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

Tracklist:

Iron Pyrite
In the Cave
Tobacco Flower
Shaman
Into the Mine
Man Down
On the Autumn Sea
Cart Before the Horse
Wishing Well 1
Lazzyman 1
Bailar Phone 1
Pick and Axe 1
One Trigger 1
Caja 1
Perigee Campfire 1
Hand Cranked 1
Woodbury Gamelan

UPC: 659123108812
Label: Hit & Run
Release Date: 9.28.18
Format: Vinyl

Contact Field Orchestra - Vol. 1 (LP)