SORRY THIS PRE-ORDER IS NOW CLOSED

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Tape Leaders: A Compendium Of Early British Electronic Music Composers is an indispensable reference guide for anyone interested in electronic sound and its UK history!

    For the first time, this book sets out information on practically everyone active with experimental electronics and tape recording across the country to reveal the untold stories and hidden history of early British electronic music.

    With an individual entry for each composer, it covers everyone from famous names like William Burroughs, Brian Eno and Joe Meek to the ultra-obscure such as Roy Cooper, Donald Henshilwood and Edgar Vetter.

    There are sections for EMS and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and amateurs, groups and ensembles that experimented with electronics - including The Beatles, Hawkwind and White Noise.

    Author Ian Helliwell draws on his experience and extensive research into electronic music. After six years and dozens of interviews, he has amassed information never before brought to light on this fascinating subject.

    With a specially compiled 15 track CD of mainly unreleased early British tape and synthesizer works, this is an essential book for anyone interested in electronic music history during the 1950s and 60s!

    This hardback book is 22.7cm x 17.7cm, and the 224 pages are printed and bound on heavyweight 130gsm paper.

    Quotes

    “Until now, the Radiophonic Workshop has somewhat eclipsed other players in British early electronic music history. The extent of this is laid bare in the revelatory book Tape Leaders – a landmark survey by the composer, film-maker, instrument-builder and researcher Ian Helliwell, who has uncovered hitherto unacknowledged independent electronic music composers.” Fortean Times

    “For anyone with an interest in the early years of electronic music, Ian Helliwell’s book takes the reader on an enthralling tour of the pioneering British contributors to this genre.” Sound On Sound


    Other Releases on

    UK Rave Flyers 1988 – 1989Phatmedia presents ...
    Deluxe book showcasing original flyers from the breakthrough years of UK acid house. Sourced from the phatmedia archive and beyond, it captures the raw...
      • Book (1.5kg)£45.00 £40.00
        Expected 30 NovPreorder
      Jamie Lidell & Luke SchneiderA Companion For The Spaces Between Dreams
      Jamie Lidell and Luke Schneider have created a kind of sonic tool to navigate a liminal state of mind. Their new collaborative LP, A Companion For The...
        • New LP (Coloured Vinyl) 0309272740004£26.00
          In stockAdd to Bag
        Punk: The Last WordBy Chris Sullivan and Stephen Colegrave
        'A thoroughly enjoyable compendium of appalling behaviour.' Nick Logan, Editor NME (1973-1978), founder of The Face 'From the shabby stowaways of the...
          Freedom Rhythm and Sound Chapter 2 EVENTThu 18 Dec 2025
          Gilles Peterson + Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) + Special GuestsAn evening of conversation, music and visuals 7.30-10pm Thu 18 Dec 2025 at The American...
            • EARLY BIRD Live Event E-Ticket£10.00
              In stockAdd to Bag
            Don CherryEternal Now
              • New LP (Coloured Vinyl) 0889397842314£17.00
                In stockAdd to Bag
              Don CherryHear & Now
                • New LP (Coloured Vinyl) 0889397842512£17.00
                  In stockAdd to Bag
                Up the Youth Club : Illuminating a Hidden Historyby Emma Warren
                'A timely reminder of what we all truly crave as human beings - connection.' Doc Brown'Warren hows why youth spaces matter - not just for young people,...
                  • Book (650g) 9780571389216£18.99
                    In stockAdd to Bag
                  Rock Against Racism 1976-1981By Syd Shelton
                  Rock Against Racism is a body of photographs that Syd Shelton produced for and about the British Rock Against Racism movement (RAR) of 1976–1981. For...
                    Greensleeves BOOKThe First 100 Covers
                    WICKED NEW HARDBACK BOOK! Charts the story of Greensleeves Records —from its beginnings as a mid-1970s West London record shop to its rise as a...
                      The Other Side : A Journey into Women, Art and the Spirit World
                      In an illuminating blend of memoir and art history, The Other Side explores the lives and work of a group of extraordinary women artists. From the twelfth-century...
                        Soul Jazz Records hoodie (navy)
                        Brand new Soul Jazz Records Functional Outer Wear Product #1 Exclusive to Sounds of the Universe Limited edition navy hoodie (large) with design.
                          Susan SontagNotes on 'Camp'
                          These two classic essays were the first works of criticism to break down the boundaries between 'high' and 'low' culture, and made Susan Sontag a literary...
                            The Second Sex (Vintage Feminism Short Edition)by Simone de Beauvoir
                            Vintage Feminism: classic feminist texts in short formWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY NATALIE HAYNESWhen this book was first published in 1949 it was to outrage...
                              Beneath the UnderdogBy Chalrles Mingus
                              Bass player extraordinaire Charles Mingus, who died in 1979, is one of the essential composers in the history of jazz, and Beneath the Underdog, his celebrated,...
                                The Art of DancehallPosters and Flyers of Soundsystem Culture
                                Wicked book! Combining the energy and vibrancy of vernacular Jamaican art with the cultural insight that only original ephemera can bring, the flyers...
                                  Revolutionary Letters
                                  By turns a handbook of countercultural living, a manual for street protest, and a feminist broadside against the repressive state apparatus, Revolutionary...
                                    Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy presents 'Balearic Breakfast' Volume 4
                                    “There are curators, and then there's Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy.” - Resident Advisor The sun has finally come out. It’s the first time something...
                                      Sabroso Guaganco Vol. 11Sabroso Guaganco Vol. 11
                                      Latin compilation
                                        • Original CD£9.99
                                          CD disc condition: VG+Case & booklet condition: VG+Original Pre-Owned CD in great condition
                                          In stockAdd to Bag
                                        Sabroso Guaganco Vol. 12Sabroso Guaganco Vol. 12
                                        Latin compilation
                                          • Original CD£9.99
                                            CD disc condition: VG+Case & booklet condition: VG+Original Pre-Owned CD in great condition
                                            In stockAdd to Bag
                                          The Blood of OthersSimone de Beauvoir
                                          Potent and vividly emotional, Simone de Beauvoir’s captivating novel questions freedom and individual responsibility in the face of brutality‘These...
                                            • Book (350g) 9780241696453£9.99
                                              In stockAdd to Bag
                                            Salsa Y Ache
                                              • Original CD£4.99
                                                CD disc condition: VG+Case & booklet condition: VG+Original Pre-Owned CD in great condition
                                                In stockAdd to Bag
                                              Alice Coltrane - Monument Eternal (DELUXE HARDBACK)By Ann Philbin, Franya J. Berkman
                                              Rashid Johnson, Cauleen Smith and others pay tribute to a truly extraordinary figure in 20th-century American jazz. This volume unpacks the cultural legacy...
                                                My Grandmother's Hands : Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodiesby Resmaa Menakem
                                                THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'Insightful, thought-provoking and profound. I can't recommend highly enough' Sunny Singh'A revolutionary work of beauty,...
                                                  • Book (350g) 9780141996479£10.99
                                                    In stockAdd to Bag
                                                  Nova Scotia House : A Novel
                                                  Nova Scotia House takes us to the heart of a relationship, a community and an era. It is both a love story and a lament; bearing witness to the enduring...
                                                    This Woman's Work : Essays on Music
                                                    This Woman's Work: Essays on Music is edited by Kim Gordon and Sinead Gleeson and features contributors Anne Enright, Fatima Bhutto, Jenn Pelly, Rachel...
                                                      • Book (600g) 9781474621472£20.00
                                                        In stockAdd to Bag

                                                      People also bought

                                                      100 Days of DubBy Martin 'Skyjuice' Blomqvist
                                                      SORRY ALL GONE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fantastic small book - over 150...
                                                        Keyboard PresentsSynth GodsBlackbeat Books
                                                        From the pages of "Keyboard" magazine, "Keyboard Presents Synth Gods" spotlights artists who did much more than just play synthesizers: they changed...
                                                          A History of the Jamaican Recording IndustryBook One: The Birth of Ska 'From Mento to Studio One'
                                                          Superb hardback 188-page book with loads of text, photos, artefacts, record labels etc written by Noel Hawks. With contributions and quotes from (wait...
                                                            Trees SpeakVertigo Of Flaws: Emancipation of the Dissonance and Temperaments in Irrational WaveformsSoul Jazz Records
                                                            This new release is a vast leap into an ocean of space and sound, a quantum leap into cybernetics, biology, anti-gravity, time travel, dream speech and...
                                                            • Trees Speak – Seventh Mirror
                                                            • Trees Speak – Cybernetic Dreams
                                                            • Trees Speak – Interference
                                                            • Trees Speak – Computer Garden
                                                            • Trees Speak – Pyramid
                                                            • Trees Speak – Halide Crystals
                                                            • Trees Speak – Integratron
                                                            • Trees Speak – Imaginary Forces
                                                            • Trees Speak – Phantom LFO
                                                            • Trees Speak – Opticks
                                                            • Trees Speak – Mannequin
                                                            • Trees Speak – Mind In Light
                                                            • Trees Speak – Palantír
                                                            • Trees Speak – Vertigo Of Flaws
                                                            • Trees Speak – Exit Syndrome
                                                            • Tress Speak – Stasi
                                                            • Tress Speak – Atomic Voyage
                                                            • Tress Speak – Ultraviolet
                                                            • Tress Speak – Violence Cascades
                                                            • Tress Speak – Traumsprache
                                                            • Trees Speak – Zeitgeber
                                                            • Trees Speak – Prism
                                                            • Trees Speak – Threnody
                                                            • Trees Speak – Mind Oscillation
                                                            • Tress Speak – Hidden Machine
                                                            • Trees Speak – Transhuman
                                                            • Trees Speak – Ionization
                                                            • Trees Speak – Cloud Chamber
                                                            • Tress Speak – Harmonic Oscillator
                                                            • Tress Speak – Transfiguration
                                                            • Trees Speak – Urzeit
                                                            Gilles Peterson BOOK! Limited HardbackLOCKDOWN FM: BROADCASTING IN A PANDEMIC
                                                            LITERALLY DOWN TO THE LAST 20 COPIES IN THE WORLD! Lockdown FM: Broadcasting In a Pandemic is a 600+ page cultural documentation of a year in lockdown....
                                                              Dancehall BookThe Rise Of Jamaican Dancehall CultureSoul Jazz Books
                                                              New edition of the definitive cultural reference book for Jamaican dancehall and features hundreds of killer photographs, extensive text and interviews...
                                                                DancehallPOSTERSoul Jazz Records
                                                                Oh yes! 50 x 70cm KILLER poster!! Choose "Poster Freepost" if you want this poster sent with any other vinyl order item (LP/12" vinyl only) at NO extra...
                                                                  DancehallSoul Jazz Records
                                                                  Soul Jazz Records are releasing this new 10th anniversary 2017 edition of their classic album ‘Dancehall – The Rise of Jamaican Dancehall Culture’....
                                                                  • Yellowman – Bam Bam
                                                                  • Tenor Saw – Pumpkin Belly
                                                                  • Reggie Stepper – Cu Oonuh
                                                                  • Chaka Demus and Pliers – Murder She Wrote
                                                                  • Pinchers – Agony
                                                                  • Michigan & Smiley – Diseases
                                                                  • Ini Kamoze – World A Music
                                                                  • Junior Murvin – Cool Out Son
                                                                  • General Echo – Arleen
                                                                  • Cornel Campbell – Boxing
                                                                  • Cutty Ranks – Chop Chop
                                                                  • Lone Ranger – M16
                                                                  • Super Cat – Trash and Ready
                                                                  • Gregory Isaacs – Soon Forward
                                                                  • Jacob Miller & Trinity – I'm Just A Dread / One Shot
                                                                  • Eek A Mouse – Wa Do Dem
                                                                  • Sister Nancy – Only Woman DJ With Degree
                                                                  • Trinity – Uptown Girl
                                                                  • General Echo – Track Shoes
                                                                  • Cornel Campbell – Mash You Down
                                                                  • Horace Ferguson – Sensi Addict
                                                                  • Clint Eastwood – Jump and Pawn