With 18 free albums released in their first season, it’s clear that the Linear Obsessional netlabel loves music as much as we do. But how to make people aware of it? We suggested a mix ~ and guess what! A mix we now have!
Most people won’t have heard of the artists represented here, but that’s the allure: the thrill of discovery. While “minimal” is the stated uniting factor, “outer limits” might be a better description. None of this is crossover music. In some cases, it’s music that makes fans of experimental music exclaim, “Wow, now that’s what I call experimental!” From ambient to drone, field recording to improvisation, Linear Obsessional obsessively collects the overlooked, the obscure and the worthy, giving them another shot at discovery.
Consider, for example, the tracks in this mix. Christopher Mack + skitter present a wild session of abrasive field recordings and guitar matched by filesharing between Glasgow and Sao Paulo; the full, 22-minute version of “(o raio verde)” lurches and screeches its way to an intriguing end. Bagrec’s “The Anxiety in the Eyes of the Cricket” (from the compilation Quarters) is an elegant sieving of pre-existing materials that comes across as a cousin to Richard Skelton’s beguiling works. The resonator guitar of Clive Pearman’s “The Singing Bridge on Harp Street” (from The Earliest Humans) weeps and keens like an injured sparrow. And while real birds call over the Tees River on Chris Whitehead’s “Tides” (from South Gare), the sounds disguise a less fanciful backstory: that the Gare is man-made, comprised of “blast furnace slag and concrete”. That’s a lot of variety for 16 minutes. With 14 other albums to investigate, and many more on the way, this is just the beginning.
A huge congratulations to Richard Sanderson on his labor of love; we hope you’ll check out the mix below and that it will lead you to check out the label as well! (Richard Allen)
Track listing:
1. The Singing Bridge On Harp Street – Clive Pearman (LOR015)
2. (o raio verde) – Christopher Mack + skitter (LOR017)
3. The Anxiety in the Eyes of the Cricket – Bagrec (LOR016)
4. Tides – Chris Whitehead (LOR018)
a closer listen 