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LP
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FTR 202LP
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"First off, the cover. Let's make it clear -- this was totally Daniel's idea and is based on the original art for Tony Rice's California Album (Rebel SLP-1549, 1975). Why? We cannot say exactly. The album is considered to be in Rice's all-time top five. But so what? Who amongst us can claim to have fully plumbed the depths of Bachman's mind? The guy is a genius and those types just have 'their ways.' So shut up about the cover already. This album itself was released under the title Daniel Bachman by an English label -- Lancashire and Somerset -- in 2014. But copies evaporated like mom's milk, so here's a sonic jug from which we can all suckle with warm ease. Miscellaneous Ephemera is an amazing record -- filled to the brim with music that extends the concept of acoustic guitar manipulation beyond the range of mere vaseline machine guns. The pieces range from disruptive scrambles and neo-Tuvan throat aktion worthy of late-period Fahey to Kabra-style ragas and the more easily-anticipated particles of primitive guitar brilliance. There is also some adult content on the second side, so radio programmers -- be alert! Bachman has been a growing force in the acoustic underground for a few years now, and this new one really rips a new hole in the side of the style's star-cluster. Join forces with it today. Or else" --Byron Coley, 2015. Edition of 500.
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LP
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FTR 156LP
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2015 repress on white vinyl. First vinylization of the 2011 CD-R release, with which Daniel Bachman shucked the performing name he'd been using (Sacred Harp) and laid his naked ass on the line. Bachman already sounds like a wizened player here (an image that was solidified when his mug was plastered on the box for Tompkins Square's "Obscure Giants of Acoustic Guitar" trading cards), but he was actually still a babe of the Fredericksburg woods at the time this came out. Regardless, his technique is massive, and his approach to the material -- based on a color-wheel tuning system developed by the late Robbie Basho -- is intense. Recorded onto a boom-box, with a hi-fi quotient of nil, the material here reminds one of what Bill Orcutt might sound like if he decided to play in longer format time-chunks. There's a wonderful kind of containment to the music -- suggesting deep investigation and improvisation with hermetic knowledge rather than anything constrictive -- which gives this album a sense of spirituality one rarely finds outside the New Age bin. Bachman is a master player, and the evidence of this is apparent even at this relatively early stage of his trajectory. Through constant touring and wood-sheddding, Daniel's music has evolved in multiple directions over the intervening years, but Grey-Black-Green remains one of the true and unique high watermarks of his recordings. How great to have it on vinyl at long last. Includes a download code.
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