Caretaker: Persistent Repetition of Phrases LP

First re-press in a decade for The Caretaker’s 2009 masterpiece, one of the earliest and most iconic releases on his label History Always Favours the Winners, and a true classic of the early 21st century. Spine shivers, all the way. ‘Persistent Repetition Of Phrases’ was the follow-up to Leyland Kirby’s 7CD boxset ‘Theoretically Pure Anterograde Amnesia’ (2006), and a landmark on the path that ultimately led to the influential ‘An empty bliss beyond this world’ and ‘Everywhere at the End of Time’ albums. Beloved of departed cultural theorist Mark Fisher, The Caretaker’s alchemic transformations of 78RPM shellacs have, over time, come to hold a unique place in underground and popular imaginations simultaneously. It’s the sort of music that elicits strong feelings from gen Z as much as Janus-faced xennials, jaded gen X-ers and perhaps even your gran, in a way practically incomparable to any other records of this strange century so far. It’s an album that transcends notions of ambient or even concrète, sharing a palpable uncanniness, on the cusp of soothing, melancholy and something deeply ineffable. We’ll leave it to keener listeners to draw their own conclusions, but suffice to say that it’s an essential listening experience for anyone who prizes the capacity of music to transport across time and space, or more acutely impact your sense of self.