Cassettarcana

Release Date: 2015
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Track List & Lyrics

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Album Credits

Written, performed & produced by Willie Wisely except where noted
Peter Anderson: drums [01 03-08 12 13 15]
James Voss: bass [03-08 13 15], backing vocals [06]
Greg Wold: trombone [08]
Paul Grubb: bass [16 17]
Michael Leville: drums [02 16-18]
unknown: drums & percussion [09 10]
Steve Kent: drums [11]
Chris Lakey: drums, tambourine [14]
Written by Paul Westerberg [04], Bob Mould [05], Daniel Joseph Moore [15]
Recorded at 1302 7th St. SE, Minneapolis, MN [01 02 04 12 16-18]
Recorded under Delisi’s Bar 2377 Penn Ave N., Minneapolis, MN [03 06 07 13 15]
Recorded in a hotel bathtub in Thunder Bay, ON [05]
Recorded at Beloit College, WI [09 10]
Recorded at 1140 Quincy St NE, Minneapolis, MN [08]
Recorded at 3948 Park Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN [11 14]
℗ 1986 [16-18], 1989 [13], 1990 [08], 1993 [05], 1998 [02 09 11], 2015 [01 02 04 06 07 10 12 14 15] & © 2015.Ella Records

A collection of Wisely’s most transcendent moments from decades of recording on 4-track cassette decks.
Early Works From Willie Wisely’s Cassette Tape Archive

Willie Wisely cassette tapes Peas Porridge ROIR Pravda Records, Raincan Gark

Many 4-track projects from over the decades.

4-track recording deck

Yamaha MT-120 bought 1993 has required no repairs.

On the counter by the cash register, of every independent record store in Minneapolis/St. Paul, sat a homemade cardboard box, covered with hand-glued yellow construction paper. A panel stuck out the top with the logo of an unknown band and a burst that read ‘Cassettes $3.99’.

Willie Wisely grocery store

c.1986 current project Peas Porridge

As early as 1982, I recorded all my bands on analog 4-track cassette decks, mixed the sessions onto my dad’s stereo system, duplicated copies in my bedroom and then put them on consignment in homemade display cases at local stores.

Cassettarcana compiles the best of these hot messes – full of weirdness, hiss, hard edits, odd tuning, and lopsided stereo images. It is the glorious sound of limited means paired with a reverence for the more sparse records made by my heroes: “Plastic Ono Band”, “Neil Young”, “Electric Warrior”, McCartney I. In the videos below I give a ton of details about the origin of the project and the inspiration for each song. But a trundle through the stash of cassettes that to this day, occupy the middle console of my 1990’s Mercedes, would also tell you much: “Creedence Greatest Hits”, “Deja Vu”, “The White Album”.

Cassette recording equipment, if manipulated properly, makes for a sound that is so satisfying that to call these tracks “demos” would sell them short.

Many of these recordings were made in the basement of an old house we rented in Dinkytown. It was probably built for railroad employees around the turn of the century, with thin walls and floors. The first floor tenants wanted to kill us because of the racket. So, we built a room inside a room and a door to deaden the sound. Still, it was loud as hell. So then we nailed discarded carpeting found in dumpsters up onto the walls, ceiling & floors. Within weeks the carpet was completely molded. Didn’t matter, we rehearsed and recorded there for another 10 years! At $450 a month rent for the upper three-bedroom unit, we couldn’t conceive of leaving. Affordable mold. -ww