Off World
2

One of 2016's strangest, most hypnotic and charming albums of experimental synth-electronic incursions/excursions was the first collection of Off World tracks, simply titled 1. This is the next installment, mysteriously titled 2.

Sandro Perri is one of Constellation's most long-standing and artistically diverse music-makers. The celebrated Toronto-based composer, producer and songwriter first released albums of hissing, pulsing, longform instrumental work under the Polmo Polpo moniker in the early 2000s, then moved into tropicalia-, jazz- and prog-influenced vocal music under his own name (with forays into dub and afro-beat tinged jams via Glissandro 70, his duo with Craig Dunsmuir).

Perri has been drip-feeding Constellation LP-length bundles of tracks cured and curated from a fascinating treasure chest of strange and enchanting collaborative recordings – rich in deconstructed melody and rhythm, pointillist and aleatory composition techniques, primarily employing a wide array of vintage synths and drum machines.  This bounty of private and previously unreleased tracks has been accumulating for some time and we’re excited to present the second of three volumes of this material, rounded up under the project name Off World.

Perri will be the first to insist that Off World is not "his" project: tracing its origins as far back as 2008, with Perri and fellow Torontonian Lorenz Peter (Processor, Corpusse) working together on tracks and very occasionally performing live, Off World collaborators include producers Drew Brown (Lower Dens, Blonde Redhead, Beck), Matthew Cooper (Eluvium) and Susumu Mukai (Zongamin), and instrumentalists Craig Dunsmuir (Glissandro 70, Kanada 70) and Eric Chenaux, among others.

Off World is alien electronics played humanly, resulting in genuinely exploratory and peculiarly sui generis electronic music that sounds like it could have issued from any time in the past 40-50 years. Off World resists easy categorization: not ambient, not strictly "improvised", nor "retro" – just eccentrically absorbing, impishly stimulating and gently uneasy listening in an awkward, nerdy, precocious class of its own. 

 

LP is pressed on 180 gram audiophile vinyl at Optimal (Germany) and comes in a heavyweight 24pt jacket printed on 100% recycled Orford paperboard,
with a 12"x24" art poster, 12"x12" credit insert, and download code for 320kbps MP3.
All printed on uncoated papers and boards, featuring artwork by early 20th century painter Karl Sirovy.

 

Drew Brown: electronics (tracks 2 & 8)
Eric Chenaux: guitar, percussion (track 10)
Matthew Cooper: electronics (track 8)
Craig Dunsmuir: bass, guitar, percussion (tracks 1, 6 & 7)
Brandon Hocura: electronics (track 7)
Susumu Mukai: drum machine, electronics, guitar (tracks 1, 2 & 8)
Sandro Perri: bass, drum machine, electronics, guitar, piano (all tracks)
Lorenz Peter: drum machine, electronics (tracks 3, 5 & 9)

Produced by Off World.

Recorded at The Hospital (London), 6 Nassau (Toronto), Polyphasic (Toronto), Sonology (Toronto) and various home studios.

Engineers: Drew Brown, Eric Chenaux, Matthew Cooper, Craig Dunsmuir, Brandon Hocura, Sandro Perri, MJ Silver.

Additional production and mixing by Sandro Perri.
Trans-Atlantic sound processing by MJ Silver.

Mastered at Grey Market in Montreal by Harris Newman.