Lo Finest

Notes from Jerry Kranitz, Aural Innovations:

Lo Finest is a program dedicated to the appreciation of homemade recordings that were made and distributed on cassette tapes during the 1980s and 90s, hosted by veteran home recording artist Charles Rice Goff III.

Thousands of sonic artists were cranking out cassettes all over the world during the 80s and 90s. The whole cassette explosion took place long before people had home computers, the internet, email, mp3s, and all that. People found out about hometapers by reading various publications that offered reviews of tapes, by listening to those rare radio broadcasts that would feature home tapes, by sending a letter to a contact address that had been printed on one of the many compilation cassettes that were created and distributed during this period, etc. Most hometapers were not approaching their craft as a means to achieving economic success, and this allowed for some incredibly free thinking endeavors to be realized. Trading tapes was common, offering a sort of sonic cultural exchange that had never really been possible before the age of inexpensive home recording technology.

Charles produced 40 Lo Finest show between 2005-2015.