Label
Tellus
Tellus is a New York-based experimental music label known for its 29 unique cassette releases from 1983 to 1990, exploring audio collage and soundscapes.
About
Tellus emerged from the vibrant New York art scene, a sonic tapestry woven from 1983 to 1990 across 29 releases. This label was a cassette culture beacon, a vital node of interdisciplinary sound exploration. Its catalog, mostly tapes, served as both medium and message, offering a platform for audio collage, conceptual soundscapes, and the kind of experimental expression that defies linear consumption. With releases like "Tellus 24" (1990) and "Tellus #23" (1989), the label encapsulated a distinctive era, capturing the spirit of a city in flux through tapes that were part artifact, part art. The "New Music China" (1988) tape opened cross-cultural dialogues, while "Audio By Visual Artists" (1988) blurred the boundaries between visual and auditory creativity, showcasing the label's commitment to multimedia integration. The inclusion of a magazine component — four issues that expanded the narrative — was a deliberate act of curation, bridging sound and text, fostering a discourse that transcended sound alone. Not just a repository of sounds but a complex, fractal archive of ideas, Tellus was process-driven, sculptural in its approach, and indelibly etched into the annals of experimental music.
Catalog
28 total
TellusTools
Tellus 24
Tellus #23
Media Myth
Audio By Visual Artists
False Phonemes
New Music China
Video Arts Music C60
Experimental Theater
Power Electronics
The Improvisors (Album,)
Tellus Tellus #12 Dance
Tango
Just Intonation C60
Tellus #7
The Sound Of Radio
Music With Memory
All Guitars! Album)
USA / Germany
Tellus #2
Tellus #3
Tellus #4
Tellus #05 & #06, The Audio Cassette Magazine #5 & #6: Special Double Audio Visual Issue
Tellus #1Label literature
Artists
People
- Carol Parkinson — ran Tellus Label
- Claudia Gould — ran Tellus Label
- Joseph Nechvatal — ran Tellus Label



