Unknown Artist - Binaural Prototype 1

Unknown Artist
Binaural Prototype 1
Concentric Circles
USA, 2026
LP

Wild estate sale find from Concentric Circles! Full details below.



FROM THE LABEL:

*USE HEADPHONES*

The most unlikely of estate sale finds, I have absolutely no idea what to tell you about the origins of this tape, simply called “Binaural Prototype 1.” About 10 years ago I was given the green light to rummage through the estate of someone who had been a reviewer for audiophile magazines in the 1980s, fortunately being allowed into the house before the general public ransacked the place. There was an entire massive wall of cassette tapes. Most didn’t look very tempting, but at 25 cents a piece, I wasn’t exactly being picky. The previous owner had been very interested in binaural recording techniques, particularly of the “dummy head” variety, and had a number of tapes that were made to show off the technology and what was possible with it.

Which brings me to the tape in question, currently manifesting itself as a 45RPM 12” here on Concentric Circles. With no name anywhere, the “artwork” was simply a scrap of paper with a bunch of track titles hand scribbled on it. However, from the first second the music starts it’s obvious that this is not your typical DIY affair. Very hi-fi and in your face/head/everything in between, by the end it’s like the musical equivalent of a heavy MDMA trip. Designed specifically for headphone listening, all of the sounds ping pong around the stereo field in an exceptionally detailed manner, disorienting your senses and scrambling your notion of reality. Some things come to mind: Art of Noise at their most obtuse, Monad-era Haruomi Hosono or Robert Ashley and the Lovely Records world, but this really is in a league all its own. A mystery with no answer.

Similar in approach to what a few other projects were up to around then (Flying Lizards, IXNA, etc.), what set Pedestal apart was their love of the clavinet, the funkiest of all keyboards, not to mention some seriously adept bass playing. Topped off with Rachel’s sweetly charming vocal phrasings, it was a match made in avant-pop heaven.

This is the first in a series of LPs that will be limited to 150 copies, with paste on covers and hand stamped jackets and labels. No distro, only available direct from Concentric Circles and a select few shops.