A Touch of Despair

The project "The Tapes" by Giancarlo Drago developed over a span of 10 years, between 1982 and 1992.
 In 2016 the project went back to life.

In 1982, Drago recorded his first tape using toy instruments and creating loops with cassettes, influenced by industrial and new wave music.
Using a self-built analogue echo unit that produced an incredible background noise, which would become a hallmark of many compositions, along with manipulated radio sounds.
Later, Drago incorporated analogue instruments such as the Korg MS-20, the Roland SH-101, a Roland TR-707 drum machine, and the Casio SK-1, which introduced him to sampling (which he would extensively use in his future productions), along with a Tascam 4-track for recording.
Chance and error as a form of art are recurring themes in THE TAPES work.

In the final years of the decade, Giancarlo's brother, Roberto, joined THE TAPES.
"A Touch of Despair" dates back to 1986.
Recorded live on a standard 2-track cassette recorder, using a 4-channel Fostex mixer, the infamous echo unit, a Korg MS-20, and toy instruments like a plastic trumpet.
It is undoubtedly the darkest and most industrial work in THE TAPES production.

The cover features a photo of what the musician saw from his bedroom window, where he recorded:
rooftops of industrial factories, with a distant steel mill emitting smoke.

Immersed in the music and industrial culture of the time (Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, W.S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard, W. Gibson, B. Sterling, P.K. Dick), "A Touch of Despair" represents one of the brightest examples of the Italian "tape culture" of the 1980s.
As well as a significant testament to creating music that defies the passage of time by experimenting with extremely limited technical means and relying on passion, motivation, and creativity.

This CD re-issue features three additional unreleased tracks recorded in same period.
The two lengthy tracks of "A Touch of Despair" were recorded nearly forty years ago but still have a very contemporary feeling.

Tracklist:
1  A Touch of Despair Part 1   22:22
2  A Touch of Despair Part 2   23:19
3  Entrance (intro)   1:42
4  Entrance Part 1   8:23
5 Entrance Part 2   9:30

« back