Topic: On the origins of the cassette with Wim Langenhoff

New podcast: ONLY GIRLS OF 17 CAN HEAR UP TO 16.000 HERTZ. A short history of the audio cassette

Following with Felix Kubin’s line of research on the creative underground tape scene, in this brief podcast we revisit the origins of the format with former Philips employee Wim Langenhoff.

Link: http://rwm.macba.cat/en/extra/wim-langenhoff/capsula

As a former employee at Dutch electronics conglomerate Philips, Wim Langenhoff was involved in the development of the audio cassette. He was also a member of The New Electric Chamber Music Ensemble, an Eindhoven-based artists’ collective that became notorious in the region for their anarchic performances in the late sixties.

The different sections of this interview are separated by two musical excerpts from the 2008 compilation 'The Spirit of Eindhoven'. The ensemble’s adventurous arsenal of instruments included kitchen utensils, workmen’s tools, radio and TV sets, motorbikes, EEG equipment, gramophones, discarded super-8 movies and various lighting effects. Philips had no problems with its employee’s double life: the company even financed some of Langenhoff’s performances. When the group eventually disbanded, he set up the Instituut voor Betaalbare Waanzin (Institute for Affordable Madness), which he still runs today.