Lenhart Tapes is a one-man-cassette-tape-manipulator and he has been mostly known for his live, striking and unforgettable live performances. Yes, walkmans are his musical instruments, and he does a live mix of selected material from his cassette collection on top of the rhythmic loops.
“I have been a passionate collector of audio cassettes for a very long time. Field recordings, rare folk music, spoken word and sound propaganda material, various musical genre albums – you name it, I probably have it. Before I ventured into my solo project, I was playing music in various underground music bands in Serbia. And then, in October 2010, Lenhart Tapes was born. My album “Duets” was released on September 10th, 2021. It was published on vinyl by Pop Depresija and Novo Doba. I started working on this material back in 2012 with the idea of incorporating live female folkie vocals into a bunch of cassette-sampled noise I was doing back in the days. The result was a compilation of unpublished songs recorded between 2014-2018 and mixed in 2019.”
Lenhart is playing solo shows, but also with vocalists Tijana Stanković, Mirjana Raić, Svetlana Spajić, Zoja Borovčanin and occasionally with five-or-more piece Lenhart Tapes Orchestra.
Svetlana Spajić made a comment about working with Lenhart Tapes: “One of the secrets of Lenhart’s living and original work is that he is one of the few artists who truly knows how to make room for a singer, a song and a human voice. Lenhart cultivates deep respect, awe almost, towards the singer as the creator and the song as the bearer of the old and the traditional. The voice you hear breathing in the final recording on the record is the fruit of the artist’s humanity and respect shown in every step: from the first contact and friendship, through freedom and trust while working in the studio, to finally, the attentive and loving treatment of the voice and singer in production. With such an attitude, Lenhart brings to life also those voices that came to him from forgotten old singles and cassettes. Many could learn from Lenhart’s approach. This is perhaps the main reason why his music is irresistible and why it is a living tradition”.
“Jedan čovek – četiri vokmena” je odomaćen rezime Vladimira Lenharta poznatijeg kao Lenhart Tapes. O njemu su govorili da pravi muzičke pomije; da je narodnjak i da se bavi muzičkim veštičarenjem. Deset godina je nastupao po kontraverznim festivalima, na velikim binama i u zagušljivim podrumima, a 2021. Godine je odlučio da izađe iz ilegale i objavi muziku za širi krug ljudi. Vinilni album “Dueti”, u saradnji sa pevačicama Mirjanom Raić i Svetlanom Spajić i drugim gostujućim muzičarima, lansirali su zajedničkim snagama Novo Doba i Pop Depresija.
Ako kojim slučajem niste čuli o ovom manipulatoru kaseta, ono što radi izgleda ovako: Vokmeni su njegovi muzički instrumenti, a muzikalije – kasete iz sopstvene bogate arhive koje pušta preko originalnih ritmičkih lupova. Znalci bi rekli da je Lenhart Tapes stvorio jedan sofisticirano divlji muzički zombi-žanr prožet world muzikom, nojzom, etnom, indastrijalom i folkom. Dok na njegovim nastupima u pozadini besne lupovi, on se obrušava na svoje sprave uvijajući trake kaseta potenciometrima poput gitaroša u zanosu solaže. Lenhart Tapes nastupa samostalno, ali takođe i sa pevačicama Tijanom Stanković, Mirjanom Raić, Svetlanom Spajić i Zojom Borovčanin. Nedavno je došao na ideju da proširi projekat živim ljudima i instrumentima u ansamblu zvanom Lenhart Tapes Orchestra.