option or Sound Choice. We exchanged quite a few letters and tapes and were friends of a sort. I even met him once in England at a party in Camberley which was also attended by Mick Magic, Morgan Bryan, Fred Frantic, my wife Robin O’Brien and members of Robin’s family who lived there at the time. That was a party to remember.
Gilbert always had a bitter and sarcastic side which reared its head and was easily seen in his music. He could also be very tender and revealing. He continued to send me tapes into the 2000’s but after awhile he faded and I rarely heard from him. I found out later he went into acting even appearing on British TV from time to time. Timo was quite a character and a tremendous guitarist, singer and songwriter. I have dozens of his tapes but this one from 1987 is still one of my personal favorites.

Timothy Gilbert “Come And See” , 1987

This 1987 tape from expat American ( has lived in The UK for decades now), was always one of my favorites from this sarcastic and highly talented singer and guitarist. In addition to songs “Timo” included some freak out elements of a highly psychedelic nature making this a swirling, hallucinatory adventure. Recorded while he was still in Wichita, he later moved to England and continued producing home recorded music for some years and then sort of stopped and went into acting.

Side YO Fear Of Love
Byron’s Dead
Calling San Jose
Comes With Love( NO One Told Me)
Lonesome Promenade
Glass Faces
Sleeping

Side BLEH ( Cottage Cheese From Hell)
Babe*
Death Of One*
Ich Haben Geld
Snowmen
I Read The Funnies
Premonition ( Don’t Go!)
Over The Rainbow
Fall Down Go Boom**

lyrics by Pete Studtmann

• control tower voice-Teri Mott