Cassette Culture

Steve Gears (Pharoah Chromium Sound/The Happy Citizen), Richard Talbot (Marconi Union) and Tom Gibbs, (Infinite Expanse) take us further down the rabbit hole in this episode. We even got hold of some archive radio recording from “On The Wire” on BBC Radio Lancashire in 1989. Cassette-era music comes from: Sirius B, Basie V. Webster, Marconi Union, Richter Band and Omega Ensemble First, we talk to Steve Gears, the founder of the Pharoah Chromium Sound label, who shares how he stumbled upon this

A decade before the widespread adoption of the internet, a group of artists and musicians established an underground network to share their work with kindred spirits via the mail system. Starting our story from a dark, isolated UK in the late 1980's, with mass youth unemployment. We take a journey with some key figures from the Cassette Scene, who provide a firsthand account of the collaborative spirit and sense of discovery that permeated the cassette culture scene. Guests: Martin

Taking the DIY message of Punk as a jumping off point, our travel through the underground cassette network departs from the bleak 1980's Thatcher-era UK, community radio and fanzines, and all points in a journey to a thriving self sustaining culture.  Communication was valued over commerce. For two decades the international mail system fostered a network of underground artists, exchanging cassette tapes of music and homemade artwork under the radar of main stream media. We track down some key