#brian ladd

Since the early 1980s the Eureka, California based duo Psyclones freak out in music. As one of the most long-standing DIY duos, Brian Ladd and Julie Frith created a body of work, that flirts with Ambient, experimental industrial sounds, New Wave, Post-Punk, Synth-Pop, and all that electric jazz. Besides a few hard-to-find vinyl releases, they published their music regularly via cassette tapes on labels like their own imprint Ladd-Frith or other famed 1980's underground tape labels like Cause And Effect from Indianapolis, legendary San Francisco based Subterranean Records, Sound of Pig from New York, Insane Music from Belgium or the Spanish label Auxilio De Cientos to name but a few. Now, Notte Brigante is dropping “Tape Music 1980 – 1984” – a detailed compiled sampler on Psyclones early output, that was scattered over diverse tape releases. A nine tracks long trip into the work of a highly underrated band, that never lost their drive to explore new avenues in sound. “Tape Music 1980 – 1984” displays their artistic impulse with a strong, minimal leaning post-punk feeling, spreading the early magic of a once new genre, that liberated rock music briefly from its bombastic male driven professionalism. Psyclones liberated large, while adding the repetitive patterns of drum machines, witchy female singing, cool male chanting, Tuxedomoon-ish weirdness, darkish synth sounds and dubby big city Angst to their cocktail of music. All balancing between icy wave coolness and nonchalant neon funk. Insane Music for sane people, smokers, rain lovers, midnight movers and all those cats, that can’t cope with the pre-written consumer life reality. If you chose to eat “Tape Music 1980 – 1984”, make sure to wear shoulder pads, bring an ashtray and turn your inner fog machine on. Music recorded on cassette by Julie Frith and Brian Ladd between 1980 and 1984. LP mastered today from the original recordings.

Psyclones playing an improvised noise show at Club Foot, San Francisco, 1982

Blackhouse - Rhythmus III

Blackhouse - Answers For You

The Ghosts of Berlin, Brian Ladd