Influencing Machine produced a limited run of these C-52 tapes for the Rodger Stella performances in California that took place last month. I still have a handful of them left. Note that this is an entirely different recording of the “Foucault Zombie” material than is featured on the Gods of Tundra LP. Stella originally did the longer version featured on this tape; however, in order to reduce it to a suitable LP length, he completely re-recorded it rather than simply editing it. The various movements within the track are better served by the expansive subtlety of the transitions in this longer recording which was only previously released as a rare Mutter Wild CDr. For those unfamiliar with it, the “Foucault Zombie” material is among the most intriguing and fully realized in Stella’s catalog. Like much of his best work, it is cerebral without being academic and challenging, but never tedious. This is a highly complex and composed work that reflects and merges Stella’s ongoing preoccupation with archetypal electronic sounds, science fiction aesthetics, and heavy psychedelia. Sounds struggle to align themselves with the structure surrounding them, yet continually spiral in and out of orbit to disorienting and mesmerizing effect.
