The Lostwave Mixtape

The first of a number of new projects from ECV

The other day, I wrote about “the most mysterious song on the internet.” The song, called “Subways of Your Mind,” was recorded by a German band called FEX. It was put out on a demo tape, aired once or twice on German radio, and largely forgotten about — except for a brother-and-sister duo who loved the song, and had it on an old mix tape…with none of the details attached.

It was more than a decade from the start of their quest to identify the song, to Monday of last week, when it was confirmed that FEX was behind it and the world heard their names for the first time.

That story, and about a dozen just like it, will make up The Lostwave Mix Tape, a short book I’ll be releasing in the next few weeks. The short book is designed to be an inexpensive stocking stuffer (as long as I can get it done before Christmas), and will tell the stories of songs like “Subways of Your Mind” and “Ulterior Motives,” plus some older lostwave tales like “On the Roof” and Panchiko’s album Death Metal. Along with the stories themselves, the book will feature quotes from the musicians involved, fans who have been instrumental to finding the music, and a few other surprises.

I’m fascinated by the lost media community, but there’s nothing cooler in the space than “lostwave.” Lostwave is the opposite of most lost media — instead of the media itself being lost, it’s the context that’s missing. Generally you’ll have a song (or, often, just a clip of a song), and people are trying to figure out who made it, and when, and where it has gone.

Lostwave tends to generate a lot of good stories. As often as not, the people involved have moved on with their lives, and are out there completely oblivious to the fact that thousands of strangers on the internet have fallen in love with their work.

“I saw on one of the [Instagram] posts for – we make motion pictures and TV shows, and do all the music – it was a weird post, and I thought it was maybe, possibly trolling,” Christopher Saint Booth, one of the two brothers behind Who’s Who, told me earlier this year. “I didn’t really get it – it didn’t connect for me. And then somebody had sent me, ‘Don’t you know? Check out Reddit. Check out Rolling Stone.’ And then I looked at it and I said, ‘Okay.’ And then I clicked on that pink boombox and I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s our song.’ That’s how we figured it out. I’m still finding out things today that were posted many, many years ago that is blowing me away.”

Chris and Philip Adrian Booth are delightful guys, and they have been very kind to the fans of their song “Ulterior Motives.” They’ve already released one CD of previously-unreleased material from the 1980s, and a second such disc is heading our way next month.

The FEX guys, similarly, seem to be just baffled and delighted by their viral fame, and have already reunited to play the song live on the radio — marking the band’s first reunion in decades. Panchiko went back on tour after their album became an internet sensation. It’s a strange little world in the lost media corner of the music industry, but there’s a treasure trove of heartwarming tales…and you might just find a great new band or two by reading up on them.

I’ll open up preorders for The Lost Media Mixtape soon — once it’s finished. Given the series of frustrating delays for Time To Be Heroes, I really don’t want to be pre-selling or crowdfunding anything for a while that isn’t almost ready to ship.