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5LP BOX
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LPS PS006LP
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$115.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 4/16/2021
"In the beginning, there was just a box of tapes and 'Fate's Gentle Hand.' It was the autumn of 2010, and an anonymous figure known only as the Head Technician, an employee of Pye Corner Audio Transcription Services, found himself at an auction in the village of Coldred, pop. 110. He was on the hunt for tobacco pipes when he chanced across a trio of boxes listed in the auction catalog, which described their contents only as 'archived magnetic recordings.' The sole bidder, he won the lot, and upon receipt of his purchase took possession of an unspecified number of moldering cassettes and ΒΌ" reel-to-reel tapes. The collection contained no identifying information save for a single phrase scrawled on each box: Black Mill Sessions. And so, armed with razors, eyedroppers, and a bevy of solid-state circuitry, the Head Technician sat down at his machines and got to work. Whether anyone believed it or not, this was the framing device surrounding Pye Corner Audio's Black Mill Tapes Volume I: Avant Shards, which took the mysterious tactics of artists like Boards of Canada and Burial and raised them exponentially . . . These were not compositions, we were told; they were tape transfers -- 'transcriptions' of an unknown author, slathered with hiss and thick with ambiguity. Some of the tapes displayed an unusual amount of degradation and ... an unsettling amount of background noise, whether electrical in nature, or otherwise,' wrote the Head Technician. 'I chose to edit around the worst of the unusual break-ups, but some still remain.' It was a good yarn, and the music was better still. Like his contemporaries Demdike Stare and Ghost Box, Pye Corner Audio seemed to be tapping into some hidden energy current, channeling spirits via electrical means. The pioneering transmissions of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop could be detected lurking within the music's staticky swirl; so could the ominous throb of John Carpenter's film soundtracks. Drones and flutes commingled with chugging machine beats; miasmic clouds of haunted tone alternated with death disco. It all sounded eerie, otherworldly, possibly occult -- yet also, in tracks like the glimmering 'We Have Visitors,' accented with a hint of mischief. Over the next few years, Martin Jenkins -- for that, after all, was the Head Technician's name -- would go on to release three more volumes of Black Mills Tapes. Among the dozens of releases he has put out since 2010, they remain among the most beloved in his catalog . . . Now, ten years after Avant Shards first appeared, Lapsus Records collects all four volumes along with a fifth disc of unreleased material..." --Philip Sherburne Color LPs; includes booklet.
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12"
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LAPSUS 023EP
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Martin Jenkins, more commonly known as the artist Pye Corner Audio, epitomizes Lapsus Records' commitment to cutting edge sound experimentation. In 2017, he beguiled the electronic music community by releasing the Where Things Are Hollow EP (LAPSUS 016EP), on Lapsus Records. The Barcelona label announces the release of Where Things Are Hollow 2, consisting of three brand new original cuts and a remix from none other than John Talabot. Where Things Are Hollow 2 explores a spectral and hypnagogic terrain, establishing an electronic sound that at times invokes Jenkins' more dance friendly facet -- "Self Synchronise", "Weather The Storm" -- while also offering his familiar iridescent dreamlike ambient textures -- "Phase B" -- that featured prominently on his first EP. This second EP also includes a remix from John Talabot, unquestionably one of Spain's most internationally recognized names over the last decade, who exquisitely reimagines "Resist" -- a song from the first EP -- transforming it into a cross between EBM and hypnotic techno. From a graphic design perspective, renowned artists Alex Trochut and Basora have once again collaborated on this project, repeating the formula that made the artwork for Where Things Are Hollow such a collector's item.
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12"
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LAPSUS 016EP
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Martin Jenkins, aka "the artist's artist", explores emotive techno in "Resist" and "Northern Safety Route", two tracks that coast through progressive arpeggios, slow pulsating beats, and soaring pads. Meanwhile, "Mainframe" and "Continental Drift" move through more ambient and melancholic terrains, two cinematic songs perhaps reminiscent of works by John Carpenter or Delia Derbyshire. This special release will also feature the collaboration of two of Spain's most prestigious independent graphic artists, Alex Trochut and Basora, whose artwork for Where Things Are Hollow is sure to become a collector's piece.
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12"
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FANDF 031EP
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Front & Follow, in collaboration with The Outer Church, presents a stunning EP from Pye Corner Audio: The Black Mist EP. The EP features an extended mix of the title track (originally featured on last year's The Outer Church compilation), new track "Bulk Erase" and a remix of "Black Mist" by London-based Old Apparatus, who turn in a distressed deconstruction in keeping with their rusted iron aesthetic. Alongside the self-released Black Mill Tapes research series, Pye Corner Audio has released music through Dekorder, Type, The Tapeworm, and Boomkat Editions, not to mention a full-length album, Sleep Games, on Ghost Box.
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