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DAVID PRESCOTT / HISTORY
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David Prescott |
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Here
on Auricle are 4 unique releases in the annals of David Precott's early
cassette album history. These showcase his love of German synth / cosmic
music, and prove that he was a great talent of the genre. After completing
these 4 he decided he couldn't really go any further without ending up
sounding like everyone else, so he pushed on in a new direction of
avant-garde electronics. So, these 4 releases are a time capsule exclusively
given to Auricle as a "thank you" by the artist, with specially
commissioned artwork by Peter Harrison, who was also a fan. David
Prescott, an explorative synthesist/experimentalist who came to prominence
with a prolific burst of releases in the late 1980s (and through to 1990)
covered a lot of ground, generally moving towards the avant-garde. He
established the label Generations Unlimited along with other partners,
including Gen Ken and extensively featured artist: Conrad Schnitzler. Knowing
of our interest in deeper "cosmic music" David sent us 4
thematically similar tapes that he'd recorded earlier on that we may be
interested in. Indeed, we were very interested, and we issued all 4 on
cassette. Later though, when we sent him a royalty statement the letter came
back, and as a courtesy we deleted the cassettes when they ran out. Two
decades on, no one had heard of him since, and as there had been increasing
requests for a reissue we made them available again, remastered and for all
to enjoy. In doing so I was amazed how fresh and original this music still
is. David was indeed an innovator. David did eventually resurface, but seems
to have recorded nothing new since the early 1990s. We would love to reissue
some of his other releases, should he be interested. From Audion #9, page 10, Article & Interview by Alan
Freeman... To quote David ‘Neologlsms
... is essentially one live performance, which I played back and did very
sparse overdubbing on. It consists of this digital delay arrangement ... One
digital delay line was hooked to the sequencer, timed to the same pulse as
the SQ. The other delay line was hooked to the chords and sounds, and the
delay line was always exactly twice the length of the other delay. I invert
the phase on each delay, which gives me a more realistic sound. The actual
synths were ... a Sequential Circuits Pro-One, a Korg Poly-800 (all the
programming on the Poly-800 is my own, I despise factory patches!), plus an
ARP Odyssey.’ David claims this arrangement gave him freedom to explore
his instruments well, and as proof of this was a trilogy of tapes (all
recently reissued by Auricle)... NEW MUSIC FOR
CATHEDRALS finds David teaming up his synths with his trusty bass guitar for
some atmospheric ramblings that uncannily resemble the quieter moments of
Tangerine Dream live circa 1974. David’s fluid bass style complements his
synths perfectly. No doubt this tape, never officially available before,
should win David a lot of convertees, as this is a rare music genre that has
scarcely been explored. More subtle and
sequential is THE DREAMER, a more reflective work that while being similar in
structure to NEOLOGISMS is very different in sounds. A lot more expressive
keyboard soloing here, meandering, intricate yet spacious. I’m reminded as
much here of Kevin O’Neill’s subtle textures as those of Klaus Schulze and
the like. This is one for late night peaceful listening that won’t send you
to sleep! FOUR MILLION
YEARS is the closest Dave has come to the cosmic synth music of Klaus
Schulze, here massed string-synthetics are to the fore, accompanied by gentle
sequential patterns, rambling melodies and wafts of sound reverberating into
the distance. Despite the Schulze-ian aura, this is unmistakably Prescott -
lighter and more accessible than before, whilst still being mysterious and
enigmatic. Dave gave a bit of background on this one - ‘It essentially is
three live performances at once. I took some ideas and recorded them, I
played this back and "jammed" along with It, and repeated the
process once more. For me, the essential ingredient is the use of digital
delays (described previously). The way I use the delay lines necessitates
using two channels at all times, so that multi-tracking is difficult. I do
not overdub, nor do I like to. That is, I don’t do punch-ins, etc.’ After this,
David decided to re-assess his musical outlook, and try something different.
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Selected Discography... FOUR MILLION YEARS - MC private (1985), Auricle AMC 019 (1987), CDR
Auricle AMCDR 119 (2007) |
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David
Prescott articles and reviews in Audion: #2/33, #3/10, #7/3, #9/10-11,
#11/28+29, #12/29+32, #13/28, #17/24+32, #53/30, #56/39 |
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