Music

Toronto's Musicworks Magazine shares rare '80s and '90s cassettes

by Jesse Locke

Since 1978, Musicworks Magazine has been an essential Canadian source for experimental music. The publication, originally founded by The Music Gallery, released cassettes with each issue from 1983 to 1997. Since the majority of these haven’t been digitized, interested ears will have their first chance to hear them at an upcoming exhibition and listening salon.

The wide range of sounds documented by the Musicworks series can be epitomized by a 1985 cassette featuring manipulated recordings of clocks, crickets, harmonicas, heartbeats, roosters, chickens, gamelan, and something called “celestial timescapes.”

On Friday, March 11 at 6 p.m. The Music Gallery will present the free event Musicworks: The Cassette Years. OCADU MFA Criticism and Curatorial Practice students Emily Cluett and Ariel Sharratt unearthed the tapes and will present them with talks from past editors and contributors including Gayle Young, Wendalyn Bartley, and Andrew Timar. The event then moves across the street to OCAD’s Open Gallery from March 14-18.

Take note, tape fiends: Some of these ultra-rare cassettes will also be grippable.