Cassette Culture

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1. Post-Punk’s High-Water Mark: Four Nights in London, 1979

   4 november 2026 · 31 min

   Afspelen
   The high-water mark of post-punk. Looking at the bill of the four nights at the YMCA in Central London during August 1979, its hard to deny that assertion. Final Solution’s bill brought together Joy Division, Echo & The Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes, Scritti Politti, Clock DVA, Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle and Rema Rema. Lees meer

   For Cassette Culture the particular night on 3rd August with TG, Cabaret Voltaire and Rema Rema is a nexus in our story: where paths met, bands were formed, tapes were exchanged.

   Linking back to our catalogue of artists in the “tapes received” listings of TG’s Industrial News, we speak with Kevin Thorne of Third Door From The Left and We Be Echo, and Dorothy Max Prior, drummer with Rema Rema and Psychic TV.

   Matt Johnson continues in the second part of our conversation, covering his later releases in the mid-80s and a notable big budget video project with Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson in the Amazon.

   Hinging on that night where they all met in Central London, we follow the Rema Rema story with Dorothy Max. Max had known Gen and Cosey Fanni Tutti since 1976, when she was working at the ICA during COUM Transmissions' Prostitution show. The friendship carried on after Throbbing Gristle split, through a brief stint in the mail room for Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth and a tour as drummer for Psychic TV.

   The touchstone compilation “The Men With The Deadly Dreams”, curated by Geoff Rushton and released on White Stains, returns as another nexus, with two live Rema Rema tracks (recorded at Acklam Hall in April 1979). Martyn Bates (Eyeless In Gaza) tells more of this story in our previous episode, Mind Bomb. https://cassetteculturepodcast.com/mind-bomb-the-the-eyeless-in-gaza/

   Rema Rema continued to pick up attention and just as they were about to implode, Ivo Watts-Russell seized on the band as “one of the best things he had ever heard” - The debut recordings The Wheel In The Roses EP (BAD 5, 1980), came out as the first release of his new 4AD labe…

2. Mind Bomb: The The & Eyeless In Gaza

   23 september 2026 · 28 min

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   Our Industrial News "tapes received" trail reaches into the early 80s, and attention turns to quality. Robert H. King leads us into this episode, where we speak with Matt Johnson (The The) and Martyn Bates (Eyeless In Gaza). Lees meer

   Martyn Bates of Eyeless In Gaza picks up the thread. As Migraine Inducers he sent the Dissonance tape into the network and landed in Industrial News issue four. Name check for an early Portobello Rd label ID Cassettes, by Mark Perry (Alternative TV/Deptford Fun City). Ambivalent Scale, Martyn’s own label with Pete Becker, was a container for all of their early solo releases plus outputs from a cohort including Bron Area, The Stick Insects and Kevin Harrison.

   Matt Johnson of The The details his early attendance at Throbbing Gristle shows and connection with the group members. The tape he passed on to Genesis led to his own mention in Industrial News in the September 79 issue. But then, he drops another mind bomb: The promoter behind many of Throbbing Gristle's London gigs was Colin Faver, later a major DJ in the acid house scene of 1988 and pirate broadcaster on London’s Kiss FM. With Kevin Millins he ran Final Solution, promoting many TG gigs including Butler’s Wharf and the legendary show at the YMCA with TG, Cabaret Voltaire and Rema Rema.

   Geoff Rushton’s Stabmental zine is referenced once again as the print which contained all of the most progressive music in the emerging Industrial scene. The compilation cassette intended to be issue 6 of the zine, “The Men with The Deadly Dreams” gathers a seminal set of recordings, including tracks by Eyeless In Gaza, Rema Rema, Chris Carter, Richard H Kirk and Chris Watson. Watson himself produced and mastered the tape at Cabaret Voltaire’s Western Works studio in 1981.

   Hosted by Martin Franklin.
   Theme music “This Is Concrete” by The Happy Citizen.

   DISCOVER THE VIDEO
   You can find videos of some of the amazing artefacts, fanzines and cassette releases that drop through our letterbox on our YouTube ch…

3. Let The Tribe Grow: Chris Connelly Receives The Gospel Of DIY

   30 juli 2026 · 29 min

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   Searching for connection and community; we track the story of Chris Connelly (Fini Tribe, Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Pigface) discovering Throbbing Gristle via the John Peel Radio show and getting in touch. Meanwhile, Joe Strummer of The Clash spreads the DIY gospel to a young Robert H. King after a gig at the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow, resulting in formation of the Pleasantly Surprised cassette label. Lees meer

   When the two come together a few years later, the Fini Tribe contribution to "You Bet We've Got Something Against You" on King's new Cathexis Recordings label, followed by the "Let The Tribe Grow" EP, propels both the label and the band on to greater things.

   Chris Connelly is another of the artists featured in the "Tapes Received" listing of TG's Industrial News zine. This resulted in local underground musicians showing up at his door and handmade cassettes from the likes of Nurse With Wound arriving in the mail.

   Geoff Rushton (later John Balance of Coil) compiled "Endzeit," a hand-numbered edition of 230 copies on Datenverarbeitung carrying Virgin Prunes, Section 25 and four tracks by a young Cultural Amnesia. Geoff’s own slim White Stains Tapes imprint released “The Men With The Deadly Dreams”. Both releases appearing as inspirational touchstones, connecting back into our wider story.

   King’s Pleasantly Surprised label ran from 1982 to 1984, its artfully packaged cassette compilations opening with The Birthday Party and carrying early tracks from Cocteau Twins, Primal Scream, The Wake, Marine Girls, Billy MacKenzie, Bauhaus, The Wolfgang Press, Test Dept, and Cultural Amnesia. By 1986, the saturation of the cassette market created a tipping point when the label morphed into vinyl releases on Cathexis Recordings.

   Chris Connelly and Fini Tribe burst onto the wider music scene after being picked up for a John Peel Session, releasing on their own Finiflex label and beginning to collaborate with the US Wax Trax! label. Ultimately Chris moved to Chicago, joined Minis…

4. Tapes Received: The Factory Connection

   25 juni 2026 · 30 min

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   Some of the most surprising and revealing connections surface in this episode. Two worlds that rarely get mentioned in the same breath: Throbbing Gristle's Industrial Records, and Manchester's Factory Records. At the centre are two more names from the Industrial News “tapes received" list; Paul Wiggin of Section 25 and Robbie MacDonald of Crawling Chaos offshoot, Zyklon B Zombies. Both aspiring musicians who connected with TG's Industrial News zine by sending cassettes of their music. Lees meer

   Paul describes experiencing the crushing, low-frequency weight of the early Throbbing Gristle gigs which stunned a generation of post-punk audiences with the “sonic warfare” that the band were waging.

   Later, a direct-to-tape demo sent to Industrial Records came back with an invitation from Genesis P-Orridge to London, and a glimpse of TG’s world via a Cosey Fanni Tutti performance.

   Section 25’s support slot for Joy Division, followed with Ian Curtis's word was enough to secure a deal with Factory Records. Setting them off on recordings sessions with Martin Hannett at Cargo, and Pink Floyd's old Britannia Row studio.

   Over in Newcastle, Robbie MacDonald was working behind the scenes for The Crawling Chaos, creating sleeves, booking gigs, and supporting their own label, Foetus Products. Ahead of a gig at Whitley Bay's Rex Hotel, word went round that Throbbing Gristle themselves might turn up under an alias: Zyklon B Zombies. The backing tape built for the hoax made its way to Industrial Records as something of a joke at the band's own expense and, whatever became of any reply, it landed the Zyklon B Zombies in the "Tapes Received" list regardless.

   Two Factory scouts in that night's crowd left far more taken with The Crawling Chaos than with the prank, leading to a clandestine meet up with Tony Wilson, and the eventual release on Factory Benelux of FAC 17.

   Hosted by Martin Franklin.
   Theme music "This Is Concrete" by The Happy Citizen.

   DISCOVER THE VIDEO
   You can find videos of casse…

5. Tapes Received: Industrial Music for Industrial People

   28 mei 2026 · 26 min

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   From 1978-1980, Throbbing Gristle's Industrial Records published a newsletter called Industrial News. With a philosophy of exchange and transparency, they listed attendance numbers at their concerts, future label plans, and a list of contacts who had mailed them tapes of their own music: the “Tapes Received” list. Lees meer

   Capturing a cultural watershed moment where the bedroom bands of the DIY Punk scene gave way to something new: ambitious, experimental, abstract, industrial. Making music using the newly available technology of synthesisers, with tape media and looping as part of the creative process.

   In this episode of Cassette Culture we begin to unravel the story of those tapes sent to Industrial Records - what was on them, and what became of the artists who sent them?

   At the centre of this episode is Val Denham - painter, singer and tape experimentalist. We hear how a deliberately provocative letter to Genesis P-Orridge loaded with insider references, led to a invitation to London and the beginning of a friendship that would influence her creative life.

   Her early tape recordings won fans in Genesis and Peter Christopherson and almost became a release on Industrial Records. Val walks us through the London of the late 70’s, studying at the Royal College Of Art while creating striking artwork for TG gig flyers, attracting Some Bizarre Records’ Stevo and Marc Almond to her Degree Show. Then later creating album artwork for Marc & The Mambas, Psychic TV, and Throbbing Gristle.

   Philip Sanderson of Storm Bugs and Richard Rupenus of Funeraldance Party offer their own stories of corresponding with TG, sending in tapes, and finding themselves part of a growing international network of like-minded artists. Richard received an encouraging letter from Genesis himself; Philip developed his own music as Vote Police, Storm Bugs and launched his label, Snatch Tapes.

   Years later, after the death of Genesis P-Orridge both contributed to a search for the original “tapes received” c…

6. No Words, No Titles, No Meaning - The World Of Alien Brains

   5 april 2026 · 29 min

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   The strange, uncompromising world of Alien Brains, the project led by Nigel Jacklin that helped define the outer edges of the early 1980s DIY cassette underground. Emerging from a school science lab, inspired by John Cage and nurtured by the fledgling cassette network, Alien Brains rejected conventional song structures in favour of pure spontaneity, raw improvisation and a deliberate embrace of failure as an artistic possibility. Lees meer

   The DIY cassette scene of 1979, with its “it's easy, cheap, go and do it” ethos, provided the perfect outlet for these early recordings. Mark Lancaster of The Instant Automatons and Deleted Records recalls encountering Nigel, playing an early gig with him at his school, and releasing the first Alien Brains cassette “Menial Disorders”.

   The story takes a notorious turn into the heart of the British public school system. As head of the Rock Society at Oundle School, Nigel invites Throbbing Gristle and Monte Cazazza to perform in the main hall, a collision of avant-garde industrial noise and traditional boarding school culture. We find a recording of Cosey Fanni Tutti sharing her memories of the shock induced by the performance - to teachers and pupils alike. For some it was an outrage; for others, a transformative experience. The concert recordings were released by Industrial Records on VHS and cassette tape.

   Richard Rupenus of the New Blockaders recalls finding Deleted Records via an advert in the DIY Corner column of the music paper Sounds, ordering the first Alien Brains release and eventually joining the group. He describes the strange, semi-chaotic Alien Brains performance at The Basement in Newcastle in 1982, where the band added another layer to the experience by introducing pungent smells into the venue’s heating system.

   Nigel picks up the thread to talk about working with non-musicians such as Neil Purvis, echoing John Cage’s belief that people without formal training can be freer of inherited constraints. He describes recordings…

7. Evolution of Snatch Tapes & The Storm Bugs

   6 maart 2026 · 30 min

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   A hard to imagine London of derelict warehouses and ruined public buildings birthed the short, intense life of Snatch Tapes, the late-70s cassette label founded by Philip Sanderson of Storm Bugs. Launched in 1979, Snatch Tapes became a focal point for electronic and experimental musicians pushing beyond conventional song structures and embracing the possibilities of electronics, tape loops and DIY distribution. Lees meer

   Sanderson reflects on his early experiments with circuit-bent cassette recorders and transistor radios, the handmade oscillations that powered his duo Storm Bugs, and his time at Goldsmiths University’s Electronic Music Studio

   Central to the story is Sanderson’s playful subversion of identity. Through the invented electronic duo Claire Thomas and Susan Vesey, he provoked an overwhelmingly male scene and inadvertently attracted the attention of Cherry Red Records. When Cherry Red, via A&R figure Mike Alway, sought to develop the duo into a full vinyl release, the elaborate fiction began to unravel in a farcical chain of meetings and the eventual confessions.

   As Snatch Tapes gathered momentum, a loose but vibrant network formed around it. Contributors included Lemon Kittens, David Jackman, Nigel Jacklin, The New Blockaders, Cultural Amnesia, Beach Surgeon, N4’s, Alien Brains and more.

   Yet by 1981, after three intense years, Sanderson chose to step back. The label passed briefly to David Jackman before dissolving into the wider flow of 1980's cassette activity.

   Looking back, Sanderson identifies 1980 as both the peak of Snatch Tapes and a high-water mark for the cassette underground’s visibility. For a fleeting moment, it seemed possible that DIY cassettes might become a genuine alternative channel for direct music distribution.

   Featuring recollections from Philip Sanderson, Gerard Greenway and Nigel Jacklin, this episode documents a formative chapter in UK cassette culture.

   Hosted by Martin Franklin.
   Theme music “This Is Concrete” by The Happy Citizen

   …

8. Under the Westway: 1979 Portobello Punks

   26 januari 2026 · 27 min

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   Emerging from the squats, free gigs and improvised studios of late-70’s Portobello Road, F*ck Off Records operated at the volatile intersection of hippie idealism and punk DIY. Active between 1979 and 1982, the label released copied-to-order cassettes alongside a small number of vinyl EPs and LPs with music by Alternative TV, The 012, Danny & The Dressmakers, Here & Now, The Instant Automatons, The Androids Of Mu and their many collaborators. Lees meer

   Founded by Kif Kif Le Batteur and Jonathan Barnett in a period when Portobello was dense with creative possibility: vacant houses, squatted venues, free festivals and heaps of talent.

   We join Jonathan Barnett to trace the roots of the label through the influences of Sniffin’ Glue and Mark Perry to Here & Now’s free-music ethos and open minded approach to supporting others. Central to the label’s emergence was Street Level Studios, a low-cost recording space that allowed bands to record without compromise, and the cassette as a format that made duplication, circulation and autonomy possible.

   Hosted by Martin Franklin.
   Theme music “This Is Concrete” by The Happy Citizen

   KIF KIF
   We would like to dedicate this episode to the memory of Keith Dobson aka Kif Kif Le Batteur, who passed away in July 2025. His influence runs through the whole scene that we document in Cassette Culture, and joins many dots in my own life. We are proud to be able to tell at least a small part of his story and so sorry that we just missed him.

   (https://www.eatsdrinksandleaves.com/rip-keith-dobson-1956-2025/)

   DISCOVER THE VIDEO
   You can find videos of cassette tapes, artefacts and unboxings from the cassette underground on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@CassetteCulturePodcast

   LINKS
   Portobello Film Festival (https://www.portobellofilmfestival.com/)

   “Floating Anarchy” Here & Now documentary (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsg8cMdYtuM)

   Good article on the late-70’s Punk/DIY scene by Bob Stanley:
   Birth Of The Uncool (https://www.theguardian.com/musi…

9. Deleted Funtime Rewind

   28 december 2025 · 1 uur

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   After we spoke with Mark Automaton for our episode on Deleted Records and the Instant Automatons, he kindly shared his recollections of the music and bands presented on the legendary “Deleted Funtime” compilation, released by Deleted Records in 1980. Lees meer

   Originally compiled by Martin “Protag” Naish of the Automatons, and featuring 34 tracks by various outsider musicians and misfits from across the booming cassette network in the UK.

   Filling a c90 cassette and in 1980, available for 60p and a self-addressed envelope direct from the band - we’ve omitted a few tracks where they were by the same band or sometimes where we had no recollections to share.

   The tape hiss you’ll hear on the music tracks is original, mostly due to the sometimes third generation tape copies that were the sources for the compilation.

   DISCOVER THE VIDEO
   You can find videos of cassettes, artefacts and unboxings from the cassette underground on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@CassetteCulturePodcast

   IN THIS EPISODE

   VOICES
   Martin Franklin
   Mark Lancaster

   MUSIC
   Missing Persons "Chemical Solutions"
   Colin Potter "Power"
   Stabmental "Thin Veil Of Blood"
   The Midnight Circus "Obsession"
   391 "Prisoner Of The Living Room"
   The Door And The Window "Habits"
   The Digital Dinosaurs "Fingers And Thumbs"
   Lurch "Single Symphony Excerpt"
   The Mystic Umbrellas "Journey To The West"
   The Digital Dinosaurs "Walking Out"
   Merz "Spud-Dream"
   Duo Elettronica "Duo Elettronica Tape Excerpt"
   Mic Woods "Little Girl"
   The Instant Automatons "Disillusion"
   Alien Brains "Alien Brains Excerpts"
   Heddon Street W1 "We Wanna Pogo"

   LINKS
   https://www.waterden.net/
   https://markautomaton.bandcamp.com/
   The Luxury Of Dreams: An Autobiography, by Mark Automaton
   https://amzn.asia/d/bS6PSxt

   FIND US
   https://cassetteculturepodcast.com

   SUPPORTERS
   Help us keep Cassette Culture alive! This podcast is enabled by generous supporters who gift a small monthly contribution toward the costs of researching, producing and publishing each episode. You can b…

10. Integrated Circuits: Colin Potter, ICR and the Cassette Network

    23 december 2025 · 28 min

    Afspelen
    Emerging from the same late-1970s underground that fuelled punk, DIY cassette culture, and European electronic experimentation, we explore the influence of Colin Potter - sound artist, producer, and founder of Integrated Circuit Records (ICR) Lees meer

    From beginnings building crude oscillators and fuzz boxes to university access to an EMS Synthi A, his path reflects a generation discovering sound through curiosity rather than convention.

    We track the growth of ICR from a mail-order cassette operation into one of the UK’s most important underground labels of the early 1980s. Starting with cooperative compilation LPs and cassettes, Potter helped connect artists working across abstract electronics, industrial, cosmic music, and experimental sound - including The Instant Automatons, The Legendary Pink Dots, Carl Matthews, The Door and The Window, and many others.

    We hear how Potter’s cassette duplication service became a crucial infrastructure for labels such as Third Mind Tapes. That practical role also led to deeper artistic collaborations, most notably with Nurse With Wound, Current 93, and Steven Stapleton, where Potter’s studio became a space that hosted creative risk, sonic transformation, and unconventional production.

    Featuring contributions from Colin Potter, Jonathan Colclough, Gary Levermore, Mark Lancaster, this episode examines how technical generosity, and openness to experimentation helped shape the 45 years of underground electronic music released on ICR.

    Hosted by Martin Franklin.
    Theme music “This Is Concrete” by The Happy Citizen

    DISCOVER THE VIDEO
    You can find videos of cassette tapes, artefacts and unboxings from the cassette underground on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@CassetteCulturePodcast

    LINKS
    Colin Potter/ICR:
    https://icrdistribution.com/
    https://icrdistribution.bandcamp.com/

    IN THIS EPISODE

    VOICES
    Martin Franklin
    Jerry Kranitz
    Colin Potter
    Jonathan Coleclough
    Mark Lancaster
    Gary Levermore

    MUSIC

    “Off The Graph” Colin Potter, The Ghost O…

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