Sounds from the edges of culture and between the cracks of category
Latest Releases- Cassette Imprint
LOR119 - Richard Sanderson -Compass Rose
Richard Sanderson releases his first solo album for three years. "Compass Rose" consists of three longish tracks for amplified melodeon (diatonic button accordion). Side one has two tracks recorded at Brighton Road Studios in Sussex, whilst side two is an improvisation recorded live at London's IKLECTIK by Saint Austral Sound. The tracks were mixed by Sanderson. With no overdubs or processing, these recordings present the raw sound of the melodeon rendered as a melange of noise, feedback and free-reed dynamics - reminiscent at times of bagpipe music, John Cale's viola, or doom metal, and even occasionally folk music. Recorded in 2019, this is perhaps the purest representation of Sanderson's live sound, and of the influences he has absorbed since taking up the instrument 15 years ago. Available as a limited edition cassette and download. To stream or purchase please go to the release page
LOR132 - Tigersonic -Blipcuts
Linear Obsessional is delighted to present this amazing album of micro-dub, glitch-funk miniatures by the London based producer and musician Tigersonic. Using an technique of carving her tracks down to the essentials Tigersonic eschews the 12" stretch of a lot of dance, dub and electronica and instead produces a set of 20 tracks - (average length two minutes or considerably less) none of which outstay their welcome. Moving through abstract noise, majestic cavernous dub and angular funk the ideas keep flowing, restlessly, inventively and compellingly in a stop/start exercise in 21st century blip dynamics. Early ACR, On-U Sound and PIL may come to mind, along with a post-punk energy and willingness to experiment, but this is mainly an exercise groove based abstractica for the restless and the curious... Released as a limited edition cassette and download with PDF booklet and short videos. To stream or purchase please visit the release page
LOR134 - Dave Clarkson -A Pocket Guide to Subterrania- Mysterious Caves of the British Isles
Dave Clarkson's fourth release for Linear Obsessional moves away from the coastal concerns of previous releases to explore the unique atmospheres of the UK's sonically rich underground. Six tracks recorded in unique caves, with no additional sounds added to the orginal recordings but "some left pure, some processed, some mangled, some untangled". Released as a limited edition cassette and a download with PDF booklet of notes and images - "A Pocket Guide" enhances Clarkson's reputation as one of the most imaginative sonic geographers of the UK. To stream or to purchase please visit the release page
LOR118 - Paco Rossique -The Visit of the Stranger (2017 -2018)
There's nothing quite like the music of Paco Rossique- an imaginative soundworld as exotic, strange and beautiful as his extraordinary artwork. "The Visit of the Stranger" is a world of disembodied voices, bells, prepared piano, eerie creaks and and whispers, unidentifiable instruments, drones and mysterious field recordings. The result is an album that is as puzzling as it is fascinating. Living and working in the Canary Islands, Paco Rossique has carved out an utterly original space for himself. "The Visit of the Stranger (2017-2018) is released on a limited edition translucent cassette with full colour artwork, and as a download with PDF booklet including 10 pieces of artwork
To stream or purchase please visit the release page
LOR123 - Viv Corringham -Until I Understand the Language of Vegetable Mineral
A brand new collection of songs by Viv Corringham - away from the more familiar experiments and improvations these are real songs with words, all sung in Viv's extraordinary voice. Using minimalist backings comprised of field recordings or her own looped voice, these short pieces feel like bizarre diary entries brought to life- unusual and affecting. Viv Corringham is a UK vocalist currently living and working in New York, she has worked with a bewildering number of musicians in a wide range of styles ranging from free improvisation to rembetika, Pauline Oliveros to Mike Cooper. "Until I Learn the Language of Vegetable Mineral" is a wonderful album from one of the most unique and often astonishing voices in modern music.
To stream or purchase please go to the release page
LOR108 - Peter Nagle -An Equal and Opposite Reaction
The composer Peter Nagle's first release for Linear Obsessional is this expansive collection of microtonal and minimalist works. featuring three short tracks of textural experiments and acoustic experiments and two long tracks of dissonant drone featuring cello, feedback, guitar and percussion. Although firmly in the tradition of Tony Conrad, LaMonte Young and the pre-Velvets work of John Cale, these pieces carry their own surprises as the microtones pile up - whether sudden snatches of dialogue and field recordings, or the monolithic alusions to doom metal on "Veranderung". "An Equal and Opposite Reaction" with its apt reference to Newtonian physics, is a compelling and vital release. To stream or purchase please visit the release page
Forthcoming Cassettes
Latest Releases - Compact Discs and Downloads
LOR135 - Simon Proffitt and Ash Cooke -Gwrth-gitâr
From a new generation of eager and explorative experimental Welsh musicians (perhaps best represented by Cooke's "Dukes of Scuba" zine) comes "Gwrth-gitâr", a set of improvised guitar duos. "Gwrth-gitâr is free playing in the sense that anything goes. It does not explicitly reject standard Western tuning, melody or harmony, but it does reject the need for such things. It seeks to explore new ways of using a traditional and universally familiar object to paint an alternative view of the world. It is improvised, unrehearsed, and leaves as much to chance as it does to the ability of the operator. It has no interest in being reproducible" -From the manifesto included with this release Available as a limited edition CD and download. To stream or to puchase please visit the release page
LOR124 - Sam Fendrich -pPOPp
Following the stylistic desolation of Sam Fendrich's previous album, the critically aclaimed "Blue Tears" the follow up may be something of a surprise - a collection of 19 short (average 3 mins) tunes all called "pPOPp". Of course it's more complicated than that - the jagged chords, unpredictable, but still whistleable melodies and lead instruments that can sound like a dying asthmastic buzzsaw - these are pop songs from the heart of Fendrichland. Over 19 tracks you get soundtracks to wildlife documentaries about scary but funny animals, wonky library music, Lynchian jazz-noir, eviscerated Residents style pop, and one track that sounds like Mungo Jerry's "Summertime" re-assembled by aliens after a crash. After the scorched earth policy of "Blue Tears", the winking, jovial Fendrich is back, but you know there's something deeper going on. To stream or to puchase, please visit the release page
LOR128 - Kassia Flux -Ergot in the Wine
Available as a limited edition CD The much anticipated follow up to last year's extremely well recieved ("album of the year!" TQ) "I Hear You", Kassia Flux's "Ergot in the Wine" is another deep dive into the world of this hugely imaginative and fascinating artist/scientist. Featuring songs, field recordings and improvisations - with recordings ranging from a luthier at work to the sounds of an English coastal town overlaid with violin, guitars and electronics. Haunting, ecstatic and life affirming experimentation at its finest. Released as a limited edition CD in Eco-Pack and download with PDF booklet. To stream or to purchase please visit the release page
LOR097 - Phil Durrant -Sowari Modular
Over two years in preparation, Linear Obsessional is proud to release this album of electronic music by the highly respected and very active British improvising musician Phil Durrant. 'Sowari Modular' features tracks using either modular synth assemblages or tracks made with single semi-modular synthesisers. Ranging from enveloping drone pieces influenced by Eliane Radique through to more "gestural" pices incorporating outside sounds such as electric motors and wine glasses, the album is a blueprint of singular patches and hairtrigger fluctuations - a very physical music from a very arcane source. Cover painting by Kev Hopper Released as a limited edition CD and download with PDFbooklet of notes and images. To stream or purchase please visit the release page
LOR098 - Stephen Shiell -Sonance
Linear Obsessional is proud to present the debut album by sound artist, composer, sculptor and field recordist Stephen Shiell. "Sonance" consists of three equal length pieces - each a diverting exploration of place, and added human interaction. All three are absorbing and enveloping constructions, that sustain a strangely moving and powerful atmosphere. "Desert" is constructed from VLF recordings made in the Nevada Desert, overlaid with obsidian needle chimes and the voice of Hannah White. "Wood" is a realisation of Shiell's composition "Earth Organ" recorded in a wood in Wiltshire with a group of musicians, (score included in accompanying PDF booklet) with added field and studio recordings. "Air" is a "Deep Listening" piece influenced by Pauline Oliveros recorded in London with the additional sounds of a windmill in Spain and an air conditioning unit. Released as a professionally duplicated CD in glossy gatefold card sleeve and as a download with PDF bookletof notes and photographs. To stream or purchase please visit the release page
LOR126 - Eun-Jung Kim & Charlie Collins -Shining Days
Linear obsessional is delighted to release "Shining Days" a scintilating collection of improvisations for komungo (a traditional Korean stringed instrument) and percussion. These beautifully recorded duos from these unique Sheffield based musicians are spacious and mysterious as their evocative titles. Eun-Jung Kim is one of the leading exponents of the komungo, the traditional Korean long board zither, while Charlie Collins is known for creating highly original and experimental music in a dizzying variety of contexts. Utilizing both traditional and contemporary techniques they together create an intense acoustic minimalism.
Available as a CD and download The stream or purchase please visit the release page
LOR120 - Steven Ball -Bastard Island
"the weather is routinely unseasonable no reliable reports unpredictable set up the microphone time enough to prepare..."
Linear Obsessional is proud to release the new album of songs by Steven Ball - whilst his fusion of avant-garde sounds and field recordings with composed songs bears comparison with Walker and Sylvian "Bastard Island" with its geographical imagery and pertinent subject matter combined with meticulously chosen backings is a unique and wonderfully unsettling experience. Plummeting short wave noise, distant guitar and organ drones create a shifting bed for the composer's distinctive croon. His strongest album yet. Available as a CD and download with PDF booklet. To stream or purchase please visit the release page
