The Avant Garde Project is a series of 20th-century classical-experimental-electroacoustic torrents digitized from LPs whose music has in most cases never been released on CD, and so is effectively inaccessible to the vast majority of music listeners today. This is wild stuff, so check it out if you've never heard this sort of music before. The analog rig used to extract the sound from the grooves is near state-of-the-art, producing almost none of the tracking distortion or surface noise normally associated with LPs. 

AGP1-105 are now available for direct download in the archive at dream.cs.bath.ac.uk/AvantGardeProject

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NOTE: The AGP will be taking a two-week break after AGP108, returning on June 27. You could use the break to catch up on the installments you haven't yet listened to. If you haven't yet spent serious time with AGP104, you should definitely do so!

AGP108 includes two works by Neil Rolnick (both sides of CRI SD 540) and one by Barton McLean (one side of CRI SD 335). Rolnick's works are both for synthesizer(s) and chamber ensemble. The rhythmic structures in the Rolnick works remind me in places of Carla Bley's Musique Mecanique. The sound quality and choice of timbres is delicious. Barton McLean's contribution employs a more limited range of timbres, but with nice rhythmic and motivic development. 

The other side of CRI SD 335 contains Priscilla McLean's "Dance of Dawn", which is available on a CD of works by both Barton and Priscilla entitled Electronic Landscapes, and is therefore not included in this installment. Mimaroglu Music Sales distributes the CD, or it can be bought from the McLeans themselves on their website (search "The McLean Mix").

The torrent includes a PDF file with scans of the liner notes from both LPs. 

11 - Neil Rolnick, Á La Mode, 1984 [19:35]
12 - Neil Rolnick, Real Time, 1983 [17:31]
13 - Barton McLean, Spirals, 1973 [22:03]

Equipment used for A/D conversion: Lyra Helikon phono cartridge, Linn LP12/Lingo turntable, Linn Ittok tonearm, Audioquest LeoPard tonearm cable, PS Audio PS2 preamplifier, Kimber PBJ interconnect, M-Audio Audiophile USB A/D converter. 

NOTE: To the best of my knowledge, these recordings are currently out of print. If you know otherwise, please let me know ASAP, as I do not wish any artists to be deprived of the royalties that they so richly deserve.