discography

das : i (1980)

das: i
Cassette : Released May 2020 : Northern Echo Recordings

1. earthdeath (21.20)
2. into the eighties (12.52)
3. viewed through a prism (6.46)
4. departure backing track (6.11)
5. into the 80s synth solo alternate take (4.50)
6. into the 80s complete second section master take (7.04)
7. viewed through a prism backing track (6.54)
8. documentary: finishing green hill, the letter, trotsky (11.01)

purchase: bandcamp

And so we return to the start...the 40th anniversary of the original release of an album we recorded over Xmas 1979.

Our first faltering excursion...It all came very easily, fuelled by enthusiasm, youth and a desire to emulate those who we didn't feel were trying quite hard enough.

An apprenticeship of sorts had been served in our first band Age Of Berlin, but getting the electronics away from the noise of the church hall and into the quiet of the studio was a revelation. Playing in sync with tape echo was instinctive, we'd already been programmed to think that way...men machines indeed.

The first side was assembled from disparate pieces into a story concept...an exciting process, (as was cutting things out of long forgotten books and getting to work with a mapping pen to fashion some kind of artwork and a story), while the second side literally catalogued the 70s turning into the 80s...

What surprised us was the reaction we got...very positive from all we ventured to send it to. We had zero experience of selling or marketing at the time, and no means to fund anything as elaborate as a vinyl pressing (sorry Andy G). After several initial months of sending out hand duplicated copies ourselves, David Elliott of 'Neumusik' eventually issued it on YHR recordings cassette label with our gratitude.

We carried on recording DAS albums ...12 in all, and all personal landmarks in one way or another...before eventually becoming the 'grown up' version: Radio Massacre International...but this is where it all began...in the '70s...(just).

radio massacre international's sound defies categorization it is more magical than musical. the music is, first and foremost, improvisational. it is loose in structure but also searching. r.m,i. is all about generating the happy accidents that occur at the ever-changing intersection of multiple moving bodies. when two sequences converge fascinating things happen opening rhythmic and textural options that just moments before were closed to view. it is the creation and exploration of those options that dominates what r.m,i. does in its music.