Friday, February 16, 2007

Ataraxia(Mort Garson)-The Unexplained - Electronic Musical Impressions of the Occult ,LP,1975,Canada

Subtitled "Electronic Musical Impressions of the Occult", this album by Ataraxia (meaning: "A spiritual balance, the synonim of a state of perfection that is not possible to be reached by human beings entirely, Ataraxia becomes a state of tension and we try to open our minds to be receptive and perceptive towards the occurings of life.") was an idea to designing music to accompany meditations to the mantra of the listeners choice. This concept became the album The Unexplained. It was the Moog-wizard Mort Garson himself, who followed up his Black Mass album from 1971 with this strange opus. But Garson changed his pseudonym from "Lucifer" to "Ataraxia", and this, his second (and last) occult-themed instrumental Moog-album, was released by RCA in 1975.
The result was another great piece of Moog-music much in style with his previous album, mainly less sinister but more melodious, and it also had better and more complex drumbeats. Each title was named after an occult phenomenon or theme, and this time the titles seemed to suggest that the lighter side of occultism was in focus. Even the cover featuring a mystic but calm "aura" face was very fitting to the album's contense.
The enigmatic Mort Garson touched down on only a handful of records, but they where varied and splendid wonders. In his specialty, occult Moog, Garson's work is unrivalled; Ruth White was the only other to make more than one occult-Moog LP (although those where not as occult as their rumours said). Unfortunately, most of Mort Garson's greatest records came late in his career; the liners yield little if any insight into the man behind the music. After this album Garson left occult-themed music behind, recorded one more album; Plantasia in 1976 (an album with the goal of helping plants grow with the aid of the soundtrack music!) and then seemed to just vanish out of the public eye... Apperently now living in San Francisco and still composing, he declines to be interviewed, preserving some of the mysterious aura that has surrounded his albums since their release. Mort Garson, a really strange but amazing composer and conducter, ranks as one of the real geniuses of 20th century music.

***************NEW LINK POSTED SEPTEMBER 2012***************

Get it here 

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

great album from start to finish!

"space is totally archetypal" said...

i posted an interview with mort garson and his daughter here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j_-7p1wpVU&feature=channel_page

danielle said...

i just downloaded this and it's melting my brain.

Quiller said...

Do you have any of the "Signs of the Zodiac" promo releases from A&M Records? Very hard to track down.

There are 6 Garson masterpieces here

Wozard of Id
Electronic Hair Pieces
Lucifer - Black Mass
Music for Sensuous Lovers
Ataraxia
Plantasia

http://www.eggcityradio.com/?p=80

peace

quiller

ckibelf said...

I have had the Lucifer-Black Mass for many years. I look forward to hearing this album.

Anonymous said...

Hey, do you still have this Mort Garson album? Can't find it anywhere on the net.