Sung Locally - The Catskills Tape

By Bradley Towle

GREATER CATSKILLS — The Catskills Tape is a 1994 home recording by artist Alexander Ross under the pseudonym Fantastic Palace. Ross recorded the album of instrumentals described as “Layers of twinkling electric guitars, tape snippets, and percussion items spin webs like yarn wound down the banister of a childhood staircase” at a house in Chichester. The recordings had a limited circulation on cassette tapes until The Catskills Tape appeared on Bandcamp in April 2018. Ross, who has since become best known as a visual artist residing in Great Barrington, recorded the lo-fi songs alone, which was not uncommon in the 1990s. Tascam’s 4-track Portastudio (which Ross used for this recording) and other relatively easy-to-use recording devices led to an uptick of musicians creating home recordings on cassette tapes that they could distribute at their shows (even the great Warren Zevon’s 1995 Mutineer album was a product of this movement).

With the advent of streaming musical services, a new technology again opened up the possibility of Fantastic Palace’s quirky little album from the Catskills finding a larger audience. There are numerous valid complaints to be made about Spotify and its impact on musicians. Yet, streaming options have also revived and introduced forgotten or overlooked artists to entirely new groups of listeners. The Catskills Tape, which is currently available to stream or buy on Bandcamp (a service known for better compensation to musicians), would have surely existed in only the memories of a few and Ross’s personal cassette archives.

The Catskills Tape is a quick listen—not one of the eleven songs exceeds three minutes. “Shandaken” and “Shandaken (Reprise)” are the only song titles to reference the area that birthed these recordings, and without lyrics, it is unclear what other local inspiration Ross may have found in his mountain retreat. Still, song titles like “A Chance of Rain,” “Socks On, Socks Off,” and “Morning Good Kitchen” suggest Ross may have been drawing inspiration from the day-to-day slowness of his house in Chichester. Guitars and bass circle each other on all of the tracks, with the occasional beats from what sound like drum machines and possibly household items. The Catskills Tape, along with Fantastic Palace’s Ringlets and Gaskets are available on BandCamp. For more on Ross’ visusal arts, visit www.milesmcenery.com/artists/alexander-ross.