Label
Playing It By Ear
Playing It By Ear is an experimental music label from 1987, known for its lo-fi aesthetics and DIY ethos through 14 unique releases.
About
Playing It By Ear flickered briefly in 1987, a signal in the static of cassette culture's golden age. Its catalog of 13 tapes and a solitary magazine issue embodies a commitment to lo-fi aesthetics and the DIY ethos. Each release, a programmatic declaration of intent, bears witness to a year of interdisciplinary ambition. Notable among these, "Playing It By Ear Program 08" and "Program 04" serve as sonic collages, weaving non-linear narratives through found sound and audio experimentation. This label was a microcosm of its era — a temporal and geographic node where process-driven creation met the tactile intimacy of cassette tape. The label's format preference underscores a dedication not just to the product, but to the process — the act of recording, dubbing, and distributing as a sculptural practice. In this ephemeral archive, Playing It By Ear captured the liminal space between sound and silence, between the ephemeral and the physical. No grand statements, no commercial polish, just the raw, exploratory essence of 1987's underground.
Catalog
14 totalPlaying It By Ear Program 10Playing It By Ear Program 04Playing It By Ear Program 13Playing It By Ear Program 05Playing It By Ear Program 02Playing It By Ear Program 06
Playing It By Ear Program 11
Playing It By Ear Program 09
Playing it by Ear Program 01
Playing It By Ear Program 03
Playing It By Ear Program 07
Playing It By Ear Program 08
Playing It By Ear Program 12