Last month, the prolific Robert Lowe released Timon Irnok Manta on the Malden, MA-based Type Recordings. The album consists of “M’Bondo,” my pick for today, and a fantastic alternate version of the track.
Lowe also recently released Lítiõ Fõlk under his moniker Lichens on the Belgian label Morc Records. I haven’t heard it yet, but judging by the sample on Morc’s site it’s definitely worth checking out (as is true for all of Lowe’s work, which I can’t praise enough).
Horse Lords’ debut LP, released this September by Ehse Records, is fantastic. Today’s track, “Wildcat Strike,” forms the first half of the album, which comprises two sidelong cuts.
Andrew Bernstein, Max Eilbacher, Owen Gardner, and Sam Haberman had played in various experimental groups in Baltimore before forming Horse Lords—Bernstein, Gardner and Eilbacher had previously played together in Teeth Mountain (check out this review in the Baltimore City Paper for more background on the band’s early days). Ehse’s blurb about the record probably puts it better than I could, so I’ll quote it: “The band transmutes experimental tactics (polyrhythm, arcane tunings and modular synthesis) into direct, muscular and surprisingly funky songs.”
If you like it, head over to Ehse’s site where you can freely stream and download all of the labels releases; they’re also available for purchase on LP and CDr.
I missed Gap Dream’s self-titled debut when the Fullerton, CA-based Burger Records released it at the beginning of the year. Though the album was written (save for a cover of a 1966 B-side by The Squires) and recorded entirely by Gabriel Fulvimar, he plays live with three others. They just finished up a tour, having stopped in Chicago last Thursday for a show at the Subterranean. A few weeks back they also did a live set on WFMU, playing mostly songs from the album but also “Generator” from the recent “Ali Baba” 7” on Suicide Squeeze. Burger has sold out of Gap Dream, but it’s still available on their Bandcamp, and you should absolutely download it.
Harry Forbes – Tomorrow’s Achievements from Public Information on Vimeo.
While looking around online for stuff to play on my Handpicked show this past summer, I came across a release called New Technology Volume 4, put out in 1983 by the Canadian library label Parry Music. I really liked it, especially the stuff by Harry Forbes—unfortunately, like a lot of the great library releases of the era, this material has long been only available second-hand and is nearly impossible to track down. That’s why I was excited last month to see the British label Public Information put out Tomorrow’s Achievements: Parry Music Library 1976 – 86. To promote the release, Public Information put together this video (a re-edit of an old Shell commercial) for the title cut, another Forbes composition. The compilation is available on vinyl and digital download and is definitely worth checking out.
[Bandcamp]
[Public Information]
Mark Fry, born in Essex in 1952, began art school in Florence at the turn of the ’70s. There he met RCA Italiana record producer Vincenzo Micocci, who signed him to the label’s IT subsidiary. His debut LP, Dreaming with Alice, was recorded in Rome during the summer of 1971. That fall, after touring with Lucio Dalla, Fry returned to England, where he continued working in music for a time without much success. In the years since, he’s become known as a painter, and Dreaming with Alice has (justifiably) developed kind of a cult; original pressings have sold at auction for over $3000. Perhaps emboldened by Sunbeam‘s 2007 reissue of the album, Fry finally recorded its follow-up, Shoot the Moon, which saw release in 2008. In 2011, he collaborated with The A. Lords to record I Lived in Trees.
