New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The second release of Independent Project Records' (IPR) expanded reissue campaign for A Produce's back catalog continues with the third ambient/'trance' album Land of a Thousand Trances on August 4.
Originally released in 1994 as an eight-song album and expanded in 2007 to 18 tracks spread over two discs, this forthcoming edition features the expanded tracklisting and adds new liner notes, updated artwork (including some of the late artist's own photography) and IPR's signature oversized hand letterpress-printed CD packaging. This new expanded release of Land of A Thousand Trances is freshly-remastered by Third Man Mastering's Warren DeFever (His Name Is Alive).
This past February 17th, IPR reissued the first A Produce album, The Clearing to rave reviews. Writing for MOJO,
David Fricke enthused: "A vision of the future barely heard on arrival, The Clearing now sounds right on time." The focus track from Land of A Thousand Trances, "The Far Shore (Solo Version)" will be released on the same day as the album. Track listing as follows:
1. The Far Shore
2. Land Of A Thousand Trances
3.
Heart of The Dunes
4. Insect Justice
5. The Dreaming Room
6. The Wall of Dali (#6)
7. It Comes In Waves
8. Meeting At Chiracahua
9.
Heart of the Dunes (Live)
10. The Dreaming Room (Live)
11. Big Background
12. Lost River
13. Initiation
14. The Far Shore (Solo Version)
15. The Wall of Dali (#5)
16. It Comes In Waves (Extended Version)
17. Jimbe
18. Harold's House
Similarly to what Brian Eno had done in the mid 70s when he defined the context and nature of the newly baptised ambient genre, the late Barry
Craig (A Produce) accompanied Land of a Thousand Trances (1994) with a press release that outlined the fundamental elements of what he liked to call trance music. "It can be as driving as the sound of world beat rhythms against modern day electronics", he wrote, "or as subtle as the tinkling of Japanese bells mixed with background environmental sounds.
Whatever the vehicle, the fundamental requirement of any style of trance music is that it sets up a rhythm (percussion), a sustained sound (drone), or a repetitive figure that over time, evokes a spellbinding hold on the listener, gradually drawing them deeper into the music, or trance".
Transcendental at heart, A Produce's trance language encompassed ambient, industrial, new age and so-called world music, only to go further. It was eager to find a direct line from Gregorian chants to Erik Satie, while tending to the needs of a fractured post-modern world. To anyone who cares about etymologies, it was also properly psychedelic. There is certainly a parallel to be drawn between A Produce's work and that of some of his guiding lights: Terry Riley, Steve Roach, Robert Rich, Harold Budd, Jon Hassell… But it is also true that the voracious, multitudinous nature of the perfectly titled Land of a Thousand Trances feels unprecedented and idiosyncratic. You could compare it to A Produce's relationship with his city, Los Angeles, crucial muse since the post-punk days of his former band Afterimage: what he most loved about it was the simultaneous proximity of deserts, oceans, mountains and industrial metropolis.
Additional IPR releases will be announced shortly and will feature both remastered and expanded IPR classics (and in some cases bring long out-of-print titles back in print) as well as new music that fits the IPR aesthetic both musically and in design. By utilizing IPR's iconic hand-letterpress printed artwork created at Independent Project Press, the label will carry on with the design aesthetic that began in 1982 and has become its hallmark.
Founded in 1980 by musician and artist Bruce Licher, Independent Project Records has created more than sixty releases since its inception. IPR and its sister entity Independent Project Press are known for their instantly recognizable hand-printed record covers for bands including Camper Van Beethoven, For Against, Polvo, R.E.M.,
Savage Republic, Silversun Pickups, Stereolab and more. Aside from creating all artwork on his vintage two-ton hand-fed letterpress, Licher was nominated for a Grammy Award for his design work on the IPR released debut album from For Against. In 2020, the label was relaunched by both Licher and Jeffrey Clark with new and archival releases and is distributed by MRI/The Orchard & via Proper
Music Group, outside the USA & Canada. It is based in Bishop, California, at the base of the Eastern
Sierra Mountains.
