Olivia Tremor Control : Opera House EPs (1996) + Black Swan Network : The Late Music (1997)

Another freshly ripped installment of late-90's artifacts culled from the remains of my long-lost, recently found, cd collection from mine own younger days. These two drops offer up some of the weirder long-form, lo-fi concrete experimentations out of the OTC camp. Out-of-print rarities, both.

Bill Doss, RIP.

The highfalutin lo-fi interactivity that Olivia Tremor Control first explored with the ambient bonus disc included on early pressings of Dusk at Cubist Castle reached its apex with the vinyl version of "The Opera House." A quadraphonic odyssey spread across two 7"s, each featuring the titular psych-pop nugget that leads off Cubist Castle backed with differing musique concrète experiments clocking in at just under 15 minutes apiece, the presentation allows for listeners to create unique songs by playing back the records simultaneously in various temporal combinations and RPM speeds. Similar in conception to the Flaming Lips' Zaireeka, "The Opera House" requires three turntables for maximum mindf*ck action, but the extra effort is worth it. Like those old "Choose Your Own Adventure" books on which kids of the '80s grew up, the paths and possibilities "The Opera House" lays out are endlessly labyrinthine and completely immersive. (Jason Ankeny, Allmusic)
 

 

Olivia Tremor Control : Opera House EPs A+B(Blue Rose Record Company, 1996)

Flac + 320

BRRC10112A

1. The Opera House 3:15

2. Black Swan Radar (With Capillary Radar) 14:55

3. The Opera House 3:15

4. Black Swan Radar (With Enveloping Bicycle Folds) 14:55

5. Black Swan Radar (With Capillary Radar + Enveloping Bicycle Folds) *Ghost-Capital Edit: Tracks 2 & 4 combined. Soundcloud audio sample above)

""The Late Music, was born out of a small message hidden in the liner notes of The Olivia Tremor Control's Music from the Unrealized Film Script, Dusk at Cubist Castle, requesting that people submit recordings of dream descriptions to the band. The album consisted of seven untitled pieces incorporating the submissions with different other ambient sounds and musical fragments. (Wikipedia)

Black Swan Network : The Late Music (Camera Obscura, 1997)

Flac + 320

CAM003CD

7 Tracks, all Untitled.