X1, by Mystery Tapes etc.

X1

by Mystery Tapes etc.

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Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

bonus items:
PDF of original Mystery Tape Catalogue.
movie version video file of x1n.
early Mystery Tape packaging facsimile images & notes — make your own knock-off K7, dub x1 on one side; flip it over and add x2 to the other.
https://x-tapes.bandcamp.com/album/x2

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Full Digital Discography

8

releases

Get all 8 Mystery Tapes etc. releases available on Bandcamp and save 15%.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of @ the 3rd stroke…, Kissing Jesus in the Dark, LX — посланіє, X3, X - Mystery Tape SAMPLER, X1, x2, and gX. , and , .

Purchasable with gift card

$27.20 USD or more (15% OFF)

1.	x1a 00:31	buy track
2.	x1b 00:58	buy track
3.	x1c 01:51	buy track
4.	x1d 03:13	buy track
5.	x1e 01:51	buy track
6.	x1f 02:14	buy track
7.	x1g 01:13	buy track
8.	x1h 00:56	buy track
9.	x1i 01:17	buy track
10.	x1j 00:50	buy track
11.	x1k 00:44	buy track
12.	x1l 01:39	buy track
13.	x1m 08:00	buy track
14.	x1n 02:24 video	buy track
15.	x1o 03:53	buy track

about

After over 30 years MYSTERY TAPES are back (or forward, depending upon your perceptual timeline).
Emerging in the very early '80's, X1 was the first officially-designated mysterious release from mLAB's Mystery Tapes International one-to-one k7-only label .
The following is excerpted from original 1980's x-tape notes:

no define: X/MysteryTapes: title-less, identity-less, a Mystery Tape exists entirely in its aural manifestation. The initial package, this one, is devoid of the usual indications of genres, artists, styles, categories, & considerations of whether these classifications are covered in a broad range by a particular tape or are specifically focused. Mystery Tape Labratory is indifferent to the enforcement of such categories, preferring to offer the listener a nebulous potential for appreciation.
What you don't know won't impair your hearing.

sequenceless?: In cases where a particular X/MysteryTape is episodic or transpires more than one region of activity, the borders have not been separated for convenience of selection. In cases where there are relative silences & intervals between sections, these have been placed thusly purely for their content; not to segregate pieces within the somewhat whole. This is not to say tapes must be listened to in their entirety, the aural brain is busy differently. Indeed, sides are often compiled with the usually distracted fragmentary nature of modern audition in the mind. Normally listening is selective, both vertically (the potential for perceivable events @ any given moment) & horizontally (transitions, sequences, continuities, & disjuncts in time) relative to the notational tradition.

de-grouped: Because of long complex gestation periods & the occasional revision & embellishment of these tapes, the original numerical coding (i.e. X1, RX, etc.) has no chronological significance.

identification potential & procedure: Many X listeners prefer to never know the what and why of Mystery Tape listening, which is why there are Mystery Tapes. But in the cases of nagging curiosity or a wish to pursue further material by a particular artist, all identification will be available by request, usually by the forwarding of a stamped self-addressed envelope IRC (international reply coupon, available at post offices)*. Informative lists of particular X sides have been prepared which contain all the facts available on titles, artist identity, dates, addresses etc. Appreciative Listeners are encouraged to pursue further materials by Particular Artists.

artist's rights/listener's rights:
Particular items on X tapes are sometimes derived from sources already copyrighted. In cases where the material derived is well known and readily available via mass media (but not necessarily legally in the public domain) this derivation may be without the permission of the copyright holder. Mystery Tape Lab endorses such borrowing only when it in no way infringes on the product reputation or commercial marketing of the original. The necessity for resorting to this popular material is based on transformational familiarity research for artistic purposes. There is no intention or desire to capitalize on the primary artist's reputation.
Listeners have the right to audition the tapes in any way which they prefer.

manufacture: Each cassette is produced to be of itself a successful sound object rather than a fidelic document of any event or recording. However, most of the tapes are accurate reproductions of tape types used (both chrome & ferric, each with it's particular advantages) & the even broader range of likely reproduction equipment, playback specificities suck as EQ & decoding are not always indicated. It is advised that the listener experiment with flipping playback switches until the most satisfactory result is achieved. Some MysteryTapes have constantly undergone revision. The result is that occasionally a listener will receive a rare or unique version of a particular tape. Information is available on the pedigree of your purchase. Official MysteryTapes are very valuable and worthwhile.

THIS TAPE IS SCRATCHED

credits

released February 7, 1982

version 3.3
3.4 15march2022 x1a revised

license

some rights reserved

about

Mystery Tapes etc.

X...coined to cover the counter-covert world of converted sound and retrofitted music, where collective melodic memories of the familiar are mined and rehabilitated to a new life. The blatant borrowings of the privateers of sound are a class distinct from common sample pocketing, parroting, and tune thievery. ... more