Sorry, I simply can't keep my mouth shut. But this may well be the last time, here at the once wonderful ELECTRONIC COTTAGE. It is about time to make some definite statements.

Once upon a time it was a thrilling and inspiring moment to follow the ELECTRONIC COTTAGE link, the one I have on my link list. The link list that takes me to my carefully choosen positive parts of the internet, the internet that in general became a dirty world of horror, pain and exploitation. I had found some nice, informative, truly independent isles to visit. One was ELECTRONIC COTTAGE.

Today a visit to ELECTRONIC COTTAGE leads to a feeling between sadness and being reminded on the negative. Lets face it - the original ELECTRONIC COTTAGE was murdered by FACEBOOK.

The very moment the EC FACEBOOK group was established, ELECTRONIC COTTAGE started to die a quite sudden death.

A generally accepted attitude towards social media should be known. More and more articles in the normal mainstream press define what would have to happen, to make social media a positive aspect of human society.

It is recognized that the current state of social media  is spreading hatred and and even homicide. Every picture sent to grandma via FACEBOOK supports and consolidates this state. Every move in FACEBOOK may kill something outside of FACEBOOK. Either a politician, as it happened in Germany, or a small alternative online magazine, as it happened with ELECTRONIC COTTAGE.

As usual, those responsible do not react, so the situation gets worse and worse. Remember 50 years ago it was already obvious that we have to change our behaviour towards the nature of planet earth ... nothing happened - it continues to be exploited.

I just always have to move on. I'll delete the ELECTRONIC COTTAGE link from my link list. I don't want to be reminded on the negative of today on a daily basis - I'll keep looking for the positive minded alternatives.

There is always a alternative - I wish more people would realise and act. I'm moving on ...

I receive more and more unpersonal bulk mail. Zillions of *very important* musicians and labels with new releases offering download for airplay. I'm not going down that road.

Instead I'll adjust my work to the many good/timless quality physical releases I received in recent years that I still regard as *new* releases.

So if you send a physical release (which I know is a financial effort!) you can be sure it will get a very long time of *promotion* here - any sound, any style.

A good example of what happened to the so called *independent / alternative* scene in recent years, is the development of *The Indie Bible* ( https://indiebible.com/ ), which was a great idea in the beginning. I remember the CD David Wimble (who later founded The Indie Bible) sent in 1999. A fresh, unique, non-fashion folky sound. David realised that it would be very important to have a source to give the *indie* musicians contacts needed. Venues, labels, radioshows etc. The first editions of the Indie Bible reminded me on my own address collections I sent out in the 80s/90s. It all was very sympatico and I wrote articles for the Bible for free.

Look at the Indie Bible today - a big biz kind of internet venue, that keeps sending countless reminders on biz related subjects. The more I received this, the more I was repulsed from this developement in the now *so called* indie/alternative world.

I fully understand that you all want to make your music heard (and sell it) but as usual something is going very wrong these days. Everything seems *bigger/better/more/more/more* orriented, which always was a misslead way.

I'm not really judging anything here - if you want to go *big*, there seem to be ways on today's internet. If you want to go *personal* with your music - come to me.

I stopped  cooperating with KWTF.net. After some incidents that made a closer communication important, I tried to establish this ... and it did not work at all. No real cooperation possible without any communication. So after producing a weekly show for the station for 8 years, they became the biggest disappointment I ever experienced in the *alternative underground*.

So I decided to start producing a monthly second hour for Radio Marabu ( http://www.Radio-Marabu.de ). A reliable station in Germany. I'm cooperating with them since the early 1990s. This second hour will often have a special *theme*.

Plus there is sure still the more bizarre/experimental_ish Lord Litter's Radio On Berlin show ( http://www.Radio-On-Berlin.com ), which gives me space to explore.

All shows will be also made available via archive.org - https://archive.org/details/@lord_litter

My own (solo) music is still on some kind of almost hiatus. It seems after 40 years I perhaps need some kind of break ... but ... then it probably just slowed down a bit. Forthcomming is a release with Didier Leboz - it will be an electroacoustic concept work about the update times in german langugage. We were in Das Freie Orchester (DFO) in the 90s. I joined the band the day the wall came down in Berlin ( DFO movie: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_freie_Orchester_(Film) - DFO music with and without me: https://soundcloud.com/dasfreieorchester ). Plus I have produced all kind of experimental_soundscape compilation tracks for cassette/cd-r releases for labels like STAALTAPE ( http://staaltape.com/ ).

PS: After sending out parts of this with my emails, I received some very fine in depth reactions by a small dedicated crew -  the *alternative* is alive. You know my email address - I'm here!

1. Jens Fischer Rodrian - Der Fisch
2. Jens Fischer Rodrian - Seelen schweben
3. Jens Fischer Rodrian - Das Glücksglas
4. Jens Fischer Rodrian - Was bleibt
1-4 - CD - Wahn&Sinn - https://www.fischer-wahn-und-sinn.com


5. Dereck Higgins, Bret H. Hart - Grasping the Nettle - CD - Ear-Sculpture 1
6. Dereck Higgins, Bret H. Hart - An Era of Fiskill
7. Dereck Higgins, Bret H. Hart - Fuzzy Sketch of Tulips
5-7 Ear Sculture 2 -  https://bhhstuff.bandcamp.com/


8. Don Campau - Panoply (excerpt) - CD-R - Panoply, the Tape Germ Mixes - https://www.electroniccottage.org/don-campau/panoply-the-tape-germ-mixes - http://www.DonCampau.com


9. V-Sor,X - Conversation With - CD - A Strip Of Light But Still Too dark - http://www.vsorx.co.uk


10. Anton Barbeau - Go! -  CD - antronica - http://www.AntonBarbeau.com


11. Ken Elkinson - River of Joy - CD - Chilltopia - https://www.kenelkinson.com/


12. Tom Furgas - Rht Tumbwhot - CD-R - Cruvsa Dristrop - http://livingarchive.doncampau.com/interviews/tom-furgas - https://www.electroniccottage.org/tom-furgas/cruvsa-dristrop

 
>> Darrell Draeger's Facts Myths & Lies of D.I.Y Music 1987-1993
13. Dogue - First...and Then - MC - Carrion Dog/Dogue - Split Tape (1991)
14. Hermanos Guzanos - The Alley (1990) - MC/Audiofile tapes - CD-R/Orange Entropy
12/13 - http://1980scassetteculture.blogspot.com/


15. Little Fyodor - Trump Loves You - CD - Pathi Romantic Ballads - artist: http://www.littlefyodor.com/ - release:
https://littlefyodor.bandcamp.com/album/pithy-romantic-ballads - Trump Loves You (video)https://vimeo.com/350622981/118e33fb8f 

1. Don Campau - kwashiorkor - CD-R - Panoply - https://www.electroniccottage.org/don-campau/panoply-the-tape-germ-mixes - http://www.DonCampau.com

 
2. Ear Sculture - B​-​Machine Gray 1a
3. Ear Sculture - Grasping the Nettle
4. Ear Sculture - The Undersea Universe
2-4 CD - D. Higgins​/​B. Hart: Ear​-​Sculpture 1 - https://bhhstuff.bandcamp.com/


5. Charles Rice Goff III - L'America
6. Charles Rice Goff III - The Crystal Ship
5/6 CD-R - Swinging From Loose Hinges - https://archive.org/details/SwingingFromLooseHinges - review: https://www.electroniccottage.org/jerry-kranitz/charles-rice-goff-iii-swinging-from-loose-hinges-review


>>> from the Fruits De Mer "17th Dream of Dr. Sardonicus Festival of Psychedelia " goodie bag (Festival SOLD OUT!)
7 Shane Morris & Mystified - Triassic Extinction - CD - Epoch - https://spottedpeccary.com/shop/epoch/
8. Sendelica, Secret Knowledge, The Orb - Chocolate Orb Dubbed Mix - color vinyl 12" http://www.fruitsdemerrecords.com

>> Darrell Draeger's Facts Myths & Lies of D.I.Y Music 1987-1993
9. Animation Festival - Exalted - MC - 1988 "Harsh Reality" release by Michael Behaviour - "Exalted I"
10. Ken Clinger & Tom Burris - One Bad Cat
11. Ken Clinger & Tom Burris - ClownSong
10/11 MC - The Story of Chester Bovine (1989)
http://1980scassetteculture.blogspot.com/


12. Mental Anguish - Danger Humidity Cloak !
13. Mental Anguish - Long As She Can (excerpt)
12/13 CD-R - Red Eclipse - https://www.electroniccottage.org/chris-phinney/mental-anguish-red-eclipse-cd - Harsch Reality story http://www.haltapes.com/harsh-reality-music.html

Info: Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned coal-fired power station, located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Nine Elms, Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is now transformed into a modern habitat, as a *positive* example how to update today's cities. I very much doubt all these activities, because they are only based on the aim of profit by so called *investors*.

LL: I first heard about the The Battersea Power Station project when I received this from STAALTAPE, Berlin.

Dear Sir,

Such a fine future we were all thinking of. And look around now, peak into social networks and personal blogs. The future is an abandoned space. People who go there come back with dystopian views of a world stripped of any human qualities.

The present offers a grim reality, a result of “the general breakdown of society, politics, law and order, the infrastructure of our cities, the environment, the world...and even good manners when you get on the bus” as one blogger puts it.

We need change. We need a new vision that is not based on old belief systems, old philosophies, old moral judgements or on old grumpy men.

We need a new future.

We can envision the new future in beautiful pictures. We can take the best from social realism, the national socialist dream of purity, from the way Jehovah’s witnesses envision the world after the second coming of Jesus Christ, yes we can even use the feel-good vibes of the romantic comedy, the advertising campaigns based on lifestyle. These views of a pure future can be freed from their ideologic, religious and commercial connotations. We simply take the best. We create a healthy place where every individual can grow not only in a spiritual sense but also in wealth and wellbeing.

Architects and city developers are spearheading this movement. The Battersea Power Station project is a fine example of how a negative place can be transformed into a positive living experience.

We bring you the humble cassette, known for its iconic and unique form and its raw and authentic sound. The cassette was once a mass product. It offered freedom of choice to the people.

The people could decide which music they wanted to hear at any given hour of the day. It was a product of the technologic revolution that gave power to the people. All the sounds on the tape connect into the historic fabric of the city, but each track has its own identity and integrity. The sounds on this tape can help to built a space where people can come together to run workshops, to create, to innovate – or simply to socialise with other residents.

We do this by creating negative space. Music has negative space. The sounds define a space that lies at the other side of the border, not a physical border, but the border between the now and the past. The negative space creates a happy awareness of an old future that will never arrive, and of a new future that we are all willing to work for.

We can work on this together.

Let’s do it.

Yours sincerely,
Rinus Van Alebeek


LL: I closely cooperate with Rinus van Alebeek, so it was no question, I had to take part.

I just had some pictures to get the feeling of today's Battersea. I saw  a futuristic space with ant_like humans, happily swarming about. In an odd way I was reminded on the Mall of Romero's second Zombie movie. The only difference was that today all is *positive minded* by order.

With this in mind I created a soundscape which later was descibed as:"...time travelers ...entered a space where everything was frozen in its movements."

My piece ends with a lonely human being shouting *Hello*, with no answer from other living beings.

Power  to  the  People, Music for a New Future

A selected crew of artists created soundscapes for this cassette release, which will be the soundtrack of an exhibition that goes along with The Battersea Power Station project.

Read about the attitude of the exhibition here:

SALON OF CONVIVIALITY
PV: SATURDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2019, 7-9PM
OPEN: 15-28 SEPTEMBER, BY APPOINTMENT ONLY
http://artlacuna.org/#secondPage

The STAALTAPE cassette compilation will be released later this year.

STAALTAPE Info:

All  the  artists  that  have  contributed  to  this  work  of  sound  are  real persons.  The  aliases  are  exclusively  used  for  their  appearance  on staaltape.  Whilst  in  their  professional  life  the  artists  are  bound  by  the rules  and  regulations  dictated  by  the  music  industry  and  the expectations of their fans, on staaltape they have found the liberty to act freely.

Notwithstanding  the  obscurity  of  the  previous  staaltape  works  to  which the artists contributed like The Kylie Golden Mixtape, Make Incest Great Again or Dear Concerned Employees, the international press managed to get  hold  of  the  audio  files.  Leading  newspapers  like  The  Independent, The  Washington  Post,  Die  Süddeutsche  Zeitung  or  The  New  York  Times gave four and five star reviews. There is mention of positively restoring our  memory, ravished  delight or  its  worth  reminding  ourselves  of  the precarious existence of some of our favourite things.

Power to the People, Music for a New Future is another compelling work of  sound.  Inspired  by  the  graphic  presentation  of  the  Battersea Power Station Project the artists have transformed the area into a sonic vision. They have created a vibrant new approach to music that we can all be proud of.

Staaltape has set out to make Battersea a showcase for the world's very best musicians and sound artists and the compositions we are unveiling on this tape demonstrate that commitment in action.

The  artist’s  aim  is  fully  achieved:  A  determination  to  create  a  genuine sense of place in which people are proud to make their home and work.

The  compositions  are  meant  to  be  heard  at  moments  when  you  don’t expect  them.  Be  it  from  the  giant  chimneys,  on  The  Electric  Boulevard, dripping  down  from  The  Skyline,  in  a  remote  corner  of  the  parking space,  or  twinkling  between  the  residential  buildings  on  Prospect  Place, the sounds will offer a short and heartfelt moment of London’s history.

The ravens of the Tower, The Battle of Britain, the punk explosion or the speakers  at  Hyde  Park  Corner,  the  British  Empire,  The  iconic  image  of Battersea  Power  Station,  MI6,  Hammer  House  of  Horror,  the  early vaudeville years, there is more to these sounds than meets the ear.

The  collection  of  compositions  on Power  to  the  People,  Music  for  a New  Future  create  humanistic  environments  that feel  good  to  live  in and visit.

https://staaltape.wordpress.com/ - http://staaltape.com/

PS:

Inside the new Battersea Power Station

First 100 residents move in to first batch of swanky flats as vast £9bn development starts to rise from the rubble at the south London landmark

Pop veteran Sting, celebrity survival expert Bear Grylls and 1,400 Apple office workers will soon be neighbours – living and working alongside each other at Battersea Power Station.
 
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/13/inside-the-new-battersea-power-station

LL: I don't need more info to tell me that this *new Battersea* is NOT the people's (our) Battersea. I was right - it is already populated by zombies ...  am I the only one to see this in a very sceptic (lets be honest: very negative) way? ... as usual - this Battersea is by the rich for the rich.

https://batterseapowerstation.co.uk/

Battersea

download 200 MB album zip file, including PDF artwork
​Below the tracklist pic you can stream the separate tracks

B2. BETON TAPES (Haiko Herden): The Evasion On Stake - "Play Between The Sheets" - 1993

B4. IRRE TAPES (Matthias Lang) / FRACTION STUDIO (Michel Madrange):
​Mr. Moto & M. Nomized - "Acid Space" - 1995

43 of 55 EC Community members being on Facebook is the majority. It's a miracle EC works at all.

I'm spreading the following with every mail:

>> Social Media 2019
After recent events ... Social Media became the driving force on planet earth for Death, Destruction, Hate, Lies, Racism, Fascism, Homophobia and many more society corroding effects. 

All this is based on a system that works with addiction of the individual partaker. 
Addiction caused by structures, that use the longing of the human psyche. For example, "Likes" in Facebook use the longing of the humans for appreciation. After a while the call of the "Likes" becomes your heroin.   

The only argument pro Social Media I often hear is "I can keep in touch with my loved ones". There are so many ways on the modern internet to keep in touch, without feeding a system that a pro life person simply can't like to support.

Every move within the Social Media structure, every message, every smiley, every click supports a system that  became the driving force on Planet Earth for Death, Destruction, Hate, Lies, Racism, Fascism, Homophobia and many more society corroding effects...makes it stronger, tighter. 

I imagine a world where all these people would work on small personal networks, where are (all ) these people keep  in touch with their loved ones. Systems where you really only are in touch with the selected loved ones you choose. 

I really wonder how much all the already obvious disastrous effects of Social Media have to increase before people will even start to learn.

I'm not spreading Social Media links via my network.