Smithsonian Folkways announces new reissues of experimental, New Age & avant-garde music
The three new reissues were originally released on Folkways between 1976 and 1982. The first comes from the experimental, ambient-leaning group Entourage Music & Theatre Ensemble, whose work encompassed poetry, dance and theatre as well as music. Their second album The Neptune Collection touches on jazz and folk, and the label compares it to artists like Six Organs Of Admittance and Sun City Girls.
Ann McMillan’s Gateway Summer Sound: Abstracted Animal And Other Sounds came out in 1979 and pairs animal sounds and field recordings from the New York Harbor with gongs, bells and harpsichord. Finally, Craig Kupka’s Crystals: New Music For Relaxation 2, from 1982, is a guided meditation of sorts, encompassing two long-form compositions for trombone and synthesizer.
All three albums are remastered from their original tapes and are due out on May 22nd. They’re available separately or as a bundle.
Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label arm of the Smithsonian museum. Folkways originally started in 1948 as a place to document “people’s music” from places around the globe.
Listen to a sampler of music from the three LPs.
Tracklist
The Entourage Music & Theater Ensemble – The Neptune Collection
01. Neptune Rising
02. Druid Dance
03. Euphoric Bells
04. King’s Birdcage
05. Nature Spirits
06. Incantation For The Death Of Self
07. Days
08. Space Needle Suicide
09. Tar Box Poltergeist
Ann McMillan – Gateway Summer Sound: Abstracted Animal & Other Sounds
01. Amber ’75
02. Syrinx
03. Episode
04. Gateway Summer Sound
05. Gong Song
Craig Kupka – Crystals: New Music For Relaxation 2
01. Trombones Of Lithia
02. Crystals
Smithsonian Folkways will release The Neptune Collection, Gateway Summer Sound: Abstracted Animal & Other Sounds and Crystals: New Music For Relaxation 2 on May 22nd, 2020.
