Sam Dunscombe – Outside Ludlow / Desert Disco LP

Description

Outside Ludlow / Desert Discois the first major solo release from Australian performer-composerSam Dunscombe, now based in Berlin after residing for the past decade in San Diego and Tokyo. A virtuoso clarinetist who has performed in composed and improvised settings with artists such asKlaus LangandTaku Sugimoto, their practice also embraces computer music, lo-fi electronics and field recordings, in addition to their long-term commitment to archiving, studying and performing the work of Romanian spectralist composerHoratiu Radulescu. The two side-long pieces presented on this LP began from a chance encounter in a specific geographic location (documented in the photographs that grace the record’s sleeve). Exploring California’s Mojave Desert with a friend, Dunscombe made the unlikely discovery of a tangle of quarter-inch tape snared on a cactus. The digitized version of this tape, variously edited and processed, as well as Dunscombe’s own transcription and embellished performance of some of its material on Hammond organ, makes up one of the main ingredients of the LP’s first side. The other is a field recording of the area outside the ghost town of Ludlow, where the tape was found, where haunted silence is punctuated by freight trains and clusters of explosions from gold mines and the local marine corps. Far from any kind of documentary approach, the resulting composition reaches back to the smeared atmospherics and overdriven tape crunch ofHands To,Small Cruel PartyorJoe Colley, before the Hammond organ rises up to cast a spectral shimmer reminiscent of 1960s tape music classics likeArne Nordheim‘s “Warszawa”. On “Desert Disco” (its title perhaps a clue to the content of the mysterious tape), Dunscombe zeroes in on a single fragment of the tape, accompanying it with analog synthesis to craft an immersive work based on a single chord. Throughout the course of this work, the monolithic opening sonority gradually splits apart, revealing an infinity of rhythmically phasing lines that swarm like a cloud of insects and patter like falling rain, placing Dunscombe’s piece in a lineage of patient electronic exploration that includes landmarks likeCostin Miereanu‘sDerivesand the contemporary work ofJim O’Rourke. Limited edition vinyl with images by Sam Dunscombe and design byLasse Marhaug. Mastered byJoe Taliaat Good Mixture, Berlin.