K. Leimer

Incredible 30 track anthology ranging from spaced-out Kosmische to blunted & skewed pop - honestly one of the most eye-opening and worthy archival discoveries of the year RVNG Intl.'s issue of 'A Period of Review (Original Recordings: 1975 - 1983)' is a wide-reaching and revelatory survey of Kerry Leimer's prescient output operating on the cusp of ambient, 4th World and industrial musics. From his base in Seattle, Leimer accumulated a unique catalogue of recordings created on a Micromoog, drum machines, guitars and FX units, and heavily informed by imported Krautrock/kosmische titles sourced outta NME and Melody Maker, and equally the more Anglophilic ambient loop compositions of Robert Fripp and Brian Eno. Almost all of it appeared on his independent record label, Palace Of Lights - a regional forerunner to the likes of Sub Pop, who wouldn't appear until at least a few years later - and covers a huge breadth of styles and forms, from pastoral tape works reminding of Cluster, thru some amazing, drum machine-driven works which provide this compilation its biggest highlights and firm backbone. Quite honestly this is the kind of release we could take days to run through track-by-track, but you should be able to gauge form the samples that it's really quite something, and a total must for anyone with a thing for Eno, Arthur Russell, Craig Leon, Oneohtrix Point Never, Sun Araw…