Los Angeles Free Music Society

Since their founding in the early 2000s, Vinyl on Demand has continuously led the pack when it comes to reissues and archival releases. Producing extensive surveys of an astounding array of underground and neglected artists - issued in startlingly beautiful deluxe limited editions - the historical importance of their efforts is nothing short of overwhelming. Their latest, Los Angeles Free Music Society's -1974~1983+, stands as yet another triumph from the imprint, gathering 13 LPs worth of material from early solo and compilation cassette releases, as well as singles, that were produced by the collective’s member’s during its early years of activity and issued by LAFMS in tiny editions.

Founded in 1973 by Chip Chapman, Joe Potts, Rick Potts and Tom Recchion, with nearly half a century of activities behind them, Los Angeles FreeMusic Society stands as one of the most iconic and enduring efforts in both underground music and experimental sound. Over their years of activity, the group has taken a near countless number of evolving incarnations, played constantly, and produced dozens of releases, the majority of which in nearly impossible to find small editions, by individual members and well as offshoots and adjacent projects with shared membership like Smegma, Le Forte Four, and Doo-Dooettes, laying what is often as credited as the groundwork for numerous discrete musical movements, spanning the decades, within the LA underground, as well as building bridges between the realms of sound and the visual arts through collaborations with artists like Eddie Ruscha, Mike Kelley and Jim Shaw.

VOD’s 13 LP box, Los Angeles Free Music Society -1974~1983+ - the latest in an amazing series of releases forced on the group’s output that emerged in recent years - is focused on the individuals associated with the collective, gathering material from early solo releases, compilation cassettes, and singles issued by LAFMS during its first decade, as well as including 2 LPs worth of never before issued recordings.

Appearing on vinyl for the first time, the set includes truly visionary musical excursions by Chip Chapman, Seldom Melodic Ensemble, Dennis Duck, Light Bulb, Joe Potts, Slimy Adenoid and The Pablums, Tom Recchion, Dinosaurs with Horns (Rick Potts / Joseph Hammer), Fredrik Nilsen, and numerous others drawn from the collective’s 1981 December Compilation and other archival recordings.

Free and liberated in every sense of the word, charting unknown waters that still remain underexplored decades down the road, there’s nothing quite like LAFMS, a wild and wonderful world that comes alive across the 26 vinyl sides of Los Angeles Free Music Society -1974~1983+, diving deep into one of their most important and creatively ripe periods. Pressed by Vinyl on Demand in a limited edition of 500 copies on black vinyl, including 13LPs, one 7”, complete, full-size recreations of the six volumes of the LAFMS magazine publication “Light Bulb,” a 56-page book of rare photos, graphics and notes, plus a t-shirt and a pair of 3D glasses for special feature graphics, all delivered in a black wooden box. This is the artistic counterculture manifested in sound, and an absolute must for any fan of LAFMS, underground, DIY, or experimental music at large.

Los Angeles Free Music Society -1974~1983+, includes the following recordings:

- Lp01 Chip Chapman’s cassette "Magic Beans"
- Lp02 Seldom Melodic Ensemble "Godzilla's Mystery Abortion 77"
- Lp03 Dennis Duck "Dennis Duck Goes Disco"
- Lp04 4 Light Bulb, Issue 3 "Christmas Box Cassette"
- Lp05 "Joe Potts Airway (7", Ltd) none 1977 1" + "Mother/Daughter / The Residents album cover Joe Potts / Slimy Adenoid And The Pablums Mother/Daughter / The Residents 77" + "The Pablums Under My Gums" (7") + "Airway" cassette single
- Lp06/07 Light Bulb Magazine Number Four "The Emergency Cassette"
- Lp08 1981 December Compilation (a selection)
- Lp09 Tom Recchion "Freak Show"
- Lp10 Dinosaurs with Horns (Rick Potts / Joseph Hammer)
- Lp11 Fredrik Nilsen "Music from Norway"
- Lp12/13 Archive Recordings / previously unreleased