Outer Sounds 006 - April 2021
The selection for April 2021 is Tim Story’s Threads LP reissue on Dais Records (Orange transparent vinyl in an edition of 400 copies). Threads was supposed to be Tim Story’s debut album but it was never meant to be, its the classic story of a long lost album. Tim discovered the music of Cluster, Eno, Wyatt and more while working at Drome record store in Ohio with John Thompson (of Pere Ubu graphic design fame) and he was inspired to make some music of his own. Isolated from any scene and holed up in his parent’s basement in Whitehouse, OH with a makeshift collection of instruments (a piano, Les Paul guitar, Yamaha CS-30, homebuilt PAiA synth, salvaged vibraphone & misc. percussion) & a Tascam 4-track recorder. Only in his early 20s at the time, he spent a couple of years at the dawn of the 80s working on material that would become Threads. Once he had some tracks he was happy with, he dubbed off 6 copies of the album on cassette and sent them to a handful of European labels (including a copy to Klaus Schulze) that he thought would be sympathetic to his music. One label, Atem, a French progressive label which featured the likes of Univers Zero, Art Zoyd, This Heat and more, took interest in his album and wanted to release it on their new sublabel for electronic / ambient music called Labyrinthes. A contract was drawn up and test pressings were made but unfortunately Atem/Labyrinthes went out of business before Threads was ever released. However, Klaus Schulze liked Tim’s music and played the tape for some friends & associates which resulted in him getting a record deal with the Norwegian label Uniton Records. By this time, Tim had already completed his next album In Another Country so that became his proper debut release after moving on from Threads. Threads remained unreleased until 1992 when it was released on CD by Eurock. And now, some 40 years later, it finally got its first proper release on vinyl by Dais records. The music on Threads is minimal, repetitive, melodic and ambient with weaves and washes of synths, piano layers and electronics. It forms a cohesive whole and sits alongside the DIY ambience of K. Leimer’s music who was doing similar things at the time in Seattle. Inspired and influenced by the great music coming from Europe at the time, Cluster, Harmonia, Eno, Wyatt, Kraftwerk, etc, this is Tim’s own youthful and personal expression filtered through the lens of the working class Midwest of the late 70s. Tim would go on to make many albums throughout the 80s & 90s (for labels such as Windham Hill & Hearts of Space) and he continues to make interesting and engaging music to this day, always wanting to explore new vistas and evolve his sonic palette. Things came full circle as he became long time friends with Moebius & Roedelius of Cluster and began working with both of them in more recent years. (His series of “Smudges” on Curious Music as well as The Roedelius Cells are recent highlights). Check out my conversation with Tim about Threads and more below!
