I recorded these songs in 1992, during my first two years of college. "Early Release", "African Roots", "Drizzle", and "Christmas in Cancun 2" were recorded at the end of the year; they originally appeared on 1993's College Collage. For chronological and space reasons, I moved them here.
The music is poppy, but the lyrics are usually juvenile, with occasional crudeness and profanity. I guess I felt that since I was at college, away from my parents' eyes and ears, I could say whatever I wanted. What I didn't realize is that over the years my parents would become the primary listeners to Tripecac... my main audience. Nowadays, I wince at this albums' lyrics but enjoy the music.
My main instrument was a Yamaha SY55 keyboard workstation. I also added a Roland TR-505 drum machine on some of the songs. I synced the drum machine to the keyboard via MIDI cables. This was my only use of MIDI until 2000, when I got into computer-based recording.
I still used a mixer (rather than a 4-track back then. I recorded the keyboard, drum machine, and vocals simultaneously. I also used a cheap reverb box on some of the later tracks; that was my only effects box for the next 8 years.
Here's a scan of the original tape cover (from 1992):
