Cassette Culture

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. 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 LINKSSnatch Tapes: https://snatchtapes.bandcamp.com/Goldsmiths University Electronic Music Studio: https://sites.gold.ac.uk/electronic-music-studios/Cultural Amnesia: https://culturalamnesia.com VIDEOYou can find videos of some of the amazing fanzines and cassette releases that drop through our letterbox on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@CassetteCulturePodcast IN THIS EPISODE VOICESMartin FranklinPhilip SandersonGerard Greenway, read by Sean Holland (joinedupthink.co.uk)Nigel Jacklin, read by Robert Hayes MUSIC “Call” Orior, Snatch 3 (Snatch Tapes 1981)“Window shopping” Storm Bugs, Table Matters (1979)“Hodge” Storm Bugs, A Safe Substitute (Snatch Tapes)"N4s” N4s, Snatch 1 (Snatch Tapes)“Cultural Amnesia Dub” Snatch 2 (Snatch Tapes)“Ashes & Diamonds” Claire Thomas, Snatch 3 (Snatch Tapes)“Reprint 2” Claire Thomas & Susan Vesey, Reprint (Snatch Tapes)“Soley From” Storm Bugs, A Safe Substitute (Snatch Tapes)“Untitled” Alien Brains, British Interiors,   1982“Song” Nigel Jacklin, Snatch 3 (Snatch Tapes)“Under Press Of Sail” Claire Thomas & Susan Vesey, Snatch 1 (Snatch Tapes) 1980“Bright Waves” Claire Thomas & Susan Vesey, Reprint (Snatch Tapes) 1980 Many thanks to Jonny Zhivago and the invaluable resource for underground music that is Die Or DIY (https://dieordiy2.blogspot.com/) FIND UShttps://cassetteculturepodcast.com SUPPORTERSHelp 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 become one of them at:https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribe   Cassette Culture is produced by Martin Franklin for East Coast Studio (https://eastcoaststudio.com.au)Help keep Cassette Culture alive - Become a Supporter: https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. 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 KIFWe 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/)   LINKSPortobello 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/music/2006/mar/31/popandrock1) VIDEOYou can find videos of some of the amazing fanzines and cassette releases that drop through our letterbox on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@CassetteCulturePodcast IN THIS EPISODE VOICESMartin FranklinJonathan BarnettKeith Dobson, aka Kif Kif Le BatteurMark Automaton MUSIC “The Ballad of F*ck Off Records” The 012, Weird Noise EP (F*ck Off Records 1980) “Allez Alibaba” Planet Gong, Floating Anarchy 1977 (Charly Records 1978) “Terrified of Dogs” Alternative TV, Back To Sing For Free Again Soon compilation (F*ck Off Records 1979) “Pretty Nun” Androids of Mu, F*ck Off Demo Tape (F*ck Off Records 1979) “Too Big” The Instant Automatons “Drop Dead” / “Don’t Make Another Bass Guitar, Mr Rickenbacker” Danny and the Dressmakers, Back To Sing For Free Again Soon compilation (F*ck Off Records 1979) “Total Disregard for Greenwich Theatre” ATV/The Good Missionaries, Scars On Sunday (F*ck Off Records 1980) Fish From Tahiti — The 012, Weird Sampler (F*ck Off Records 1981) Asbestos Lead Asbestos — World Domination Enterprises, Let’s Play Domination (Product Inc 1984) Many thanks to Jonny Zhivago and the invaluable resource for underground music that is Die Or DIY (https://dieordiy2.blogspot.com/) FIND UShttps://cassetteculturepodcast.com SUPPORTERSHelp 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 become one of them at:https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribe   Cassette Culture is produced by Martin Franklin for East Coast Studio (https://eastcoaststudio.com.au)Help keep Cassette Culture alive - Become a Supporter: https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. 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. IN THIS EPISODE VOICESMartin FranklinMark Lancaster MUSICMissing 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" LINKShttps://www.waterden.net/https://markautomaton.bandcamp.com/The Luxury Of Dreams: An Autobiography, by Mark Automatonhttps://amzn.asia/d/bS6PSxt FIND UShttps://cassetteculturepodcast.com SUPPORTERSHelp 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 become one of them at:https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribe     Cassette Culture is produced by Martin Franklin for East Coast Studio (https://eastcoaststudio.com.au)    Help keep Cassette Culture alive - Become a Supporter: https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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) 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 CitizenLINKSColin Potter/ICR:https://icrdistribution.com/ https://icrdistribution.bandcamp.com/ VIDEOYou can find videos of some of the amazing fanzines and cassette releases that drop through our letterbox on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@CassetteCulturePodcast IN THIS EPISODE VOICESMartin FranklinJerry KranitzColin PotterJonathan ColecloughMark LancasterGary Levermore MUSIC “Off The Graph” Colin Potter, The Ghost Office, Mirage“We Are So Glad” Colin Potter, We Couldn’t Agree On a Title, (IRC001)“The No. 1 Entertainer” The Door & The Window, Weird Noise E.P. (FO Records FEP001)“Invertebrates” The Instant automatons, We Couldn’t Agree On A Title, LP (IRC001)“Sentimental” Those Little Aliens, We Couldn’t Agree On a Title, LP (IRC001)“Ismalla”  Those Little Aliens, Flowmotion, (ICR 003)“Power” Colin Potter, The Scythe, (ICR002)“Harmless Thought” Carl Matthews, Integration, (ICR 012)“One Million Blades Of Grass” Colin Potter, Visions, (Third Mind Tapes TMT009)“The Self Sufficient Sexual Shoe” Nurse With Wound, Rock n Roll Station, (United Dairies)“As Above, So Below” Carl Matthews, Flowmotion compilation, (ICR 003)Many thanks to Jonny Zhivago and the invaluable resource for underground music that is Die Or DIY (https://dieordiy2.blogspot.com/) FIND UShttps://cassetteculturepodcast.com SUPPORTERSHelp 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 become one of them at:https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribe     Cassette Culture is produced by Martin Franklin for East Coast Studio (https://eastcoaststudio.com.au)Help keep Cassette Culture alive - Become a Supporter: https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Underneath the safety pins, television expletives and bondage trousers that came with Punk in 1977, there was a coded message for those ready to hear it. Resolutely independent, the Instant Automatons and their label Deleted Records tuned in from the North of England and got that message of DIY independence, creativity and confidence that followed "Here's Three Chords, Now Form A Band". We trace the birth of the UK cassette underground - from isolated  bedrooms to West London squats, from hand-dubbed tapes to Rough Trade shelves. It’s the story of how a handful of young people, with almost no resources, built a national community through shared idealism, cheap technology, and an unstoppable desire to create. Finding their tribe with the Labroke Grove hippie-punks circulating around the Here & Now/Frestonia/free festival scene and building their community under the Westway.  Here & Now drummer, Kif Kif Le Batteur made his sentiment about the established record industry clear when he named his cassette label F.O. Records. Recognising that the Instant Automatons and their label Deleted Records got it too, they connected to collaborate on cassette and vinyl releases, gigs and tours. And in doing, forged a template that was adopted and amplified from there on.   Hosted by Martin Franklin.Theme music “This Is Concrete” by The Happy Citizen/"Hesatative" Jack Hertz VIDEOYou can find videos of some of the amazing fanzines and cassette releases that drop through our letterbox on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@CassetteCulturePodcast IN THIS EPISODE VOICESMartin FranklinJerry KranitzMark LancasterColin PotterJonathan Barnett…and John Peel MUSICDuo Electronica (except), Deleted Funtime (Deleted 009)The Instant Automatons “ Routine Habit” We Couldn’t Agree On A Title (Integrated Circuit Records ICR 001)Colin Potter “The Last Train” The Scythe (ICR)The Instant Automatons  “Scared To Be Alone” Peter Paints His Fence EP (Deleted)Instant Automatons “Too Big” Not So Deep As A Well (Waterden WDCD002)Danny & The Dressmakers “God Puts A Stop To The Silver Paper Monster” 39 Golden Grates (Fuck Off Records) Archive audio: “Johns Vacuum Cleaner” John Peel Show 17 June 1980, BBC Radio 1 “Pre Natal Counselling” The Midnight Circus“Chemical Solutions” Missing Persons,“Disillusion”  The Instant Automatons“Journey To The West”  The Mystic Umbrellas All from the Deleted Funtime compilation (Deleted 009) Many thanks to Jonny Zhivago and the invaluable resource for underground music that is Die Or DIY (https://dieordiy2.blogspot.com/) PROTAG We would like to dedicate this episode to the memory of Martin "Protag" Neish, who passed away in February 2014. We were too late to meet him, but found his footprints through some of the episodes in this season of Cassette Culture. We are proud to be able to tell at least a small part of his story.(https://louderthanwar.com/northern-punk-scene-mourns-martin-protag-neish/ ) FIND UShttps://cassetteculturepodcast.com SUPPORTERSThis podcast is enabled by generous supporters who gift a small monthly contribution toward the costs of researching, producing and publishing each episode. You can become one of them at:https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribe   Cassette Culture is produced by Martin Franklin for East Coast Studio (https://eastcoaststudio.com.au)  Help keep Cassette Culture alive - Become a Supporter: https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.