OKF 001 Kenneth Higney – ‘Attic Demonstration’ LP
edition of 500 copies. Often considered the Holy Grail of “real people” records, Kenneth Higney’s “Attic Demonstration” was never actually intended to be an official release. It was recorded in New York City by Higney and his accompanist Gordon Gaines (R.I.P.) as a vehicle with which to sell Higney’s songs to other artists and was only pressed to vinyl in 1976 when he grew tired of duplicating cassette tapes. Apparently the Jandekian dissonance of the “A. Demo.” sound was an unintended by-product of the one take demo sessions. Be that as it may, “Attic Demonstration” is a strange sonic world all of it’s own. It is neither too weird to be unappealing to “regular” music listeners nor is it one of those “discoveries” that leaves you wondering what all the hype was about. Acoustic guitar ballads of nearly atonal desolation mix readily with rock ‘n’ roll numbers featuring hiccuping drums and alien sounding electric guitar. Hingey’s vocals are by turns sneering and mournful as he sings about lost love and the desire for fame all filtered through his uniquely bent worldview. Although a few ads were placed for the record in The Village Voice and The Aquarian, the fame that Higney sought illuded him (a semi-positive review in Trouser Pressnotwithstanding). That is, until the album was discovered and distributed by record dealer Paul Major. “Attic Demonstration” has been featured in the Acid Archives and copies of the original LP have soared in price over the years, but you no longer have to pay $100, $200 or even $300 to obtain a copy of this monumental album on vinyl. One Kind Favor and Kenneth Higney have teamed up to bring you an official reissue of “Attic Demonstration” remastered and with all the original artwork.
OKF 002 Sound Ceremony LP
edition of 500 copies. Canadian born guitarist and songwriter Ron Warren Ganderton self-released three LPs with his group Sound Ceremony while living in the United Kingdom during the 1970s and 80s. First came “Guitar Star” (1973), then “Sound Ceremony” (1979) and finally “Precious As England” (1981). Despite some modest distribution and frequent gigs, the band never seemed to really take off and Ganderton eventually returned to his native Vancouver (where he still resides), leaving hundreds of unsold records in the attic of his house. While these copies seem to have been lost to the ravages of time, the second Sound Ceremony LP will now be reissued by One Kind Favor. While all of the group’s efforts are undeniably unique, “Sound Ceremony” (1979) is the true brain-damaged winner of the bunch. The record surely fits somewhere into the UK punk explosion of the day, but it’s also looks back to the mid-sixties rock that Ron cut his teeth on and ahead to some sort of maniac future form of entertainment that perhaps has not been invented yet. Ganderton’s truly “out of it” stream of consciousness lyrics show a clear lack of self-censorship and that’s really one of the albums strongest assets. He has created this character of himself as a huge rock star and a sex symbol, and who are we to deny his claims? This stuff is eerily convincing. Like Lou Reed, the man’s ideas can’t be contained by something so limiting as the bar line. The band chugs amiably along as Ganderton’s vocals wander all over the place. If you’ve never heard a singer do a count-off all the way up to seven, then now is your big chance! Features what is perhaps the greatest anti-cigarette song of all time.