Craig Leon - Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music Vol. 1: Nommos / Visiting (2014;2018)

Craig Leon-approved reissue of his two solo albums Nommos and Visiting as a 2LP set in gorgeous packaging with two essays by Leon and a download coupon.

Issued respectively by John Fahey's Takoma label in 1980 and Leon's Arbitor private press in 1982, Nommos and Visiting were the twin brainchildren of studio wizard Craig Leon. Leon's production was pivotal in realising the debut recordings by Ramones, Blondie, Richard Hell and Suicide. While those albums broke ground in new worlds of sound, Leon's own debut album was arguably, if not literally, more alien. In 1973 , the Brooklyn Museum hosted a comprehensive collection of sculptures by the Dogon of the Republic of Mali, a tribe whose religion is based in reveries and recollections of a visit from an extraterrestrial species they named Nommos. Years after experiencing the exhibit, Leon remained fascinated by the idea of alien visitors sharing not just stories of their home-planet, but musical traditions as well. For the classically trained Leon, a puzzle was presented and a challenge in place: what would music sound like if handed down from an ancient alien species? And how best to imagine it? Upon meeting Fahey in the late 70s, Leon pitched the concept as an opportune time to employ the latest and greatest synthesizer technology available. An avant empathist and eternally free spirit, Fahey enthusiastically green-lighted the project for his Takoma imprint. After a secluded week in an Austin, Texas studio with his partner, wife and collaborator Cassell Webb, Leon returned with a collection of incorporeal melodies generated by the Oberheim OB-X, Roland JP-4 and Arp 2600 synthesizers propelled by primitive rhythms programmed on a prototype of Roger Linn's nascent drum-machine, the LM-1. Issued by Fahey with zero expectation of the same radio airplay Leon accomplished with his pop productions, Nommos now stands as an innovative example of cosmic-synth composition that wasn't made for its time or any other. For this edition, Leon has in fact re-animated Nommos by re-recording the exact audio signals as preserved in the album's original studio notes. Every patch, tape-delay speed and outboard setting was transcribed as first scored, materialising the best possible audio from an album whose masters were lost in major label merger milieu years ago. Additionally, the re-master of Visiting was supervised firsthand by Leon. As its title suggests, Visiting materialised in 1982 as a conceptual continuation of Nommos. The album is in equal measure more improvisatory and constructed than its predecessor. Both albums were intended to be listened to as a set in the first volume of Leon's Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music (the title was an homage to Harry Smith's influential collection of folk music issued two decades prior). A creative evolutionist, Leon made subtle edits and compositional additions to both albums to enhance the connectivity and encourage infinite interpretation. While reissues and bootlegs have appeared to relieve the demand for these records, this collection will stand as the first ever version authorised by Craig Leon himself."

01 - Ring with Three Concentric Discs
02 - Donkeys Bearing Cups
03 - Nommo
04 - Four Eyes to See the Afterlife
05 - She Wears a Hemispherical Skullcap
06 - One Hundred Steps
07 - Region of Fleeing Civilians
08 - Three Small Coins
09 - Visiting
10 - Details Suggest Fidelity to Fact
11 - The Customs of the Age Disturbed