video and review of Angelo Bignamini’s Anna

bazedjunkiii in Hamburg showed and opened the packet I sent him in front of the camera. I added two passenger tapes that were produced by Geert-Jan Hobijn, the founding father of staalplaat. I offered the free ride because sending one or three tapes makes no difference to the shipping costs.

baze-djunkiii also wrote a review of the tape:

Incoming via mail from Berlin only recently is Angelo Bignamini’s “Anna”, the most recent musical outing put on the circuit via the legendary Staaltape-label which saw its very first release all the way back in 1982. Issued on re-used, and therefore sustainable, commercial cassette tapes with a hand-crafted collage cover the eight tracks on this album were composed over a course of six months from February to August 2k21 and are conceptually covering the changes in the life and the surroundings of the Italian composer. “Anna” starts out on a slightly wobbly, dreamy solo piano tip, drifts further into realms of wonky tape manipulation sequences, cut-up Field Recordings and Plunderphonics as well as various collage and layering techniques, droning, extended and surely melancholia-inducing string sequences alongside what seems to be a close up recording of swarming insects – bees, probably -, eerie Industrial soundscapes with a well score’esque quality at the beginning of the B-side whilst surprisingly even turning towards home-recorded singer-songwriter dabblings reminiscent of the legendary Augsburg-based label Dhyana Records for a mere few seconds before diving into crackly, kitsch-dripping outtakes from Classical recordings and recorded tape machine vocals of unknown origin, all accompanied well by the slightly worn out nature of the previously used tape material. One for avid collectors of FoundSounds, lo-fi recordings and the mediums that come with them.

you can still order the tape here

Review in Nieuwe Noten: Hannya White

 

Read in this review by Ben Taffijn how her work continues to puzzle and intrigue dedicated listeners.

 

There are not so many copies left of Hannya’s release in our shop.

The staalplaat shop in Berlin might have some copies.

 

How to Kantoor 2

Geert Jan Hobijn, founder of staalplaat, illuminates the room with his copy of kantoor2.

I met Geert Jan during a Sunday coffee break after a visit to little Balkans, the wonderful flea market in the east of Berlin.

Geert Jan Hobijn, sound artist. 

Staalplaat, the label. GJ curates, designs and produces the artwork of the staalplaat (vinyl) releases.

 

Available and sold out Releases

Here’s an overview of staaltape releases that are sold out and new ones. The collection of new releases will grow this year. Visit @staalplaat when you’re in Berlin, or visit the website and see if there’s something you like.

Paris Tape Run 2, tape exchange between two runners

 

The Kylie Golden Remixtape: Press Release

Kylie Minogue released her new album Golden also on audio cassette. She announced the cassette release in a video. Kylie inserts the cassette into her Walkman, presses play, waits and gets excited.

What happens next is that the Kylie Minogue management approaches or doesn’t approach staaltape. They ask, or don’t ask to make a remixtape.

Staaltape is Staalplaat’s cassette label. Staalplaat, active since 1981, is a well-established name among the practitioners and fans of a non-established genre. Electronic beats listed staaltape as one of the ten cassette labels, that keep the tape alive in Germany. Staaltape didn’t only help to keep the tape alive worldwide. Hundreds and hundreds of small labels around the globe helped the cassette tape to a renaissance.

The Kylie management wanted to pay respect to the underground cassette movement. They did or did not ask staaltape to take care of a remix of Kylie’s album Golden. Staaltape proposed a remix of the sounds on the video. The management did or did not agree, on the condition that they would choose half of the musicians. The artist’s names had to remain unknown.

Staaltape agreed.

This means that Jack White did or did not give a track to Volume one. It means that Daft Punk did or did not make a track for Volume two. It also means that artists that you have never heard of did or did not make a remix for the two volumes.

Once you have listened to the remixes you will acknowledge that this all doesn’t really matter.

And the tape looks good too.

The Kylie Golden Remixtape was entirely produced at home, with postcards, Plovdiv the typewriter, a pack of sky-blue writing paper, spray paint, scissors, glue and silk paper, and of course a Yamaha 4track recorder and a Marantz CP430.

Early shoppers can fill their cart here

Kylie’s K’s

Dubbing Kylie

Kylie in black silk paper

Golden K

Kylie’s masters

The Kylie Golden Remixtape

Plovdiv at work

Plovdiv at work

 

The great success of the project is that it actually sounds like a dream-in-sound

Review of Patrizia Oliva – Numen on Continuo’s Documents.

Copies of the second edition are still available at the staalplaat shop in Berlin, also for mailorders. Once those sell out, I will need to produce a third edition.

liner notes – main image

Other Voices

“Oliva takes you on quite a fascinating ride……Great tape in the usual handmade Staaltape fashion.” says FdW in Vital Weekly

“In questi casi il prezzo per copia dovrebbe lievitare al di sopra degli 80 €.” says cassettophobian in sands-zine

“Ganz grosses Kino,” Thomas Neumann in Hörerlebnis 097 (physical copy).

you don’t get this exceptionally high degree of uncut humanity and honesty captured on tape every day

Audiozine #3 – Valerie Kuehne is reviewed by Ed Pinsent in The Sound Projector. He hears “evidence of a wild, peculiar talent.” Read the complete review here.

The second edition is now available at Staalplaat in Berlin (postal orders too), directly from the artist, or from yours sincerely (contact form at bottom of this post).

Earlier reviewers-

“I never had heard any other music of Valerie Kuehne, but she has a new follower!” says Johan Nederpel in Yeah, I know it sucks.

“She performs with great style,” says Frans De Waard in Vital Weekly #1032

“Sehr hoher Unterhaltungswert,” says DJ TDK aka Thomas Neumann in Hörerlebnis, Ausgabe 97 (physical copy)

 

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Second Edition of Patrizia Oliva – Numen, Coming Soon

Side A, sprayed on the banks of the River Vistula in Warsaw, with the help of Anna Wóstovich.

Side B

Audiozine #3 – Valerie Kuehne

“Valerie I’d like to release a tape of your works on staaltape” – “Great.” somehow didn’t work out. So one day while going through her songs for a far away future conceptual release for staaltape, I got the idea to surprise her with a selection I made. She gave me carte blanche to go on as I thought was right.

The result is that this is not a tape by Valerie, but a tape by me, for which I used her songs and other appearances. I compiled and structured it and in doing so I created a portrait of Valerie Kuehne. Hence, an audiozine, says the editor.

I won’t make a teaser for this album. I even hesitate to publish the song titles. It would spoil too much of your pleasure. You can pre-order directly from Valerie, or from me. There are 13 copies available.

You can find the complete info on this page.

Audiozine #3 – Valerie Kuehne

Patrizia Oliva – Numen, Life of Elitra Lipozi

Patrizia Oliva – Numen, Life of Elitra Lipozi

C40, chrome quality in a first edition of 20 copies.

concept album by Patrizia Oliva.

read and hear more