Alto Stratus

condition (cassette/cover): M / M

The original cassette release "Tachyon" was one the most ambitious of a series of concept albums we made in the early to mid 1980s, an era of intensive home studio work, experimentation, and honing skills as electronic artists. Our "studio" consisted of 3 cassette decks, a 6 channel keyboard mixer, and a few effects. Not a very professional set up at all, but adequate. Regrettably, some flaws are revealed in the recording due to the basic techniques used, which involved much in the way of doubling up, "bouncing" and over-dubbing. Despite that, the results are surprisingly good, especially so with Colin Potter's digital clean-up which has removed a lot of unwanted noises, hiss and such like. It's amazing the tape has survived this long really! Now, on CD, it should last forever! Back in 1984, the "Tachyon" was thought to be "a theoretical particle, capable of travelling faster than the speed of light", whereas today scientists claim to have proved its existence, in effect disproving many theories on the impossibility of faster than light travel. Such an idea, with the influence of many a science-fiction story, where faster than light travel is linked in with time travel or time dilation, it amounted to a fascinating concept for an album. "Tachyon" is intriguing for us today, when we listen-back to it and realise the references and influences. Of the Conrad Schnitzler dedications "Contempt" is obvious, whereas "Black Garden" isn't so much. Also in there are two dedications to Teddy Lasry ("Severed Stone" and "e=mc²") which may come across a bit Vangelis-like to many, as well as influences from: Cluster, Dome, Heldon, The Residents, Stockhausen, Throbbing Gristle, etc. Being non-musicians, the way we put all this together is more from the viewpoint of sound-artists, relying more on colour and texture than normal melodic composition, yet I'm still surprised how melodic and "composed" much of this is! The resulting potpourri of all this is indeed diverse, and still surprisingly fresh.