Ever feel turned off by the way some music just seems way, way too “insistent” upon itself? Ever feel like bands just have too many people in them and are too noisy? Ever suddenly think to yourself while listening to some crappy little snippet of best-new western pop music something along the lines of “gee, why is this so loud?” Or “gah, does that guy have to be hitting cymbals the whole time like that?” Or even “boy, this music sure would be better if some idiot wasn’t spoiling the powers of my imagination by singing all these pathetic fucking words over the top of the whole thing and just flat out telling me what his dumb song is about?”
Two words. Harold Budd, baby. (Although also, you might want to cut back on the narcotics, bro).
But yeah, in case you’re not up on this stuff, Budd has long been (among other things) one of the masters of the kind of sweet, chill-ass, semi-ambient, semi-piano-based music that is so dreamy-weamy-swirly-wirly-awesome-wawesome that it almost borders on cheese-ball… which is what makes it so goddamn awesome. And now, he’s announced that he’ll be releasing a full-on double LP (and double CD) of the stuff on the Root Strata label on September 20.
The album in question is called Perhaps and consists of a December 8, 2006 live recording performed by Budd at a memorial event for fellow avant-garde composer James Tenney at the California Institute of the Arts. It was originally released digital-only (and available only via the Samadhi Sound label’s website). But now, thanks to the miracle of everyone’s growing disdain for the environment, it’s being made available for the first time on beautiful, disgusting, non-recyclable wax and plastic! From the Root Strata site:
[Perhaps] is Harold Budd sublimely distilled. Striking in its restraint & simplicity yet profoundly resonant in its depth & message, it is both eulogy to a departed friend and defining statement from an artist at the apotheosis of his career.
But be warned, the LP edition is only 500 strong. So like I said, if you hate all other forms of popular music and need a little Budd in your life, you’d better not sleep on it. Besides, there’ll be plenty of time for that after you throw it on and chew a few Ambien.
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Perhaps tracklist:
01. Templar
02. Tong War
03. Quandari
04. Vari
05. Nec Spero
06. Moss Landing
07. Chualar
08. Atl Atl
09. Nec Metus
10. Drita
11. Monument
12. Reini
13. Ghost Cloud
• Harold Budd: http://haroldbudd.com
• Root Strata: http://rootstrata.com