Terre Thaemlitz’s debut LP, Tranquilizer was released in 1994 (1). To celebrate its 30th anniversary the album recently saw an expanded CD reissue, and now, some of it, maybe eventually all of it, is getting pressed to vinyl. The first instalment is a 12” containing 3 mixes of the track Hovering Glows. Beginning with bird song and cicadas, this serene sheen is disturbed by brief bursts of low-end noise, and then the following spoken word sample:

“It’s like our relationship is a record, you know? Only the phonograph playing the record has a very old and worn out needle, you know what I’m saying? There are these skips, bad skips, painful gouges, but in your head you compensate for it. You keep the beat because you know the song.”

This in turn introduces a sedate, funky break, setting hushed human harmonies to a machine-augmented organic hand drum loop and  some cool contrabass. Creating a jazzy swing akin to 8up’s electronic cover of Yuseef Lateef’s Before Dawn. A Mo Wax-esque mix of instrumental hip hop and ambient techno, the song’s crystalline synths trace tender arcs to the sound of tiny tubular bells, while other treated sonic sources ripple like a fresh water stream. The tune’s deep amazon vibes travelling up river, leaving warm swells in its wake. A mix made specifically for the vinyl reissue is allowed a bit longer to develop its gentle groove. Then there’s a shorter Little Man take. Terre politely insists that none of her music is posted online, in any shape or form, so you’ll have to take my word for how wonderful it is. I bought my copy from Boomkat.

(1) Raw Through A Straw which was originally lifted as a single back in 1994, is an outthere Loft classic.