Out of stock
2 CD
INTERSYSTEMS
“# IV”
Toronto’s infamous psychedelic multimedia collective, Intersystems, make a surprise return with a new full-length LP, #IV. Coming via Waveshaper Media, #IV is Intersystems’ first new material since 1968! Intersystems’ pioneering avant/electronic music sounded positively alien in the 1960s, and more than 50 years later, this latest body of work sounds just as otherworldly.
When they arrived on the scene in the late 1960s, Intersystems stood out from their peers. Comprised of architect Dik Zander, light sculptor Michael Hayden, poet Blake Parker, and musician John Mills-Cockell (of Syrinx, Kensington Market and more), the group mounted groundbreaking pan-sensory events and released a trilogy of defiantly disorienting records.
Where more conventional purveyors of sonic psychedelia were content with fuzztone guitar and orientalist tropes, Intersystems managed to approximate the full psychedelic experience in all its euphoric wonder and terror. Initially wrangling homespun gadgetry, feverishly spliced-together tapes, and mutant beat poetry, Intersystems were also among the very first to deploy a Moog Synthesizer; their Moog modular system was the first to be imported into Canada. Intersystems’ three vinyl LP recordings, meanwhile, justifiably became coveted collector's items given their scarce quantity and singular unsettling vision.
The reissue of Intersystems’ full discography in 2015 prompted acclaim from a number of major outlets. Among them, PopMatters hailed the set as "one of those great lost recordings (three of 'em actually) that comes from the lysergic era..." Mills-Cockell’s work in Syrinx has also been reissued to great acclaim in recent years.
Fifty-plus years after their 1968 album Free Psychedelic Poster Inside, Hayden and Mills-Cockell decided to revive the long-dormant project with a series of sessions at Hamilton's storied Grant Avenue Studio. The resultant music remains remarkably congruent with the project's original vision while clearly emerging from the present moment. With original poet/lyricist Blake Parker now deceased, Hayden and Mills-Cockell made the counterintuitive (yet strangely apt) decision to render Parker's words electronically. As the computer-synthesized voice alternates between an eerily life-like delivery and slurred cybernetic faltering, it brings a new dystopian tint to the group's anxious surrealism. Taking cues from its predecessor, Free Psychedelic Poster Inside, a modular Moog Synthesizer system is the primary instrument, yet here it offers a dynamic blend of different sonorities: barbed wire basslines, Subotnickesque chirping, gestural plumes of colour and percussive filigree.
While the group cut their teeth in the 1960s, make no mistake these new Intersystems recordings aren't a “comeback" or an attempt to rehash the "good old days". What one hears instead is the sound of Mills-Cockell and Hayden re-energizing the project, bringing with them the myriad experience they’ve accumulated in the intervening 50 years. These aural concoctions—no less perplexing than their 1960s predecessors—build upon the Intersystems foundation but very decidedly reside in the present moment, reminding listeners of just how forward-looking this group was in the first place.
12,00€
In stock
LP
INTERSYSTEMS
“# IV”
Toronto’s infamous psychedelic multimedia collective, Intersystems, make a surprise return with a new full-length LP, #IV. Coming via Waveshaper Media, #IV is Intersystems’ first new material since 1968! Intersystems’ pioneering avant/electronic music sounded positively alien in the 1960s, and more than 50 years later, this latest body of work sounds just as otherworldly.
When they arrived on the scene in the late 1960s, Intersystems stood out from their peers. Comprised of architect Dik Zander, light sculptor Michael Hayden, poet Blake Parker, and musician John Mills-Cockell (of Syrinx, Kensington Market and more), the group mounted groundbreaking pan-sensory events and released a trilogy of defiantly disorienting records.
Where more conventional purveyors of sonic psychedelia were content with fuzztone guitar and orientalist tropes, Intersystems managed to approximate the full psychedelic experience in all its euphoric wonder and terror. Initially wrangling homespun gadgetry, feverishly spliced-together tapes, and mutant beat poetry, Intersystems were also among the very first to deploy a Moog Synthesizer; their Moog modular system was the first to be imported into Canada. Intersystems’ three vinyl LP recordings, meanwhile, justifiably became coveted collector's items given their scarce quantity and singular unsettling vision.
The reissue of Intersystems’ full discography in 2015 prompted acclaim from a number of major outlets. Among them, PopMatters hailed the set as "one of those great lost recordings (three of 'em actually) that comes from the lysergic era..." Mills-Cockell’s work in Syrinx has also been reissued to great acclaim in recent years.
Fifty-plus years after their 1968 album Free Psychedelic Poster Inside, Hayden and Mills-Cockell decided to revive the long-dormant project with a series of sessions at Hamilton's storied Grant Avenue Studio. The resultant music remains remarkably congruent with the project's original vision while clearly emerging from the present moment. With original poet/lyricist Blake Parker now deceased, Hayden and Mills-Cockell made the counterintuitive (yet strangely apt) decision to render Parker's words electronically. As the computer-synthesized voice alternates between an eerily life-like delivery and slurred cybernetic faltering, it brings a new dystopian tint to the group's anxious surrealism. Taking cues from its predecessor, Free Psychedelic Poster Inside, a modular Moog Synthesizer system is the primary instrument, yet here it offers a dynamic blend of different sonorities: barbed wire basslines, Subotnickesque chirping, gestural plumes of colour and percussive filigree.
While the group cut their teeth in the 1960s, make no mistake these new Intersystems recordings aren't a “comeback" or an attempt to rehash the "good old days". What one hears instead is the sound of Mills-Cockell and Hayden re-energizing the project, bringing with them the myriad experience they’ve accumulated in the intervening 50 years. These aural concoctions—no less perplexing than their 1960s predecessors—build upon the Intersystems foundation but very decidedly reside in the present moment, reminding listeners of just how forward-looking this group was in the first place.
Original price was: 18,00€.14,00€Current price is: 14,00€.
In stock
LP
INTERSYSTEMS
“Number One”
LSD and other hallucinogens were very popular sources of inspiration in the late 1960’s. While Intersystems work was also fixated on inebriated euphoria and perceptual distortion, their sonic barrages also evoked the heightened awareness, intermittent psychosis, intellectual overstimulation and giddy nihilism of an acid expedition.
“Orange Juice and Velvet Underwear” may indeed be the most typically capital-p Psychedelic cut of Intersystems entire catalog. Its saturated crypto-Indian drone and bent acoustic guitar notes, the most audibly ‘psych’ elements, are upstaged by Parker’s lurid-sounding declamations and Mills-Cockell’s fierce industrial clatter. From there, it all spirals further into a vortex of frayed cacophony and chilling sober-yet-surreal orations.
The sixteen-minute “Blackout Mix” is a perfect demonstration of just how tenuous their relationship was to even the furthest-out reaches of psychedelia in spite of their own pronounced use of related terminology. All curdled puddles of synth noise and caustic electronic howls, Parker’s fragmentary deadpan bark both penetrates, and is enveloped by, the sticky sonic tapestry. He unfurls a series of disparate images, more-than-flirting with the mundane horror enumerated later (and more explicitly) by the likes of Throbbing Gristle.
“Vox 3/13/67” is “Number One Intersystems”’s second longest and arguably most varied piece. John’s contributions span dimly elegiac textures, evoking distant chimes and striated choral voices, over to his most brusque and intemperate interjections. Parker, whose appearances are as jarring as they are intermittent, delivers his writing as staunchly as ever, yet hacks certain words into syllabic mincemeat that spills violently and incoherently into the middles of sentences. It’s by no means less anxious than other pieces on the album, but its tension is achieved through an eerily pronounced sense of breath and movement rather more aggressive means, foreshadowing the approach found on the latter two albums. Where elsewhere “Number One Intersystems” seems to forecast post-punk excursions into avant-noise antagonism, here there’s more indication of Mills-Cockell’s training and more canonical influences in its careful phrase-shaping.
Featured throughout the album was a homespun instrument devised by John, dubbed "The Coffin", which was also employed live in their Presentations. Mills-Cockell recalls: “It was a 6 foot long box line with purple satin, housing a long plank strung with many parallel lengths of piano wire held in place with tuning pegs which were adjustable with a wrench we kept on board for the purpose. There were contact mikes which were switchable, just like on a Telecaster except that the switches could permit not only selection of different harmonic spectra when the instrument sounded, but of a variety of loudspeakers in various locations in (a) performance space. The switches were invisible, covered by the fabric lining the interior of the box”.
This edition of “Number One Intersystems” LP presents the correct Side A / Side B sequence as well as the original tracks sub-section divisions. Re-mastered by John Mills-Cockell. Mastered for cutting by Giuseppe Ielasi.
Edition of 300 copies presented in the original Allied Records sleeve.
“Orange Juice and Velvet Underwear” may indeed be the most typically capital-p Psychedelic cut of Intersystems entire catalog. Its saturated crypto-Indian drone and bent acoustic guitar notes, the most audibly ‘psych’ elements, are upstaged by Parker’s lurid-sounding declamations and Mills-Cockell’s fierce industrial clatter. From there, it all spirals further into a vortex of frayed cacophony and chilling sober-yet-surreal orations.
The sixteen-minute “Blackout Mix” is a perfect demonstration of just how tenuous their relationship was to even the furthest-out reaches of psychedelia in spite of their own pronounced use of related terminology. All curdled puddles of synth noise and caustic electronic howls, Parker’s fragmentary deadpan bark both penetrates, and is enveloped by, the sticky sonic tapestry. He unfurls a series of disparate images, more-than-flirting with the mundane horror enumerated later (and more explicitly) by the likes of Throbbing Gristle.
“Vox 3/13/67” is “Number One Intersystems”’s second longest and arguably most varied piece. John’s contributions span dimly elegiac textures, evoking distant chimes and striated choral voices, over to his most brusque and intemperate interjections. Parker, whose appearances are as jarring as they are intermittent, delivers his writing as staunchly as ever, yet hacks certain words into syllabic mincemeat that spills violently and incoherently into the middles of sentences. It’s by no means less anxious than other pieces on the album, but its tension is achieved through an eerily pronounced sense of breath and movement rather more aggressive means, foreshadowing the approach found on the latter two albums. Where elsewhere “Number One Intersystems” seems to forecast post-punk excursions into avant-noise antagonism, here there’s more indication of Mills-Cockell’s training and more canonical influences in its careful phrase-shaping.
Featured throughout the album was a homespun instrument devised by John, dubbed "The Coffin", which was also employed live in their Presentations. Mills-Cockell recalls: “It was a 6 foot long box line with purple satin, housing a long plank strung with many parallel lengths of piano wire held in place with tuning pegs which were adjustable with a wrench we kept on board for the purpose. There were contact mikes which were switchable, just like on a Telecaster except that the switches could permit not only selection of different harmonic spectra when the instrument sounded, but of a variety of loudspeakers in various locations in (a) performance space. The switches were invisible, covered by the fabric lining the interior of the box”.
This edition of “Number One Intersystems” LP presents the correct Side A / Side B sequence as well as the original tracks sub-section divisions. Re-mastered by John Mills-Cockell. Mastered for cutting by Giuseppe Ielasi.
Edition of 300 copies presented in the original Allied Records sleeve.
20,00€
In stock
LP
INTERSYSTEMS
“Peachy”
The sound work of Intersystems cannibalized stray bits of McLuhanism, psychedelia, Cagean experimentalism, and even the modernist gestural strains of nascent electronic music, yet it was all couched within a very particular DIY ethos.
“Peachy” (early 1968) pushes the meticulousness of “Number One Intersystems” even further and, as such, represents a more balanced amalgam of Intersystems’ various disparate stylistic and emotional elements. The truncated opening cut “Experienced Not Watched” is deceptive, beginning with lush, tuneful organ swells that almost border on the ecclesiastical and washed-out metallic pulsations. Yet this world is suddenly sealed off, as the track comes to an abrupt end. What follows is thinner and more gestural, imbued with both poise and awkward buoyancy, owing more to musique concrète than anything on “Number One Intersystems”. Each sound is framed within ample negative space, inviting listeners to savour each moment, yet its dynamism, and boisterousness, mischievous character steer it well away from being too precious. This impression is reinforced by the decidedly rugged and opaque timbre of much of the sonic activity – one of the (not so many elements) retained from “Number One Intersystems”. This is not to undercut the newfound lustre of higher spectra, which seems haunted by brilliant flickers of auditory light.
“Peachy”’s balance can also be attributed to its consistent flow. The album may superficially be divided into discrete tracks yet the pieces follow one another seamlessly, conveying a single arc, with many continuities and recurring motives. Many of these motives are just mere pithy jolts or shudders of white noise that dart in and out of the aural scenery. Even strains of the aforementioned organ prelude resurface at the beginning of “So They Took The Guns” and on the final cut of record albeit in drastically altered forms. In the former case, it matches the gestural profile of the opening cut – it’s suddenly lopped off, shifting decisively back toward a slice of Parker’s grim narrative, planted squarely in the foreground amidst various percolating abstract chatter.
Just as the musical textures have a more unified logic, Parker’s texts are also more integrated into the total picture, both aurally and thematically. The most discernible fragments unfold like a series of variations on the same twisted fable. The sardonic storybook tone with which he speaks the prose is eerily congruent with this fact. Despite its sharp veerings into death and violence, the abrupt leaps have a more absurd timbre, than one of abjection and morbidity. And the sudden shifts, of course, are complemented well by the restless intensity of Mills-Cockell’s contributions.
Parker’s voice is subject to a wider spectrum of electronic treatments than before. They’re also situated in various places, both spatially and within the mix. Sometimes it’s a hushed smear of voice within Mills-Cockell’s nimble collages, at other points a vaguely smutty phrase might sneak into the foreground, only to be smothered by a swarm of other peculiar sounds. Where his text is most legible, the electronics punctuate his sentences and follow their contours in playful counterpoint.
This edition of “Peachy” LP includes the correct tracks separations, timings and titles. Re-mastered by John Mills-Cockell. Mastered for cutting by Giuseppe Ielasi.
Edition limited to 300 copies.
“Peachy” (early 1968) pushes the meticulousness of “Number One Intersystems” even further and, as such, represents a more balanced amalgam of Intersystems’ various disparate stylistic and emotional elements. The truncated opening cut “Experienced Not Watched” is deceptive, beginning with lush, tuneful organ swells that almost border on the ecclesiastical and washed-out metallic pulsations. Yet this world is suddenly sealed off, as the track comes to an abrupt end. What follows is thinner and more gestural, imbued with both poise and awkward buoyancy, owing more to musique concrète than anything on “Number One Intersystems”. Each sound is framed within ample negative space, inviting listeners to savour each moment, yet its dynamism, and boisterousness, mischievous character steer it well away from being too precious. This impression is reinforced by the decidedly rugged and opaque timbre of much of the sonic activity – one of the (not so many elements) retained from “Number One Intersystems”. This is not to undercut the newfound lustre of higher spectra, which seems haunted by brilliant flickers of auditory light.
“Peachy”’s balance can also be attributed to its consistent flow. The album may superficially be divided into discrete tracks yet the pieces follow one another seamlessly, conveying a single arc, with many continuities and recurring motives. Many of these motives are just mere pithy jolts or shudders of white noise that dart in and out of the aural scenery. Even strains of the aforementioned organ prelude resurface at the beginning of “So They Took The Guns” and on the final cut of record albeit in drastically altered forms. In the former case, it matches the gestural profile of the opening cut – it’s suddenly lopped off, shifting decisively back toward a slice of Parker’s grim narrative, planted squarely in the foreground amidst various percolating abstract chatter.
Just as the musical textures have a more unified logic, Parker’s texts are also more integrated into the total picture, both aurally and thematically. The most discernible fragments unfold like a series of variations on the same twisted fable. The sardonic storybook tone with which he speaks the prose is eerily congruent with this fact. Despite its sharp veerings into death and violence, the abrupt leaps have a more absurd timbre, than one of abjection and morbidity. And the sudden shifts, of course, are complemented well by the restless intensity of Mills-Cockell’s contributions.
Parker’s voice is subject to a wider spectrum of electronic treatments than before. They’re also situated in various places, both spatially and within the mix. Sometimes it’s a hushed smear of voice within Mills-Cockell’s nimble collages, at other points a vaguely smutty phrase might sneak into the foreground, only to be smothered by a swarm of other peculiar sounds. Where his text is most legible, the electronics punctuate his sentences and follow their contours in playful counterpoint.
This edition of “Peachy” LP includes the correct tracks separations, timings and titles. Re-mastered by John Mills-Cockell. Mastered for cutting by Giuseppe Ielasi.
Edition limited to 300 copies.
20,00€
Out of stock
LP
INTERSYSTEMS
“Free Psychedelic Poster Inside”
Drawing on huge array of different sources, Intersystems occupied a difficult-to-reach critical nook between the many tropes that had established to frame the various artistic trends of 1960’s.
Announcing itself with a quivering beam of fluorescent sound, the beginning of Intersystems’ “Free Psychedelic Poster Inside” feels as though it’s slowly piercing right through your frontal lobe. As suggestive of hypnosis as it is of a sonic lobotomy, it makes a foreboding complement to Blake Parker’s poetry, this time a dark glimpse into mundane domesticity and the suburbs. One can’t help but sense that they’re being brainwashed: the slow metamorphosis of sound is juxtaposed against Parker’s even-tempered yet electronically-tampered-with speech.
There are occasional hints at the twitchy energy of “Peachy”, but everything is braced by a spine of lean, cool tones, making “Free Psychedelic Poster Inside” a far more stark outing than either of its predecessors. Yet the sense of impending danger and general volatility found in the rest of the catalogue is still present – if not amplified because of this more severe approach. In contrast to “Peachy”, the shapes the music cuts are smooth rather than jagged, but one is never sure just when Parker’s strangely uninflected voice will emerge from the blinding aggregates of pure colour. While these clusters of glowing sustain assert an aggressive mesmerism, they serve as a primer for the ears, ominously readying them for virtually anything to happen.
When something does, there’s often a sense mild alarm on the listener’s part even when said change comes in the form of a reprieve from the relentless swarms of high frequency – cascades of synthetic giggles, sliding slow elastic melodies, vigorous strobing modulations and bubbling passages of electronic fizz.
Musician and insatiable collector Julian Cope, on his exhaustive online chronicle of all things rare and psychedelic, “Head Heritage” calls Intersystems third LP “one of the densest, most oblique collections of sound ever”. While it’s hard not to feel smothered by its slow concentrated seep, there’s also a vague air of contemplation that permeates its gradual unfolding.
This edition of “Free Psychedelic Poster Inside” LP presents the original (double) title-tracks. Re-mastered by John Mills-Cockell. Mastered for cutting by Giuseppe Ielasi.
Edition limited to 300 copies with original LP graphics as well as a new insert .
Announcing itself with a quivering beam of fluorescent sound, the beginning of Intersystems’ “Free Psychedelic Poster Inside” feels as though it’s slowly piercing right through your frontal lobe. As suggestive of hypnosis as it is of a sonic lobotomy, it makes a foreboding complement to Blake Parker’s poetry, this time a dark glimpse into mundane domesticity and the suburbs. One can’t help but sense that they’re being brainwashed: the slow metamorphosis of sound is juxtaposed against Parker’s even-tempered yet electronically-tampered-with speech.
There are occasional hints at the twitchy energy of “Peachy”, but everything is braced by a spine of lean, cool tones, making “Free Psychedelic Poster Inside” a far more stark outing than either of its predecessors. Yet the sense of impending danger and general volatility found in the rest of the catalogue is still present – if not amplified because of this more severe approach. In contrast to “Peachy”, the shapes the music cuts are smooth rather than jagged, but one is never sure just when Parker’s strangely uninflected voice will emerge from the blinding aggregates of pure colour. While these clusters of glowing sustain assert an aggressive mesmerism, they serve as a primer for the ears, ominously readying them for virtually anything to happen.
When something does, there’s often a sense mild alarm on the listener’s part even when said change comes in the form of a reprieve from the relentless swarms of high frequency – cascades of synthetic giggles, sliding slow elastic melodies, vigorous strobing modulations and bubbling passages of electronic fizz.
Musician and insatiable collector Julian Cope, on his exhaustive online chronicle of all things rare and psychedelic, “Head Heritage” calls Intersystems third LP “one of the densest, most oblique collections of sound ever”. While it’s hard not to feel smothered by its slow concentrated seep, there’s also a vague air of contemplation that permeates its gradual unfolding.
This edition of “Free Psychedelic Poster Inside” LP presents the original (double) title-tracks. Re-mastered by John Mills-Cockell. Mastered for cutting by Giuseppe Ielasi.
Edition limited to 300 copies with original LP graphics as well as a new insert .
20,00€
Out of stock
3 CD
INTERSYSTEMS
“Intersystems”
3x digipak CDs in Slipcase including a 56-page full-color booklet. First edition of 500 copies.
First historical edition!
“Number One Intersystems” (1967) CD presenting the correct sequence and featuring for the first time the original tracks sub-section divisions.
“Peachy” (1967) CD including for the first time the original tracks separations, timings and titles.
“Free Psychedelic Poster Inside” (1968) CD presenting for the first time the original double-title tracks.
All audio works re-mastered by John Mills-Cockell for this edition and presented in full-color digipak sleeves.
Also including a booklet with two texts by Michael Hayden and John Mills-Cockell situating Intersystems in the Contemporary Art and Music contexts. A text by Nick Storring about Blake Parker and analyzing the 3 original records is also included as well as the complete chronology of Intersystems Presentations. 23 full-page images illustrating the dense evolution of this short-lived and essential mixed-media collective complete the 56-page booklet.
First press limited to 500 copies.
First historical edition!
“Number One Intersystems” (1967) CD presenting the correct sequence and featuring for the first time the original tracks sub-section divisions.
“Peachy” (1967) CD including for the first time the original tracks separations, timings and titles.
“Free Psychedelic Poster Inside” (1968) CD presenting for the first time the original double-title tracks.
All audio works re-mastered by John Mills-Cockell for this edition and presented in full-color digipak sleeves.
Also including a booklet with two texts by Michael Hayden and John Mills-Cockell situating Intersystems in the Contemporary Art and Music contexts. A text by Nick Storring about Blake Parker and analyzing the 3 original records is also included as well as the complete chronology of Intersystems Presentations. 23 full-page images illustrating the dense evolution of this short-lived and essential mixed-media collective complete the 56-page booklet.
First press limited to 500 copies.
49,00€