Ganghyeon Paeg

In the 1980s, four-track recorders including the Tascam Portastudio and portable devices like Sony Walkman opened up new possibilities. Now anyone could record the music they experienced. Musicians made demos at home or self-produced albums, independent from mainstream industry constraints. Listeners recorded live shows or favorite albums, remixing and duplicating them into their own bootleg compilation, tailored to taste.

These independent copies were made without permission of the right holders or institutional censorship - what came to be known as Bootleg recordings. With cassette tapes and household Xerox machines becoming widely available, bootlegs could be produced easily and cheaply at home, school, or small offices, quickly establishing itself as a widespread cultural phenomenon.

These DIY Bootleg tapes were copied in small quantities and shared like letters to friends, colleagues, or strangers yet to be met. Function not as products for 'completing' music, but as tools of communication for 'sharing'.

Since they were not produced in factories or by professional labels, most were lo-fi quality. Sometimes the music would cut out mid-track voices would bleed in, or noise would interfere. Yet these imperfect moments allowed creators of the time to express themselves more freely, authentically and rawly. Perhaps amplifying the radical experimental music that emerged then: avant-garde, improvisation, noise and progressive music.

88 pages, 210 x 297 mm, text in English. Text and design by Ganghyeon Paeg, translation by Chae Ahn, research by Ganghyeon Paeg and Uigang Cha. A project by A4 Communicator, published by Ningen Paper Press, Seoul, December 2025.