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
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
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
LOR129 - Duncan Chapman -Cove
Duncan Chapman's second release for Linear Obsessional is this beautiful cassette - "Cove" based around recordings made in Cove Park in February 2019. The tracks are a mixture of field recordings, live improvisations, sonification of landscape images and manipulated recordings. The four tracks are bright evocations of landscape, whether a calm pond or a view of mountains - still and haunting, enveloping and luminous. To be released as a cassette and download. Soon.
Latest Releases - Compact Discs and Downloads
LOR133 - Paula Garcia Stone -Undercurrent
Linear Obsessional is very proud to release the first album by the noted artist and composer Paula Garcia Stone. "Undercurrent" is a collection of 9 soundworks, that combine her interest in place (field recordings) and the use of very physical sounds. Paula is visual artist (with a long relationship with drawing) and a sound artist. whose work often concentrates on amplifying the small and microscopic. "Undercurrent" is released as a limited edition CD in eco-friendly printed gatefold card cover, and as a download with PDF. To listen or to purchase visit the release page
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
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
Forthcoming CDs
LOR125 - The Original Beekeepers - Fear For The Future
The long awaited new album by Linear Obsessional's token pop group, The Original Beekeepers. "Fear for the Future" continues to hone their brand of exquisitely constructed English chamber pop, sardonic lyrics and wonderful arrangements. The subject here is the encroachment of middle age, the narrowing of ambitions and the acception of limitations. With brass sections, extra vocals, samples and found sounds, and a stunning cover design this is the Beekeepers' most ambitious album yet. To be released on CD and DL soon.
