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viewing 1 To 17 of 17 items
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HUM 038CD
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Essentially Robert White -- erstwhile mainstay keyboardist/guitarist/songwriter for early 1990s noisenik Britpop-deniers, Levitation -- The Milk And Honey Band exist so that the world doesn't have to invent another band as contrarily/culturally dissimilar to any other band as contrarily/culturally dissimilar to them. The band's name was originally thought up as an antidote to the frailty and vapidity of a 1990s scene that White felt alienated from as well as handy way to disguise the fact it was a solo project. Correspondingly, the songs that The Milk And Honey Band conjure up, have more in keeping with the sublime, reflective nature of a novel like Cider With Rosie than they do with the self-congratulatory, back-slapping musical fare often associated with the indie scene. And, oh yes, the Milk and Honey Band are defiantly indie. In 2004 White signed to Andy Partridge of XTC's label and released The Secret Life Of The Milk And Honey Band, and four years after that, the band released their first masterpiece. Dog Eared Moonlight was the band's second appearance on Partridge's label and accorded the kind of critical attention that makes everyone sit up and notice. "Immaculately arranged acoustic-rock and power-pop numbers about love and break-up revealing an Elliott Smith-style gift for combining bitter sentiments with sweet harmonies" --Financial Times
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HUM 040CD
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All at sea. Anchorless. Adrift. Ark is the first album to be released as a Craig Fortnam solo album. As the composer for North Sea Radio Orchestra and Arch Garrison, Craig has always made music with meaning, emotional heft and depth of personality. Ark is his most personal and intensely realized record. Craig's music has been described as intrinsically English with place and the natural world being recurring motifs. In Arch Garrison the chalk downs loom large and become the canvas. For Ark the sea and the east coast of the UK become symbolic of uncertainty, tumult, pain and change. The place names are evocative of a beautiful bleakness and vulnerability. The coastline is unstoppably eroded by and into the unknowable vastness of the ocean. In the last few years, Craig has lost his brother, mother. and dear friend Tim Smith of Cardiacs. Some of the pieces and themes on Ark were written as requiems of a sort. Craig's musical stock has been rising constantly over the years with growing recognition of his talent and unique style. The Bitter Lay, released in 2020 was critically well received. A 2019 collaboration interpreting songs from Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom brought Craig to a wider audience and was endorsed and enjoyed by Robert himself. While Ark is thus far unique as a Fortnam solo album members of North Sea Radio Orchestra are present and correct. Long standing fans will hear characteristic harmonic tones traceable from Purcell, to Vaughan Williams, Britten, early Pink Floyd, and latterly Cardiacs. The players on Ark are: Craig Fortnam - voice, guitars, organ, synth, piano, percussion; Nicky Baigent - Bb clarinet, bass clarinet; Luke Crooks - bassoon; Harry Escott - cello; James Larcombe - piano; Brian Wright - violin, viola; Hugh Wilkinson - vibraphone.
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HUM 039LP
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LP version. All at sea. Anchorless. Adrift. Ark is the first album to be released as a Craig Fortnam solo album. As the composer for North Sea Radio Orchestra and Arch Garrison, Craig has always made music with meaning, emotional heft and depth of personality. Ark is his most personal and intensely realized record. Craig's music has been described as intrinsically English with place and the natural world being recurring motifs. In Arch Garrison the chalk downs loom large and become the canvas. For Ark the sea and the east coast of the UK become symbolic of uncertainty, tumult, pain and change. The place names are evocative of a beautiful bleakness and vulnerability. The coastline is unstoppably eroded by and into the unknowable vastness of the ocean. In the last few years, Craig has lost his brother, mother. and dear friend Tim Smith of Cardiacs. Some of the pieces and themes on Ark were written as requiems of a sort. Craig's musical stock has been rising constantly over the years with growing recognition of his talent and unique style. The Bitter Lay, released in 2020 was critically well received. A 2019 collaboration interpreting songs from Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom brought Craig to a wider audience and was endorsed and enjoyed by Robert himself. While Ark is thus far unique as a Fortnam solo album members of North Sea Radio Orchestra are present and correct. Long standing fans will hear characteristic harmonic tones traceable from Purcell, to Vaughan Williams, Britten, early Pink Floyd, and latterly Cardiacs. The players on Ark are: Craig Fortnam - voice, guitars, organ, synth, piano, percussion; Nicky Baigent - Bb clarinet, bass clarinet; Luke Crooks - bassoon; Harry Escott - cello; James Larcombe - piano; Brian Wright - violin, viola; Hugh Wilkinson - vibraphone.
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HUM 037LP
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LP version. Essentially Robert White -- erstwhile mainstay keyboardist/guitarist/songwriter for early 1990s noisenik Britpop-deniers, Levitation -- The Milk And Honey Band exist so that the world doesn't have to invent another band as contrarily/culturally dissimilar to any other band as contrarily/culturally dissimilar to them. The band's name was originally thought up as an antidote to the frailty and vapidity of a 1990s scene that White felt alienated from as well as handy way to disguise the fact it was a solo project. Correspondingly, the songs that The Milk And Honey Band conjure up, have more in keeping with the sublime, reflective nature of a novel like Cider With Rosie than they do with the self-congratulatory, back-slapping musical fare often associated with the indie scene. And, oh yes, the Milk and Honey Band are defiantly indie. In 2004 White signed to Andy Partridge of XTC's label and released The Secret Life Of The Milk And Honey Band, and four years after that, the band released their first masterpiece. Dog Eared Moonlight was the band's second appearance on Partridge's label and accorded the kind of critical attention that makes everyone sit up and notice. "Immaculately arranged acoustic-rock and power-pop numbers about love and break-up revealing an Elliott Smith-style gift for combining bitter sentiments with sweet harmonies" --Financial Times
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HUM 033LP
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LP version. Barringtone offer their eclectic debut, Bonanza Plan, produced in two parts by Nick Howiantz at Brixton Hill Studios and Oli Bayston (Boxed In) at Gun Factory Studio, Homerton. Bonanza Plan is a slice of avant-garde pop, recorded in live takes, with over-dubs, synths and field recordings. The album is a pulsating and bizarre assortment of progressive pop, math rock and angular mayhem, with an organic smattering of bird song. Lighting-up dancefloors with their mathematical, rock pop wizardry, Barringtone are fast becoming known for their enchanting, complex arrangements and danceable/dissonant time signatures. The album is a mix of glorious electro pop like "Feverhead", to the more math rock, progressive stylings of "Foxes & Brimstone". "Gold Medal Vision" is motoric, unexpected, clunky and funky -- curiously demanding. "Dreamboyz" shimmies into an unanticipated groove from a lyric that conjures the image of unicorns, ridden bareback, tigers painting rainbows, bursting into flame -- wild, heady, and scattered, unexpected chords surge and surprising beats sneak up on you. "Into The Woods" takes you into the forest, as krautrock guitar arrangements conjure electronic beats. "The New New" speeds up, a dazzling synth line, a lilting lift, crafts into a spangled disco ball, evoking an optimistic Public Service Broadcasting, as the track plunges from laser chic to rugged disco beats. "Emily Smallhands" spellbinds like a fine piece of embroidery, musing on a lady with a curious name. "Technollipop" is jerky, frenetic, a Rundgren-esque foray into the hypnotic delights of AK/DK, squelching beats and choir-like rock vocals. Finale "Pet Gazelles" is a whirring miasma of beats and electronics, surging towards sonic genius, while creating an eccentric and exhilarating sketchbook of sound similar to Battles, in a mercurial realist expression. Barringtone emerge from their previous incarnation post-punk electro pop artists Clor, their debut Snake In The Grass (2008) was produced by Jas Shaw, one half of Simian Mobile Disco. While Barry Dobbin's vocals featured on SMD's track Love, from 2007 album Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release.
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HUM 034CD
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Barringtone offer their eclectic debut, Bonanza Plan, produced in two parts by Nick Howiantz at Brixton Hill Studios and Oli Bayston (Boxed In) at Gun Factory Studio, Homerton. Bonanza Plan is a slice of avant-garde pop, recorded in live takes, with over-dubs, synths and field recordings. The album is a pulsating and bizarre assortment of progressive pop, math rock and angular mayhem, with an organic smattering of bird song. Lighting-up dancefloors with their mathematical, rock pop wizardry, Barringtone are fast becoming known for their enchanting, complex arrangements and danceable/dissonant time signatures. The album is a mix of glorious electro pop like "Feverhead", to the more math rock, progressive stylings of "Foxes & Brimstone". "Gold Medal Vision" is motoric, unexpected, clunky and funky -- curiously demanding. "Dreamboyz" shimmies into an unanticipated groove from a lyric that conjures the image of unicorns, ridden bareback, tigers painting rainbows, bursting into flame -- wild, heady, and scattered, unexpected chords surge and surprising beats sneak up on you. "Into The Woods" takes you into the forest, as krautrock guitar arrangements conjure electronic beats. "The New New" speeds up, a dazzling synth line, a lilting lift, crafts into a spangled disco ball, evoking an optimistic Public Service Broadcasting, as the track plunges from laser chic to rugged disco beats. "Emily Smallhands" spellbinds like a fine piece of embroidery, musing on a lady with a curious name. "Technollipop" is jerky, frenetic, a Rundgren-esque foray into the hypnotic delights of AK/DK, squelching beats and choir-like rock vocals. Finale "Pet Gazelles" is a whirring miasma of beats and electronics, surging towards sonic genius, while creating an eccentric and exhilarating sketchbook of sound similar to Battles, in a mercurial realist expression. Barringtone emerge from their previous incarnation post-punk electro pop artists Clor, their debut Snake In The Grass (2008) was produced by Jas Shaw, one half of Simian Mobile Disco. While Barry Dobbin's vocals featured on SMD's track Love, from 2007 album Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release.
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HUM 022CD
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Employee Of The Month is packed full of candor as post-punk, indie-pop troubadour Stephen EvEns unleashes his alter-ego. This beatnik, indie-punk escapade is accompanied with swooping motoric guitars, squelching effects, and crackling sounds that fluctuate from the exotic, improvisational to a deadpan realism. EvEns muses on the futility and injustice of the world, all delivered with a huge wry smile and a glamorous, magical, and eccentric delivery. The album kicks-off with the single "Dustbin Man" focusing on key workers and the people that knit society together, with booming oscillating guitars and a post-punk disjointedness. "Push Yr Thumb In Yr Eye" builds on a massive wave of distortion, as the pendulum swings to a passionate accompaniment of off-kilter violins in this post-punk dystopian tragedy. "Freak Show" guests William D. Drake on piano and accentuates EvEns cabaret style as he re-collects a tale of migration to the city. The vocals fill with a melancholic timbre in a dramatic search for a positive future. "John Snow" shares vocals with Caroline Gilchrist (Hot Sauce Pony) echoing the sound of Fun Boy Three. A sliding, sludgy drumbeat, as vocals express caution, "somethings lurking in the water, but you still look to the sky." "I Hate Shop" re-collects life with a major high street retailer -- a glamorous critique -- crashing, roaring sounds break the bleak banality of shop life. "The Crystal Palace" which cries, "come and get me and take me home," is a beautifully crafted piece, delicate and moving. Multi-instrumentalist and talented artist in his own right Stephen EvEns tours with his own guitar and full band line-up, or occasional Casiotone.
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HUM 021LP
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LP version. Employee Of The Month is packed full of candor as post-punk, indie-pop troubadour Stephen EvEns unleashes his alter-ego. This beatnik, indie-punk escapade is accompanied with swooping motoric guitars, squelching effects, and crackling sounds that fluctuate from the exotic, improvisational to a deadpan realism. EvEns muses on the futility and injustice of the world, all delivered with a huge wry smile and a glamorous, magical, and eccentric delivery. The album kicks-off with the single "Dustbin Man" focusing on key workers and the people that knit society together, with booming oscillating guitars and a post-punk disjointedness. "Push Yr Thumb In Yr Eye" builds on a massive wave of distortion, as the pendulum swings to a passionate accompaniment of off-kilter violins in this post-punk dystopian tragedy. "Freak Show" guests William D. Drake on piano and accentuates EvEns cabaret style as he re-collects a tale of migration to the city. The vocals fill with a melancholic timbre in a dramatic search for a positive future. "John Snow" shares vocals with Caroline Gilchrist (Hot Sauce Pony) echoing the sound of Fun Boy Three. A sliding, sludgy drumbeat, as vocals express caution, "somethings lurking in the water, but you still look to the sky." "I Hate Shop" re-collects life with a major high street retailer -- a glamorous critique -- crashing, roaring sounds break the bleak banality of shop life. "The Crystal Palace" which cries, "come and get me and take me home," is a beautifully crafted piece, delicate and moving. Multi-instrumentalist and talented artist in his own right Stephen EvEns tours with his own guitar and full band line-up, or occasional Casiotone.
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HUM 030CD
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My Bus are Joe Cassidy and Gary McKendry. As Butterfly Child and Papa Sprain respectively they were restless parallel adventurers in the early days of UK dream-pop. The released EPs for AR Kane's label H.ark! and then for Rough Trade. They blazed radical trails for music, burned bright and then faded away. Now they have combined to form My Bus. Our Life In The Desert became is of the richest and most emotional dream-pop entities of any era. They combine Gary's love of dissonance and Joe's love of melody/composition. It is a deeply nostalgic record born out of love and a friendship across decades. The lyrics range from direct to oblique as the music spans oceanic drift ("Moon Tempo"), full-on drama ("Elvis & Me"), simmering pop tones ("Tomorrow Will Be Ours") and the stirring, multi-faceted "Goose Pimples Forever", rescued by the wonders of technology from an ancient disintegrating My Bus cassette. On the exquisite, haunting "Angeles", spoken words matched to one of his more restful ambient pieces. "It's an idea of confusion and uncertainty," says Gary ("Our minds contemplating the paltry limits of the conditional to my mind thoughts are only for preparing an entrance and an exit").
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HUM 030LP
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LP version. My Bus are Joe Cassidy and Gary McKendry. As Butterfly Child and Papa Sprain respectively they were restless parallel adventurers in the early days of UK dream-pop. The released EPs for AR Kane's label H.ark! and then for Rough Trade. They blazed radical trails for music, burned bright and then faded away. Now they have combined to form My Bus. Our Life In The Desert became is of the richest and most emotional dream-pop entities of any era. They combine Gary's love of dissonance and Joe's love of melody/composition. It is a deeply nostalgic record born out of love and a friendship across decades. The lyrics range from direct to oblique as the music spans oceanic drift ("Moon Tempo"), full-on drama ("Elvis & Me"), simmering pop tones ("Tomorrow Will Be Ours") and the stirring, multi-faceted "Goose Pimples Forever", rescued by the wonders of technology from an ancient disintegrating My Bus cassette. On the exquisite, haunting "Angeles", spoken words matched to one of his more restful ambient pieces. "It's an idea of confusion and uncertainty," says Gary ("Our minds contemplating the paltry limits of the conditional to my mind thoughts are only for preparing an entrance and an exit").
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HUM 029CD
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Future From Here is the debut album from Hurtling. Jen Macro, their guitarist and singer, wrote most of the songs while touring in My Bloody Valentine. The album kicks-off at the "Start", a beginning of sweet melodies and a love song from "me to you", crunching straight into "Memory Cassette", a sun-drenched medicine for melancholy. "Feel It", bold and courageous dives deeper into darker spheres, while "Summer" paints beautiful melodious colors over the top of your sunscreen, lifting you out of your melancholy gently and purposefully. The more luscious pop tones of "Eb One", or "Alone", are tales of love and loss, contrasting with the heavy, crunching agitation of "Please Don't Know Us". The journey is characterized in "Call To Arms", Jen's voice drops to a whisper, in a courageous desire to move stridently into the future. Influences include The Breeders, Elliott Smith, and Sonic Youth, to name a few, as well as reflecting the dreamy, hazy atmospheres of My Bloody Valentine, whose live band Macro has been a member for a number of years.
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HUM 028LP
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LP version. Future From Here is the debut album from Hurtling. Jen Macro, their guitarist and singer, wrote most of the songs while touring in My Bloody Valentine. The album kicks-off at the "Start", a beginning of sweet melodies and a love song from "me to you", crunching straight into "Memory Cassette", a sun-drenched medicine for melancholy. "Feel It", bold and courageous dives deeper into darker spheres, while "Summer" paints beautiful melodious colors over the top of your sunscreen, lifting you out of your melancholy gently and purposefully. The more luscious pop tones of "Eb One", or "Alone", are tales of love and loss, contrasting with the heavy, crunching agitation of "Please Don't Know Us". The journey is characterized in "Call To Arms", Jen's voice drops to a whisper, in a courageous desire to move stridently into the future. Influences include The Breeders, Elliott Smith, and Sonic Youth, to name a few, as well as reflecting the dreamy, hazy atmospheres of My Bloody Valentine, whose live band Macro has been a member for a number of years.
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2CD
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HUM 032CD
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Repeat is a heartfelt tribute to and celebration of UK rave culture. It's been lovingly curated by The Gasman and is a corelease with Gasman Music. It's a new compilation celebrating the British independent dance music scene of the early '90s, featuring a mix of old and new tracks from old and new artists. It features 26 exclusive tracks from many pioneers who changed things forever and continue to move forward. It packs a heavy line up with contributions from members of LFO, Humanoid, Future Sound Of London, μ-Ziq, and Altern8, and other acts such as Konx-Om-Pax, Todd Osborn, and Wisp. It also futures the first ever music to be released by Steve Davis (the snooker player turned experimental music DJ) under the name Thundermuscle. The first CD is a nod to house/acid/techno and the second CD has a tendency towards breakbeat/rave. Double-CD in a back-to-back box; an homage to the design style of significant compilations such as Deep Heat. Also features Berk, Type 303, Brain Rays, A-Eno-Acid, Polysick, Boxcutter, Sacred Science, Gez Varley, Mark Archer, The Gammon, Kev Cotter, Dobbo, Double B, American Express, Chevron, The Courier, Vertical67, The Gasman, Emma Catnip, and Attraktta.
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2LP
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HUM 023LP
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Double LP version. Since being signed by Planet Mu in 2003, The Gasman has been prolifically releasing music. The Gasman's second album for Onomatopoeia and 19th overall, Controlled Hallucination, finds the Portsmouth-based electronic auteur in a rich vein of form. Blending the slick '80s-inflected production of 2016's acclaimed Aeriform with a cross-section of his trademark skittering arpeggios, ethereal dream chords and restlessly inventive beats, Controlled Hallucination is at once a career highlight and a step in a new direction. A strong dance floor focus (see opening banger "New Chair") takes turns with more introspective moments, and the extraordinary journey taken by album centerpiece "Wizards Sleeve" acts as a microcosm for the whole collection, four sides of relentless invention during which no musical stone is left unturned. An expansive, involving album, by turns mature and charmingly immature, sparkling with inspiration yet fully focused, Controlled Hallucination is a perfect entry point into The Gasman's unique sonic vision, sure to delight long-term fans and new heads alike.
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HUM 026CD
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Since being signed by Planet Mu in 2003, The Gasman has been prolifically releasing music. The Gasman's second album for Onomatopoeia and 19th overall, Controlled Hallucination, finds the Portsmouth-based electronic auteur in a rich vein of form. Blending the slick '80s-inflected production of 2016's acclaimed Aeriform with a cross-section of his trademark skittering arpeggios, ethereal dream chords and restlessly inventive beats, Controlled Hallucination is at once a career highlight and a step in a new direction. A strong dance floor focus (see opening banger "New Chair") takes turns with more introspective moments, and the extraordinary journey taken by album centerpiece "Wizards Sleeve" acts as a microcosm for the whole collection, four sides of relentless invention during which no musical stone is left unturned. An expansive, involving album, by turns mature and charmingly immature, sparkling with inspiration yet fully focused, Controlled Hallucination is a perfect entry point into The Gasman's unique sonic vision, sure to delight long-term fans and new heads alike.
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HUM 025CD
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Happy Endings is an album of extraordinary music, borne of an extravagance of imagination, unfettered by convention or fashion, poised rather sexily in some other dimension beyond the usual parameters. With this in mind, you could call it psychedelic. Death and love crop up a lot on this album, with a sacred/profane, soulful/irreverent, silly yet deadly serious wisdom, which recognizes the universality of its themes, allowing them to gently explode into your ears. Crayola Lectern is reaching out here. It's musick with a "K". A man in great demand by the cognoscenti as your go to musical visionary, Crayola Lectern is Chris Anderson with Alistair Strachan, Jon Poole, Bob Leith, Damo Waters, and Bic Hayes.
"An absolutely superb new album from one of the UK's most underrated mavericks. Imagine Robert Wyatt, High Llamas, Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne, and Todd Rundgren all in one magnificent human. That's Crayola Lectern. Superb arrangements throughout, and in common with all the above I suppose, a sense of adventure and playfulness is evident throughout. One of my favourites of the year so far" --Simon Raymonde, Bella Union.
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HUM 024LP
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LP version. Happy Endings is an album of extraordinary music, borne of an extravagance of imagination, unfettered by convention or fashion, poised rather sexily in some other dimension beyond the usual parameters. With this in mind, you could call it psychedelic. Death and love crop up a lot on this album, with a sacred/profane, soulful/irreverent, silly yet deadly serious wisdom, which recognizes the universality of its themes, allowing them to gently explode into your ears. Crayola Lectern is reaching out here. It's musick with a "K". A man in great demand by the cognoscenti as your go to musical visionary, Crayola Lectern is Chris Anderson with Alistair Strachan, Jon Poole, Bob Leith, Damo Waters, and Bic Hayes.
"An absolutely superb new album from one of the UK's most underrated mavericks. Imagine Robert Wyatt, High Llamas, Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne, and Todd Rundgren all in one magnificent human. That's Crayola Lectern. Superb arrangements throughout, and in common with all the above I suppose, a sense of adventure and playfulness is evident throughout. One of my favourites of the year so far" --Simon Raymonde, Bella Union.
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