Premonitions: Underground Cassette Network 1989-90
This is the project that started it all. The genesis of this podcast is the reissue of the SoundImage Tapes 1989 “Premonitions” compilation cassette on Infinite Expanse in January 2024.
I ran SoundImage Tapes briefly from 1988-1990, the network of connections that I made by collecting music for this compilation and subsequent activities preceded but laid the path for a decade of my own music and releases.
Tom Gibbs from Infinite Expanse contacted me about a reissue of this set of music that captures a pre-internet moment where artists cohered around a world spanning vision of experimentalism and mood-setting electronic music. Reviving old contacts and tracking down lost musicians made me realise that we need to preserve the spoken stories of the DIY cassette movement in the Cassette Culture podcast.
The podcast is being collected by the British Library Sound Archive, which ensures these stories will survive when I can’t support the hosting costs anymore.
Infinite Expanse Release
C55 with on-body printing in jewel case, printed two-sided j-card and wrap-around o-card sleeve. Numbered edition of 61. Second edition of standard cassettes with printed j-card only, and digital download via Bandcamp.
“Superb ferric foraging on London’s Infinite Expanse, charting lesser-explored recesses of Slough’s Sound Image label with ambient industrial doings from Downwards-related Antonym and TAL’s Konrad Kraft plus cult shade dwellers M. Nomized, Jack Hurwitz, Omega Ensemble, and many names new to us, at least” – RIYL Spencer Clark, Discrepant, MAAT, Enno Velthuys. BOOMKAT.COM
“Premonitions: Underground Cassette Network 1989-90” cassette reissue, Infinite Expanse, 2024
https://infiniteexpanse.bandcamp.com
So, Who Am I Anyway?
I’m Martin Franklin, I’m a sound artist and audio producer from the UK, living in Australia.
I lived through the times we discuss in the podcast and ran the SoundImages Tapes label. Some of the people we speak to, I knew back in the 80’s-90’s – sometimes only by letter writing and we’re speaking for the first time on the podcast episodes. Others, I brought to Windsor Arts Centre where I promoted shows for The Butterfly Effect (Richard Talbot), Omega Ensemble, Ozric Tentacles, Ring and many others. With artist Carl Stevenson, we staged the mail art exhibitions “Inch By Inch” and “Dead Celebrities” in the small gallery at the venue.
Many people have been really generous with sharing their contacts and enabling me to connect with new guests for the podcast. Being part of the cassette network is not just a method of self-promotion, it’s a mindset of supporting others which persists across time.