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This is one of the few projects that has found me through myspace, whom i'm still in touch. I have received a few recordings by CRAIG MICROCASSETTE SYSTEM from USA, all of them sound really strange. what wonders me is that they use micorcassette recordings only, do not add effects, and on the whole they do not pay much attention to composition and the quality of recording, and you know that formula really works if you search for something eccentric and abrupt.
??:Why have you chosen such name CRAIG MICROCASSETTE SYSTEM? it doesn’t sound like usual artist/project name but like a company producing such systems.
This name chose itself. Upon meeting we decided to make some noise. My set up at the time involved certain pieces of equipment and we uh… lifted the name.. but really it is just a fitting name that encompasses what we do. It just kind of struck us as perfect. I think we still debate whos idea it was to use that name…
??:So are all the CMS recordings made strictly by microcassette? Why have you chosen such recording format? Then why don’t you make microcassette releases?
When we play a show or do a set, we use only microcassette recorders with no effects, straight into amps with 1/8 inch to ¼ inch connectors or maybe multiple microcassettes into a mixer and then into amps. Usually two or three each, but we have had as many as 8 or ten going at once.
We don’t record to microcassette. Usually we record to standard size cassette. And there are microcassette releases… Mansfield makes those, and releases them through his Mansfield Deathtrap re-recordings (MDrr) label. Every individual microcassette release has a unique mix by Mansfield and the sources are usually the multiple live sets we have recorded. No one really knows anything about how to get ahold of those except through Mansfield and at first no one seemed to really want them. I think you can find them on ebay or something. We are not good at promoting ourselves.
A lot of people wonder .. why the 3” cdr? Well. It is small. And at the time we were putting them out, it was REALLY considered a useless, throwaway product at least in regards to releases. It was mostly used fro promos, rarely actual releases. I am talking in the general publics eye, I am not saying people weren’t already using 3” cdrs. And I think that is what attracted us to them. We really see the sorry, pathetic traits of cdr’s in general and we find that humorous I guess. And like I said, it’s small. Let me say, usually the analog nature of what I record is a very important factor to me. I don’t know how many people would know anything about other projects I am involved in but almost all incorporate that dirty analog, hand-held cassette sound at some point. But with Craig the analog nature of the sound is not the most important thing. It IS important that we use only microcassettes, live with no effects pedals, delay, reverb or anything like that. Unless maybe there is reverb built into an amp we are using.
We are going to start focusing on cassette releases.
??:I do hear sounds from different sources in CMS recordings, but where/how do you search them? or maybe they find you?
Both Mansfield and I have reputations as obsessive recorders… cassette, microcassette whatever we can get our hands on. We both have library type archives of years and years of tape… well, maybe library is the wrong word. Part of the inspiration for Craig was just the fact that- here are two dudes- that upon meeting realize they both have huge recording stashes of really off the wall, random stuff, AND it’s on microcassette!
I guess, some people take pictures or make movies… we record sound. A lot of the sounds are from our immediate surroundings; animals, cars, people, jam sessions, conversations. A large portion of the dialog you will hear in Craig pieces are actually from stolen answering machine tapes. People are constantly dropping off there used Telephone answering machines with the old microcassettes still in them and, until recently you could find them everywhere. But now digital technology is taking over and all the answering machines have been given away and I know some thrift stores are now throwing them away.
I almost always need to incorporate chance into my projects or it just gets boring, so these found and stolen tapes help create that randomness. My microcassette archive is an out of control unlabeled mess and that helps too. Many times we are flying blind, grabbing random microcassettes in the dark, not knowing what sounds may be released.
??:Have you ever heard about the phenomena of the third side of the tape ? i mean recorded voices from Beyond, or Electronic Voice Phenomena? what do you think about that, maybe you have practiced it?
I have read about this, and there are a couple of cd releases out now devoted specifically to this phenomenon. Craig is not a spiritual thing at all but who knows? I definitely hear spooky stuff coming through that I didn’t hear before.
I have a good story here, which I don’t believe I have written down before. Once, when I was about 15, I had this cassette player that got messed up somehow and would record sounds but would not erase them. Now, this has become a common practice for a lot of cassette heads out there, but I didn’t make this recorder do that. It just happened. The erase head just burned out. I was mostly a metal head at time and also becoming interested in the occult. Well, I must have heard something about EVP. Maybe. I am still not sure what exactly possessed me to do this but I decided I would just layer and layer sounds upon sounds and see what happened. I remember one of the sound sources I used heavily was Motley Crue’s intro from ‘Shout at the Devil’, but it was layered and layered beyond recognition. to make Keep in mind that I had no knowledge at the time of experimental composers who worked with tape. I just thought it would sound cool. I worked on this for days and days until it was just a muddy wash of constantly undulating static. At last! I thought. Finished! I listened back to the tape and each time I listened I thought I heard distinct, recognizable phrases within the grit and fuzz. But every time a different . I rushed the tape over to my satanic metal-head buddies house for a listening ritual. We walked upstairs, drew out the pentagram with tape and lit the black candles and sat back to check out this cassette. At some point we just got absorbed in listening to this tape. And who knows how long we spaced out- but at some point, at exactly the same time- we BOTH heard something that broke the spell. That sort of traditional demon voice you hear in movies, super-deep and guttural. I stopped the tape. We just looked at each other. “Did you hear that?” We both said at the same time. We could not agree on what the voice had said, but this had thoroughly freaked us out. We decided we would get a third opinion and went downstairs. We convinced a friend of my buddies older sister, Wanda, to come have a listen. We lit the candles again and all sat down around the pentagram. We stared at a central candle, listening. Suddenly that voice came distinctly from the speaker “Wanda! Help Me!” It said clearly. It was as if we had all awoken from a daze. I looked at my friend my mouth hanging open about to ask if they has all heard the same thing but before I could, Wanda got up and ran screaming out of the room yelling that we were crazy and she didn’t want anything to do with our Satanic bullshit. I pressed the eject button and immediately destroyed the tape. End of story. Freaky, huh?
??:It doesn’t seem that sound composition is important for CMS, yes? i mean that you mainly do field recordings and some tape manipulation (?), can you describe us your usual recording process? (if it's not secret of course)?
I think I explained most of this already. But as far as composition is concerned, no, it is not important. Craig is mostly improvised sound construction without a blueprint. We throw back what we have absorbed. It’s a lot like puking. Synchronized puking. That is not to say that we don’t listen to each other. Improvisation is the thing. We do sometimes play off of what the other is doing and try to carry it somewhere, but we have no plan at the beginning: just go!
The essential thing to remember about Craig’s recording process is that all the releases are recordings of live sets. Usually in front of an audience but what I really mean by ‘live’ is that we set up our gear and we go and usually something or someone is recording. All the ‘edits’ you hear- all the fast forward and rewinding with the play button depressed- that is all live. It is almost comparable to mixing with turntables. Every microcassette player is different. I have gone through a lot of them. Some have really sensitive fast forward and rewind buttons and some even have a toggle-like switch for rewind which gives a kind of ‘scratching’ effect when used right.
So it is not as if we are sitting back in a studio somewhere making critical cuts with software and debating “Hmmm… this Spanish kid yelling ‘Mamasita!’ sample sure would go nicely against this sound of thrift store ambience” No. It’s all on the fly. Once it is recorded we may chop off the end or beginning but generally we just leave it the way it is and we never really chop anything up or rearrange anything..
So, yeah. No secret. A bunch of microcassettes into a mixer or straight into amps or PA or maybe even with no amplification, if the show is quiet enough. Sometimes it is a hand-held recorder, sometimes a PA recording or even some digital recording device.
??:Do you consider your recordings just like a collage of sounds or something more?
It is only a collage of sounds at first but then it becomes something entirely different. This is not noise. It does approach noise, but this is more personal. James Ferraro once asked me if what we were doing with Craig was supposed to evoke a sense of nostalgia. And the answer is yes. That is what we are conjuring. These disconnected noises and stolen messages are someone’s memories. And that comes through in these pieces. You are going to get this “fly on the wall” type fantasy-roll going in your head when you listen to some guy you don’t know leave a message about his neighbors kid being killed in a snowmobile accident… or some lonely woman with an oxygen tank, wheezing out what sounds like her final grocery list into the receiver to her caretaker. These collages we do are composed partly of recordings of people reaching out to other people through machines. And that’s what Craig wants to do. These seemingly random audio bits, when juxtaposed, will evoke connections, ideas and images in a persons mind. More often than not, these ideas will be different for each individual. What you receive and how you translate that info can reveal things to you about yourself. As a listening experience, it is a very personal thing. I don’t see people sitting around listening to Craig while playing cards.
??:I have noticed that you don't use any effects on your recording, why?
I can’t speak for Mansfield but for me it seems like a crutch. I think many times “sound artists” and even some musicians come to rely too heavily on their delays and samplers. Not only that but pedals are so prevalent now it lends a certain color to everything and when you hear something like Craig without all that it can really stand out. We decided right away that if we ever used effects it just wouldn’t be Craig.
??:What are the most weirdest time/place/conditions of recording you ever had and why?
We have recorded in some weird places, caves, backyards swarming with mosquitos… but I think the weirdest must have been at the Tomb in Madison. I don’t remember the date but D Yellow Swans played and for some reason (I think Mansfield was warped on Zanex and cough syrup) we ended up doing our set under a small card table, two rooms away from where the PA was set up. We had long cables feeding everything into the other room. You could hear all this loud blown out noise coming from the PA and if you walked out to where we were, you could here that, but you could also here other microcassettes playing that were not feeding into the PA as well as Mansfields comments to the crowd.
??:Error in your recordings is common thing? and it's just as real as needful thing?
I think you are asking if the errors or accidents are as important to our sound as the things we plan? Yes, although we rarely plan out anything out. Errors just make incorporating that all-important chance factor into the mix that much easier. Craig is all about the errors. The original CM system is completely wrecked, it won’t play tapes, but it will still make this error sound that it would make when it reaches the end of the tape… It is the high pitched crying whine you hear on almost every Craig release. That has become very important to us; these random sounds and even phrases that become a sort of trademark sound of Craig.
??:Your run 3 labels, yes? So what are the differences between EARJERK recs, TREE tapes and OBJECT tapes? both idealogical and technical?
Object Tapes came first. It is mostly lo-fi, loose jams, field recordings and collages from my archives (which is basically two milk crates filled with caseless cassettes. (All the cases get used for releases!) Object started out as an outlet for all these pieces I really wanted to see released but wasn’t sure what label would release them. I was incorporating a lot of my field recordings and odd sounds into a lot of The Davenport Family jams (now regrouped under the Second Family Band moniker), but I really wanted an outlet for some of the solo efforts and off shoots of the band members. The Teargas Tournament, TED SAK, Postage, Grass Magic. These are all projects that involved members of the Second Family but were really something altogether different. Object Tapes may be trashed soon.
Earjerk Records was started with the idea of releasing LP and CD versions of some of the older Object Tapes releases as well as anything we find freaky enough to be LP worthy.
Tree tapes is actually Woodman’s (from Drunjus) label. I just distribute his stuff on my site.
??:Tell us what should i do to be released on your label?
Well, I am swamped with releases right now. I have tapes coming out from The Second Family Band, Absinthe Minds, Spiral Joy Band, The Blithe Sons and Andy Futreal just to name a few. The best thing to remember about sending me demos is
A. SEND A DEMO: ( EarjerkRecords - 114 N. Brearly St.- Madison, WI. – 53703 ). Don’t send me files or links to your myspace, because I can’t stand listening to music at the computer and downloading shit for me is a pain. I did have one guy contact me and say that he was from a third world Country and would I please listen to his downloadable file because he couldn’t afford postage. Now, for that I can make an exception, but generally a tape or cdr is nice.
B. Try to avoid sending me digital, industrial or electronic music. These sounds hurt my ears. I like fuzzy analog sound, field recordings or freak-out / folky jam sessions. The drone thing gets tiring, but if done right it can floor me. Really I am open to releasing any type of music. It just has to strike me.
C. Be patient. I get quite a bit of stuff (although not enough!) and listening to it all can take time . That being said, I also have a bit of a memory problem. (I can’t remember anything.) So, please, if you send me something (demo’s, trades, cash for releases) and you don’t here from me, don’t hesitate to contact me again. You should always assume I have gotten carried away with three other projects and not just assume I am a bum. I am not the type to get annoyed with persistent artists/customers.
??:Please write the latest bands/projects' recordings that made you wonder? why?
First thing that comes to mind is Ignatz. Where is this guy coming from? Man! When I first heard that Miles Devans release ‘Atlantic Woman’ on the Pacific City label I was just amazed. I never do this anymore but I immediately went about trying to get my hands on everything he did. Here is kind of a weird story too: I half-way credit Ignatz with getting the Second Family Band together. Clay (Ruby) had been touring with Sylvester Anfang when in Europe. Well, now he was back in the states and we were toying with the idea of getting the Davenport crew back together under a different name and with an even more improvisational/communal approach, without Clay or his ideas as the central focus. When I happened to tell Clay that this guy Ignatz was playing Milwaukee and I wanted everybody to go down for the show, Clay clued me in to the fact that Ignatz was going to be Sylvester Anfangs newest guitarist and said maybe we should try to contact his agent. We did and were immediately put on the bill as the opener. It was a trip. I went from having the giddiest fan-boy obsession with this guys music to playing a gig with him within the space of a month or two. AND he played with us for our set!
Anyway,to answer your question; when I would listen to any Ignatz releases, I would be so blown away and fascinated with the sound and I thought, “Gee, if this guy plays live, how will he do it?” You see he has this real hazed out 1930’s radio sound and I was convinced that half of his sound came from the traditional “record-really-loud-on-a-crappy-old-recorder” routine, and I thought, “it just won’t be the same live.” It did make me wonder. I really thought that during a live gig it just wouldn’t translate. But thankfully, when I did see him perform I was floored. It really sounded just like it did on the tape! Somehow this guy has developed this intricate set of connected pedals that achieves this old gritty dirty sound! How does he do that? I don’t know.
??:I suppose you should be bored with all those serious looking power electronics / noise artist, what's your attitude towards it?
Some people can pull it off and some can’t. It seems if you take yourself too seriously it can come off cheesy. I just don’t see a predominance of creativity in the noise/power electronics field. It seems lately that everyone is interested in noise for all the wrong reasons. I really feel it has reached the point (at least in the states) where, these kids with the indy rock bands and such are all seeing Wolf Eyes or whoever getting press and they say “Hey I can do that too! I will just get a bunch of pedals and away I go!” But you can’t. That is just disrespectful to the Artist who have been doing this for so long. It is not always about being as loud and annoying as possible. It is sometimes about feeling and texture and different combinations of mood evoking sounds.
??:Does silence exist? What is silence for you?
Oooh. Getting all abstract and philosophical now huh? There is always sound if there is a receiver. So maybe I will answer that one when I am dead.
??:Are there any other things you would like to talk about?
I think we covered everything. I don’t do many interviews and I like the way these question made me think about the works I do. If I was going to talk about anything else I guess it would be my solo works recorded under the name Pan to Scratch (which is mainly field recording and site-specific work) and some of the other projects I am involved in (Drunjus, The Second Family Band etc…). also I would like to talk about my other projects and Mansfields other projects Garage Indians (see pic) / Bath Ghoul cd-r's. Because both of our side projects are more active than Craig, right now. But things with Craig are in the works...shows, recordings etc...
??:Would you agree with me that in this world anyone chooses to be/become strong or weak (in all senses)? Then, can we say that certain music does (make) us stronger or weaker? And what can we say about CMS music if we think about that?
I don’t know that I agree. Some people are made weak by there environmental surroundings. In what way can music make us weak? Maybe we cry when we hear some old blues singer or maybe we damage our ears from Harsh Noise, but somehow that too can make us stronger. I think all music has the potential to make you stronger. But you have to listen.
??:Are there any sounds better than other?
There are better recordings. No better sounds. All sounds are equal.
