Ed Askew
An enigma even by the ultra-obscure standards of ESP-Disk Records, next to nothing is known about outsider folksinger Ed Askew. Although Askew has been recording songs since the late '60s, only one album has ever been released, 1969's Ask the Unicorn. A solo recording, the album features Askew accompanying himself on the ten-stringed lute-like acoustic instrument the tiple. A Latin instrument Askew discovered as a teenager because his ukulele-playing father owned one, the tiple quickly became a passion for Askew. While studying art at Yale in the mid-'60s, Askew began performing at local poetry readings, and soon incorporated the tiple into his act. Because the tiple is a difficult instrument, with the player having to press down hard on three tightly wound strings at once to get any sound, Askew's early material has a unique and oddly strained vocal quality that comes from the difficulty of singing while playing such a demanding instrument. After graduating from Yale and getting a teaching job in New York, Askew sent a demo tape to Bernard Stollman of the ultra-noncommercial ESP-Disk, possibly the most legendary indie label of the '60s; with his unique but attractive sound, Askew was quickly invited to record an album for the label. Easily one of the most bizarre and wonderful albums ever released by ESP-Disk, Ask the Unicorn is a psychedelic folk masterpiece, like the Holy Modal Rounders jamming with Alexander "Skip" Spence. A second album, Little Eyes, was recorded for ESP-Disk in 1970, but although it got as far as a test pressing, the label was beginning to run out of money and the album was never released. In most cases, that would be that, but while pursuing a career as a painter and poet, Askew sporadically kept up his performing career in New Haven and Boston during the '70s. Though he has never released anything commercially since Ask the Unicorn, his homemade tapes are traded on the fringe music underground. His recent music has included harpsichord, synthesizers, and drum machines along with guitar, piano, and his beloved tiple, but other than the more modern instrumentation, Askew's songs remain the same: quirky, but surprisingly accessible, with an engaging melodic sense and emotional, thoughtful lyrics that belie the easy "freaky outsider" tag that might otherwise get stuck upon him.
© Stewart Mason /TiVo
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Diskografie
15 Album, -en • Geordnet nach Bestseller
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For the World
Pop - Erschienen bei Tin Angel Records am 16.09.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ask the Unicorn
Folk - Erschienen bei Tin Angel Records am 23.10.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Rainy Day Song
Folk - Erschienen bei Spinning Gold am 03.06.2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Little Eyes
Alternativ und Indie - Erschienen bei De Stijl Records am 09.10.2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Art and Life
Pop - Erschienen bei Tin Angel Records am 27.10.2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Imperfiction
Folk - Erschienen bei Drag City Records am 22.03.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sleeping With Angels
Folk - Erschienen bei Improved Sequence am 03.09.2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The World Outside the Window
Alternativ und Indie - Erschienen bei Spinning Gold am 14.07.2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Art and Life
Pop - Erschienen bei Tin Angel Records am 15.09.2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
"Here We Are Together Again" b /w "Yellow Dollars"
Folk - Erschienen bei De Stijl Records am 05.10.2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
2020
Alternativ und Indie - Erschienen bei Improved Sequence am 20.03.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo