The Caretaker – Everywhere At The End Of Time - Stage 4

I currently work as a doctor in Old Age Psychiatry and have discussed this project with my Consultant Supervisor. Both of us are very impressed at the process of representation of different forms of dementia and the fact it is so rare in art to have the actual process of degradation represented in such a way. I hope to write a piece on the project for a relevant medical journal in the future. Important work.

For some reason, I believe this series was recorded all around the same time. I view this odyssey of a composition as all one very long track; laid out and offered up on 18 sides of vinyl. I finally acquired all six stages, and I get it now.
This fourth stage is quite the phenomenon. Beginning in the psychedelic phases of deterioration. Illusions and hallucinations are very close by. As a phase of reality, the mind is not playing tricks. It is writhing its way through the fragmented darkness, trying to assemble some sense of being. But it's no use, as the fade unfolds.
Keep in the mind, the momentum is in constant decomposition, creating an everchanging landscape. This old slow jazz lends a helpful hand to the psychedelic sounds present in the beginning of this quality recording. The stretched notes of trumpeted horns. The elongated muffles of seductive saxophones. The slow cries of deserted breaths appear as quickly as they disappear. A dense piano flits on the needle like a pale storm riding through to its gradient end, above the clouds. The air is only as crisp and as cold and as quiet as it is in space. Broken chords and distant bells are drifting by drones. There is a beautiful chemistry occurring when this record hits the turntable. The songs have dissolved into tones. Offering in the end, an ambient sense of peace. This is music that is lost and forbidden like a former self shedding its soul to the core. An ultimate dream to help relax.. and forget.
If this music merely represents the effects of our aural output, imagine the visuals and the full sensory experience of fading without knowing, with no control, without stopping it.
A damn fine interpretation of the transition from lucid to bewildered.

Up again at Boomkat. Extremely limited limited limited limited ...

So the question now is.. Did Boomkat hang on to a few hundred copies till now, or is this a new batch?

Side C of this release is just magical, the most complete realization of the caretaker sound, highly recommended

Pretty scary and disturbing yet beautiful music. Reminds me a bit of his Shostakovich experiment as V/VM back in 2003... Under all the noise and chaos there are always little melodies lurking, blossoming for seconds just to be drowned again by the tidal wave of chaos and oblivion. An intense experience.

This stage is pretty dense. It's a big jump from 3 to 4. Be prepared

If anyone would be interested in a trade, I have one mint, sealed copy of this and one of the blue variant of stage 2 which I'm looking to trade for mint blue variants of stages one and three. Any interest, please let me know...

The blue color of the wax on this one looks silly, way too bright, totally clashes with the rest of the package. Black wax on this looks better, but probably not a good idea to buy the black version if your only intention is to turn around and flip it for 8 times the retail price (because that's what decent, dignified people do - screw the real fans (and artist) over for some easy money).

PS: I love the "opened only to color" excuse to sell used records as new. The hype sticker verifies the color of the wax. The notion that one needs to open it to is like saying you need to open a box of Cheez-it crackers to make sure the box contains cheez-its. I feel bad for people sometimes.

PPS: Looking forward to the vinyl boxset containing records of all volumes of the Everywhere At The End Of Time series.

I seriously love this series of work. Excited to hear how this release develops/deconstructs from the last.