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Julius Eastman - Femenine - first-ever release of this minimalist opus, recorded in 1974

Recorded live on Wednesday, November 6, 1974 at Composers Forum in Albany, The Arts Center on the Campus of the Academy of the Holy Names, Albany, New York. Like Bandcamp themselves, we will be donating 100% of our share of every sale on Friday, June 19th (from midnight to midnight Pacific Time) to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, America’s premier legal organisation fighting for racial justice. The label will also donate its entire share of each pre-order made before this date, as well as that of all orders made during the rest of June.

This is the première release of Julius Eastman’s Femenine, for chamber ensemble. It is also the work’s only known recording, documenting a 1974 performance by the S.E.M. Ensemble (with the composer on piano) which has lain unheard for decades.

The music of Julius Eastman (1940-90) is enjoying an on-going period of rediscovery. Known best in the past for his work with figures like Peter Maxwell Davies, Arthur Russell and Meredith Monk, today his own formidable compositions draw increasing admiration.

Joyous, insistent, and immersive, Femenine bathes the listener in surges of tonal colour from intertwining winds, piano, violin, pitched percussion, synthesizer and – uniquely – the composer’s own invention of mechanised sleigh bells, which provide the 72-minute piece with its characteristic pulse.

Illuminating sleeve notes are provided by composer and author Mary Jane Leach, who is co-editor of Gay Guerrilla, the recently released collection of essays on Eastman’s life and music.

Hurricane in the Atlantic, SS Queen Elizabeth starboard

Sybelle Baier - Forget About (197?)

Actress and folk singer Sybelle Baier recorded a bunch of songs at home in Germany between 1970 and 1973. They weren't made public until her son made copies to give to family members and select people. J Mascis passed it on to the Orange Twin label, which then released it. It's very intimate, melancholy and beautiful.