'Exploratorium' from IPR's Bruce Licher Gets Expanded Reissue

Bruce Licher, the founder of indie record label Independent Project Records and bands such as Savage Republic and Scenic, announced the November 18th release of an expanded edition of his experimental solo project Exploratorium's eponymous album. Pre-Save and Pre-Add via smartlink here.

Originally released as a mini-CDr mounted on a twelve-inch sheet of heavy card stock letterpress printed in seven colors as a limited edition of 300 signed and numbered copies, Exploratorium's original selection of three immersive solo recordings has been expanded by adding a fourth 26-minute track and will be released as a regular-sized CD packaged in one of Licher's iconic oversized letterpress-printed pocket folders with inserts.

The original three tracks were recorded in the Summer of 1997 on a 4-track cassette and are now augmented by the atmospheric electronics of 'Number 09', a song composed on an old Roland SH-2000 synthesizer whose title is a clear nod to to The Beatles' most adventurous composition.

Exploratorium has been remastered by Josh Bonati at Bonati Mastering in Brooklyn, NY, and reclaims equal fondness for the natural and the industrial. Licher's mission is an exploration of sound that feels scientific and transcendental at the same time. This thoroughly inquisitive approach is made all the more clear (and intriguing) by the unexpected pairing of the original three tracks with 'Number 09'.

Whereas 'Peak', 'Going Home' and 'The Penstemon Field' eagerly played with stretching the role of guitars and bass, 'Number 09' takes its cue from the hypnotic synths of the Human League's The Dignity of Labour EP from 1979 and sets off for an unconstrained sonic trip that goes from the jarring to the meditative. Together, these four instrumentals make for a most entrancing experience.

The music of Exploratorium blurs the boundaries between Licher's cinematic work with Scenic and the early recordings of his UCLA days, which led him to start the Independent Project Records label in 1980. It's a mesmerizing blend of ambient and post-rock, noisy shoegaze and pastoral melodic structures, droning avant-garde and soundtracks at their most sparse and yearning.

Additional IPR releases will be announced shortly and will feature both remastered and expanded IPR classics (and in some cases bring long out-of-print titles back in print) as well as new music that fits the IPR aesthetic both musically and in design. By utilizing IPR's iconic hand-letterpress printed artwork created at Independent Project Press, the label will carry on with the design aesthetic that began in 1980 and has become its hallmark.

Founded in 1980 by musician and artist Bruce Licher, Independent Project Records has created more than sixty releases since its inception. IPR and its sister entity Independent Project Press are known for their instantly recognizable hand-printed record covers for bands including Camper Van Beethoven, For Against, Polvo, R.E.M., Savage Republic, Silversun Pickups, Stereolab and more.

Aside from creating all artwork on his vintage two-ton hand-fed letterpress, Licher was nominated for a Grammy Award for his design work on the IPR released debut album from For Against. In 2020, the label was relaunched by both Licher and Jeffrey Clark with new and archival releases and is distributed by MRI. It is based in Bishop, California, at the base of the Eastern Sierra Mountains.