reviews
> From Vital Weekly – Week 17 , Number 368, Apr. 23-2003 <

TOM COX - STINT (3"CDR by Kissy Records) Tom Cox presents one track of around twenty minutes of soft and gentle sounds, scraping, rustling and hissing. There is a lot of space in the sound, but it's also made clear that this is a composition, mainly in the positioning of the sounds. There is a distinct difference between sounds that are very close and sounds that are further away, creating a space in between for us to fill in. As far as I am concerned there is only one thing missing: dynamics. Stint has an almost equal dynamic structure all over the piece that fails to grasp me for the whole duration of the piece. Other than that: very well done. (MR)



> From Kissy Records online Catalog Feb. 2003 <

kiscdr003 :: tom cox - stint. 3"CDr tom cox is best known for his sound explorations under the moniker 'tac'. "tac was started in 1984 with the intent of investigating experimental forms of creative expression". his early work relied heavily on the use of analog gear (4-track, tapes, cheap microphones) while his recent work utilizes digital technology. this release is a perfect combination of the two; "stint" combines analog and digital methods of collecting and editing to create a precise, yet still crude composition that demands close listening. (check out tac's in-depth documentation of his work at his website).




> From Vital Weekly – Week 45 , Number 199, Nov. 19-1999 <

TAC - MICRO-SONIC (self-released CDR) TAC left behind the world of releasing cassettes and now went the way of CDRs. He manages to cranck out crazy packages: this one comes in an oversized plastic container. Unlike his previous release, TAC comes up with longer pieces, only seven this time. It seems like every piece is like a sound event in itself. Take for instance the opening piece: a stove in the kitchen boiling water until it boils. Other tracks employ outdoor sounds, such as donkey, rocks and crickets. It is one of those things that you could hear entirely by just opening your ears. Since most people don't, it takes people like TAC, to point us to the beauty of every day sound. It's a private and intimate world. I loved playing this CDR at a low volume and let my daily sounds interfere... (FdW) Address: (tac@tricon.net)




> From Vital Weekly – Week 35 , Number 189, Sept. 3-1999 <

TAC - SOUND RECKONING (self released CDR) I know Tom Cox, AKA TAC, for a long time. He used to send me strange little packages with cassettes packed in magnetic tapes, loose reels and all that. The typical Do It Yourself guy with open invitations to collaborate (which I did and somebody at a small label called Suitcase Recordings sits on some of these recordings - hello out there? - but this is a different story). Tom now sends me another lovely package: a CD-R packed in a cut-up painting cloth. The CD-R contains 26 relatively short pieces that were recorded for installations at various locations, using various objects. From the 26 tracks, 12 have titles, and the others are indicated by numbers. Together these 'number' tracks form a group of short bits of a for me unknown nature. The pieces with a title are just apt descriptions of what's going on: 'Clothes Plus', 'Glashum' or 'Plastic Bits'. If you read my pieces before, I like this sort of down to earth attitude a lot. There is no meaning, just a kind off research, a dip in the world of plastic bits and glashum. And the total is a very convincing journey into these sounds. The sort of lo-fi electro-acoustica you hear from people like Hands To, Small Cruel Party or Kapotte Muziek. TAC is sort of guy that needs your attention! So get in contact: (FdW) Address: (tac@tricon.net)




> From Vital Weekly - Week 25 , Number 85 , JUNE 19 1997<

TAC - OUT OF CONTEXT (CD by Pure) AKALA - DELICATE INSTRUCTION (CD by Pure) MERZBOW - LOVES EMIL BEAULIEAU (CD by Pure) It's only a matter of time, but CD's are going to replace the self-released cassettes, either a CD-R or a 'real' release. The Pure series from RRRecords releases stuff that in the old days would be on cassette. By using monochrome covers, the consumer can easily recognize them and they know it is noisy in one way or the other. Here a couple of recent issues. TAC's Tom Cox has been around for several years, and releases many cassettes and pakages of 'anti-' cassettes. Also he too part in that 'collaboration' CD released by Harsh Dept last year. Many of his works consist of tape-splicing, feedback manipulation and reel-to-reel stuff. This is noisy collage stuff, a kind of primitive musique concrete that never is really surprising for as a composition is that stays too much of a random affair. But no offensive noise here either. Akala come from Lithunia and is linked to 'naj', who had a CD on Pure before. The music of Akala is rather dark, displaying an interest in both ambient and noise. Slowly envelopping noise fields, using synths, loops and radio sounds alike. Again primitively made but with intense. Merzbow loves Emil Beaulieau - let there be no doubt it. This particular collaboration (announced to be Vol.1...) takes the collaboration LP that came in the RRR 5 LP box set and manipulates that again, including new tapes and sounds. Resulting in the usual fine industrial piece. I wonder who said: "No more Merzbow, enough is enough" Address: Pure - 23 Central St - Lowell, MA 01852 – USA




> From VITAL - 1 DEC. 1991 ISSUE 22 <

TAC - CUT (C? by TAC) The Do-It-Yourself adagio of the network taken literally : a plastic bag with a tape-less tape housing, tape, razorblade and splicing tape to assemble your own piece of work. TAC refers to this as an “anti-tape”, but due to the fact that it can be played, I would say “conceptual tape”. (FdW)




>From Muckraker #9<

"tac: "if it fits..." cassette
Musique concrete that feels like a noise album, or a noise album with a tape-splicer's sense of timing. When Tom Cox unveiled the _Objects_ tape, he pulled the curtains back on his own best-kept secret: the proper mic can liven up the proceedings far better than another effects pedal. The other 39 of you lucky enough to hear the 600-minute _Next_ boxset (Suitcase Recordings) heard the first 731 steps of a very personal journey. Very little overt tape-trickery or four-track gymnastics are apparent here, and the burbling chaos of earlier tac efforts have been streamlined to an approachable level. Its repetitive, soothing noises are reminiscent of the motors that drive Crawling With Tarts' _Motorini Eletrici_, but in a more lush and less clinical atmosphere. Unlike many concrete albums, it doesn't try to zazz you with otherworldly voices, and unlike most noise albums, it sounds entirely premeditated. Like the music, the package (a paper bag decorated with snippets of found photographs) is understated and elegant in a non-highbrow way. Definitely one of the highlights of the Spite label, and of 1998. [Spite] - Chris Sienko"




> From Banned Productions - Catalog 2000 DRIVE-IN THEATRE<

tac - Try My Hand (cassette) tac creates audio landscapes that sound familiar and comfortable at first and then strange and uneasy as you listen. An engrossing release. Undoubtedly one of the most outlandish bp packagings ever. A re-bar dobie (a block of concrete, with wires sticking out of it) soldered together with the cassette inside. This is a limited edition.




> From Anomalous Records email catalog updates 1999-2003 <

* tac "if it fits ......" C60 $6.99 limited and numbered edition of 50 copies. in brown paper bag with color image plus actual collage of color photographs. Spite U.S. SPITE 33

* tac "out of context" CD $8.99 fragmentary and dysfunctional electronic noises and location recordings playing against each other in a beautiful cacophony ranging from dense noise to more quiet texture interplay. special edition with full color cover made by the artist. Pure U.S. PURE50TAC

* tac "Sound Reckoning" CD $14.99 minimal and generally quiet noises from Tennessee sound artists drawing his material from locations, objects and sound reckoning. beautifully presented in a folder inside a textured full color sleeve. limited edition of 100 copies. from the sleeve notes: "locations characterized by sound, objects coaxed into auditory representation - installation as objects in different conceptual sites - chance acoustic influences affect preceptions and contribute to specific site occurances - objects find partial meaning and perceived purpose when place into various locations - significant comprehension extracted from unintended dynamical situations - reckoning with sounds continues the constant interface with sonic elements allowing the perpetual involvement with surroundings to permeate consciousness." tac U.S. taccdr-001

* tac "spatialized" CDR $14.99 "some recordings used in the spatialized project were: sounds from a fish hatchery in unicoi TN , wind in trees, the water in a creek, natural gas pipeline, water pipes in the walls, bakers rack, coffee maker, nolichuckey river in east TN, door, static, cat, sunflower plants. letting the sounds 'speak' for themselves has been an objective from early on, and has continued to be more of a concern in the later stages of development - over the last few years audio work has been refined even further to remove as much intention so is feasible given the current set of materials - context is of the utmost importance, allowing for natural phenomena to come out on it's own ( just occurrences that are documented ) - much like a sonic photograph - some of these sonic photos are slightly out of focus, or distorted in some way, but many are simple as a still life – the current focus is on letting sounds become objects with which to fabricate a listening situation – a chance to listen to sounds as sounds." - Tom Cox. in colorful handmade sleeve. edition of 50 copies. tac U.S. taccdr-003

* tac "occurrences" 2 x 3" CDR $17.99 delicate organic sounds and location recordings. with actual fungi spores on the CDRs and sprayed with a fixative to adhere the spores to the CD surface. in painted jewel case with spore prints and organic artifacts. second disc is sealed inside the insert and must be cut out. limited edition of 30 copies. tac U.S. taccdr-004

tac "situations & circumstances" CDR $35.99 limited edition of 26 copies. "this latest project is a collective of various materials - in some respects it is retrospective, but it also address some new concepts as well - in this project I am attempting to de-emphasize the audio content the audio cd that accompanies this project is only one facet of the entire package. the booklet portion of this package was derived from the leftovers of a number of previous projects: objects, abstrict, cut & cut2, next, sound reckoning, micro-sonic, spatialized, occurrences, if it fits, out of context, and from two visual collaborations – a series of situations and circumstances have culminated in a collective of materials which have been reworked and combined into a comprehensive whole - i have worked for almost two years on this project, with the packaging taking up most of that time - i don't think of it as just a cd release, but more as an 'art object', or even as sculpture that happens to have a cd inside - i was attempting to create something quite different than i had ever done before, and i think i was successful to some degree - situations: a condition - requires it - a condition, or determining a critical, trying, a particular relative position or combination of circumstances at a certain moment time, the state of what's an environmental factors - essential or inevitable happening - another - the way things are at a or because the situation unusual state of interactions - certain connection to be taken into consideration - the sum or striking complexity of affairs - of essential and a location, the way, fact, or event accompanying, conditioning something stands in its surroundings - an event that constitutes a detail – circumstances: meticulous relative location - stands in its way things are at a or because the situation curious status or mixture of conditions at a definite instant of connections - certain correlation to be full into comparative the state of affairs amazing a exacting reflection - the atmosphere - an of position at a certain moment - time, the state of what's an ecological factors - essential or foreseeable happening - event that constitute a element – remarkable condition- " - Tom Cox. tac (U.S.) taccdr-005

* tac "lapse of silence"
"Very impressive looking (though I've yet to figure out how to actually get inside of it to get out the audio) is new tac CDR. Not as extreme (in terms packaging) as the previous release by him, but still quite unique. Each one is different, and they are like little pieces of art in themselves."

* tac "lapse of silence" 3" CDR $11.99 "this project is based on the concept of 'silence' - the audio sources used in this project are all very quiet, and consist of recordings made from events that are mostly 'silent' - so as not to compromise the integrity of the project there were recordings made where and when the described events were actually taking place - there are 7 (approximately 3 minute) compositions which were made from these conceptual recordings, along with actual digital silence, in different proportions and for different time intervals - the sound of shadows moving; the sound of a candle burning; the sound of grass growing; the sound of mushrooms dropping spores; the sound of the sun shining; the sound of water evaporating; the sound of ice melting. the packaging for this project consists of scraps of white paper, found objects, gesso, and egg shells all glued around, and encasing a 3inch jewel case with a 3inch cdr inside, and a translucent insert with text." limited edition of 50 copies. tac U.S. taccdr-006




> From Intransitive online Review January 1998 <

tac "next" 6-tape boxset (Suitcase, US) Oh, my. In the midst of the boxset season, here is ten years worth of material from one of the very best American tape-music artists currently working. What's amazing about this is that each of the six 100-minute tapes is alot to absorb, and then there are FIVE MORE. The box itself is overwhelming; handmade out of tape cases and duct tape (but surprisingly sturdy), covered with photocopied and hand-colored diagrams and unrecognizable squiggles, covered with a spray-painted box which is itself wrapped in spray-painted mesh. The idea of presenting, in one package, ten years worth of music by someone most people probably aren't familiar with (yet...) sure sounds odd to me, and it is a bit much to ask of an audience. But having this around all at once is a very good way to become familiar with tac's evolution. So, hyperbole out of the way, here's some actual information. The boxset spans ten years of tac's music, including several cassette releases in thier entirety and lots of unreleased material. There are collaborations with factor X and Small Cruel Party, a tape which uses other tapes (he calls them "cut 1" and "cut 2", not too sure what he means by that. The music on this tape makes maximum use of a minimum amount of tones) as source material, and some jumbled up text and visual-art. The music encompasses many styles and approaches, all of which are very rough and abrasive, taking advantage of the properties of different tape recorders, field-recording situatations, and various recording methods (which he notes in the booklet that comes with the box). There are lots of pause-button squeals, sudden shifts in texture, dissapearing voices and barely recognizable everyday sounds (like fans, doors, other things that are just that side of familiar). Almost all of tac's music gives me the impression of a photo taken of an object so close that the viewer can no longer tell what the object is, but whatever was moving behind the object while the picture was being taken can still be seen as blurs and shadows. This is really fascinating stuff, at once immediately approachable and strangely alien. (a4suitcase@mindspring.com )




> From Intransitive online Review February 1998 <

tac "Objects" tape (tac, US) What a simple and worthwhile idea. Tom A.Cox takes listeners around his house, playing on various banal suburban objects. He obsessively seperates each sound, documenting each one by the source and the method of recording. He introduces each very short track in a relaxed Southern drawl, adding an unlikely intimate and personal mood to the tape. The noise becomes engaging and frequently pleasant because of that human element. It goes like this: "This is a recording of a contact microphone being dragged across the roof of my truck". Then, we hear the scraping for a minute or so. "This recording was made by attaching contact microphones to a cardboard box, then manipulating the box with my hands". Then, we hear it. And so on. The listener has the option of trying to hear the process in the sounds (we are given explicit information to do so), or simply listening. Either activity is rewarding, as tac finds music in masking tape, garden tools, walnuts, a camera, a humidifier, a kitchen table. The package is a large platic box (my pal tells me this is a box for some computer part, but what do I know), painted on the outside. It contains a ziplock bag filled with tiny tchatchkas like an earplug, a blade of grass, silica-gel, unidentifiable bits of plastic. The tape is further housed in a standard tape shell wrapped in an x-ray. Then, there's the inlay card with the catalog of objects and methods of recording. Very neat. Some people have asked me if this tac is the same as the Italian group T.A.C. They are two different people, and sound nothing alike. This tac is the guy who did the Pure CD and RRRecycled tape, and the collaborative CD with Runzelstirn and Gurgelstock, Evil Moisture and factor X. Very different, the lowercase tac is the one you want to hear. (tac@tricon.net) [HS]




> From H23 Magazine - Issue #3 - the minimal(ism) issue 1991 <

TAC “Anti-Tape Series” TAC, a.k.a. Tom Cox, recently produced a series of four tapes : short time tape “drastically alters the function of time”, one time tape “functionally self destructs on the first listen”, no time tape offers “no function unless constructed”, and anti tape, which is a “totally disfunctional” piece of sculpture. Tom has stated that his tapes were produced “in an attempt to reorient the audio aspects of experimental tape packages.” 








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