GAJOOB Magazine’s Underground Music Museum was officially started by Bryan Baker (that’s me) in mid-2022. It’s a place to house all of the recordings, zines, correspondence and other things sent to GAJOOB since the mid-1980’s. The museum is organized around exhibits of material surrounding PEOPLE (artists, label distributors, publishers, and others). Each exhibit contains a growing number of artifacts (cassettes, CDs, letters, press kits, photos, videos, etc.). The museum houses collections from GAJOOB and welcomes collections from other sources. This represents a life work spanning nearly 40 years of material I think should be preserved as well as kept alive through new and evolving artist exchange.
The DiY Report was a free email newsletter published by GAJOOB between 1994 and 2001. 128 issues were published. The content centered on providing contacts and activities for underground recording artists.
Exhibit #03819 Tangerine Tapes is hometaper Sean Padilla’s label for his music and others he likes. GAJOOB reviewed 16-year-old Sean’s first tape, just a bunch of confused kids, and I was immediately blown away.
Hoover’s G-String was an Arlington, Virginia garage band active from 1996 to around 2004. GAJOOB received their debut cassette and a quick follow-up called New Red Demo. Two years later came their first CD, Gargle.
P00474 Tom Furgas’ 1986 Courtesy Patrol cassette with Bill Lehman called Razor Clocks was one of my earliest exposures to cassette culture and resonated with my own style of music most among the first tapes I ordered. Tom was the first cassette culture artist I interviewed.
Exhibit #00606 Lemon Magazine was an Australian underground music magazine by Louise Lemon of Glebe, outside of Sydney. Lemon and Louise came to GAJOOB via Cameron Craig whose Brain Pain Sampler cassettes were filled with choice underground Aussie bands. Cameron and Louise made a stop in Salt Lake while taking Amtrack through the states while…
Robin James was instrumental in cassette culture’s formative years. His reviews in the Castanets column in OP Magazine focused on cassettes and was a hub in the development of the artist network that grew around it, establishing a place people around the world who were making recordings apart from any kind of music industry could…
