Remnant Kings, Cassette (C45, 50/50)
Cosmovisión Registros, 2017
A new limited edition tape only album out now on Chilean label Cosmovisión Registros. Available in the UK through Penultimate Press.
Bits and bobs. Odds and ends. Scraps and leftovers. Remnant Kings takes its name from a Glasgow fabric store that historically dealt in offcuts, end of line textiles and fabric remnants.
The cassette consists of a series of audio collages based around a single found reel to reel tape. It gathers various home recordings from the 60’s and 70’s in a ‘best of’ compilation spanning a twenty year period – a kind of ‘Greatest Hits’ family album in sound. The found tape included, amongst other things; baby talk, a toy railway set, playing and practicing music, bird song, conversation, karaoke style sing-alongs and some home experiments with tape echo, along with popular music of the day.
In addition to the found material other sound sources include whistling, water droplets on a hot plate, broken ice, creaking gates, an electric fan played with a brush, excerpts from improvised sessions with open reel tape manipulation, feedback and electronics plus various other field recordings.