Cassette Culture

The strange, uncompromising world of Alien Brains, the project led by Nigel Jacklin that helped define the outer edges of the early 1980s DIY cassette underground. Emerging from a school science lab, inspired by John Cage and nurtured by the fledgling cassette network, Alien Brains rejected conventional song structures in favour of pure spontaneity, raw improvisation and a deliberate embrace of failure as an artistic possibility.
The DIY cassette scene of 1979, with its “it's easy, cheap, go and do it” ethos, provided the perfect outlet for these early recordings. Mark Lancaster of The Instant Automatons and Deleted Records recalls encountering Nigel, playing an early gig with him at his school, and releasing the first Alien Brains cassette “Menial Disorders”.
The story takes a notorious turn into the heart of the British public school system. As head of the Rock Society at Oundle School, Nigel invites Throbbing Gristle and Monte Cazazza to perform in the main hall, a collision of avant-garde industrial noise and traditional boarding school culture. We find a recording of Cosey Fanni Tutti sharing her memories of the shock induced by the performance - to teachers and pupils alike. For some it was an outrage; for others, a transformative experience. The concert recordings were released by Industrial Records on VHS and cassette tape.
Richard Rupenus of the New Blockaders recalls finding Deleted Records via an advert in the DIY Corner column of the music paper Sounds, ordering the first Alien Brains release and eventually joining the group. He describes the strange, semi-chaotic Alien Brains performance at The Basement in Newcastle in 1982, where the band added another layer to the experience by introducing pungent smells into the venue’s heating system.
Nigel picks up the thread to talk about working with non-musicians such as Neil Purvis, echoing John Cage’s belief that people without formal training can be freer of inherited constraints. He describes recordings made in unlikely spaces – a disused Second World War water tower, an out-of-tune piano in a Women’s Institute hut – and a string of performances, including a sparsely attended but historically rich show at Centro Iberico on Harrow Road in London, a squatted former school where Throbbing Gristle and Whitehouse had previously played. An excerpt from this performance would later appear on the “British Interiors” cassette, with members of Nurse With Wound among the few in the audience that night.
Philip Sanderson of Storm Bugs and Snatch Tapes, recalls habits in the pre-internet era when people simply turned up at your house if they’d found your address on a tape insert. He remembers Nigel arriving at his place and joining in impromptu recording sessions that turned everyday spaces and objects – old school buildings, gas pipes, scraping furniture – into sound sources, a UK parallel to the kind of improvised noise later associated with acts like The New Blockaders.
The network kept widening. A chance meeting at Rough Trade in London connected Nigel with the Dutch scene and led to a New Year's Eve concert in Amsterdam — the biggest Alien Brains ever played. Bendle of The Door and the Window became a regular collaborator, the two of them hanging microphones out of windows to capture street conversations, feeding urban collage into the Alien Brains machine.
By the 1985, it was over. A final performance at the Architectural Association — a mess of equipment, wires and confusion for someone's degree show — Nigel takes a taxi home and that was the end of Alien Brains.

Hosted by Martin Franklin.
Theme music "This Is Concrete" by The Happy Citizen.
IN THIS EPISODE
THANKS
We have benefited from the extensive knowledge of Richard Rupenus for many elements in this episode. Including sourcing of the recording of the message left by Nigel on the Industrial Records telephone answering machine in 1980.
VOICES
Martin Franklin
Mark Lancaster
Philip Sanderson
Bendle

Cosey Fanni Tutti & Chris Carter, recorded at Rough Trade East in conversation with Luke Turner of The Quietus.

Nigel Jacklin, read by Robert Hayes.
Richard Rupenus, read by Tim Nice.
MUSIC
Alien Brains, "Blatantly Nihilist" (Fashionable Trousers 1980)
Alien Brains "Menial Disorders" (Deleted Records 1980)
"The Preparation For The Corruption Ov Oundle Public School " Nigel Jacklin answer machine message, 23 Drifts to Guestling (Iham Productions)
Throbbing Gristle at Oundle School (Industrial Records, VHS)
Alien Brains "Live at the Basement "(Aeon/VLZ Productions)
"Song" Nigel Jacklin, Snatch 3 (Snatch Tapes)
Alien Brains "British Interiors" (self-released)
Alien Brains "Der Blaunk Tepes" (self-released)
Verdansgang "And It's There" (ADN Tapes)
The excellent Alien Brains box set "It's All History Now - Tape Works 1979-1985" is released on Vinyl On Demand (Cat. VOD123)
(www.vod-records.com/-1-18-471.htm)
FIND US
https://cassetteculturepodcast.com
SUPPORTERS
Help us keep Cassette Culture alive! This podcast is enabled by generous supporters who contribute toward the costs of researching, producing and publishing each episode. You can become one of them at: https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribe



Cassette Culture is produced by Martin Franklin for East Coast Studio (https://eastcoaststudio.com.au)
Help keep Cassette Culture alive - Become a Supporter: https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribe
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A hard to imagine London of derelict warehouses and ruined public buildings birthed the short, intense life of Snatch Tapes, the late-70s cassette label founded by Philip Sanderson of Storm Bugs. Launched in 1979, Snatch Tapes became a focal point for electronic and experimental musicians pushing beyond conventional song structures and embracing the possibilities of electronics, tape loops and DIY distribution.
Sanderson reflects on his early experiments with circuit-bent cassette recorders and transistor radios, the handmade oscillations that powered his duo Storm Bugs, and his time at Goldsmiths University’s Electronic Music Studio
Central to the story is Sanderson’s playful subversion of identity. Through the invented electronic duo Claire Thomas and Susan Vesey, he provoked an overwhelmingly male scene and inadvertently attracted the attention of Cherry Red Records. When Cherry Red, via A&R figure Mike Alway, sought to develop the duo into a full vinyl release, the elaborate fiction began to unravel in a farcical chain of meetings and the eventual confessions.
As Snatch Tapes gathered momentum, a loose but vibrant network formed around it. Contributors included Lemon Kittens, David Jackman, Nigel Jacklin, The New Blockaders, Cultural Amnesia, Beach Surgeon, N4’s, Alien Brains and more.
Yet by 1981, after three intense years, Sanderson chose to step back. The label passed briefly to David Jackman before dissolving into the wider flow of 1980's cassette activity.
Looking back, Sanderson identifies 1980 as both the peak of Snatch Tapes and a high-water mark for the cassette underground’s visibility. For a fleeting moment, it seemed possible that DIY cassettes might become a genuine alternative channel for direct music distribution.
Featuring recollections from Philip Sanderson, Gerard Greenway and Nigel Jacklin, this episode documents a formative chapter in UK cassette culture.

Hosted by Martin Franklin.
Theme music “This Is Concrete” by The Happy Citizen
LINKS
Snatch Tapes: https://snatchtapes.bandcamp.com/
Goldsmiths University Electronic Music Studio: https://sites.gold.ac.uk/electronic-music-studios/
Cultural Amnesia: https://culturalamnesia.com
VIDEO
You can find videos of some of the amazing fanzines and cassette releases that drop through our letterbox on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@CassetteCulturePodcast
IN THIS EPISODE
VOICES
Martin Franklin
Philip Sanderson
Gerard Greenway, read by Sean Holland (joinedupthink.co.uk)
Nigel Jacklin, read by Robert Hayes
MUSIC
“Call” Orior, Snatch 3 (Snatch Tapes 1981)
“Window shopping” Storm Bugs, Table Matters (1979)
“Hodge” Storm Bugs, A Safe Substitute (Snatch Tapes)
"N4s” N4s, Snatch 1 (Snatch Tapes)
“Cultural Amnesia Dub” Snatch 2 (Snatch Tapes)
“Ashes & Diamonds” Claire Thomas, Snatch 3 (Snatch Tapes)
“Reprint 2” Claire Thomas & Susan Vesey, Reprint (Snatch Tapes)
“Soley From” Storm Bugs, A Safe Substitute (Snatch Tapes)
“Untitled” Alien Brains, British Interiors, 1982
“Song” Nigel Jacklin, Snatch 3 (Snatch Tapes)
“Under Press Of Sail” Claire Thomas & Susan Vesey, Snatch 1 (Snatch Tapes) 1980
“Bright Waves” Claire Thomas & Susan Vesey, Reprint (Snatch Tapes) 1980
Many thanks to Jonny Zhivago and the invaluable resource for underground music that is Die Or DIY (https://dieordiy2.blogspot.com/)
FIND US
https://cassetteculturepodcast.com
SUPPORTERS
Help us keep Cassette Culture alive! This podcast is enabled by generous supporters who gift a small monthly contribution toward the costs of researching, producing and publishing each episode. You can become one of them at:
https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribe

Cassette Culture is produced by Martin Franklin for East Coast Studio (https://eastcoaststudio.com.au)
Help keep Cassette Culture alive - Become a Supporter: https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribe
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emerging from the squats, free gigs and improvised studios of late-70’s Portobello Road, F*ck Off Records operated at the volatile intersection of hippie idealism and punk DIY. Active between 1979 and 1982, the label released copied-to-order cassettes alongside a small number of vinyl EPs and LPs with music by Alternative TV, The 012, Danny & The Dressmakers, Here & Now, The Instant Automatons, The Androids Of Mu and their many collaborators.
Founded by Kif Kif Le Batteur and Jonathan Barnett in a period when Portobello was dense with creative possibility: vacant houses, squatted venues, free festivals and heaps of talent.
We join Jonathan Barnett to trace the roots of the label through the influences of Sniffin’ Glue and Mark Perry to Here & Now’s free-music ethos and open minded approach to supporting others. Central to the label’s emergence was Street Level Studios, a low-cost recording space that allowed bands to record without compromise, and the cassette as a format that made duplication, circulation and autonomy possible.
Hosted by Martin Franklin.
Theme music “This Is Concrete” by The Happy Citizen
KIF KIF
We would like to dedicate this episode to the memory of Keith Dobson aka Kif Kif Le Batteur, who passed away in July 2025. His influence runs through the whole scene that we document in Cassette Culture, and joins many dots in my own life. We are proud to be able to tell at least a small part of his story and so sorry that we just missed him.
(https://www.eatsdrinksandleaves.com/rip-keith-dobson-1956-2025/)

LINKS
Portobello Film Festival (https://www.portobellofilmfestival.com/)
“Floating Anarchy” Here & Now documentary (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsg8cMdYtuM)
Good article on the late-70’s Punk/DIY scene by Bob Stanley:
Birth Of The Uncool (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/mar/31/popandrock1)
VIDEO
You can find videos of some of the amazing fanzines and cassette releases that drop through our letterbox on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@CassetteCulturePodcast
IN THIS EPISODE
VOICES
Martin Franklin
Jonathan Barnett
Keith Dobson, aka Kif Kif Le Batteur
Mark Automaton
MUSIC
“The Ballad of F*ck Off Records” The 012, Weird Noise EP (F*ck Off Records 1980)
“Allez Alibaba” Planet Gong, Floating Anarchy 1977 (Charly Records 1978)
“Terrified of Dogs” Alternative TV, Back To Sing For Free Again Soon compilation (F*ck Off Records 1979)
“Pretty Nun” Androids of Mu, F*ck Off Demo Tape (F*ck Off Records 1979)
“Too Big” The Instant Automatons
“Drop Dead” / “Don’t Make Another Bass Guitar, Mr Rickenbacker” Danny and the Dressmakers, Back To Sing For Free Again Soon compilation (F*ck Off Records 1979)
“Total Disregard for Greenwich Theatre” ATV/The Good Missionaries, Scars On Sunday (F*ck Off Records 1980)
Fish From Tahiti — The 012, Weird Sampler (F*ck Off Records 1981)
Asbestos Lead Asbestos — World Domination Enterprises, Let’s Play Domination (Product Inc 1984)

Many thanks to Jonny Zhivago and the invaluable resource for underground music that is Die Or DIY (https://dieordiy2.blogspot.com/)
FIND US
https://cassetteculturepodcast.com
SUPPORTERS
Help us keep Cassette Culture alive! This podcast is enabled by generous supporters who gift a small monthly contribution toward the costs of researching, producing and publishing each episode. You can become one of them at:
https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribe

Cassette Culture is produced by Martin Franklin for East Coast Studio (https://eastcoaststudio.com.au)
Help keep Cassette Culture alive - Become a Supporter: https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribe
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After we spoke with Mark Automaton for our episode on Deleted Records and the Instant Automatons, he kindly shared his recollections of the music and bands presented on the legendary “Deleted Funtime” compilation, released by Deleted Records in 1980.
Originally compiled by Martin “Protag” Naish of the Automatons, and featuring 34 tracks by various outsider musicians and misfits from across the booming cassette network in the UK.
Filling a c90 cassette and in 1980, available for 60p and a self-addressed envelope direct from the band - we’ve omitted a few tracks where they were by the same band or sometimes where we had no recollections to share.
The tape hiss you’ll hear on the music tracks is original, mostly due to the sometimes third generation tape copies that were the sources for the compilation.
IN THIS EPISODE
VOICES
Martin Franklin
Mark Lancaster
MUSIC
Missing Persons "Chemical Solutions"
Colin Potter "Power"
Stabmental "Thin Veil Of Blood"
The Midnight Circus "Obsession"
391 "Prisoner Of The Living Room"
The Door And The Window "Habits"
The Digital Dinosaurs "Fingers And Thumbs"
Lurch "Single Symphony Excerpt"
The Mystic Umbrellas "Journey To The West"
The Digital Dinosaurs "Walking Out"
Merz "Spud-Dream"
Duo Elettronica "Duo Elettronica Tape Excerpt"
Mic Woods "Little Girl"
The Instant Automatons "Disillusion"
Alien Brains "Alien Brains Excerpts"
Heddon Street W1 "We Wanna Pogo"
LINKS
https://www.waterden.net/
https://markautomaton.bandcamp.com/
The Luxury Of Dreams: An Autobiography, by Mark Automaton
https://amzn.asia/d/bS6PSxt
FIND US
https://cassetteculturepodcast.com
SUPPORTERS
Help us keep Cassette Culture alive! This podcast is enabled by generous supporters who gift a small monthly contribution toward the costs of researching, producing and publishing each episode. You can become one of them at:
https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribe


Cassette Culture is produced by Martin Franklin for East Coast Studio (https://eastcoaststudio.com.au)


Help keep Cassette Culture alive - Become a Supporter: https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribe
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emerging from the same late-1970s underground that fuelled punk, DIY cassette culture, and European electronic experimentation, we explore the influence of Colin Potter - sound artist, producer, and founder of Integrated Circuit Records (ICR)
From beginnings building crude oscillators and fuzz boxes to university access to an EMS Synthi A, his path reflects a generation discovering sound through curiosity rather than convention.
We track the growth of ICR from a mail-order cassette operation into one of the UK’s most important underground labels of the early 1980s. Starting with cooperative compilation LPs and cassettes, Potter helped connect artists working across abstract electronics, industrial, cosmic music, and experimental sound - including The Instant Automatons, The Legendary Pink Dots, Carl Matthews, The Door and The Window, and many others.
We hear how Potter’s cassette duplication service became a crucial infrastructure for labels such as Third Mind Tapes. That practical role also led to deeper artistic collaborations, most notably with Nurse With Wound, Current 93, and Steven Stapleton, where Potter’s studio became a space that hosted creative risk, sonic transformation, and unconventional production.
Featuring contributions from Colin Potter, Jonathan Colclough, Gary Levermore, Mark Lancaster, this episode examines how technical generosity, and openness to experimentation helped shape the 45 years of underground electronic music released on ICR.
Hosted by Martin Franklin.
Theme music “This Is Concrete” by The Happy Citizen

LINKS
Colin Potter/ICR:
https://icrdistribution.com/
https://icrdistribution.bandcamp.com/
VIDEO
You can find videos of some of the amazing fanzines and cassette releases that drop through our letterbox on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@CassetteCulturePodcast
IN THIS EPISODE
VOICES
Martin Franklin
Jerry Kranitz
Colin Potter
Jonathan Coleclough
Mark Lancaster
Gary Levermore
MUSIC
“Off The Graph” Colin Potter, The Ghost Office, Mirage
“We Are So Glad” Colin Potter, We Couldn’t Agree On a Title, (IRC001)
“The No. 1 Entertainer” The Door & The Window, Weird Noise E.P. (FO Records FEP001)
“Invertebrates” The Instant automatons, We Couldn’t Agree On A Title, LP (IRC001)
“Sentimental” Those Little Aliens, We Couldn’t Agree On a Title, LP (IRC001)
“Ismalla” Those Little Aliens, Flowmotion, (ICR 003)
“Power” Colin Potter, The Scythe, (ICR002)
“Harmless Thought” Carl Matthews, Integration, (ICR 012)
“One Million Blades Of Grass” Colin Potter, Visions, (Third Mind Tapes TMT009)
“The Self Sufficient Sexual Shoe” Nurse With Wound, Rock n Roll Station, (United Dairies)
“As Above, So Below” Carl Matthews, Flowmotion compilation, (ICR 003)

Many thanks to Jonny Zhivago and the invaluable resource for underground music that is Die Or DIY (https://dieordiy2.blogspot.com/)
FIND US
https://cassetteculturepodcast.com
SUPPORTERS
Help us keep Cassette Culture alive! This podcast is enabled by generous supporters who gift a small monthly contribution toward the costs of researching, producing and publishing each episode. You can become one of them at:
https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribe


Cassette Culture is produced by Martin Franklin for East Coast Studio (https://eastcoaststudio.com.au)
Help keep Cassette Culture alive - Become a Supporter: https://cassetteculturepodcast.bandcamp.com/subscribe
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.