Finding myself wading more and more towards the esoteric side...a vinyl purge might be upcoming.
June Acquisitions
Ambient selections
Brendan Eder Ensemble -
Therapy
Nivhek -
After its own death/Walking in a spiral towards the house
Steve Roach -
Dreamtime Return
I came across another favorite in the past few weeks from this year released in Q1.
Therapy by Brendan Eder Ensemble is a serene, gently performed orchestral movements that borders on spiritual. Enjoyed it a lot, and I have MP to thank as per usual.
Nivhek is an alias of Liz Harris (Grouper). This 2xLP set is a soundtrack to a film that I've never seen (or heard of) before. She describes this music as "a requiem, a ritual, to unlock and release feelings."
Found a repress of one of the ambient/new age legend's best works,
Dreamtime Return at MP. With that, I think I have enough of Roach's tunes on LP to keep me satisfied for a long time...certainly the essential ones.
Avantgarde selections
Kali Malone -
Living Torch
Arthur Russell -
Picture of Bunny Rabbit
La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela -
31 VII 69 10:26 - 10:49 PM / 23 VIII 64 2:50:45 - 3:11 AM The Volga Delta
One of my favorite recent minimal/drone releases in recent years got repressed, and is now finally in my library.
Living Torch is a disturbing, layered work that leaves you in a dissociative state in its stead that few others do.
The recent archival release of Arthur Russell's work is mind-bogglingly amazing. More unearthed demos and experiments from his
World of Echo era, which still sound as mind-bendingly inventive today as the mother album must have been decades ago.
The reissue of these two sidelong recordings from avantgarde architect La Monte Young were done very well from the ever consistent Superior Viaduct.
Miscellaneous selections
Cindy Lee -
What's Tonight to Eternity
Sam Gendel, Sam Wilkes -
Music for Saxofone & Bass Guitar
Joe Pass -
For Django
Strawberry Switchblade -
Strawberry Switchblade
Cindy Lee's music is like a more claustrophobic Broadcast. Probably a wise decision to have waited a year to try this one after now having absorbed the music of the latter. A grower, but rewarding.
I saw a few people talking about + spinning the Gendel/Wilkes collab on the forum, and surprisingly MP also recommended it to me early in the month. For only $18, I figured why not. Definitely enjoying it, similar feeling to what listening to J Dilla does for me.
SoV shenanigans partially led to the Joe Pass record shown above x2. I actually don't like it that much upon trying a few tracks, so at least one copy will get the boot to a local, with the other likely following suit.
I can't believe that MP got a copy of this amazing synthpop gem! Strawberry Switchblade was a short-lived synthpop group of Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall. Despite this self-titled LP being their only studio album, they were a precursor to fringe culture/scene fashion, with this album's artwork being a strong indicator. "Since Yesterday," "Another Day" and "Secrets" are all jams. It's never been repressed since the 80s.