Sam Rosenthal: Islands (2025 remaster) (Name-Your-Price Download)

Product Description Inner Real Life 1. �� Disc 1 • gapless 00:04 2. Islands (pt1-10) — gapless 48:28 3. �� Disc 2 • bonus tracks 00:04 4. My Islands Desert Me (isolated) 01:54 5. Oh, Inquisitor (isolated) 04:54 6. Islands Pt 8 (isolated) 03:57 7. �� Disc 3 • individual tracks 00:04 8. Islands pt 1 06:45 9. Islands pt 2 • My Islands Desert Me 01:37 10. Islands pt 3 08:30 11. Islands pt 4 07:20 12. Islands pt 5 • Oh, Inquisitor 04:51 13. Islands pt 6 03:59 14. Islands pt 7 02:52 15. Islands pt 8 04:17 16. Islands pt 9 03:23 17. Islands pt 10 04:50 18. �� Disc 4 • December 1985 re-recording 00:04 19. Islands (leading to the edge oh inquisitor) 08:50 20. Islands (leading to the edge oh inquisitor ambient end with lara) 10:12 Purchase in Europe for fast, inexpensive shipping: Purchase in England for fast, inexpensive shipping: The physical formats of Islands were funded via Kickstarter. 140-gram color vinyl (two color options), MiniDisc, and cassette will be available here fall of 2025. Sam Rosenthal • synthesizer, drum computer, direction Oscar Herrera • vocals parts 2 & 5 Lara Radford • violin parts 3, 4, 6, 7 & 10, voices part 8 Dave Brasgalla • fretless bass parts 7 & 10, distortion parts 1 & 9, synthesizer part 8 Kim Prior • backing vocals part 5 Anne Sunstrom • saxophone part 2 Kathy Rohrbach • voices part 8 Genres: Electronic, Minimal Wave, Synthwave, Minimal Synth For Fans Of: Philip Glass, early-70s Kraftwerk, mid-70s Tangerine Dream The 40th anniversary of Black Tape For A Blue Girl founder Sam Rosenthal’s early electronic cassette. Pulsing minimal synths emerge from this time capsule of the era’s vintage sound. Released in 1985, Rosenthal’s 8th album was the first to include tracks sung by future BlackTape vocalist Oscar Herrera as well as other guest musicians. Rosenthal remixed Islands from new transfers of the original 4-track master tapes. Dino DiMuro, OPTION MAGAZINE, May/June 1986: “Sam Rosenthal’s circular synth composition Islands is spread over two sides of this tape. His current points of reference seem more Reich-inspired than Eno-esque, creating a pleasant sustained soundscape with slick self-assurance. Many unexpected touches grace the composition, notably a grand violin solo on the first side and baroque vocals introducing the second. The sound quality is excellent and the packaging extraordinarily professional.” The pulsing electronic music reflects the influences of Philip Glass and early Kraftwerk. Discogs classifies the release as “Electronic, experimental, minimal.” Rosenthal says, “This album was unique. While it’s primarily my solo electronic music, it’s also proto-BlackTape: Oscar sings two tracks, Lara plays processed violins on a number of tracks (bits of which were later repurposed for “slow blur” on 1986’s The Rope, and Kim sings backing vocals on one. Along with my electronics, right there you have the core of the band that appeared on our debut less than a year later.” He continues, “I was 19 when I recorded this album, releasing it around my 20th birthday. Nearly 40 years later, to assemble this reissue I baked and digitized the original 1/4-inch 4-track multi-track master recordings at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio in Chicago. I brought the files into my studio; while staying true to the original flow I gave the mix the discrete attention and shaping I wasn’t capable of in 1985 with the primitive studio equipment I had at the time. What surprises me is how good the recordings sound considering it was recorded with a cheap Radio Shack mixer going into the 4-track. That, my two synths and some shoddy microphones were all I had to work with. They sound great in this new mix. I hadn’t listened to this album in over 20 years. It was nice to come back to it and enjoy what past-Sam envisioned.” The 1985 cassette liner notes say, “(Islands is different) with the introduction of outside musicians to the electronic brew. The synthesizer/drum computer tracks were put down first, then the other artists added their parts individually. It has almost become a band – though not quite. The mood evolves and swirls in the song-per-side structure — building upon the basics developed over the past seven releases but entering a new area of mood-music.” In the late 80s, Projekt described it as, “Sam is joined by violins and some vocals for a song per side journey. An early incarnation of black tape for a blue girl, with Oscar, Lara and Kim.”  Original Projekt release: November 1985 Remaster re-release: June 16, 2025