Simon KleeAnticipating Nowhere: Invisible City Records Special
Hello, welcome to a special edition of Anticipating Nowhere focussing solely on the wonderful Invisible City Records label, run by Craig Johnson. I can’t remember when or how I first became aware of ICR but bloody hell am I glad I did.
A stunning roster with a clear focus and, for want of a better, less commercial word that escapes me right now, brand.
All releases follow the same design aesthetic. Most releases are on tape (some exclusively hence you will see no Culver here), some CDr, and ALL (bar Culver!) available as digital downloads, Name Your Price
I purchased the whole collection digitally about a month ago – I already had some physical releases – many are no longer available – and I wanted to represent the label in my own way. (Plus I am an obsessive completist so it’s have them all or have none!)
You hear authors say that a book wrote itself, or musicians say a song came to them fully realised and all they had to do was play it? Yeah? Well, this isn’t really like that but in my head I like to think of it in a similar vein.
I knew the tracks I wanted to open and close the show with and pondered how I would make this a coherent journey through the ICR catalogue – something strange happened. I copied all the tracks into ole faithful Audacity, lined them up and pressed play to see how things could and would flow……..and I didn’t need to do anything. The tracks I had chosen over hours and hours of listening curated themselves. Aside from blending the tracks and levels together that was it! It ran, to me, seemlessly from beginning to end just as it was.
So here you are; apart from the first and final tracks, my first ever alphabetical playlist. It is also my longest at over 2 hours but trust me, every second will be worth the time you take to listen deeply.
If you like what you hear please check the label out on Bandcamp and support each and every one where you can.
You can also follow Craig on Twitter to see what is happening (if you are in the North of England he and other artists are touring – see, it’s not all happening down here in London!)
Please enjoy.
Peace : Respect : Compassion
Simon
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Artist – Track – Album
Morbid Debasement – Charnel Temple – Abhorrence
Chlorine – We stopped to watch the shallows burn. – We stopped to watch the shallows burn.
Claus Poulsen & Stuart Chalmers – Hinterlands – The Universe Unmasked
dARM – Ritual de_bug – Deus Generator
Death Register – Q – Phonaesthesia
Depletion – Broken Doll – Final Exit
Dunning and Brosamer – Underlandet (Live with Lisa Schlenker) – Glocken
Ivy Nostrum – Hollow Joy – Self Own
Luciernaga – See The Trees – To The Centre Of The City In The Night
Matthew Atkins & Peter Marsh – Icon 4 – Paper Wasps
Mudguts – Pretty Slipping – Sabrina Fourtyfives
Muster – Distal Ear – Find A City To Live In
people-eaters – dull sunset – The Only Thing Left To Fear
Philipp Bückle – Interior With A Young Couple And People Making Music – Drawings
Saturn Form Essence – Nebula NGC 7000 H Alpha – Stratospheric Tower
see monsd – Part 4 – BOTHBOTHBOTH
Shit Creek & Tremelo Ghosts – Crystal Fruit – SHRDLU’s Adventures In Blockworld
Star Turbine – Coachwerks II – Night Sky Isolation
Stuart Chalmers – Gothic – Imaginary Musicks Vol. 5
The Skull Mask – Cuervos – La Muerte Es Sabia
The Will of Nin Girima – Spell Two – The Bone Knife – Two Cycles of Incantation
Vampyres – Sacred Lake – Century Scars
Wound – Patterns of Exposure – Concrete / Wound
Xtematic – Second Deleted Memory – Deus Generator
Fordell Research Unit – The Wrong Train – Etches of Pain
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