[Cotton Goods 002 LP] Tape Loop Orchestra - 1953 Culture Festival (Album) CD 2009

Tape Loop Orchestra - 1953 Culture Festival
Label: Cotton Goods
Catalog#: 002 LP
Format: CDr, Album, Limited Edition
Country: UK
Released: 16 Jul 2009
Genre: Electronic
Style: Experimental, Ambient

Credits: Producer [Uncredited] - Andrew Hargreaves

Notes: Each CD packaged in handmade case made of hardback book covers inside a card wallet pressed with the Cotton Goods logo.

Each case unique and individually numbered. Limited to 100 copies.

Tracklist
1 Reel One 0:15
2 Yasujiro Ozu 4:31
3 Late Spring 4:31
4 Early Summer 2:36
5 Tokyo Twilight 3:09
6 Reel One End 3:13
7 Reel Change 0:32
8 Reel Two 0:26
9 Setsu Ko Hara 2:55
10 The End Of Summer 2:38
11 Late Autumn 4:34
12 Tokyo Stars 3:47
13 Reel Two End 3:38
14 Tails Out 0:33

LIMITED TO 100 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED AND HAND-PACKAGED COPIES FOR THE WORLD...! On my desk there sits a pile of records waiting to be written about for these pages. Today, amongst the vinyl, CD jewel cases and digipaks is a rather fetching old book whose innards have been scooped out only to be replaced by a compact disc and a Cotton Goods hand-numbered, embossed identification card. You can't help but wonder where all these reclaimed books are coming from, though we should probably give Craig Tattersall and co. the benefit of the doubt that the public libraries of Lancashire have not been ransacked in the production of this lovely object. As is the case with all the Cotton Goods editions there's a real resonance between the homely mysteriousness of the music itself and its presentation. That's especially true here: the warming hiss sculptures and faded melodies are as inviting and elusive as the pageless books that house them. This is also just about the only release in living memory that might be said to smell the way it sounds - explicitly redolent of an amiable fustiness. This album comes from Andrew Hargreaves of The Boats, here recording as the Tape Loop Orchestra, fashioning music from muffled analog tones, scratchy, semi-pulverised recordings and above all the rich, static crackle of tape noise. You can hear traces of both electronic and 'real' instruments running through these compositions, yet it's the residue left by the magnetic reels that capture those sounds that provides the main focus of the music, presenting harmonious passages in a jerky, crumbling state that becomes the most seductive and tactile element of the album. The saturated, scratchy hues of 'Early Summer' sound like the sort of musical antiquities Boards Of Canada, and more recently Bibio have channelled, while the haunting likes of 'Yasujiro Ozu' and 'Late Autumn' could pass as lost, analogue Vladislav Delay recordings, taking on a shadowy dub-style quality that fits so beautifully with the loop-based structure of the album. 1953 Culture Festival is a must-have for followers of Cotton Goods, The Boats and analog electronic ambience more generally, but as ever, there are only 100 copies in existence, so you best be quick.

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