The debut album of pioneering electronic group Tangerine Dream is getting a reissue on cassette by Radiation Records.
Electronic Meditation is the only album to feature the lineup of Edgar Froese, Klaus Schulze and Conrad Schnitzler. Schulze & Schnitzler went on to have solo careers as electronic artists.
Recorded in a rented factory in Berlin in 1969 using only a Revox two-track, Electronic Meditation is arguably Tangerine Dream at its most experimental, but also captures the band at its embryonic state, sounding less like an electronic band than more of a psychedelic rock band. The band plays guitar, organ, drums, custom-made and found sound such as such broken glass, burning parchment, and dried peas being shaken in a sieve.
It’s available to pre-order via Forced Exposure.
Certainly not the best TD album. Used to have this on vinyl, and was barely listening to it. Sad to think that two of the early members are now dead. Time flies.
Why release it on cassette?!
Cassettes sound pretty awesome if you own a decent quality tape deck. Nobody has one though. Or very few at least. These days it’s just some kind of hipster homage to times they never even experienced. Retro for retro sake.
Being handed a mixtape after a night in a club or some electronic act releasing their debut EP on cassette. It’s just like a promo or flyer or something. Will likely just end up gathering dust or put in a bin.
The real use for cassettes these days is for sound design, sampling, re-sampling and other creative audio uses.
Vinyl I can get behind and do collect. ….cassettes, that’s a hard pass.
Its mainly for purists. Its more like TD drying its wings in the sun before it took off in its classic form.