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A landmark moment – both for Brian Eno, and for experimental music in general! Although Eno began his solo run with some searing, guitar-heavy records that were even wilder than his early work with Roxy Music – he also began experimenting with more sensitive aspects of sound on albums like Another Green World and Before & After Science – an approach he takes here to the farthest degree, by opening up himself and creating a whole new genre of ambient music in the process! Gone are the raspy, sometimes nasty vocals – and in their place is virtually nothing – just beautifully open music that uses scores that are somewhat cyclical – but at a pace that's very different than the minimalism of the period – and maybe even more minimal too. The record features four long tracks, one with piano by Robert Wyatt – really beautiful stuff, like some strange dark sonic crystal that fell out of the skies years ago, and which still remains a mystery to all ears that stumble upon it! (Rock, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

A compilation LP of sorts – though at the time of its release most of this material had not been heard in this form! The album's more or less part of the "Ambient" series Eno had started that year with Music For Airports – and it's presented with similarly simple, elegant packaging – a cool divergence from the more striking Eno of a few years before. The set is made up of various bits, record either exclusively for film use, or that in one way or another found their way into films – and contains mostly short tunes, some thematic, others purely sonic wallpaper, but always compelling! 18 tracks, including "M386", "Aragon", "Two Rapid Formations", "Slow Water", "Sparrowfall", "Evenings In Dense Fog", "A Measured Room", "Strange Light", and "Final Sunset". (Rock, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

(Rock, Out Sound) CD

Beautiful sounds from the Entourage ensemble – a record that's got a really meditative blend of acoustic elements with a few electric touches – used in ways that start in jazz, then move way beyond! Instrumentation includes guitar, flute, keyboards, violin, and mbira – coming together with really unusual inflections that are partly borrowed from Eastern sources – like Noh theater, or Balinese music – but which unfurl with a more freewheeling, American underground vibe as well! No sounds are ever too sharp, and there's almost a hint of the instrumental experiments in the 80s underground – such as work by Penguin Cafe Orchestra or Soft Verdict – but with an earthier feel overall. Titles include "Jattle Boxes", "Giraffes", "Solo For Electric Viola", "Michael's Song", "Silver Drum", and "Percussion Dance". CD

Warmly experimental music from the 70s Folkways scene – music that's a mixture of jazz, folk, electronics, and improvised styles – played with an open, honest sort of feel! The Entourage Music & Theater Ensemble features four composer/musicians – Joe Clark, Wall Matthews, Rusti Clark, and Michael Smith – all individuals with a nicely subdued sensibility, despite the "theater" in the group's name. The work here is hardly performative – at least not in an aggressive sense – and instead is a beautiful matrix of sounds from instruments that include keyboards, acoustic guitar, soprano sax, viola, gong, and percussion – all used lightly, with an approach that's almost a folksier take on early 70s spiritual jazz – especially given the way the acoustic guitar is used. Titles include "Nature Spirits", "Incantation For The Death Of Self", "Space Needle Suicide", "Tar Box Poltergeist", and "Druid Dance". LP, Vinyl record album

(Classical, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

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(Classical, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

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... LP, Vinyl record album

Remi Gassman and Oskar Sala each present pieces of modern electronic music in this hard to find LP for Westminster, very much in the style that was in vogue in New York in the 50s and early 60s. Gassman performs his "Electronic Music For the Ballet Electronics", which has a spare spooky sound, and Sala gives us "Five Improvisations On Magnetic Tape" – which are a bunch of short electronic tracks with a fragile, yet noisy feel to them. As the back of the record says "If anyone cares, this record has a dynamic range of 51 dB. Its lowest frequency is 15.4 cycles per second, its highest fundamental 3951 cps, the highest harmonis or overtone 15806 cps. It can blow out speakers, traumatize cats and arouse the landlord." LP, Vinyl record album

Includes two pieces. Days & Nights in Rocinha is performed by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Dennis Russell Davies. Persephone is performed by the Relache Ensemble. CD

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A really unusual little album – one that partly embraces a globe's worth of acoustic percussion, partly expresses itself in the minimal percussion legacy after Steve Reich's Drumming, and partly embraces some of the electric/acoustic sounds of the New York downtown scene of the early 80s – in work by artists like David Van Tieghem or Peter Gordon! The group use a mix of vibes, balafon, marimbas, and other percussion instruments – then add in occasional beats or other electric elements, but usually in a subtle way – that blend of global and European modes that was also surfacing a bit on the Crammed label at the time. All tracks are instrumental – and titles include "Black Africa", "Back To The Factory", "Kpanlogo", "Biologic Music", and "Adowa". LP, Vinyl record album

Dreamy sounds from Iasos – an early proponent of the world of new age music, but one that's far hipper than the bigger-label acts to come in the 80s! This set is beautifully spare and meditative – two side-long tracks, each a kind of warmer, more sentimental take on territory that Brian Eno was exploring with his ambient music projects – inflected maybe with a slightly spiritual vibe, as you'd guess from the title! Instrumentation is mostly electric, but used in ways that also really show the manner in which these early American pioneers of the format were marking their own space away from German electronic experimentation. The album features extended versions of "The Angels Of Comfort" and "Angel Play – each around the 30 minute mark! CD

Dreamy sounds from Iasos – an early proponent of the world of new age music, but one that's far hipper than the bigger-label acts to come in the 80s! This set is beautifully spare and meditative – two side-long tracks, each a kind of warmer, more sentimental take on territory that Brian Eno was exploring with his ambient music projects – inflected maybe with a slightly spiritual vibe, as you'd guess from the title! Instrumentation is mostly electric, but used in ways that also really show the manner in which these early American pioneers of the format were marking their own space away from German electronic experimentation. The album features extended versions of "The Angels Of Comfort" and "Angel Play – each around the 30 minute mark! LP, Vinyl record album

Bizarre home made electronics from the enigmatic Iasos – an artist who later went onto a bit of fame in the new age, but who's working here in a trippier, spacier, almost psychedelic mode! The style is often quite personal, and almost naive – as Iasos works on guitar, keyboards, amplified flute, and other odd tape and studio effects – all flowing out with a style that's often a bit cosmic, and which could work well as some of the shorter link tracks on an early 70s Impulse album. Tunes are often relatively short, and titles include "Libra Sunrise", "Lueena Coast", "Lagoon Night", "Siren Shallows", "Aries", "Angel Play", "The Bubble Massage", and "Maha-Splendor". LP, Vinyl record album

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Beautiful sounds from the overlooked minimalist composer Craig Kupka – a set that features two very different tracks, each issued by Folkways Records – with a presentation that's both far away from the more academic records of the time, and some of the self-released work of the growing New Age underground! Side one features the long "Trombones Of Lithia" – piece that's heavy on the resonant sound of the trombone, but stretched out in this really longform way – nicely meditative, and clearly processed with a bit of electronics, but still with a warmly acoustic core. Side two features "Crystals" – a tune that has more keys, but a mix of 70s analogue and early 80s digital – again given some elements in the background that make the whole thing feel a lot warmer than you might expect, yet still with some of the experimental elements of earlier electronic composition. CD

Beautiful sounds from the overlooked minimalist composer Craig Kupka – a set that features two very different tracks, each issued by Folkways Records – with a presentation that's both far away from the more academic records of the time, and some of the self-released work of the growing New Age underground! Side one features the long "Trombones Of Lithia" – piece that's heavy on the resonant sound of the trombone, but stretched out in this really longform way – nicely meditative, and clearly processed with a bit of electronics, but still with a warmly acoustic core. Side two features "Crystals" – a tune that has more keys, but a mix of 70s analogue and early 80s digital – again given some elements in the background that make the whole thing feel a lot warmer than you might expect, yet still with some of the experimental elements of earlier electronic composition. LP, Vinyl record album

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Solo piano compositions of Daniel Napoletano, Franco Casavola, Alfredo Casella, Giacinto Scelsi, Vigilio Mortari, Aldo Giutini, Alberto Savinio, Gian Francesco Malipiero, Germaine Albert Birot and Igor Stravinsky. CD

This was an installation piece at the US Custom House in New York City as part of a show called "Custom & Culture" in 1979. The liner notes indicate that "the wire was extended 80 feet through the oval of the Rotunda and was driven by one pure wave oscillator". There was no manipulation of the wire –"the wire played itself". LP, Vinyl record album

A really cool little package – one that brings space age sounds from both the world of mainstream pop, and the farther reaches of electronic music composition in the postwar years! The core of CD1 is the groundbreaking album I Hear A New World by Joe Meek – presented here both in the "restored" version that was first issued by RPM in 1991, and the original unreleased tapes from 1960. The whole record is like The Ventures meeting space aliens – and Joe Meek composed and conceived the incredible 60s session of strange space-age instrumentals – one that mixes instrumental surf-flavored guitars with crazy sound effects and production techniques, for an out-of-this-world batch of tracks that's like nothing else we can think of! Tracks include "Glob Waterfall", "I Hear A New World", "Orbit Around The Moon", "March Of The Dribcots", and "Valley Of The Saroos". CD1 also features 11 more weird electronic tracks from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop – and from Ray Cathode. Then CD2 and CD3 move into the darker corners of experimental electronics and musique concrete – with works that include "Dripsody" by Hugh Le Caine, "Syncopation" by Tom Dissevelt, "Timbres Durees" by Olivier Messiaen, "Poeme Electronique" by Edgard Varese, "The Innocents" by Daphne Oram, "Fontana Mix" by John Cage, "Visage V (parts 1, 2, & 3)" by Luc Ferrari, "Musica Su Due Dimensioni" by Bruno Maderna, "Deux Etudes De Musique Concrete For Magnetic Tape" by Pierre Boulez, "Fantasy In Space" by Otto Luening, and "Piece For Tape Recorder" by Vladimir Ussachevsky. (Rock, Out Sound) CD

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The gentle, spare soundtrack to the film "The Piano" by noted UK minimalist Michael Nyman, very much in the vein of his non-soundtrack (and other soundtrack) work. 19 titles in all, including "To The Edge Of The Earth", "A Wild & Distant Shore", "The Heart Asks Pleasure First", "The Promise", "A Bed Of Ferns", "The Scent Of Love", "The Mood That Passes Through You", "The Embrace", "Little Impulse", "I Clipped Your Wing", "The Wounded", "All Imperfect Things" and "Dreams Of A Journey". CD

(Classical, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

Amazing sounds from the man who gave the world Carmina Burana – and music that's equally spooky in its own sort of way! Carl Off composed this music for children as part of as special educational program for youth – but the overall quality of the sounds is more trance-like and eerie – almost the kind of songs they'd play in the classroom in The Wicker Man! Part of the quality might come from the fact that the lyrics here are from a British translation, so reflect some language changes – but another aspect might also be the spare instrumentation, and offbeat use of glockenspiel, metallophone, drinking glasses, and other percussion. But of course, it's the kids' voices that really make the whole thing stand out – kind of nervous and unsure in their own sort of way – in a mixture of chorus and individual parts. LP presents the full English version of the work – even creepier than the German one! LP, Vinyl record album

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A great entry in the "intro to electronic music" style that was popular at the end of the 60s – and like others in the genre, a set that seems to use each new track to demonstrate certain aspects of electronic music! Techniques include tape echoes, moogy passages, and even stereo separation effects – and lots of wonderful analogue electronics from JD Robb! The date of the work is 1970, but the approach is a bit older – almost abstract, and very concerned with sonic textures and space – but also playfully assembled, at a level that's fairly tuneful for most of the set – even though there's not really that many "songs" to speak of. Titles include "Collage No 2", "Spatial Serenade (excerpt)", "Green Mansions", "Analogies", "Les Ondes Martenot", and "Transmutations For Orchestra". CD

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(Classical, Out Sound) LP, Vinyl record album