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LP
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EMV 007LP
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The Melbourne trio from the early '80s known as The Invisible College were a bit of a mystery to those who knew of their sole cassette release, The Luxury Of Horns, released on the RASH (Decisions) label in 1982, and that was the point. The group was otherwise known as Laughing Hands, a crucial cog in the influential and highly creative experimental post-punk scene centered around the Clifton Hill Organ Factory in inner city Melbourne. The Laughing Hands released a series of exceptional LPs in the first half of the decade before splitting, with member Paul Schutze then beginning a successful solo career that has seen him based in the UK for the past 35 years. Since then, Schutze has scored soundtracks, collaborated with the likes of Brian Eno and Jah Wobble, and released many recordings on labels from Virgin to Extreme. The Invisible College used the alias for this release to dupe a critic who was always deriding the works of the Laughing Hands, to see if they could elicit a positive review without the baggage (they did!). It is a truly remarkable DIY release from the era, one that mixes electronics with a more organic feel. Over the course of seven tracks, the music slowly evolves and devolves, blending the sounds of Berlin-school electronics (Manuel Gottsching, Conrad Schnitzler) with the Fourth World sonics of Brian Eno and Jon Hassell. It also provides an excellent musical bridge between the more minimalist sounds of Laughing Hands and Schutze's adventurous and prolific solo career. The Luxury Of Horns is experimental yet imminently listenable, at times broaching on a kind of proto-techno, just as Manuel Gottsching's E2E4 did around the same time. This edition is the first time it's ever been released as a stand-alone LP, with all-new artwork and liner notes from Schutze himself.
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