Ed Askew
2020 Seven Songs
Ed Askew has been in NYC for 30 years. A few years ago he moved from Washington Heights in Manhattan to Ridgewood in Queens. And starting next month, he will be in Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. During all this time, Ed developed a home recording method which is very nuanced and at the same time concise. Ed’s harpsichord, tiple, synth and a muscular use of Pro Tools all play a role. His lyrics are on a whole new level; and his voice is his own. 2020 Seven Songs is his most recent home recording…
A Child In The Sun: Radio Sessions 1969-1970
Armed only with a tiple (sort of a South American mandolin) and his lilting neigh of a voice (and bearing superficial resemblances to labelmates Pearls Before Swine and heady UK acoustic folkers Incredible String Band), Askew spun tales of doomed sisters, crashing universes, budding gay love and a serious fondness for roses on his rare, precious and beautiful album.After this lone release, Ed Askew seemingly vanished in the romantic mists of time … until a second, previously unreleased album sur…
Imperfiction
Another addition to Drag City’s curious collection of ‘outsider’ folk records (sitting neatly alongside Gary Higgins in your collection), Ed Askew is an artist I haven’t come across before. After his debut for ESP in 1968, his second album ‘Little Eyes’ was recorded in 1970, but somehow never got past test pressing stage, and as so many records of this era did, was lost for decades. After the 70s Askew seemed to sink into obscurity, but in the early 80s he got his hands on a harpsichord, a tiple…