brief outline of the history of Cause And Effect:
Cause And Effect was created in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, in 1984 by artists Hal McGee and Debbie Jaffe who recorded audio art and music as Viscera (as a duo), Dog As Master, and Master/Slave Relationship (as solo projects). CAE was an underground distribution service specializing in CASSETTES ONLY and also became a label, releasing audio cassettes by Nurse With Wound, Negativland, Borgetomagus, Merzbow, Controlled Bleeding, Problemist, The Haters, D.D.A.A., and many many more.
Between 1984 - 1988 CAE sent out thousands of cassettes worldwide. Each cassette was hand-dubbed on several personal cassette decks. After each cassette was dubbed the "tabs" on both sides were pulled on it, to indicate it was recorded and to prevent erasing.
None of the cassettes released on the CAE label were mass-produced or pro-printed. The covers were designed largely by Debbie and then xeroxed and hand-cut with an exacto knife, and then folded into the j-card and little labels pasted onto the cassette itself.
There was no internet so everything was done through the postal mail. Musical artists were discovered through the 'zines of the day including Option, Sound Choice, Factsheet Five, ND, No Commercial Potential, Objekt, The Active Listener, Beyond the Pale, and more. You would read a review or article about someone interesting and contact them by hand-writing them a letter the old fashioned way with envelope and stamp, and wait for their response - a process that could take weeks, imagine that. Hal and Deb both wrote hundreds of multi-page letters to other audio artists all over the world. Hal contacted artists and worked out arrangements for cassettes that CAE wanted to distribute, and later for tape albums to be released on the CAE label.
Every so often a printed catalog was produced, with layout by Debbie who became quite adept at the Letraset burnish-on lettering. For more extensive typesetting a typewriter was used and blown up or reduced by xerox machine and then physically pasted-up onto the layout (no computers! no Photoshop!). They were xeroxed in bulk and mailed out, only to wait for orders to come back in weeks later. CAE also did not accept credit cards and PayPal had yet to be invented so orders had to also be sent via postal mail with payment by check, money order or cash. Those were the days.
With each CAE catalog an "Aural Sampler" compilation cassette was made featuring 30 seconds of each release in the catalog.
Before CAE, Debbie - interested in and influenced by the Dada movement - created Mirth And Merriment Productions which published a small hand-crafted and xeroxed zine called 12 seconds of Laughter. Each issue gained one second, the second issue was 13 Seconds of Laughter, then 14 SOL, then 15, where it ended. There was also a cassette collage work compiled by Debbie called 60 Minutes of Laughter. From there Cause And Effect and Viscera were launched.
Cause And Effect was created in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, in 1984 by artists Hal McGee and Debbie Jaffe who recorded audio art and music as Viscera (as a duo), Dog As Master, and Master/Slave Relationship (as solo projects). CAE was an underground distribution service specializing in CASSETTES ONLY and also became a label, releasing audio cassettes by Nurse With Wound, Negativland, Borgetomagus, Merzbow, Controlled Bleeding, Problemist, The Haters, D.D.A.A., and many many more.
Between 1984 - 1988 CAE sent out thousands of cassettes worldwide. Each cassette was hand-dubbed on several personal cassette decks. After each cassette was dubbed the "tabs" on both sides were pulled on it, to indicate it was recorded and to prevent erasing.
None of the cassettes released on the CAE label were mass-produced or pro-printed. The covers were designed largely by Debbie and then xeroxed and hand-cut with an exacto knife, and then folded into the j-card and little labels pasted onto the cassette itself.
There was no internet so everything was done through the postal mail. Musical artists were discovered through the 'zines of the day including Option, Sound Choice, Factsheet Five, ND, No Commercial Potential, Objekt, The Active Listener, Beyond the Pale, and more. You would read a review or article about someone interesting and contact them by hand-writing them a letter the old fashioned way with envelope and stamp, and wait for their response - a process that could take weeks, imagine that. Hal and Deb both wrote hundreds of multi-page letters to other audio artists all over the world. Hal contacted artists and worked out arrangements for cassettes that CAE wanted to distribute, and later for tape albums to be released on the CAE label.
Every so often a printed catalog was produced, with layout by Debbie who became quite adept at the Letraset burnish-on lettering. For more extensive typesetting a typewriter was used and blown up or reduced by xerox machine and then physically pasted-up onto the layout (no computers! no Photoshop!). They were xeroxed in bulk and mailed out, only to wait for orders to come back in weeks later. CAE also did not accept credit cards and PayPal had yet to be invented so orders had to also be sent via postal mail with payment by check, money order or cash. Those were the days.
With each CAE catalog an "Aural Sampler" compilation cassette was made featuring 30 seconds of each release in the catalog.
Before CAE, Debbie - interested in and influenced by the Dada movement - created Mirth And Merriment Productions which published a small hand-crafted and xeroxed zine called 12 seconds of Laughter. Each issue gained one second, the second issue was 13 Seconds of Laughter, then 14 SOL, then 15, where it ended. There was also a cassette collage work compiled by Debbie called 60 Minutes of Laughter. From there Cause And Effect and Viscera were launched.