Broken Paws – Broken Paws [Cass] (1986, Broken Paw Music)

The 'Broken Paws' cassette from 1986 is one of those fascinating artifacts from Canada’s underground home-taping era that seems to hover just outside mainstream documentation. Released as a self-titled tape, Broken Paws emerged from Calgary, Alberta at a time when independent musicians were embracing cassette culture as an affordable and creatively liberating format. Rather than pursuing traditional label routes, artists in this scene often recorded, duplicated, and distributed their music themselves, resulting in small runs that have since become rare collector’s pieces.

 
Behind the project was Richard Reynols, who used Broken Paws as a personal outlet for experimentation. The cassette captures the spirit of mid-1980s DIY electronic music: minimal synth textures, drum machine rhythms, and analog synth explorations woven together with a distinctly homemade aesthetic. There’s a rawness to the production that reflects both the limitations and the charm of home recording technology at the time. Unconventional touches -such as the inclusion of clarinet or even music box sounds- add a layer of unpredictability that makes the tape feel exploratory rather than polished. 

Clocking in at over an hour, the cassette follows the generous runtime typical of the format. Tracks such as “It’s All Made Sound,” “Slander,” “Closed Eyes,” and “Street Life” suggest a mixture of introspective mood pieces and rhythm-driven synth sketches. Like many releases from the cassette underground, official documentation is scarce.

 

 

Label: Broken Paw Music – bP1 

Format: Cassette, Limited Edition 

Country: Canada 

Released: 1986 

Style: Minimal, Experimental, Minimal Wave, Industrial, Post-Punk 

 

Tracklist: 

A1 It's All Made Sound 5:16 

A2 Sleeping In Surveilance 1:12 

A3 The Drive 3:31 

A4 Closed Eyes 4:05 

A5 My Sins 5:03 

A6 Movement One 1:42 

A7 Slander 5:05 

A8 So Frail Your Wings 3:25 

B1 Street Life 4:28 

B2 Watch 6:12 

B3 A Rising Soul 3:00 

B4 Water 3:15 

B5 Transition 3:52 

B6 Demensions From The Crib 3:54 

B7 Making Films 4:30 

B8 Red Sky (Short Version) 1:58 

 

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