The Début Recording by the Tape-beatles

‘A Subtle Buoyancy of Pulse’ CD Re-issue Captures More

Hear some
sample tracks
from our recordings

DISCOGRAPHY FILMOGRAPHY
Audio • Minneapolis Summit (MiniCD) • Numbers (9-inch EP) • Good Times • Matter • The Grand Delusion • Music with Sound • A subtle buoyancy of pulse
Video • Minneapolis Summit (Mini VideoCD) • Matter (video) • The Grand Delusion (video)

A subtle buoyancy of pulse, the first recording by the Tape-beatles (1988), was painstakingly remastered and re-sequenced some 10 years after its initial release. Originally a cassette-only release, it created something of a stir in the home-taper community and cassette underground when it first came out on the Plagiarism® label. Lang Thompson, writing for Option, October 1988, said:

The Tape-beatles don’t just go after easy targets or use a shotgun approach hoping something will work. Their focus and sense of purpose make it worth the attention paid to their dense, associative mix. Like early Firesign Theater, you can’t catch everything in just one listening. Especially insightful are the pieces dealing with politically-oriented artists and trendy esthetic theories, because the Tape-beatles are too smart to just ridicule them. The Tape-beatles also want to create new, politically responsive art, but they’re working on more effective ways of creating it.

The original cassette edition, dubbed one at a time in Lloyd’s bedroom, eventually sold over 850 copies. Staalplaat eventually picked up the title for release on CD. We daresay, it still has the ability to delight and reward repeat listenings.

In the process of remastering, some previously unavailable pieces have been mixed down and added to the track list. This is a blatantly commercial ploy to get people who would otherwise be completely satisfied with their well-worn old cassette copies to feel dissatisfaction and replace them with these shiny new new-car-smell jewel-boxed audio gewgaws.