[CP 300-301-302 CD] DAM Binaural & Audio Union Recording Contests, 1971-1979.

July 2024; the third & final piece of the puzzle ([CP 300 CD]) consisting of "DAM Binaural Test Recording Vol.1" (DOR-0003), "DAM Binaural / Recording Contest Vol.2" (DOR-0029), & "3rd Audio Union Recording Contest" (AU-4801) is finally available (again, at the "double-disc" price, as an incentive!) So glad to have been able to share/propagate such an incredible wealth of Amateur/Home-Recorded Tape Music in such a fashion; easily one of the highlights of the Creel Pone canon landing as the series' 300th title!

June 2024; the second set ([CP 301 CD]) of Creel Pone realizations of the myriad Audio Union & DAM "Recording Contest" sets is now available, covering "4th Audio Union Recording Contest" (AU-4902), "5th Recording Contest" (AU-5003), & "6th Recording Contest" (AU-5104) across three extended discs (the 5th set alone clocks in at 74 minutes!) This particular trilogy has arguably the highest concentration of C.P. -adjacent & Avant-Electronic pieces strewn throughout, and is likely the best place to start! Bathe in the beauty of the riches held herein via the (middle three) sound-samples to your left; only but a taste...

May 2024; Well, we made it; somehow. Creel Pone #300; it almost doesn't seem real...

In the 21 years since the first scaled-down models of "Stock" records produced for the "Extremely Frustrating" installation first started materializing (eventually actualized as the "Proto Creel Pone [P.C.P.]" program) & the 19 since the replicas of Thom Hamilton's "Pieces For Kohn" LP were first handed out to friends & family, the longevity of such an enterprise was never considered... and yet, here we are. 

To celebrate this momentous occasion in style, the C.P. "Cabal" have brought their collective heads together & have scoured the bins worldwide, finally turning up the first 9 entrants in this series of "Amateur Tape Music Contest" LPs issued yearly in Japan from 1971 - 1979 & have presented the whole kit & kaboodle here as a trio of multi-disc replica editions; each (re)presenting three of the LPs across several discs. Available straight away (the C.P. P.T.B. opted, for various reasons, to release each multi-disc set in reverse-chronological order, hereby heightening the tension) is the third offering ([CP 302 CD]) covering "7th Recording Contest" (AU-9007), "8th Recordind Contest" (AU-9008), & "9th Recording Contest" (AU-9009) packed tightly across two discs with seconds to spare (the other two titles will be triple-discs on offer at the standard double-disc price, and will be issued in June & July). 

It's hard to underestimate the heft of these given the ideas & framework at play; while similar programs along these lines have come to light (see [CP 195-195.5 CD]) there is simply nothing else of this scale out there, and the endless insights into general attitudes towards the "Hobbyist" end of the home-audio/Electronic Music spectrum unlocked by experiencing these particular outings is incredibly eye-opening!

To give you some back-story; "Audio Union" was a chain of stereo & audio equipment stores situated throughout Japan that eventually led to the current "Disk Union" record shops (you may have heard tales of the epic Shinjuku outpost's storied 7th "Avant Garde Floor" where truth be told more than a few of the C.P. originals originated; personally I always fared better at the less-traveled Ochanomizu & Kichijoji locations). 

At some point in the late 60s, the "Daiichi-Kateidenki Audio Member's Club" (owned & overseen by Daiichi Katei Denki Inc.) began producing calibration, test-tone, & hearing-test LPs intended for home use, eventually branching out into a pair of LPs of Field Recordings intended to show the format's wide dynamic range, "Binaural Test Recording" & "Binaural / Recording Contest Vol.2" LP.

The latter started a trend of yearly contests of user-submitted pieces ostensibly designed as fodder for shop-floor demonstrations of home stereo equipment, and as early as Volume 2 we start to get a peek into the ingenuity & creativity of the average Japanese Audiophile, as the record is littered with bizarre, decentralized tape-speed garbled examples of everyday life, often overmodulated beyond recognition & devoid of any Tony Schwartz-esque social commentary, reveling in pure sound. 

Following Volume 2 (this is all conjecture put together by the hive-mind, bear with us here) the series jumps to Audio Union's in-house label where the series of "Recording Contests" continues clear through the tail-end of the 70s, and it's here that things begin to really take shape (witness tracks such as the 6th's "Mutated Electronic Psychedelic Noise Collage", or the 4th's apt "NOISE MUSIC"). 

To stress that the contemporary discovery of this absolute treasure-trove of material has completely floored the C.P. P.T.B. is putting it midly; this is easily one of the most historically important & eye-opening titles that has come out over the past few years & should be of immense interest to all that follow the series' specific purview.