The Biophonic Boombox Recordings (2LP)

Anthology is set to issue a collection of recordings from Philadelphia / New Jersey experimental synth ensemble, The Nightcrawlers, in the Spring of 2018. The retrospective will cull from a staggering amount of material – 40+ cassette tapes – the trio released from 1979 through their demise in the early 90s under their Synkronos Music label imprint. Brothers Tom and Peter Gulch began recording as The Nightcrawlers in 1979 and recruited Dave Lunt shortly thereafter. Their collaborations drew infuence from the cosmic minimalism of the Berlin School (Klaus Schulze / Tangerine Dream) and other European MIDI forebears (Cluster, Popul Vuh, et al).

As early 80s Philly leaned hard into radical politics and New Wave zeal, the Nightcrawlers retreated to light-less spaces, capturing their fully improvised, all-nighter sessions on cassette + JVC boombox. Minimal, flmic tones livened with the spacey intricacies of early Moog experimentation (“Phase II: Orbital Descent”) were balanced in biotic, New Age themes true to their appellation (“Fungi \[Fungus, Molds, Mushrooms\]”). Material was often feshed out in live performances as a scene of likeminded artists (Charles Cohen, Chuck van Zyl) formed around Philadelphia’s Pa­inted Bride Arts Center and St. Mary’s Parish Hall.

Vinyl housed in gatefold jacket with 28-page booklet of ephemera and liner notes by journalist and Kosmische expert D. Strauss.