Illusion Of Safety – More Altitude Than Attitude: IOS At 14,000 Feet [Cass] (1988, We Never Sleep)

Released in 1988, 'More Altitude Than Attitude: IOS At 14,000 Feet' captures Illusion Of Safety at a point where the project was already moving beyond the boundaries of the underground industrial scene. Issued on cassette by We Never Sleep Records, the release reflects the late-eighties DIY cassette culture, when experimental artists relied on small independent labels and tape trading networks to circulate music that was often too adventurous for conventional record companies. The format suited the project's raw, exploratory nature perfectly, allowing unusual sound experiments to reach a dedicated international audience. 

Illusion Of Safety began in 1983 as the brainchild of Daniel Burke, who has remained the project's central creative force while occasionally working with a rotating cast of collaborators. Rather than settling into a single genre, Burke has always embraced a broad palette of sounds, blending ambient textures, industrial noise, electro-acoustic composition, improvisation, sound collage and power electronics. His recordings frequently shift direction without warning, moving from delicate atmospheres to abrasive sonic assaults, creating music that challenges expectations while rewarding careful listening. 

By the time 'More Altitude Than Attitude: IOS At 14,000 Feet' appeared, Illusion Of Safety had already developed a distinctive approach built around manipulated recordings, electronics, found sounds and unconventional sound sources. Burke's interest in balancing beauty with chaos gives the cassette an unpredictable character, where fractured ambience, harsh noise and subtle melodic fragments coexist in constantly evolving soundscapes. Even in its earliest recordings, the project displayed the fascination with perception, memory and psychological space that would become a defining feature of later releases. 

We Never Sleep Records was one of many independent labels that helped sustain the experimental cassette underground during the 1980s. Operating outside the mainstream, the label specialized in adventurous and often difficult music, providing a home for artists working in industrial, experimental electronics and avant-garde sound. Releases like this one illustrate how important these small labels were in fostering a global network of listeners and musicians long before the internet made underground music so easily accessible.

 
Over the following decades, Illusion Of Safety continued to evolve while remaining remarkably prolific, releasing dozens of recordings through respected experimental labels and performing extensively across North America and Europe. Looking back, 'More Altitude Than Attitude: IOS At 14,000 Feet' stands as an early document of Daniel Burke's restless creative vision, preserving the fearless spirit that has kept Illusion Of Safety one of the most consistently inventive names in experimental electronic music.

 

 

Label: We Never Sleep – WNS 007 

Format: Cassette, C60 

Country: US 

Released: 1988 

Style: Industrial, Ambient, Dark Ambient 

 

Tracklist: 

A1 Power-Accident 

A2 Dark Current 

A3 Fleshbinge 

A4 Live Temple Set 

A5 The Architects Office 

B1 Untitled 

B2 Devices 

B3 Fade N Cry 

B4 Deadgirl And The Man (Version) 

B5 Toneline 5 

B6 Discipline 

 

Notes: 

Live Sound Colorado: 

+ 7-7-88, All Seasons Painting, Colorado Springs 

+ 7-8-88, The Grove, Denver 

+ 7-9-88, Penney Lane, Boulder 

+ 7-10-88, KGNU, Boulder 

 

"Discipline" is a Throbbing Gristle cover. 

 

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