The Tapes

Selected Works 1982 - 1992

BY Bryon HayesPublished Oct 28, 2016

7
Commencing with a bloodcurdling scream most likely lifted from a low budget giallo film, this stark collection of icy Italian proto-industrial throb sets a dark tone immediately. These sinister sounds, clinical yet far from crisp, were sourced from a number of very rare cassettes and lovingly compiled by Alessio Natalizia (Not Waving) for the Ecstatic imprint. 
 
Selected Works 1982 - 1992 is an apt demonstration of the sonic sorcery in which the brothers Giancarlo and Roberto Drago were involved over the course of a very fruitful decade. Fusing primitive samples and loops, monophonic synthesizers and drum machines, the Drago brothers — recording as the Tapes — produced a pitch-black body of work that would fit nicely alongside the Hospital Productions catalogue or the discography of lo-fi black magicians German Army. Yet for each noise-infused track like "Time Out of Joint," there's a piece with a subtle groove hidden beneath (see "Il Tempio"), proving that the Drago brothers couldn't prevent small splinters of light from eventually finding their way through their darkest patches of fog. 
 
It's this temperance, firmly on display across these two slabs of vinyl, that makes this an essential collection of almost nascent industrial music.
(Ecstatic)

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