LISTEN UP: NEW RELEASES OF VARYING DEGREES OF BRILLIANCE (2.19.2022)
WHEN THE MOON GOES DOWN IN THE VALLEY OF TIME: AFRICAN-AMERICAN GOSPEL 1939-1951
Canary Records makes reissue collections of early 20th century recordings - mostly in languages other than English. This collection, originally made for release by Mississippi Records in 2012-13, was abandoned and released in unfinished form digitally in 2013. It's a sublime collection compiling 1940s performances by artists both obscure and well-remembered including songs that bridge thoughts of the end times and hereafter with yearning for freedom and dignity here and now.
CLUSTER - CLUSTER 71
2022 repress. 140-gram LP. Cluster's self-titled debut was originally released by Philips in 1971. This edition is the first reissue to restore the track running order of the original Philips release and includes liner notes by electronic avant-garde pioneer Asmus Tietchens. In 1998, The Wire listed Cluster's self-titled debut as one of "One Hundred Records That Set The World On Fire (When No One Was Listening)." Very few albums from Germany can lay claim to this honor. Cluster is a monster: it contains a mere three untitled tracks and was quite an ordeal for untrained ears when it was released. Yet the album pointed the way forward like no other electronic opus. Cluster's previous incarnation was a trio called Kluster. A change in direction and musical differences moved Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius to split from the group's third member, Conrad Schnitzler, in 1970. The following year, in addition to playing live, they recorded their first album in publisher Ralf Arnie's Star Musik Studio in Hamburg. Here they first met Conny Plank, who would himself become a legend. They remained close friends until Plank's death in 1987. Early Cluster music was new. New in the sense that it did not continue any tradition, instead laying the foundations for a future tradition. The duo's utter renunciation of conventional harmony and rhythm, embrace of near total aural abstraction, and confident use of noise, rigorous live electronic improvisation, and a positive mindset were all factors in Cluster's innovative trailblazing of 1971. For want of a better category, Cluster was classified rather inappropriately and incorrectly as "cosmic." Few recognized Cluster for what it was - a synthesis of pop music, stripped of embarrassing glamor, and so-called serious music without intellectual constraints. Moebius and Roedelius took the liberty of raiding both disciplines to perfect their musical concept. A common enough practice today, but akin to a palace revolution in 1971. So it is that three pieces of electronic music meander and pulsate through the work with no beginning and no end. Cluster's music is free and open in all directions. There are sounds, noises, and structures to be heard on this album that would become ingrained in the electronic pop music of the 1980s and 1990s. Cluster had taken the first step into the future.
PIERO UMILIANI - LIBRARY MUSIC VOLUME 1
Piero Umiliani is unquestionably one of the most consistent figures in terms of soundtrack music and library music worldwide. This precious 13CD box is dedicated to the period of greatest maturity and artistic freedom which coincides with the creation of his personal studio: The Sound Work Shop. The eighty-two square meter room is elaborated with a particular acoustic treatment suitable for multi-track recording. The instruments available were the best of world production; to these were numerous instruments from all over the globe thanks to his passion for travel. It is also equipped with the best of the most modern projection and slow-motion systems. Of the thirteen albums included, spanning a period from 1971 to 1983, nine had never been reissued digitally. The transfer took place from the original tapes provided by the heirs who continue to take care of everything concerning the artist's life with the utmost attention. With the most bizarre pseudonyms we listen to the maestro confront himself with the most disparate genres: percussive and electronic experiments to drive sampling lovers crazy (CD1); the rock-prog-psych of The Braen's Machine, a group formed with Alessandro Alessandroni (CD 2, 3); the delicate melodies, lounge; groovy exotic (CD 4, 7, 11, 12), modern classical music (CD 5); experimental dramatic tensions with synth, bass and primitive percussion on a string orchestra carpet (CD 6); disco-funk-jazz (CD 8); sound exploration in psychic disorders dictated by the human condition (CD 9); pure Italian jazz (CD 10); experimental ambient with synths (CD 13). Albums include: Percussioni Ed Effetti Speciali (1972), Underground (1971), Temi Ritmici E Dinamici (1973), Nuove Arie Romantiche (1974), Musica Classica Per L'uomo D'oggi (1974), Mondo Inquieto (1974), Motivi Allegri E Distensivi (1978), Discomusic (1978), Tensione (1979), Film Concerto (1979), Panorama Italiano (1979), Album Di Viaggio (1981), and Suspence Elettronica (1983). Luxurious wooden box with paper CD covers, reproductions of the original LP, and sequentially numbered booklet for the first five hundred copies pressed.
HIGH SPEED & THE AFFLICTED MAN - GET STONED EZY
Within the fertile West Coast rock scene of the 2010s, Meatbodies’ Chad Ubovich was a perennial candidate for MVP. Over the course of the decade, the Los Angeles native could be seen peeling off guitar solos in Mikal Cronin’s backing band, supplying the Sabbath-sized low end for Ty Segall and Charlie Moothart as the bassist for Fuzz, and, of course, fronting his own Meatbodies. That recently dormant noise-damaged freak-rock outfit now returns with 333, a corrosive stew of guitar scuzz, raw acoustic rave-ups, and primitive electronics.
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