Last year, Marc Baron released the incredible Hidden Tapes on Potlatch. Today, Glistening Examples has released its follow-up and it's entitled Carnets. You can hear album opener "2014" above. The press release for the album is as follows:
Just as Marc Baron's widely lauded 2014 CD Hidden Tapes marked a turn from saxophone improvisation to an embrace of what the Potlatch label referred to as "music for speakers" or, more elegantly, "sound diffusion," Carnets is not only another leap forward, but could easily be considered Marc Baron's masterpiece.
Carnets is a dynamic interplay of degraded magnetic tape and unsettlingly normal everyday recordings dating back to Baron's childhood, showcasing Baron's deftness in crafting compositions that leave the listener with more questions than answers. Attempts to pin down his methods are forestalled at every turn by the abstract yet suggestive nature of the pieces. Personal memories become a platform for a series of inscrutable, elegantly arranged compositions. Baron's misused tapes carry evocative resonances that linger hauntingly in the mind of the listener, begging to be heard again.
This record is the analog debut for Marc Baron, and his hand-constructed audio works sound completely alive on this vinyl pressing mastered by Jason Lescalleet. Each slab of 150-gram vinyl comes in a special black poly-lined dust sleeve inside a 300-gsm white-on-white art board, all lovingly protected by a polyvinyl bag. The front cover bears a striking photograph of a sculpture by French artist Loïc Blairon, something very intimate and personal for Marc Baron. This album is truly something very special.
For those in Europe, Carnets will be available from Metamkine shortly and is currently available for pre-order from Penultimate Press. If you live in the U.S., you can purchase the record now from Forced Exposure. There are also limited edition versions of the record pressed on clear vinyl. You can purchase these from the Glistening Examples store. 30 such copies can also be purchased with a high quality print of Loïc Blairon's sculpture, signed by Loïc Blairon and Marc Baron himself. You can read more information here. The tracklist for Carnets is below.
Carnets tracklist:
1. 2014
2. 2008-2013
3. 1965-2015
4. 2015-Pastiche (le style n'est rien)