Dan Susnara
Dan Susnara is a home taper from Chicago. For years he has honed his craft, a blend of progressive rock, experimental and quirky, pre-rock sensibility . Dan exemplifies the home taper ethic by doing whatever he wants: one day a rock ballad, the next a loopy and lengthy symphony of madness. Susnara is a very prolific artist and also has worked with others, notably the band, 9 on Bali with Dan Sweigert.
I first became aware of the hometaper/tape trading network around ’88,via my good friend Frank Rutledge. He had read an advert in either Sound Choice or Option about Heather Perkins,who,like me,was doing music at home on 4 Track,and thought I should send her a copy of my 1st 4 Track release ‘‘Travel’‘.
It’s so funny now,but I really got upset when Heather didn’t respond in 2 weeks time! ( Like Lou Reed once said ‘‘First thing you learn is that you always gotta wait’‘ ). So I wrote her a rather terse second letter, which I felt really bad about when she sent her tape.
Heather was an EXCELLENT introduction to the indi music scene.She played in a variety of styles,etc. on multiple instruments. Always quirky,interesting stuff ! Her electronic piece ‘‘Illydada’‘ (I’m pretty sure that’s the title) showed how much strangeness and creativity can be coaxed from a Casio SK-5 !! Just amazing stuff !