A Sliver of Tape Culture Preserved

 

Extract From The Goat — A Fragment of Tape Culture Revisited

“Extract From The Goat” is more than a reissue, a nostalgic glance backward. It returns to a very specific moment in the early 1990s cassette underground — a moment when DIY culture thrived on tape hiss, hand‑spliced edits, and the stubborn belief that sound could be shaped with whatever tools were at hand.

The track originates from the 1991 compilation The Goat, released by the UK label M4TR Productions, a home for outsider, experimental, and mail‑art‑aligned soundwork. On that cassette, This Window contributed “A Collection Of Pieces Of Tape Edited Together” — a title that was both literal and perfectly aligned with the era’s aesthetic. Tape wasn’t just a medium; it was a material to be cut, rearranged, reversed, and reassembled into new forms.

A constellation of underground experimenters

The Goat brought together a small but distinctive group of artists working at the fringes of experimental sound:

Selfs Without Shells, Klimperei, El Smout, Sha 261, Mike Shirra with P.B., and This Window.

Each approached tape differently, but all shared the same ethos — a willingness to embrace imperfection, to let the mechanics of recording become part of the composition, and to treat the cassette network as a living, breathing community. These compilations weren’t curated in the modern sense; they were gatherings, exchanges, snapshots of whoever was active, curious, and willing to send material through the post.

From 1991 to 2007 — reframing without revision

In 2007, This Window revisited the original 1991 recording and produced the version now known as “Extract From The Goat.” Released on a CDr album 'Jig-Saw Man' and a mp3 single download — both released by M4TR Productions. The edit didn’t attempt to modernise or “clean up” the material. Instead, it reframed it — isolating a fragment and allowing it to be heard anew.

The 2007 release notes for the mp3 emphasise that the piece retains its original ¼‑inch reel‑to‑reel and compact cassette character. The splices, the abrupt edits, the mechanical artefacts, and the unmistakable tape texture remain untouched. The sound carries the physicality of its making — the cuts, the joins, the hiss, the slight warps that come from tape being handled, re‑threaded, and re‑recorded.

A fragment that still carries its scene

“Extract From The Goat” stands as a reminder of how much could be done with so little, and how the smallest fragment of sound can carry the weight of an entire scene. It is a piece that still breathes with the analogue logic of its origins — a sliver of tape culture preserved, re‑presented, and allowed to speak again.