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2LP
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ANTIME 013LP
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André Wittmann's debut album under the moniker Spur was made with both the body and the mind, in order to indulge in an odd but somehow familiar "dance of cultures," as the young Lübeck-based Bavarian and member of pandoras.box calls it. "I find it disturbing to see how all those fields of music are still strictly separated until this day. I'd rather see them all combined," he explains. Nowhereland compiles a selection of the best cuts out of 20 to 30 compositions Spur perfected during a month-long stay in Ghent in early 2014. Seemingly odd time signatures form the backbone of what are essentially club-orientated tracks. Spur, who started playing drums as child, took to other instruments like guitar, marimba, violin, and piano, and draws on wide range of influences, from hip-hop to Stravinsky to flamenco to gamelan music, approaching songwriting both theoretically and intuitively. "I aim at putting the mind and the body in motion." Limited double LP on white vinyl in transparent PVC cover with download code.
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LP
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DC 435LP
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"Doncha just hate it when a majorly-touted obscurity or 'major find' fancy reissue finally makes it into your hands, and it turns out to be nothing but sub-Hendrix acid-rawk jams, tuneless loner plink, some horn-addled overblown studio pomp, or simply just obscure-for-a-very-good reason? Or worse yet, it's an album you've already heard, but you buy it again for a bunch of 'bonus material,' which is nothing but lame garage rock covers? Well folks, relax -- you are in no such danger with the major unveiling of the soon-to-be-seminal Belleville, Illinois outfit Spur. Little did we all know that still lurking in southern Illinois (near St. Louis actually), was one of the most amazing secret bands that could've given any 60s 'Sunset Strip' band a serious run for its money. Even more shocking was the amount of beyond-spectacular unreleased tracks lingering in their vaults...stuff that will truly spin heads around. So we cherry-picked only the best material from their insanely rare micropressed LP Spur of the Moments to make room for the plethora of new-found bounty. For 60s 'psych' enthusiasts, or really just fans of anything essentially rock n roll, there is a grove of treasures on this lone LP (boy was it hard to edit it all down to 40 minutes). The earliest Spur days, back when they were known (or really unknown) as The Unknowns, finds them in absolutely heartbreaking folk-garage mode, recalling the best of the Blue Things, The Choir, Beau Brummels or even ye olden Beatles. They evolved quickly into full-tilt west coast-style psychedelia, pouring on the fuzz with a laid-back tunefulness that certainly gives outfits like Quicksilver Messenger Service, Relatively Clean Rivers and Thee Dead some competition (indeed Spur opened for Jerry n crew in the day -- as well as Cream!). By the 70s Spur had expanded even further, at last answering the age-old question, 'What if Buffalo Springfield had hung in there and totally kicked ass by 1971?' Gorgeous harmonies soaring above utterly driving guitars, amid heady studio trickery paints a picture not unlike the sainted pop of your Big Stars or Badfingers. So yeah, if you're a fan of bands that seemlessly and viscerally integrated country, rock, psychedelia, folk and really everything grand in R n R, a la the Byrds, Moby Grape or even the Flying Burrito Brothers, prepare to have your doors blown off by a band that will soon be regarded as esteemed contemporaries of all of them."
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