Low Birth Weight
Label | Rocket Girl – RGIRL6RERocket Girl – RGIRL6R |
Format | Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Repress |
Barcode | 5016266100618 |
Country | UK |
Released | 13 Sep 2019 |
Genre | Electronic, Rock |
Style | Ethereal |
2019 marks the 20th anniversary of Low Birth Weight, the second album by Piano Magic, then a loose collective of musicians centred around founder songwriter, Glen Johnson. Though a year later, the collective would take shape as a bona fide internationally touring group, in 1999, Johnson had one foot in his native Nottingham and the other in his new home of London where, finding himself label manager at Rough Trade Records, also became highly prolific, releasing his own records across a myriad of micro-labels (Che, Wurtlitzer Jukebox, Darla, Rocket Girl, etc). By his own admission, Low Birth Weight, owes much to the East London experimental group, Disco Inferno who, embracing sampling technology, attempted to turn pop music inside out. By 1995, the Inferno had burnt out but Johnson remained inspired by their playful, subversive manifesto and thus, the album here, partly produced by "Nottinghams own Martin Hannett," Martin Cooper, is difficult to pigeonhole either at the end of the millennium or even now. Drum kit signals are fed through a tiny amp literally inside a cardboard box, breathing is employed for rhythms, kick drums are replaced with broken glass, theres a ragbag of tablas, huge slap back delay and phase, theremin, shortwave radio, and more.
A1 | Snowfall Soon | |
A2 | Crown Estate | |
A3 | Bad Patient | |
A4 | The Fun Of The Century | |
A5 | Birdymachine | |
A6 | Not Fair | |
B1 | Dark Secrets Look For Light | |
B2 | Snow Drums | |
B3 | Shepherds Are Needed | |
B4 | I Am The Sub-Librarian | |
B5 | Waking Up |
Layout – Jeff Teader
Liner Notes – Glen Johnson
Photography By – Simo Bogdanovic
Producer – Piano Magic
On front sticker:
20th anniversary re-pressing
With new artist sleeve notes
+ original photo session
On back sleeve:
℗ 1999 & © 2019 Rocket Girl
Made in the EU
Track B2 contains a sample of 'Constructing Grounds' by [a171683].
Label Code – LC 25084
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout, etched) – BJ71737-01 A1 SJ
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout, etched) – BJ71737-01 B1 SJ