Jar – Visions (1984) – New Cassette 2020 Lillerne Tapes – Electronic Direct from Band

“Alien Success Stories #6 is out! This time, we travel to Berlin and into the world of Joachim Reinbold and his Jarmusic label. From 1982 until its end in 2007, Jarmusic was a small but mighty champion of underground music the world over. Acts like The Legendary Pink Dots, Cleaners from Venus, R. Stevie Moore, The Deep Freeze Mice etc all had releases on and were promoted heavily by Reinbold’s label. His annual Berlincassette and Collage compilations promoted the music of hundreds of musicians and bands beyond the Jarmusic roster. In the mid to late 80s, he also recorded his own solo musical projects under the name Jar. Throughout many cassette releases (and truly only on cassettes), Reinbold explored pop sensibilities with additional synth and sampling work. In particular, Visions’ minimal synth vibe is brightened immensely by live instrumentation and Reinbold’s expressive vocals. I find the Jar/Jarmusic universe infinitely fascinating and influential. As off-the-radar as it may seem, the music springing from the community that Reinbold took part in remains incredibly important and vital today. With the help of Drew Ryan’s cobbling together of the artwork via some dusty Discogs scans, I wanted to help people to see and hear a piece of Jarmusic in its intended format.”