Exploratorium by Bruce Licher

Solo ambient guitar home recordings by SAVAGE REPUBLIC, SCENIC, and Independent Project Records founder Bruce Licher. Recorded in July 1997 on a cassette 4-track, and consisting of layered effected guitars and bass, these recordings sat unreleased for almost a decade. Transferred to digital and mixed in April 2006 by Michael Krassner and Bruce Licher, these tracks were originally released as a mini-CDr format in a signed and numbered edition of 300 copies. Packaged on a 12” square piece of extra-heavy chipboard, this mini-CDr release has been designed and hand-letterpress printed in 7 colors by Bruce Licher, then signed and numbered by hand on the back side. In 2020, after the original numbered edition sold out, Licher uncovered another 30 CDs and covers and assembled the last remaining copies, signed and dated "2020." These "2020 Edition" copies are the ones we are currently offering for sale.

And the music? It consists of three instrumental tracks totalling 22:22 minutes, all layers of heavily effected guitars and bass. “Peak”opens the proceedings, a 9 1/2 minute atmospheric dronefest with shimmering guitars floating in liquid space, exploring territory similar to the closing number on SCENIC’s ”The Acid Gospel Experience” CD, “A Journey Through The Outer Reaches Of Inner Space.” “Going Home” is another shimmering dronefest, with some shoegaze-style guitar sounds and sublime melodic structures. The EP ends with “The Penstemon Field,” a 7+ minute epic sounding like something Ennio Morricone might have written for an Antarctic Western, with liberal fuzz guitar and haunting melodies. Fans of SCENIC’s more ambient work will find plenty to enjoy on this EP, though the tracks are a bit rawer in sound than most of SCENIC’s studio recordings.

Bruce Licher has had over four decades of experience as a musician, a record label owner and, perhaps most famously, as an artist and graphic designer. He founded Independent Project Records, as well as a related effort for his graphic work in general, Independent Project Press.