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.