Latest release on the excellent Forced Nostalgia imprint, a vinyl edition of a super-rare 1986 tape by sound designer at Oberheim Electronics, Loren Nerell. 500 copies only* Forced Nostalgia make their first physical impression of 2012 with a vinyl edition of a mystical 1986 tape by gamelan enthusiast and Berlin school composer Loren Nerell. A contemporary of Steve Roach and collaborator with Steve Reich, Kronos Quartet, Paul Haslinger and L. Subramaniam, Nerell has a richly varied musical background including research into analog synthesis, and the micro-tonal techniques of Harry Partch, complemented by his studies in Anthropology and Ethnomusicology. The bat-eared Forced Nostalgia imprint have shrewdly selected his debut release - an enigmatic and hypnotic side sonically and spiritually located somewhere between Craig Leon's 'Nommos', 23 Skidoo's 'Urban Gamelan' and Tangerine Dream's 'Rubycon' - for reissue. Utilising studio skills as a sound designer at Oberheim Electronics, together with his masters studies in Balinese ceremonial music, Nerell created an enveloping rhythmelodic experience with the help of contributors Steve Roach, Richard Burmer and Ann DeJarnet. From the interweaving tribal rhythm sequences of opener 'Eidolon', the album dilates to cover the haunting chorales of 'Soundscape' and rippling machine minimalism of 'Matrix', before the lushly soporific synth drift of 'Growth', conceived with assistance from Steve Roach. Berlin school themes define the re-entry into expansive cyberdelic B-side 'Waves of Time'. Polyphonic keys and simulated celestial winds carry us across cyberreal topographies accompanied by chanting shamans to then-advanced (now charmingly evocative) holo-zones of lucidly organised dreamscapes. It's a vivid glimpse of a future past, re-implanted in the present and highly recommended to all sonic time-travellers.(boomkat)
A1-A3 recorded at Partch Place Paramount, California & Symmetrical Sound. Mixed at Symmetrical Sound.
A4 recorded at The Timeroom, Culver City, California. Mixed at Symmetrical Sound.
B1 recorded at The Timeroom, Culver City, California; Symmetrical Sound, Granada Hills, California & Long Beach; City College Synth Lab, Long Beach, California. Mixed at Symmetrical Sound.
Special thanks to my friends at the time, Rychard Cooper, Richard Burmer (you are missed Richard), Steve Roach, AnnDeJarnet, Sander Wolf (for original cover photos), Jim Reekes (for original cassette layout), Mike McNally, Joe Derry, Chuck Oken Jr, Mike Bacich, Tom Major and Fré De Vos (for making this release possible).
Instrumentation: Arp 2600, Arp sequencers (2 of them), Emu Emulator 1 with cv/gate converter, Emu Emulator 2, EML 101, EMS Synthi A (2 of them), Linn linndrum, Moog micromoog, Moog minimoog, Moog model 15 modular, Oberheim OBXa, Oberheim DSX sequencer, Oberheim DX drum machine, Oberheim DMX drum machine, Roland Jupiter 4, Roland SH3a.
Originally released by the artist as cassette in 1986.
© & ℗ Forced Nostalgia 2012