Glasgow based Invisible Inc. celebrate their twentieth release with a proper labour of love. Not content with just compiling a selection of excellent other worldly cosmic variations, Invisible have pulled together an impressive roster of musicians including Laraaji, Malcolm Cecil (as Tonto’s Expanding Head Band), K. Leimer and Richard Bone.
There’s some serious musical history behind these names. Grammy award winning jazz musician and producer Malcolm Cecil has no less than 20 gold records to his career and was co-creator in the early ’70s of Tonto an enormous synthesizer that would put most rigs of today to shame. This behemoth (20ft diameter!) is perhaps still one of the largest multitimbral polyphonic analogue synths in the world. Both Tonto and co-creators went on to work with Stevie Wonder, Gil Scott Heron, Quincy Jones and Steve Hillage to name but a few. Here, Tonto makes an appearance with the warm synth funk of “Bittersweet”, a track featured on vinyl for the first time.
Kerry Leimer, along with Richard Bone, have both been active since the late ’70s and have released huge quantities of experimental electronic music. Both of these artists’ vast back catalogues are worth exploring with numerous gems to be discovered including K. Leimer’s score for the Land of Look Behind documentary and Bone’s beautiful ambience on the album “The Serene Life of Microbes“. Here they present us with two glorious slices of interplanetary inventiveness – with Bone remixed by cosmic Italo disco godfather Daniele Baldelli and Marco Dionigi.
Laaraji began his career as a comedian making the unusual switch to music in the ’70s only to be noticed busking in New York by none other than Brian Eno (more on Laraaji’s story can be found in this short film. Teaming up for this compilation with Canadian producers log(m), “Sunken Forest” slides a wonderful lolloping bass across a fourth world dream state.
Spanning a variety of genres and sounds without straying from that Invisible Inc ‘cosmic’ ethos we are treated to further great selections. From the low slung “Sojourn” by Sordid Sound System to the playful synth melodies and analogue washes of Spacerock to Randweg’s clarinet led electro-acoustic exploration – it all adds up to a unique and brilliant journey.
‘Lost Transmissions From The Off-World Territories’ is out now and is available as limited edition gatefold double-vinyl and digital formats from Bandcamp. This is an absolute must for fans of leftfield, modern kosmiche sounds.
TRACKLIST
1. Richard Bone – Saiyuji (Dawn) (Daniele Baldelli & Marco Dionigi Remix)
2. log(m) & Laraaji – Sunken Forest
3. Komodo Kolektif – Fire Walk
4. Sordid Sound System – Sojourn
5. Baïkonour – Tchad ‘74 (Légionnaires)
6. Secret Circuit – Wild Flights
7. Tonto’s Expanding Head Band – Bittersweet
8. Higamos Hogamos presents Spacerocks – Almost Transparent Blue
9. Bal5000 – Dream Dub For Sarah
10. Causa – Heliopolis (Luv*Jam Dream Nip)
11. Bronze Savage – Anglers Paradise
12. Natural Sugars – Offering
13. K. Leimer – End Of Poem
14. Epsilove & Eva Geist – Le Silence de l’Éther
15. Ulysses – Give Voice To Time
16. Randweg – Sieben
Discover more about Invisible Inc. on Inverted Audio.