Next Linear Obsessional Live - 30th September with Mike Cooper, Pete Flood and Richard Sanderson (trio), Cath Roberts and Dee Byrne (duo), Jacken Elswyth (solo) and Finglebone (solo)  at the ArtsCafe
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Linear Obsessional
A label for Experimental and 
Improvised Music

Linear Obsessional is a label for limited edition CDs and records, and for unlimited free/name-your-price digital recordings of experimental and improvised music, and other sounds that fall between the cracks of category and genre. 
 
 Most of the music is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. This means that the music is free to download, and that you are welcome (indeed encouraged) to share it, remix, and use it how you wish, as long as full credit is given to the creators. There are a few exceptions, where the artist has specified a different licence (please check!), and the occasional "physical only" release.

Linear Obsessional is put together by Richard Sanderson, an improvising musician based in South London. There's an article in The Quietus about the label here,  there's a long interview with Richard, talking about Linear Obsessional Recordings here. or a long audio interview with him on this podcast.

"My brain was subtly melted by the variety and quality of the releases in the label’s catalogue. Free improvisation, quirky electronics, forgotten post-punk gems and a concept album about mushrooms, all available from a single site"
-Paul Margree, We Need No Swords

"It’s one of the hallmarks of Richard Sanderson’s label that he makes the physical versions of his releases into desirable, or at least interesting, limited art objects."
-Ed Pinsent, The Sound Projector

"Linear Obsessional obsessively collects the overlooked, the obscure and the worthy, giving them another shot at discovery."
-Richard Allen, A Closer Listen

"Linear Obsessional has a large catalogue of idiosyncratic creations, a gallery of the bizarre that deserves a deep dive; a singular label releasing regularly amazing music...a distinguished warehouse of brilliant avant-weirdness"
-Michael Holland, Ears For Eyes


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So Far...

LOR001 - Richard Sanderson - Pinhole (deleted)
LOR002 - Richard Sanderson - Improvisations for Melodeon (available elsewhere)
LOR003 - Richard Sanderson + skitter - Tone Chambers
LOR004-  Sam Fendrich - Etude Brutus
LOR005-  Fabio Keiner - Quiet Poundings
LOR006 - Alex Charles - "Hourse"
LOR007 - Clive Pearman & Richard Sanderson - Corks
LOR008 - Paul H. Muller - Soft Sirens and Still Time
LOR009 - The Original Beekeepers - Music for Barges
LOR010 - Jérôme Poirier - Deconstructed Notes Towards
LOR011 - Sam Fendrich - Swimming
LOR012 - Ivor Kallin - A Wee Dug Stole A Haddy Bone - Pibroch Viola Improvisations
LOR013 - Clive Pearman and Richard Sanderson - Bottles
LOR014 - Jude Cowan Montague - Bukittinggi Tales
LOR015- Clive Pearman - The Earliest Humans
LOR016 - Various Artists- Quarters
LOR017 - Christopher Mack + skitter - (o raio verde)
LOR018 - Chris Whitehead - South Gare
LOR019 - Mark Browne - Malapert and Erratic
LOR020 - Weatherglass - Contractions for Ophelia
LOR021H - Richard Sanderson - Precision (3" CD-R)
LOR022 - Alex Charles - Trevenec
LOR023 - Steve Moyes - Gardening
LOR024 - Jérôme Poirier - The Seventh Tenant
LOR025 - Paul Wady - The Terminal Beach
LOR026 - C. Reider - One Of The Drone Boys
LOR027 - Steve Beresford, Anna Homler, Richard Sanderson - Berlin Toy Bazaar
LOR028 - Hannah Marshall - Tulse Hill
LOR029 - Ivor Kallin - A Goose is a Horse
LOR030 - John Love - White Sessions
LOR031H - The Horse Trio - The Horse Trio EP
LOR032 - Baby - Near Wanstonia
LOR033 - Alex Charles - Silenced Electronics
LOR034 - Bruce Hamilton - Drams
LOR035 - Clive Pearman - Baffling Signals
LOR036 - Jude Cowan Montague - Winter Hill Sings
LOR037- Kev Hopper - Tonka Beano
LOR038 - John Bisset - Van Quixote
LOR039H- The Horse Trio - Pesade to the Left
LOR040 - Duncan Goddard - Electrical Tape
LOR041 - Pete Flood - Mycoworld
LOR042 - Marsh and May - Falling, More Slowly
LOR043 - Mike Cooper and Yan-Chiu Leung -  Right (H)ear Side by Side
LOR044 - Viv Corringham - Gum + Butts
LOR045RL - Tick Tick - My Swelling Heart
LOR046 - Richard Sanderson- Air Buttons
LOR047 - Various Artists - Button Box
LOR048 - Chris Whitehead - Habitats for Metal Plants
LOR049 - Mark Browne - The Prejudices of History
LOR050 - Colin Webster & Graham Dunning - Estigate
LOR051 - Juanjo Palacios - Ensenada
LOR052 - Tasos Stamou & Adrian Northover - Mantra Gora
LOR053 - Varios Artists - For Syria (deleted)
LOR054 - Iris Garrelfs - Bedroom Symphonies
LOR055 - Sam Fendrich - The Unquestioned Answer
LOR056- Longstone - -リサイクル risaikuru
LOR057 - Dave Clarkson - Music for Lightfhouses
LOR058 - Ian MacGowan - Windmap
LOR059 - Browne/Thompson/Sanderson - The 1926 Floor Polish Variations
LOR060 - Sue Lynch - These Lamps
LOR061 - Various Artists - Two Minutes Left
LOR062 - Mark Wastell - Vibra: Trent
LOR063 - Paco Rossique - Collages & Dispersions
LOR064 - The Original Beekeepers - How The River Runs Dry
LOR065 - Steven Ball - Life of Barrymore
LOR066 - Mike Cooper - Forbidden Delta Planet Blues 
LOR067 - David Velez - Unaware
LOR068 - C.Reider - Tape Loops
LOR069 - Solaris - Summer Edits
LOR070 - General Practice - At Whelans
LOR071 - Mike Adcock - Accord
LOR072 - Lost Robots - Arms
LOR073D - Jude Cowan Montague & Steve Layton - Cairo Compression
LOR074D - Nada (Roger Mills (and Hervé Perez) - Mirror Image
LOR075D - Various Artists - Open The Window
LOR076D - Project Mycelium - Pulse
LOR077D - Sam Fendrich - LIFE (terms and conditions apply)
LOR078 - Phil Maguire - this this
LOR079 - Longstone - Kinka-zan (Risaikuru Remixes)
​LOR080 - NE Trethowan - Grammostola
​LOR081 - Richard Sanderson - A Thousand Concreted Perils
LOR082 - Dirch Blewn - Capacity and Resistance
LOR083 - Far Rainbow - Somewhere Out There Was The Wave
LOR084 - Kamura Obscura - Speleology - Kamura Obscura Live
LOR085D - Various Artists - Utterances
LOR086 - Dave Clarkson - A Red Guide To Coastal Quicksands of the British Isles
LOR087 - Various Artists - The Black Path
LOR088 - Project Mycelium - Pyamiden
​LOR089 - Dirch Blewn - Axis
​LOR090 - Browne/Thompson/Sanderson - Solitude, Reef and the Starry Veil
LOR091 - Chris Cundy and Benedict Taylor - Hidden Bomba
LOR092D - Raxil4 - Gunpowder
LOR093 - Plastiglomerate/boringcharlie. - Virtual Vacation
LOR094D - Denis Sorokin and Sergey Vandyshev - Lullabies For Monstrous Moonshine
LOR095 - Steven Ball - Subsongs
LOR096 - James O'Sullivan - IL Y A
LOR097 - Phil Durrant - Sowari Modular
LOR098 - Stephen Shiell 
LOR099-  Dave Clarkson - A Blue Guide to Shore Ghosts and Sea Mystery
LOR100 - Me, Claudius - Back to the Sweat-Out Tower
LOR101D - Various Artists - A View From A Hill
LOR102 - Philip Sulidae - Conurb
LOR103 - Kassia Flux - I Hear You
LOR104 - Various Artists - Limited Options Remain: Tangible Qualities
LOR105 - Ben Glas - Music for Listening
LOR106 - Mark Browne & Chris Whitehead - A History of Breath
LOR107 - The Static Memories 
LOR108 - Peter Nagle - An Equal and Opposite Reaction
LOR109 - Officina Errante - Recorder! Ricorda...
LOR110 - Sam Fendrich - Blue Tears
LOR111- smallhaus - Lutra
LOR112 - BELLA+ROHRER+MACK/ skitter 
LOR113 - Kev Hopper - Corbyn Sceptic Club
LOR114 - Nostalgia Blocks 
LOR115 - Montague Armstrong - Hammond Hits
​LOR116 - Jeff Larson - 414: 4-Track Studies
LOR117 - Paul Khimasia Morgan & Daniel Spicer - Sepertae
LOR118 - Paco Rossique - The Visit of the Stranger (2017-2018)
​LOR119 - Richard Sanderson -
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http://soundcloud.com/linear-obsessional

Latest Releases

LOR105 - Ben Glas
​-Music for Listeners

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The fourth release in Linear Obsessional's cassette imprint is this extraordinary collection of compositions by the American composer Ben Glas...
"This record is a collection of psychoacoustic and experiential aural pieces composed without a teleological result in mind. Together these pieces comprise an archive of my personal experimentations within the frameworks minimalism, relativism and Gestalt theory principles. What I sought to compose was not necessarily limited to a sonic experience; with these works I was seeking to explore expanded forms of hearing, listening and experiencing. 
"Music For Listeners" is exactly that- musical experiences for keen, subtle and curious listeners"
-Ben Glas

Ben Glas (b. 1992) is an interdisciplinary artist and composer based in Portland, OR. Through ephemeral compositions Glas' work questions preconceived notions between passive and active participation, collapses the difference between hearing and listening; listening and experiencing.
linearobsessional.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-listeners
"Music for Listeners" is available as a limited edition professionally duplicated cassette and as a free/name-your-price download and comes with a PDF booklet of notes.

To purchase, download or listen please visit the release page

LOR115 - Montague Armstrong
-Hammond Hits

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Imagine a world where the sounds of sixties testcard music and the sort of music played between working mens' clubs acts had been picked up by aliens and then sent back to earth for an intergalactic knees-up around the Hammond organ. Difficult? It may not have been Montague Armstrong's intention, but that's what this delightful, effervescent concoction of tunes makes me think of. Jude Cowan Montague's effortlessly cheerful tunes and Matt Armstrong's always immaculately well-placed electric bass make this an unusual, but definitely desirable item from Linear Obsessional and also marks the third release in LinOb's new Cassette Imprint series. 

Released as a professionally duplicated cassette with a picture by Katy Binks and design by David Little ,and as a free/name-your-price download.

To listen, purchase or download please visit the release page

LOR111 - smallhaus
​-Lutra

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Following on from his slow burning self-released cassette "Unweather", "Lutra" is the first CD release by smallhaus (AKA South London based guitarist, electronicist, percussionist David Little). It expands his singular sound environment into a full-screen, full-colour and hugely enjoyable collection.
At times this almost feels like a tribute to the classic sounds of 70's ambient - the choral textures, the infinite guitars, the synthesizers, but it's done with a knowing wink and a contemporary layer of grit and dust. But mostly it's an enveloping, immersive wash of precision moulded sound.

Released as a CD in plastic wraparound cover with insert and free/name your price download.

​To purchase, listen or download - please visit the release page

Recent Releases

LOR112 - BELLA+ROHRER+MACK /
​skitter

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The second release in Linear Obsessional's new cassette series, this split tape features on side A, a live improvisation by the São Paulo based trio of Brazilian sound artist bella and two Brazil based improvisers Christopher Mack (guitar and echo) and Thomas Rohrer (sax and rabeca). The Scottish sound artist skitter has taken the recording and edited and assembled it into a double trio...  (No processing)
Side B by skitter is an audio portrait of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the currently imprisoned ex-president of Brazil... layered collage of various online Brazilian sources (including Lula wire-tap telephone conversations released into the public domain by the prosecuting judge).(with processing) 

Two urgent, dense and compelling works created from two contrasting ends of Brazilian culture.
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Released as a limited edition cassette and a download with PDF booklet of notes and images.
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To purchase,  listen or download please visit the release page

LOR109 - Officina Errante 
​Recorder! Ricorda...

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"Recorder! Ricorda..." is the first release in Linear Obsessional's cassette series, professionally produced cassettes in uniform  designs by David (smallhaus) Little. The artists have worked to produce music specifically for this format.
Officina Errante's piece is an audacious journey through a succession of sonic moods, all sounds recorded on a portable Zoom recorder- the results then manipulated, crunched and highlighted later- time compresses and expands infinitely....tinkles from a borrowed piano add melancholic interludes.. It's almost like a succession of audio postcards or snapshots, each "movement" capturing moments of stasis  or energy, urban clamour or rural tranquility the whole work flowing seamlessly with it's own logic.
Officina Errante reworked his piece especially for the cassette format and Linear Obsessional is delighted to present this piece of 21st century musique concrete/sonic travelogue.

Released as a limited edition professionally produced cassette and as a free download.

To purchase, listen or download, please visit the release page

Next Release

LOR116 - Jeff Larson
-414: 4-Track Studies

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The fifth release in Linear Obsessional's Cassette Imprint is this scintilating collection of pieces by the Texan guitarist Jeff Larson. Using his four-track cassette recorder Larson piles up the simple phrases of his guitar into dense and enveloping pieces- sometimes echoing the sound and texture of 70's minimalism, 
Jeff Larson is a sound artist based in Houston Texas.

​"414: 4-Track Studies" will be released as a professionally duplicated cassette and free/name-your-price download.