Kevin Harrison - Tape-Recordings 1975-1985

I cant recall if this was my introduction to Kevin Harrison’s music or not. I can say for sure, he is someone i should have been familiar with but somehow he slipped through the cracks and discovering his music was a real highpoint for me.

He may be best known for his album “Inscrutably Obvious” on Cherry Red

I wouldn’t say i was a collector of Cherry Red when i was a kid but i picked up almost every release i could find. Since there wasn’t a Discogs then, you had to rely on what you saw in the wild or if the label decided to publish a discography to know what you were missing. Cherry Red for me opened my eyes to a lot of the kind of bedroom music weirdness that was a bedrock of my listening in my late teens

This album came out on Vinyl On Demand a few years back and it gives you a different side of his work. Forced Exposure did a nice writeup

Kevin Harrison's music is guitar orientated. But treated and mutated. Harrison is no ordinary guitar hero: his playing shimmers like light reflected on water. His work is reminiscent of a cross between Brian Eno, Michael Rother and Eric Random. While in the ambient field, it balances a lot more in the direction of contemporary electronics and a heavier sound. Nevertheless, his influences are very clear. A minimal psychedelicist at heart, Harrison's is the music of the hypnotic state, of dream and trance. Its core is an obvious affection for the work of Terry Riley, Philip Glass, Kraftwerk and The Normal tempered with an awareness of oriental rhythms and harmonies which give the elemental electronics a warmer, human touch. With Harrison's deft handling his squeaks and buzzes, his synthesized loop tables and his drum machines "Inscrutably Obvious" seems like it will prove horribly inaccessible. But once properly investigated it offers a sparklingly seductive selection of tracks wholeheartedly recommended to anybody looking for entertainment from the avant-garde.

you can check it here