The Needle Drop

Graham Lambkin - No Better No Worse (Vol 1)

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Just a month following the sad but deliberate closure of Graham Lambkin's Kye record label, the sound and visual artist has embraced digital distribution by joining Bandcamp. His five, long out of print solo albums are now on the platform, as is a new compilation of previously unreleased material. The recording of this collection spans from the first of those albums in 2001, all the way through last year; with the project effectively serving as an alternate history of the man's post-Shadow Ring career up to this point. The sprawling opening track, for instance, could be another world's Salmon Run.

Consequently, I recommend listening to the actual albums first if you're not familiar with them – given their aforementioned OOP status, that's a distinct possibility. Salmon Run is my favorite sound collage / musique concrète work of all time, Amateur Doubles is one of this decade's greatest ambient works, and Community was one of my 2016 faves, so it's hard to go wrong with any of those. But if you'd prefer a baptism by fire with this comp, fucking go for it.

A second volume of unreleased material is due out later in the year; not to mention a collaborative double album with Áine O'Dwyer on the way via Erstwhile. Suffice it to say Graham's making big plays in 2018.

-Austen