Karen Novotny X / Samantha Glass Split

When the previously thought long lost recordings of East London synth experimentalists, Karen Novotny X emerged two years ago on The Great Pop Supplement, it had minimal synth heads everywhere scratching around for absolutely any info on this murky, mysterious trio led by one Cy Levene circa 1978. Online forums buzzed with puzzled sounding appeals, as next to nothing had been written, let alone heard by this East London trio. The resulting full length "Nothing Here Now But These Recordings..." and preceding 7" EP from '78/'79 both sold out in the blink of an eye- catching the eyes and ears of the likes of Andrew Weatherall, Lawrence and 6 Music's Freakzone in the process, (amongst many others).

GPS/DD label head Dom still receives occasional missives from Mr. Levene and cohorts, from unknown locations - sometimes 2 sentence musings, sometimes epic diatribes about current sounds and recording techniques or a thumbs up to a synth album they may have discovered- and on odd occasions these mails contain attached soundbites, abandoned ideas, thoughts and general works in progress, unfinished gems and then very rarely, newly found, finished nuggets like the killer "Join Hands" here. So of course it goes without saying that it airs here for a first time....

One of these artists whose work attained admiring glances from the KN X gang and label heads here, was Samantha Glass- led by Wisconsin based Beau Devereaux. His mighty "Midnight Arrival" LP arrives at the same time as the 45, and Beau recorded "Near 86th" for the 7 exclusively. A wonderful synth piece which not only complements the reverse KN X tune but acts a perfect taster to the full length. Strongly recommended by all sides here, but be quick as this single won't hang around long. A numbered, white vinyl 45 in an edition of 400 in Deep Distance label bags, stickers and Ingrid Christie collage art insert.