In the late 1980s, Mr. Tape, real name Modris Skaistkalne, was one of the first Soviet DJs to compete at an international level.
The Iron Curtain had cut off the USSR from most Western music for decades. Vinyl records of Western hip hop and funk were essentially impossible to find. State produced Soviet records of Alla Pugacheva and other approved pop stars were useless for the kind of DJing developing in New York and London.
So Mr. Tape improvised. He recorded Western music directly off foreign radio broadcasts onto reels of magnetic tape. Then he taught himself to mix, cut, and scratch using two reel to reel decks.
The obvious conclusion is that we are the first sapient species to arise in the universe and its expansive emptiness and silence is screaming that God wants us to become the Elder Race of Life Seeders who father a thousand new child races across the cosmos to spark joy.
RUDYARD KIPLING’s RED DOG is #PCraigRussell’s adaptation of one of Kipling’s Jungle Book story, and it is part of Russell’s NIGHT MUSIC series. As usual, it has some fantastic art, particularly in his snake figure work with Kaa