| $13.13
back in stock as of
january 17th, 2008
first in stock on
november 21st, 2006
threads:
electro-acoustic-composition
minimalism-drones
musique-concrète
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| | | table of the elements (usa) #toe 019 cd gastr del sol “the harp factory on lake street” compact disc - the harp factory on lake street (17:12)
| | click the play button to hear an excerpt of "the harp factory on lake street" |
| | 2006 reissue of this classic david grubbs / jim o’rourke jam, originally released just prior to the tote-sponsored tony conrad / simon wickham-smith & richard youngs / zeena parkins & jim o’rourke tour in 1994 (i know - i bought a copy at the show in hartford @ real art ways - the printing on the disc was flipped upside down - i still have the damn thing 12 years later...) |
| | table of the elements press release... |
| is 90s nostalgia underway yet? if not, this reissue may be just the thing to get it started. in 1994, chicago is the fountainhead for a bona-fide scene, in which bands are giving timbre and texture priority over riffs and power chords. to the chagrin of many, the press will label it all "post-rock." it's the definitive movement of the decade, and front and center are gastr del sol, comprised of david grubbs (previously: squirrel bait, bastro) and jim o'rourke (subsequently: wilco, sonic youth). some of their city-mates may shift more units; gastr, with a relentless drive for reinvention, shift the boundaries of where a band can go. avant punk, atonal song-styling, musique concrète, delicate piano-guitar interplay, raw electronics and modernist chamber music — all are fair terrain, traversed with subtlety and finesse. behind the obligatory horn-rims, grubbs and o'rourke have vision.
a dozen years later, this overdue reissue of 1994's the harp factory on lake street ep provides the missing piece in gastr's otherwise available discography. to hear it again is a treat. it's their notorious "big band" record, and the ten-piece ensemble is a veritable all-star team of mid-90s chicagoans, including members of tortoise, sea and cake, shellac, dazzling killmen, brise glace and the vandermark 5; through studio maneuvering courtesy o'rourke and engineer john mcentire, they blossom into a small-sized orchestra. remarkably confident in the use of space and dissonance, harp factory also emphasizes the conceptual "scrape", the friction between nuance and noise, that plays such a prominent role in gastr's subsequent upgrade and afterlife lp. familiar signposts are still in sight — o'rourke's compositional skills, grubbs' associative, absurdist musings — but this is definitely their boldest outing. it's a record full of blissful confoundment, one that aptly vivifies the spirit of an era. gastr del sol may have lasted a brief five years, but they are to the 1990s what the magic band, this heat and sonic youth were to their respective decades: intrepid trailblazers through the backwoods of sound.
format: cd
release date: february 2006
file under: rock
catalog no: swc-cd-19
upc: 600401019221 |
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