With their reissues of
Mort Garson
's body of work,
Sacred Bones
made it much easier for listeners to hear why he was as much of a groundbreaking electronic artist as better-known innovators like
Raymond Scott
. While the remastered editions of
Ataraxia
's
The Unexplained
and
Lucifer
Black Mass
were necessary, die-hard fans might be most excited by
Music from Patch Cord Productions
. The first glimpse into the huge archive of rare and unreleased material
Garson
left behind when he died in 2008 -- sadly, a few years too early to see his status as a pioneer cemented in the 2010s -- this collection finds him following his muse wherever it takes him. In the best possible way, it feels like a grab bag of
's styles and moods. There are mellow reveries ("This Is My Beloved"), electro-classical confections ("Baroque No. 2"), and journeys into the dark and mystical ("Is He Trying to Tell Us Something?").
also offers plenty of reminders of how
's extensive experience as a composer and arranger for a wide range of artists let him take his own music in any direction he wanted. The alternate takes from some of his best-known works offer fresh vantage points: "Rhapsody in Green" from
Mother Earth's Plantasia
is even more soothingly spacey, while the instrumental version of "Theme from 'Music for Sensuous Lovers' Part I" boasts sinuous melodic motifs that echo
Ravel
's Bolero.
even harks back to his early days with a Moog-tastic version of "Our Day Will Come" that hits home how much the swelling melody and lush keyboards of his smash-hit composition for
Ruby & the Romantics
foreshadowed his later work. As entertaining as these moments are, the collection's rarities are even more special (considering that
's most beloved album was first sold only at a plant store, calling these tracks hard-to-find really means something). Driven by an insistent beat and clouds of synths, "Realizations of an Aeropolis" borders on industrial music before giving way to futuristic lounge. Credited to the brilliantly named the Time Zone, "Space Walker" is a groovy interstellar hybrid of psych and surf rock. The graceful, erotically charged space-age pop of "Cathedral of Pleasure" presages the work of
Broadcast
Beach House
, while "Dragonfly"'s sparkling disco is so fun and funky that it's a shame
didn't do more in this vein. By turns delightful, spooky, quaint, and forward-thinking,
is a treasure trove for fans of an artist whose music is still revealing different sides decades later. ~ Heather Phares