The Vital fanzine evolved from hand typed, xeroxed pages to pioneering online distribution, and connected artists from the USA and Europe.
We dive into an interview with Frans de Waard, creator of the Dutch fanzine Vital and the Korm Plastics label to talk about his journey of collaboration in the underground cassette scene. Covering his early zine projects like Nul Nul, growing his label network, work with renowned record store and experimental music label, Staalplaat, and steps into authoring books about experimental music and zines.
Our final segment follows the next steps of Discogs Detective, Tom Gibbs as he travels the UK South Coast to track down members of enigmatic ’80’s improvisors, Omega Ensemble.
Hosted by Martin Franklin & Hudson Graham.
VIDEO
You can find video of some of the fanzines and cassette releases we discuss in this episode on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@CassetteCulturePodcast
Guests:
Frans de Waard (Vital/Korm Plastics)
Tom Gibbs (Infinite Expanse)
Theme Music: "This Is Concrete" The Happy Citizen
Featured Music:
The Haters, “Performance 12 01 1989”, Puinhoop
Blackhumour “Weeds in Barren Soil”, Poetry
John Hudak “The Talk”, Brainbox
Arcane Device “Live at the Clocktower 27 04 1989” Six
Ios Smoulders “Composition Nr121”, Abstract Art
Big City Orchestra “The Smart Thing”, Everyman is a Volume.
All music released on cassette by Korm Plastics (https://www.kormplastics.nl/)
“Piece 2” by the Omega Ensemble, Sil Lim Tao
Links
Vital Weekly (https://www.vitalweekly.net/)
Vital: The Complete Collection book (https://www.kormplastics.nl/vital-the-complete-collection-1987-1995/)
"Premonitions: Underground Cassette Network 1989-90" cassette reissue, Infinite Expanse, 2024
https://infiniteexpanse.bandcamp.com
Podcast Produced by Martin Franklin/East Coast Studio (http://eastcoaststudio.com.au)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Popular Podcasts
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com