Before beginning his solo musical career in 1983, Larry Heard was drummer in the band Infinity (a jazz fusion cover group that included Adonis). This was happening while he was just 17 years old. He also worked for the U.S. government as a benefit authorizer, which enabled him to buy his first studio equipment.
Best known for the house anthems “Distant Planet", “Mystery of Love", “Washing Machine", or “Can U Feel it", released under monikers like Mr. Fingers, Gherkin Jerks, Disco-D, The It, Blakk Society, Fingers, Inc., and more, Heard set a standard for house, techno and deep house, even without really comprehending it fully.
Some of his early work was recently reissued by his own label Alleviated Records. The album ”Alien”, originally released in 1996 on Black Market International, is considered by many one of Larry Heard’s most under-rated albums, which finally got re-mastered and is now available as full vinyl release, for the first time.
The LP brings nine atmospheric and ambient tracks, including a hip-hop collaboration with vocalist Ché (Christopher Stackhouse). Larry Heard explores his sci-fi influences in a range of deep and emotive styles, from melodic soundscapes of electronica and ambient, such as ”Faint Object Detection” or ”The Dance Of Planet X”, to more moody experimental cuts, like ”Micro-Gravity”, to even more groovy and danceable tracks such as the deep house oriented ”Flight Of The Comet” or the funk-ish detroit techno meditative ”DNA-RNA”. ”Cosmology Myth” stands out as one of my favorites from this album, a luxurious trip into space, with one of electronic music's finest gentleman in charge.
Tracklist:
1. Faint Object Detection2. The Dance Of Planet X
3. Micro-Gravity
4. Flight Of The Comet
5. DNA-RNA
6. Galactic Travels Suite
7. Cosmology Myth
8. Two Journeys
9. The Beauty Of Celeste