Pulitzer Prize | The Innerspace Connection

They Just Keep on Coming!

My pre-ordered copy of Brian Eno’s latest generative work, Lux has arrived at my record shop which I should be visiting next week.

In the meantime here are a few groovy titles that I’ve found in the wild.

This first album appeared on r/vinyl and I couldn’t get my wallet out fast enough. I’ve been watching auctions for original copies of Beck’s Sea Change for months. Every copy sells for about $40. Then I found out about the special limited edition Black Friday release of the Mobile Fidelity 180g remaster and knew I had to act fast. This is the first Mobile Fidelity release on a colored vinyl – marbled pink wax in this case. And it sounds absolutely magnificent.

Next I found two John Cage LPs in the trade-in boxes a customer dropped off at my local record shop. They were a little musty so I may look to upgrade my copies later down the line. They were Folkways Records’ Sound of New Music featuring Cage, Varese, Ussachevsky and others, and Indeterminacy by Cage and David Tudor.

Later that week I checked out Buffalo’s largest bookstore and took a chance on their small record section in the back. Behind about 50 Elvis records I lucked out and found a sealed John Cage and David Tudor record! It still had it’s $2 price sticker from 1966, which the shop kindly honored!

Next up at my local Antique Mall I absolutely struck gold in the area of New Music.

I almost passed up this next disc because I knew I had the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange at home. But the vendor explained to me that this was a different album, entirely. Most importantly it includes the full 13 minute version of “Timesteps,” one of the most famed in the history of early electronic recordings. (The soundtrack version of the album trimmed it down to 4 minutes.)

They also had a classic ambient album from Harold Budd – a Belgian import of Serpent in Quicksilver.

Then I spotted this legendary Nonesuch release – Time’s Encomium. Wuorinen won a Pulitzer Prize for this recording, making it the first all-electronic album to win the Prize and making Wuorinen the youngest-ever recipient. It’s a wonderful milestone in early electronic sound.

And finally there was this incredible LP which I had been after for weeks. The Columbia-Princeston Electronic Music Center was founded in 1958 and this mono LP was released in 1964. The only electronic record I’ve found that pre-dates this release is my copy of Forbidden Planet which was recorded in 1956.