STM 167 - Prequel Tapes

Prequel Tapes is a moniker for an sound artist from Germany, who constructs retrospective and rough-edged sonic compositions influenced by his childhood experiences growing up in a small town and his first exposures to post-punk, industrial and techno music. His original creative impulses were triggered by discovering old VAT tapes. The sound of Prequel Tapes summarises the narrative of his teenage years and the traces of diverse musical influences are channeled in a very indirect and smart manner. He crafts a very personal narrative by weaving the hauntings of early industrial/EBM/synth music with some lo-fi melancholic ambient interludes reminiscent of Aphex Twin’s ambient works or the echoes of ghostly techno pulsations. By listening to the debut album “Inner Systems” on Ninja Tune’s sublabel R’Coup’D, it is really easy to visualise and feel the changing places, sounds and people, the progressing personal journey remembered in a retrospective manner and used to create something innovative. It is abstract music in the most positive sense, meaning that everybody can relate to it and adapt it to his/her own experiences. His upcoming album "Ruin" on Mannequin Records should be a real blast!

Secret Thirteen mix 167 exposes all the (in)visible influences behind the magical sound of Prequel Tapes. Rarely do you hear a mix, where the sonic narrative travels from “Faith” era The Cure to the bumping madness of Yvers Deruiter’s hard trance, the rural British romanticism of And Also The Trees, or some of the more abstract experiments from Dive or Front 242. No matter how diverse the influences might be, they all find their unifying narratives here and showcase the young man’s musical transitions and discoveries. The overtly dark introduction by Belgian EBM pioneers The Klinik leads to a hypnotic piece by Clock DVA which shifts to the ethereal futurism of The Future Sound of London or the adventurous kraut exoticism of Popol Vuh. The melancholic epicentre of tracks from the before mentioned Cure, And Also The Trees and Arthur Russell comes unexpectedly, but very organically, and serves as a central point around which the remaining madness focuses. This dichotomy is further elaborated with FSOL’s classic “Dead Skin Cells” and the mesmerising collision of Huerco S’ subtle bouncing with the floating beauty of Aphex Twin’s “Rhubarb”. The mix also constantly grasps on trance influences - early Front Line Assembly members’ project Sect, the psychedelic chill bliss of Saafi Brothers, or “Chill Out” era KLF. The selection can be summarised as an overview of a sonic journey of an adventurous and smart soundlover - we can see clear patterns and tendencies here. Joan Miro’s “Rhythmic Characters” might serve as a nice complement to these sounds. The painting’s playfully surreal nature, intense maze of lines and color palette go from dark to lighter tones, reflecting the progression of this mix.