Erica Iris Simmons: Tape Art

Cast your mind back to the days before CDs could be burnt or mp3s could be ripped, when there existed a music format beautiful in its analogue simplicity. The humble cassette tape was (for a brief period) vinyl's cooler, sharper, more portable, recordable brother. In spite of implementing such radical features as Dolby NR and (gasp) auto-reverse, technology advanced and people became frustrated at the shit sound quality and time consuming means of accessing tracks - hence the format was rendered obsolete. (Though to its credit it enjoyed a more fruitful career than mini-disc).

Those old enough to remember using this format may too recall those instances when the cassette would jam in the player. The cartridge would spew out tape ribbon and that freshly recorded Bruno Brookes Top 40 Chart Countdown would be lost forever. Now to the point of all this rambling nostalgia...check out these super cool works of art created using old C90 tape. We can't be sure whether the artist was inspired by such a hardware malfunction (but we'd like to think there is some story behind these incredible works).

Like a lot of great pop art, when you break it down its a relatively simple idea. What makes it stand out is how striking the final result is. You'll find lots more here.

We're waiting for Erica to come knocking asking to do one of me and Nick.

Might be waiting some time....