{"product_id":"744271372694","title":"Thomas Leer: 1979 (Vinyl LP)","description":"Thomas Leer is an innovative electronic musician from Port Glasgow, Scotland. He began singing for a local band at age 13, and was writing his own music by 18. By 1977, he had moved to London, where he fronted Pressure, a Clash-esque punk group with fellow experimental Scottish musician Robert Rental. After hearing Kraftwerk, Leer became interested in synthesizers - not long after, he was exploring the experimental techniques of Eno, Zappa, Beefheart, Faust, and Can. In 1978, Thomas released his first single, Private Plane\/International, on his own Oblique Records that we reissued in 2015. 1979 is a 14-song collection spread across two pieces of vinyl clocking in at 70 minutes. Leer says, 1979 was a great year for making music. The punk explosion two years earlier, cleansed the palate and opened up minds to new sonic possibilities. It was in this spirit I took to exploring electronics and set up my first little home studio. Bearing in mind this was before such luxuries as Portastudios or affordable multi-tracks, I decided sound quality was less important than experimentation and innovation, so I pressed on with the meager equipment I had. My tabletop studio in Crouch End, North London, consisted of two cassette machines, a copycat tape echo, some FX pedals, Ring Modulator, Guitar, Bass \u0026amp; Wasp Synthesizer. Songs range from half serene atmospheres, to minimal rhythmic workouts, to tape loops layered behind distorted guitars, to cold layered singing, all with a psychedelic lo-fi attitude. All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The jacket features an industrial photo of a man standing on an overpass with a passing truck taken by Thomas' brother Andy Wishart in 1980. Each copy includes a two-sided black and white postcard with liner notes by Thomas. 38 years later this is fresh UK D.I.Y. post-punk, compelling pop with a dark heart, vacillating between the pretty disturbing and the disturbingly pretty.  ","brand":"Dark Entries","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39576698224790,"sku":"744271372694","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2231\/7305\/products\/3635827.jpg?v=1705035652","url":"https:\/\/www.besvinyl.com\/products\/744271372694","provider":"besvinyl.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}