What a great idea. You've got to check out this archival release of Ed Askew material that spans the late 1960s to the early 2000s. For those of you not familiar with Askew, he cut his sublime first record Ask The Unicorn in 1968 for legendary "out" label ESP Disk. His second record, the even better Little Eyes was shelved when the label experienced financial problems, but was finally released by DeStijl in 2005. The only other official release I've heard from this guy is the sparkling Imperfiction, a live set from the 80s that was released by Galactic Zoo Disk/Drag City a few years back. I suppose his music fits best under the banner of "psych-folk," with it's conjuring of mystical images and all, but I hope that doesn't imply that it isn't directly emotional and moving. I've heard that Askew never stopped recording, even though he is hampered by carpal tunnel syndrome, and this new limited edition cassette entitled Looking For Love finally sheds some light on what he's been up to in all intervening years. You can stream the whole thing on bandcamp, but I highly recommend picking up a physical copy.
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