The Leaf Lab

Holy Spring is the second solo album by Australian percussionist, drummer and composer Laurence Pike - an article of faith, expressing the sense that the ritual of performance can transcend the confines of style, structure and concept to connect with something universal. The name of the album is beautifully ambiguous, evoking a wellspring, but also rebirth, and more besides. It sounds constantly, effervescently fresh, just as it should when its creation was a series of surprises to its own creator. The listener, just like the musician, are privy to what Pike describes as the music simply playing itself.Improvisation has played a role throughout Pikes long and diverse career in music. Whether as part ofPVT, Triosk or Szun Waves, or collaborating with Liars, legendary jazz pianist Mike Nock, DD Dumbo orthe mighty Bill Callahan, he has long been a responsive musician for whom sensitive listening leads tospontaneous invention.

Craven Faults: Sidings [CD]

Warmduscher: Tainted Lunch [CD]

Snapped Ankles: Hard Times Furious Dancing [CD]

Nightports W/ Betamax: Nightports W/ Betamax [CD]

This CD only release is a compilation of two acclaimed EPs (Invisible Soundtracks Volume I & II), together with four new tracks and several further incidental pieces by Richard Thomas. The Invisible Soundtracks series was launched in 1995, with a simple brief: contributors (who include both established and new artists) were asked to produce an evocative piece of music for an imaginary film, in whatever style the musician cared to choose. The resulting collection works effectively as a whole, open to the listener's own visual interpretation. This is not ambient music, it's atmospheric music to be listened to with the lights down low, suggesting images of the darkenened hulls of lost spaceships, cocktail bars on Pacific islands or imperial palaces in the Russian Steppes. Hiding behind the settee may or may not be necessary... Featuring The Sons Of Silence, Gescom, Mark Clifford and Mark Van Hoen.

Following 1997's Invisible Soundtracks: Macro 1, The Leaf Label continues its acclaimed IS series with a second compilation. Once again, the compilation features only exclusive tracks, specially commissioned for the project. The label invited artists from across a broad musical spectrum to contribute a piece of music that in some way evokes a cinematic image. The contributors, who include Patrick Pulsinger & Erdem Tunakan, DJ Spooky, To Rococo Rot, Si Begg, Laika, Fridge and Warren Defever from His Name Is Alive, have managed to conjure up tantalising images of distant realms: dark jungles, forgotten space wrecks and illicit sexual encounters. The soundtrack to the film of your dreams...