Over the course of Craig Leon's diverse and lengthy career, he has composed classical pieces while also producing albums for the likes of Ramones, Blondie and Suicide. This year, another side of his output will be explored with a reissue of two electronic albums from the early '80s.
The synthesizer albums Nommos and Visiting have been packaged together as Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music Vol. 1, and they will come out on June 24 as a double-LP set through RVNG Intl.
Remastering 1981's Nommos would have been impossible since the original masters were lost years ago, so Leon meticulously re-recorded all of the audio signals. He apparently also transcribed all of the studio settings when he first made the album, so he was able to recreate it.
Named after tribal legends about an alien species, a press release notes that Nommos seeks to answer the question, "What would music sound like if handed down from an ancient alien species?" It originally came out on the label John Fahey's Takoma label.
As for 1982's Visiting — which came out on Arbitor as a private pressing — Leon supervised the remastering. It's described as being "in equal measure more improvisatory and constructed than its predecessor."
In order to make this Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music Vol. 1 a cohesive whole, Leon made subtle edits and additions to both albums in order to connect them. This marks the first time Leon has participated in a reissue of these albums. However, it should be noted that a version of Nommos was reissued via Superior Viaduct last year.
The album will be available either clear or standard vinyl. It comes with two essays by Leon, one about the Dogon tribe from whom the story of Nommos originated, and the other about the creation of this Anthology.
It's available to pre-order here. Scroll past the tracklist below to hear "One Hundred Steps."
Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music Vol. 1: Nommos/Visiting:
A1. Ring with Three Concentric Discs
A2. Donkeys Bearing Cups
A3. Nommo
B1. Four Eyes to See The Afterlife
B2. She Wears a Hemispherical Skullcap
C1. One Hundred Steps
C2. Region of Fleeing Civilians
C3. Three Small Coins
D1. Visiting
D2. Details Suggest Fidelity to Fact
D3. The Customs of the Age Disturbed
The synthesizer albums Nommos and Visiting have been packaged together as Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music Vol. 1, and they will come out on June 24 as a double-LP set through RVNG Intl.
Remastering 1981's Nommos would have been impossible since the original masters were lost years ago, so Leon meticulously re-recorded all of the audio signals. He apparently also transcribed all of the studio settings when he first made the album, so he was able to recreate it.
Named after tribal legends about an alien species, a press release notes that Nommos seeks to answer the question, "What would music sound like if handed down from an ancient alien species?" It originally came out on the label John Fahey's Takoma label.
As for 1982's Visiting — which came out on Arbitor as a private pressing — Leon supervised the remastering. It's described as being "in equal measure more improvisatory and constructed than its predecessor."
In order to make this Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music Vol. 1 a cohesive whole, Leon made subtle edits and additions to both albums in order to connect them. This marks the first time Leon has participated in a reissue of these albums. However, it should be noted that a version of Nommos was reissued via Superior Viaduct last year.
The album will be available either clear or standard vinyl. It comes with two essays by Leon, one about the Dogon tribe from whom the story of Nommos originated, and the other about the creation of this Anthology.
It's available to pre-order here. Scroll past the tracklist below to hear "One Hundred Steps."
Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music Vol. 1: Nommos/Visiting:
A1. Ring with Three Concentric Discs
A2. Donkeys Bearing Cups
A3. Nommo
B1. Four Eyes to See The Afterlife
B2. She Wears a Hemispherical Skullcap
C1. One Hundred Steps
C2. Region of Fleeing Civilians
C3. Three Small Coins
D1. Visiting
D2. Details Suggest Fidelity to Fact
D3. The Customs of the Age Disturbed
