Herewith part 3 of our Generations Unlimited cassette bonanza.
Thomas Dimuzio next. I have always greatly enjoyed this fellow’s robust approach to making electronic junkyard noise, and his releases on Chris Cutler’s ReR Megacorp label aren’t about to be leaving this listener’s collection. His Delineation Of Perspective (R.GU-TD1) is a set of works from 1987, remixed in 1988, and is simply glorious. One has the impression of machines, objects, and entire environments coming to life and taking over the planet much like mechanised monsters; all that was once familiar and safe is rebelling against us and cannot be controlled or tamed. ‘Of Vast And Barren, Rotting Wastelands’ is one title that will alert you to Dimuzio’s plan; nothing short of a scorched earth, total desolation nuclear blast can satisfy him. In the context of the other tapes on this page, I suppose Dimuzio is the most maximal of the composers; I think this may be in part to his production methods, which are not exclusively synth-based involve recordings of traditional instruments and various objects, battered or played to produce far-out sounds. Everything is layered together in a large gummy wodge of controlled noise, where every element is competing for attention and the whole threatens to tear itself apart. Dimuzio remains a unique player, and it’s a true pleasure to have these early exciting works available.
Lastly we have the No Borders (R.GU-COMP) compilation, a reissue of another 1987 item. This appears to have been a takeaway to offer a sample to the audience; represented here are label stalwarts Arcane Device, David Prescott, Schnitzler, and Charles Cohen, who between them provide the strongest pieces on the tape. There’s also Jörg Thomasius, a Berlin member of Die Freie Orchester in the 1980s, who has collaborated with Con; his ‘96 Voices’ is a startling piece of electronic Dada nonsense, quite outspoken and extremely assured. ‘The Expected One’ by Stefan Tischler and Blair Petrie is a quite-good synth instrumental laced with a feeling of menace, sounding not unlike The Residents around the mid-1980s; it was taken from Gorgons and Gargoyles, released on GU in 1986. Michael Chocholak is a player from Oregon who released a few cassettes in the mid-1980s; his ‘Second Object’ has its moments, but lacks a sense of purpose. In the context of the label, it’s perhaps slightly odd to find a track here by Morphogenesis, but then there is the connection between Adam Bohman and Al Margolis; even odder to find Iancu Dumitrescu, much as we love his work.