Channel 7 Tapes Inc.

20 years ago I haphazardly threw together a Christmas album because it sounded like a good idea at the time.  Needless to say, it wasn't and the it sounds positively wretched.  On numerous occasions I've come close to re-recording the album but never got around to it.  Probably for good reasons too.  Who knows, I may surprise myself and try again.  So if you need something quick to eradicate everyone from your home around the holidays, throw this on and watch them flee!

I'm still slowly going through the box of cassettes and digitizing what I have.  There's still quite a bit to go through and It's becoming difficult finding actual songs and what not.  I did manage to come across some of the last songs I recorded, mostly in rough demo form.  Nothing particularly noteworthy here though.  There's a really loud, distorted run through of "Blue Sky, Pink Flowers".  "Gabrielle" was a throwaway track I worked too hard on.  I made up the words for "Kiss Request" while I was recording the vocals.  "A-OK" is a rough take and there's another run through of "Little Pretty Girls" for the hell of it.



Download "The Last Recordings" Here

I some how managed to come across Mix Master Matt's last album Devastate, in it's entirety, along with a bonus track "No More" which I believe is the only song he did with vocals.

And boy did I find a few things...

First off, I noticed that I forgot to repost Pouch by Era Yes when I was moving the archive from mediafire to dropbox so here that is:

Era Yes - Pouch

Then I realized that I didn't post my leftovers from my work in ACID which included stuff that never materialized on the followup Era Yes album Abandoned Spoon Factory and can be downloaded here:

My Time in ACID

That was only half of it though, that didn't include Matt's contributions which I found and can be listened to here:

Era Yes - Leftovers

And I'm pretty sure that none of Brian's Deus Ex Machina material has ever seen the light of day so:

Deus Ex Machina

Then I remembered that I posted the Junkmobile stuff for a short while, and didn't leave it up long because it's terrible, but here it is again:

Junkmobile

Then I remembered that even more terrible stuff existed in the form of Matt's first album, Neff, which is right here:

Matt - Neff

Thankfully I was able to find auditory salvation in the Station Not Available's first release, Molly, which you can enjoy here:

Molly

More to come...

Here's the Mix Master Matt stuff:

Testing Chemical X
Flash
Stand Fast

And the Black Cat stuff:

Black Cat


More to come...

I'm happy to report that the bulk of the archive (and the corresponding liner notes) is now back up for download.  I'll get the rest up soon.

Click on a title to download:

The Miracle Crime Sessions
Android (Solo Recordings)
Android (Band Recordings)
A Night in the Court
A Night in the Court (First Anniversary Edition)
Channel 7
The Morning After
Strange
Normal
The Walls Between Us
Later That Day
Scraps EP
Black Sun Demos

 Okay, so I didn't shut this down.  On top of that, I found some more stuff!

Back in 1999 I "appropriated" a copy of then Sonic Foundry's software ACID.  ACID allows one to take music samples and arrange them in almost any imaginable configuration, thus revolutionizing music production and enabling me with the ability to create epic, sprawling, mind blowing masterpieces.  Which, I sort of attempted with various degrees of success.  Well mostly no success at all.

Basically the more I used this program, the more heartless and cold the music felt.  Instead of creating masterpieces, I used ACID to create collages of noise and stuff.  As most evident with the "Pouch" CD that my brother Matt and I constructed in a matter of a week.

The only real "gem" on here is the fabled "Division" which I can't seem to write lyrics for so here's the instrumental take.  Some pieces feel like they might be going somewhere, however the rest are of the "train wreck curiosity" persuasion.

So for your listening pleasure is "My Time in ACID".  I dare you to make it through the hour and 5 minute run time.

Download My Time in ACID

As evident by the Mix Master Matt postings last year, I wasn't the only one recording music way back in the day. Throughout the archiving process I've unearthed a few things here and there like Matt's "Neff" cassette and the "Molly" recordings. However one of the "gems" that I found was a cassette by what I vaguely remember being called Black Cat, which was a group consisting of Ryan, Jessica, Chad and Carissa. From my vague recollection I do remember being part this as well. First, I used my kareoke machine to record these songs in Carissa's backyard. Secondly, I think I wrote the lyrics to "Rocket to the Stars".

I know at one time I had an idea of having everyone contributing to one of the A Night in the Court followups but I don't remember every setting that idea into motion. I'm not entirely sure why this collection exists, but it does and it was a surprising find as well.

Happy 2009!

When I started the archive process, over a year ago now, I started with a group of Android songs that I had recorded myself. Well, I managed to track down most of the original recordings from 1988-1989 and they're now ready for your enjoyment.

Matt and Carissa (now Brooke) Holloway decided that they were going to form a band and I somehow got wrangled into it. Unfortunately not much ever materialized from this, which is a shame because initially there seemed to be some potential.

As usual, there were several reasons that this project never got off the ground. First off, I was working and going to school and really didn’t have the time. Secondly, my heart really wasn’t in it because I wanted to break free from writing about the court. Thirdly, I don’t think Matt and Brooke were going to put forth much effort anyways. So we made a few meager attempts at putting something together but in reality it was shelved like so many other ideas.