Get ready to turn your Beats-by-Dr. Dre headphones up, up, UP, woodchuck-chuckers: New Age pioneer, Eno-approved ambient musician, and self-described purveyor of “celestial music performances and seriously playful laughter workshops” Edward Larry “Laraaji” Gordon has just announced that he’ll be releasing BOTH a rippin’ new EP AND a slammin’ new LP on London-based All Saints label this fall! (Fall being the “New Age-iest “season by a wide margin.)
As the Vinyl Factory reports: the Sun Gong EP will feature “two long-form drone tracks” which explore (rather thoroughly, I’m sure) the question of “what a hammered gong sounds like processed through various electronic effects.” I’ve kinda always wondered about that; haven’t you?
Meanwhile, the long player, which is entitled Bring on the Sun — and which also comes served up on limited clear vinyl — finds the septuagenarian zither- and mbira-master tackling the vastly disparate sonic territory of “sun-dappled floating tones and rhythmic autoharp workouts” across its eight “more song based” tracks. I only hope our eardrums can handle such massive tidal waves of bliss!
Either way, I suppose we’ll all find out together on the mystical date known as, um, “September 2017,” when both albums waft out into the physical world. In the mean time, listen to LP opener “Introspection” down below, and pre-order the EP here and the LP here.
(Also, seriously: Ambient 3 is CRIMINALLY underrated, people. Give it a listen.)
Sun Gong EP tracklisting:
01. Sun Gong No.1
02. Sun Gong No.2
Bring On The Sun tracklisting:
01. Introspection
02. Harmonica Drone
03. Enthusiasm
04. Laraajazzi
05. Change
06. Reborn In Virginia
07. Open The Gift
08. Ocean Flow Zither