Contact Field Orchestra Vol. 1 LP Vinyl

Limited gold vinyl LP pressing. "In 2008 I came across a box of 7" tapes at an estate sale in Altadena. The woman there said that they had belonged to her father and were "field recordings" of a turn-of-the century orchestra. It took me maybe another year to actually load them up and transfer them to the computer. When I did, what I found was an incredible documentation of indigenous folkloric music that was meticulously recorded and then later transferred to 2-track tape sometime in the 1960's. The tapes were labeled "Contact Field Orchestra"- a collection of field recordings that seem to date from sometime around the turn of the 20th century (possibly a little earlier). The sound this orchestra created is like something out of a Jim Jarmusch film, and reminds me of an old Library of Congress or Folkways recording. The music itself is full of opposites - hypnotizing and odd; meditative and jarring. It's strangely familiar, but also distantly unrecognizable. Some songs are more minimalist in their approach, building up a rhythm with mbiras and percussion, while others seem to have much more harmony and tonal structure and almost Blues/Country feel. Either way, they had me hooked from the first bar, and I find myself returning to it again and again, irregardless of my heavy-handed noodling... I'm really happy to have discovered this, and I hope you are too. All the best," Damon Aaron

1. Iron Pyrite 2. In the Cave 3. Tobacco Flower 4. Shaman 5. Into the Mine 6. Man Down 7. On the Autumn Sea 8. Cart Before the Horse 9. Wishing Well 10. Lazzyman 11. Bailar Phone 12. Pick and Axe 13. One Trigger 14. Caja 15. Perigee Campfire 16. Hand Cranked 17. Woodbury Gamelan