William Basinski reveals another beguiling set of tape loops from his archives. The first three pieces were created in 1982, moving from a mysterious wash of strings and piano to ghostly drones, and then an extended version of a piano loop that appeared on Variations: A Movement In Chrome Primitive. Also included is a new composition from earlier this year. Some of the composer's most beautiful recordings since "Distintegration Loops." Highly recommended!

I sometimes wonder just how much music William Basinski is keeping from us. The New Yorker has been composing and recording for some time now, and while that might not be too strange in itself, these alien releases (each one seemingly more beautiful than the next) were written almost thirty years ago. Why on earth they didn't see the light of day in the late 70s or early 80s, I will never know, but thinking about it I suppose there's some sense in it. Basinski didn't quite fit into the Brian Eno school of pastoral ambience and neither did his music drop lovingly in amongst the industrial/noise output of Throbbing Gristle and Nurse With Wound. Sure, it was connected to both somehow, but his popularity in the last few years suggests that he was waiting for the right time to spring his estimable body of work on the general public. The bulk of 92982 was made on one night in Brooklyn way back in 1982 (with the last track being a more recent reworking of the same material) but listening to it now it feels totally disconnected from any specific time at all. There are none of the markers we might need to connect it with the early 80s -- no synthesizers, no out-of-control reverb to set the month and year, this is just pure, meditative sound -- long form tracks guided through clouds of echo and tape noise.

I must admit I find it strange just how current Basinski's compositions sound at this stage -- his influence in recent years has been immeasurable and the quality of each successive release has never dimmed. 92982 takes us from home-grown ambience (check the distant rain-on-window sounds of the opening track) into the twinkling slo-mo piano that made Melancholia so effective and keeps a rich seam of quality visible from beginning to end. There might already be a wealth of Basinski material to get your hands on but you'll kick yourself if you miss this installment; there's a reason why he's the master of the genre.

- John Twells (May 7, 2009)