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LP
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FABREC 040-3LP
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"In the third volume of the Same Animal, Different Cages series, American composer David First does a 180 from the purely sound-for-sound's sake explorations of the first two volumes and gives eleven emotional outpourings performed exclusively on solo harmonica. Despite this minimalist single-instrument approach, First makes each of these songs sound fully realized; anything more would simply be crowding the sonic space. First has produced perhaps one of the first folk-music responses to the era of Trump and right-wing populism. But it's more than that as well. The synth-like otherworldly sounds First coaxes out of his instrument are a revelation -- he has done nothing less than reinvent the harmonica. Organic, soulful, melancholy and uplifting, Civil War Songs is protest music made for these times. In the face of this horrifying administration and the racist and fascist goons it has allowed out of the woodwork, First offers up a wordless experimental album that celebrates solidarity, friendship, community and principled resistance. Rather than providing an escape, these hymns wake one out of that paralyzing feeling of despair, delivering renewed focus and the capability to fight on."
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LP
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FABREC 038LP
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"Los Galpones is the latest solo full-length release conjured by the prolific Buenos Aires-based composer Alan Courtis (aka Anla Courtis). He has straddled the international noise underground and the academic-centered modern composition scenes since the early 1990s. As a solo artist, with the Argentine experimental group Reynols, and in collaborations with Pauline Oliveros, Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple), Lasse Marhaug, Aaron Moore (Volcano the Bear), Okkyung Lee, and Daniel Menche among others, Courtis has amassed an impressive discography. This latest album contains four dark and grimacing industrial-tinged drone pieces. Employing the electric guitar, the violin, springs and other found objects, Courtis's soundscape is at times oppressive and dense -- perhaps a reflection on the post-industrial urban landscape of his native Buenos Aires. This album should be played loud."
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LP
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FABREC 040-2LP
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"On this second installment in the Same Animal, Different Cages series of tonal investigations, David First dons his no-madder-than-you scientist's lab coat and proceeds to fire up and overheat his newest subject, a Korg MS-20. The resulting six tracks are characterized by rapid-fire analog oscillations, relentlessly and exuberantly pitched up and down to suit their performer's curiosity. Solomonos for Analog Synthesizer is synth-based experimental music rooted in actual experimentation. Once again, First delivers two sides of vinyl that are equally hypnotic, intriguing and challenging."
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2LP
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FABREC 037LP
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"Recorded in the midst of an actual extreme winter weather event, Blizzard conjures the early synthesizer experiments of Popol Vuh and Tangerine Dream combined with the gritty reel-to-reel tape manipulations long employed by both Aaron Dilloway (Hanson Records / ex-Wolf Eyes) and Robert Turman (founding member of the pioneering industrial outfit NON and a celebrated solo artist in his own right). As the story goes, Blizzard was recorded in January 2009 during an Ohio snowstorm which hit on the very day that Dilloway was preparing for a move to Michigan. Alone, his wife and child already settling into the new place, and stranded in a cold and empty house, he was welcomed into Turman's home. They decided to make the best of the occasion and hunkered down for a few days of late-night recording. Crawling synth drones and looped effects keep things bleak throughout. The wind gusts outside are strangely regular. Snow scratches at the windows more rhythmically than seems natural. Are those woodwinds or animal calls? Are the streetlights obscured by blown branches, or are they slowly strobing? Suddenly a normal house in a common Midwestern blizzard feels like a house stalked by a sentient storm, bearing down for a final freeze. Throw another log on the fire and make yourself comfortable for the last time. Blizzard was originally released on CD by Hanson Records in 2009. This first-time vinyl edition is limited to 500 copies."
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LP
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FABREC 040-1LP
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"Fabrica Records announces the first volume in the Same Animal, Different Cages series by American composer and improviser David First. On Études for Acoustic Guitar, First twists and bends notes from his steel-string acoustic guitar, an instrument traditionally associated with American folk, country and blues music. And in fact, those genres are central to First's explorations here, constituting portions of a palette that also encompasses jazz and Indian classical music. In this series of stylistic hybrids, an expansive tonality is propelled with rhythmic authority. The effect is similar to that of tape manipulation, or to the challenges posed to the inner ear by Phil Niblock's shifting dissonances. It's almost as if the room itself speeds up and slows down as First performs in it, anchoring himself in three humble dimensions and letting time do what it will. The Same Animal, Different Cages series serves as the latest chapter in the oeuvre of a musician whose defining quality is arguably his curiosity. First asks the right questions, and there are no wrong answers. Subsequent volumes in the series will include similar explorations on analog modular synthesizer, harmonica, sitar, computer, voice and electric guitar."
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