Music And Words
(Paradigm Discs) Used CD $12.00 (Out-of-stock)
The freest possible improv by this UK national treasure (whose soundmaking devices include disassembled violin, springs, lightbulbs, barbecue grill, wire record rack, wooden box with wires stretched across) presses more detail into every split second of a post-serial slipstream of variegated events than ought to be allowed. Bohman also tapes audio-letters containing commentaries on his daily life spoken in hilariously lugubrious tones (Christmas with the family, collage-making in the kitchen, receiving gifts of home-made Turkish delight, walks to the local pub, the state of public restrooms). DIY dada from the midst of suburban banality.
Bunhill Row
(Paradigm Discs - PD19) LP $17.50
In 1980, Adam Bohman (Morphogenesis, The Bohman Brothers) made his first recordings using two budget cassette recorders, an ordinary trumpet, and a variety of other acoustic instruments and objects, many of which are still part of the current Bohman armory. Bunhill Row was his first complete album of material, but it and subsequent releases from the time remained in tiny cassette editions made for friends or exchanged through the mail art network. On vinyl for the first time, Paradigm Discs' hand-numbered reissue opens another window into the incredibly fruitful astral alignment that occurred over London at this time. "Beautifully raw, dirty, and mesmerizing," opines Ed Pinsent in Sound Projector, "A genuine masterpiece of grown-in-the-UK genius." Edition of 500.
Electronic Works 1965-1966
(Paradigm Discs) Used CD $12.00
Three live experiments, which at the simplest level use either an array of oscillators and filters, or a mixer and one spool of tape feeding a series of (variously set up) stereo tape machines. Long delay lines, pile ups of noise and rich sonorities are the stuff of this music. “1 Of IV” and “Big Mother Is Watching You” from University of Toronto Electronic Music Studio, 1966 (the former previously released in 1967 on Odyssey, the latter previously unreleased piece, along with one more from San Francisco Tape Music Center 1965, first released in 1977 on the 1750 Arch Records’ New Music For Electronic And Recorded Media.
Oramics
(Paradigm Discs) 2xCD $19.50 (Out-of-stock)
(Young Americans) Used 4xLP $45.00
A great survey of nearly all the major pieces by one of the co-founders of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop produced since her departure from the BBC in January 1959 until her final tape piece in 1977 — works for TV and cinema advertising, film soundtracks, music for theater productions, installations and exhibitions, concert pieces, and studio experiments. Throughout this period, she devoted her attention to developing her Oramics “drawn sound” system, which consisted of a large machine that enabled drawn patterns to be converted into sound. All of the music is electronic with occasional use of real instruments, especially small percussion and piano frame, and some use of musique concrète techniques. Originally released on CD (Paradigm Discs, 2007), the LP is the third pressing on clear vinyl from 2019. Sealed