Thursday, April 19, 2007

Tone Set - Calibrate ,MLP,1983,USA





Tone Set was a Tempe, Arizona band that existed from circa 1981 to 1983. It consisted of Galen Herod and Greg Horn. They met while working for KAET, a Public Broadcasting station in Tempe.
Their early sound was ostensibly synthetic, mixing very 'clean' synthesizer sounds with tapes. This was the sound of their first release, a 1982 cassette called "Cal's Ranch". It almost completely lacked vocals (the only exception was a line in "Wigglin Around In Middletown"). The tape portions were primarily pieces of dialogue from various recordings. "(Predictions) uses the dialogue from a prime-time local news broadcoast (with anchorman Bill Close) that some nut with a gun took over in, I believe, the fall of '81 ... really surreal stuff."(Dan Bailey) Other pieces were of a more lighthearted nature, like "Time Travellers", which used an extended recording of dialogue from "Rocky and Bullwinkle". The tape was recorded at "The Center for Advanced Studies," a house were both band members lived, and released by Zia Records in Tempe, AZ.
In 1982, Tone Set contributed the track "Out, Out, Out" to Placebo Record's "Amuck" compilation (PLA-103 A&B). Galen Herod, as Happy People, contributed "Happy People" to this compilation.
Vocals started to become a more prominent part of their sound by the time they started recording their 1983 LP, "Calibrate". This was also a home studio effort. The first side of the LP featured three pop songs: "Life is Busy," "Slim," which were both were sung by Galen Herod, and "Living In Another Land," which was sung by Greg Horn. The second side of the LP came from the "Cal's Ranch" session. The cover was decorated with pictures cut from an old math book, plus a drawing of "Pegna," a creature that would give Pegna Records its name. "Calibrate" was released in February 1983 as Pegna Records PEG 1.
The duo once performed as "Life Is Busy", opening for Pebble Culture(former Nervous member Bil Bored (Bill Yanok), Kristi Register and George Maestri). "They did the whole set with fake Yugoslavian accents, the highlight being a song called 'Working in a Pencil Factory'. Pretty damned odd." (Dan Bailey) They released a cassette single with "Working in a Pencil Factory."
Tone Set poduced a video for "Life is Busy", from their "Calibrate" MLP, which was shown on "Videobeat" and once on MTV's "Basement Tapes," where, despite the presence of Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo) as one of the judges, was not voted into regular rotation.
In 1983, each member began releasing solo works. The time and reason for Tone Set's breakup is unknown.
Another minimal synth/Electropunk gem!
get it here

11 comments:

Peteykins said...

Wow!

I have the Cal's Ranch cassette; it's even better. I'm totally shocked to see Tone Set here.

And, of course, if you'd like to have the whole Cal's Ranch cassette, just let me know.

mutantsounds said...

thanks for the offer...i already got this tape and plan posting it pretty soon

Anonymous said...

Greg Horn was in the brilliant Dow Jones and the Industrials prior to Tone Set.

I have talked to Chris Clark (another Dow Jones alumni) who said that they are working on a CD release of "Hoosier Hysteria". Can't wait to see this!

Anonymous said...

Great, great album. Track Out Out! has already been my favourite for some time.

Thanks again!

Disco:Very said...

I haven't seen this Tone Set album for years (mine was stolen or borrowed and never returned...who knows?). I have a few of Galen Herod's later solo releases--they're more pop but still a lot of fun (plus he's the nicest most unassuming guy in the world). Thanks for posting this LP.

Dr. Design said...

hello, this is a great album, please if you have any more Tone Set, please post them!

super work!

/C

Dr. Design said...

great album, it would be great if you could post some more from Tone Set.

keep up the great work!

Anonymous said...

Really a great LP !!! Thank you very much for posting it !!!
I can't wait to hear the "Cal's Ranch" Cassette.......

Anonymous said...

Do you have any Pointless? I guess it was a side project of tone set...

here's a link to a amazing vid of theirs...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9xXHi2GQJc&feature=channel


thx agn

Usyflad said...

g a l e n h e r o d . c o m
theres pretty much all his songs.

Unknown said...

I have this album and saw them live in Tempe a few time.Great memories. What Stinks?