Sunday, May 20th, the Lisa Cooley gallery saw an unusual sight- cassette tapes.

Brooklyn’s Brian Shimkovitz, author of popular blog Awesome Tapes from Africa, brought his collection of rare African tapes from across the continent to the intimate Lower East Side venue.

In between mounted pieces by Michael Bauer, Shimkovitz took us on an audio journey across Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Senegal.

The early crowd gathered a bit back from the DJ table, taking in the surroundings, the percussive, uplifting beats and the stack of over a hundred tapes incased within colorful jackets.

From Matthew: “The blog is meant to shed light on stuff that isn’t covered by the excellent funk and afro-rock and afro-psychedelic releases that have been coming out, as well as what’s typically available at Amazon. I feel like there’s so much crazy fascinating stuff out there that people could get into.”

View more from Awesome Tapes from Africa here, and visit lisa-cooley.com for more info on upcoming exhibits.