Pye Corner Audio : ‘Black Mill Tapes Vol. 1′

This magnificent album gets my vote as the best release of 2010.
When you walk down a country lane at dusk, and briefly catch sight of a figure in the murk, this is the music that the spectre is probably enjoying.

















From the excellent Pye Corner Website:
"As a keen collector of tobacco pipes, our head technician was at Coldred village winter auction. However, it was another lot that caught his attention, three boxes described in the auction catalogue as “archived magnetic recordings”.Being the winning, and only, bidder, he eagerly awaited delivery of the items.After opening the boxes he discovered a number of 1/4″ reel to reel tapes and compact cassettes, in various states of decay. Upon careful inspection, and after performing the necessary precautionary rites and measures, our head technician transferred the contents of the tapes.To this end he applied no noise reduction, enhancement or other processing, so as to preserve the spirit of the recordings.Oh, and the boxes had only three words marked on each: “Black Mill Sessions”..."


Buy / listen here.
The Head Technician assures me that: "there is another volume in the works at the moment. I hope to release it around March...stay tuned."