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Recommended by us on 4th March 2011
...according to our Ant on Fri 04 Mar, 2011.
A lovely record here for those that like to dig deep into the history of recorded sound. Lovingly researched and compiled by Felix Kubin for his Gagarin label and presented in gatefold sleeve with both German and English language sleeve-notes. The LP features a collection of recordings from the past hundred years with all manner of sonic curiosities. There are recordings of early mechanical machine apparatus, reel to reel tapes from a 1930's Finnish telephone exchange, some recordings of Norwegian Whaling festival music from 1948. If that sounds strange and bizarre then check out the fraudulent machine recording. A fantastic early 50's David Tudor tape, archive hydrophone recordings of sea plankton that pre-date Chris Watson's work by around 50 years! Oh let's see what else we have - An acetate disc recording from 1934 of an African Pygmy hunting ritual by Harry Ward. Then there is also a demonstration of the Volkstrautonium which was a proto synthesizer developed by Oskar Sala in the mid 1930's and sourced from a lacquer disc recording, a mysterious unidentified tape recording and so on. Highly recommended and will find a welcome home I'm sure for the more adventurous sonic explorers out there. Roll on volume 2...
With almost universal access to the internet and the rise of the online archive it may appear that the entire history of recorded sound is only a few mouse clicks away. However, the 2008 discovery in a Paris archive of a phonautograph recording of Au Clair de Lune from 1860 demonstrated that fragile treasures remain to be discovered by the dedicated explorer.
Felix Kubin has spent the last 5 years investigating, tracking down and collecting a stunning selection of hitherto neglected recordings from archives and private collections. With an eye for the antique curiosity, and an ear for the curious dusty beauty of abandoned transmissions from the past, he is now proud to present this first collection of historical recordings.
The recordings presented here offer many and diverse pleasures from the analogue realm. Amongst the jewels offered are chronicles of eccentric machines, alleged occult occurences on telephone exchanges, drunken whalers, marine plankton, music hall entertainers, Nazi attempts to play proto-synthesizers, uncategorisable oddities, and lost documents by originators of the avant-garde.
This deluxe vinyl only edition is presented in lavish packaging including a booklet which contains an essay by Felix Kubin, extensive notes on each track and illustrations.
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Norman Records,
Unit 20, Croydon House,
Croydon Street,
Leeds,
LS11 9RT, UK.
Tel/fax: (+44) 0113 245 4399
Email: phil@normanrecords.com
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