Lugubrious 78

The third album of the eight-volume CHOP. RANDOMISE. RECOMPILE. DISCARD. (2026) series has just been released (21 August 2026). See SIXTEEN ALBUMS AND A BOOK? for the full release schedule. Details of how the release was produced can be found: CHOP. RANDOMISE. RECOMPILE. DISCARD. (2026). The first Track, ‘Nihilistic Tendencies’, can be streamed below.

The second album of the eight-volume CHOP. RANDOMISE. RECOMPILE. DISCARD. (2026) series has just been released (07 August 2026). See SIXTEEN ALBUMS AND A BOOK? for the full release schedule. Details of how the release was produced can be found: CHOP. RANDOMISE. RECOMPILE. DISCARD. (2026). The first Track, ‘Repeating Patterns Beyond Imagination’, can be streamed below.
 

The first of the eight-volume CHOP. RANDOMISE. RECOMPILE. DISCARD. (2026) series has just been released (24 July 2026). See SIXTEEN ALBUMS AND A BOOK? for the full release schedule. Details of how the release was produced can be found: CHOP. RANDOMISE. RECOMPILE. DISCARD. (2026). The first Track, ‘Monotonous Churn of Vapid Quantities’, can be streamed below.

The first percussion / drum-only album of the Lugubrious 78 - DRUM AUTOMATISM SERIES (2026) has been released. Consisting of fourteen improvised, chopped, randomised, recompiled, discarded, and overlaid pieces, ‘Broken Streams of Consciousness (Drum Automatism, Vol. 1) is available to stream and download on Lugubrious 78.com, Subvert, Mirlo, and Bandcamp. More information about how it was created can be found at DRUM AUTOMATISM SERIES (2026). This is the first Lugubrious 78 release not available on streaming platforms as we contemplate our relationship with the (increasingly exploitative?) medium. The first track, ’Reflections on Instability', can be streamed below.

The third release in the ‘EMPTY CHAIRS SERIES' has been released (on 29 May 2026). 

It is the first album of sixteen planned for 2026.

Written across many years, it consists of the usual psychological-political focus, complementing ‘THE TWELFTH OMINOUS ANXIETY’ and ‘REPEAT. BLINDLY.’ (both released in 2025), and draws on many of the characteristic Lugubrious 78 composition and performance approaches. It will be available on BANDCAMP and SUBVERT soon. Meanwhile, check out the words at SKETCHES OF MUSICAL THOUGHT - SONG LYRICS.

It is not clear if this is a good idea. Or even whether it will happen. A considerable amount of irreverent exploration along four main themes:

1. Sketches of Musical Thought: A three-volume series of instrumental tracks, including work-in-progress sketches, instrumental versions of songs with words, and more of the same.
2. Overlays: A two-volume collection. One consists of the two albums released with words in 2025 ('The Twelfth Ominous Anxiety' and 'Repeat. Blindly.') dropped on top of each other. The other takes 'Mishaps from History' and 'Subtle Antimusic' and does basically the same. What happens to the musical interactions and meanings when the context of the music is dramatically altered through abrupt, blatant combinations of that music? Do they become unlistenable? Do they offer something new? Is it just a grift, spamming the music world with empty nothingness? Focus on the real-time noise of multiple thoughts.
3. Drum Automatism: Two albums of drum improvisations recorded over a few months, in which the multitrack recordings have been reorganised following the principles developed for the next theme. Microscale overlays. Are there any other albums solely of drums? Talent and quality as shaped by a highly conforming musical world?
4. Chop. Randomise. Recompile. Discard. (C.R.R.D.): An eight-volume series that takes the roughly 374 minutes of all releases from 2024 and 2025 and applies the core compositional concept of C.R.R.D. What happens? A meditation on algorithmic music? A lazy approach to composition? More spamming? Fragmenting into unfamiliar forms? Aleatory joy in an era of banal form.

To offset these (largely) instrumental offerings, the first of this year's releases consists of the usual psychological-political musings, capturing songs written over the last thirty years. To make everything profoundly unbearable, an accompanying text is being prepared that captures a multitude of meaningless musical musings from the beginnings of Lugubrious 78. An exploration of the evolution of ideas or a culmination of years of pretension heated in the timidity of a fictional recording studio (sorry Tzara!). This may see the light of day. It may not.

The album release schedule is as follows:

Before the release of Subtle Antimusic, we outlined the next steps for forthcoming releases (see Forthcoming Projects!). The projects have been substantially revised. Instead of being the overlay, chop, randomise, and recompile mini-projects, L78 has developed a tool that automates these latter elements of the core Subtle Antimusic compositional concept. The chop, randomise, and recompile process tool has been tested and will be run on all past Lugubrious 78 album releases. Watch this space.

Three releases from the Subtle Antimusic Series are now available:

https://lugubrious78.bandcamp.com/album/mishaps-from-history

https://lugubrious78.bandcamp.com/album/study-in-d

https://lugubrious78.bandcamp.com/album/subtle-antimusic

What is Subtle Antimusic? More details coming soon. 

The following releases are now available on both CD and Vinyl:

Early Explorations Vol. 2a (1999)

The Twelfth Ominous Anxiety

Repeat. Blindly.

The following are available on CD only:

Early Explorations Vol. 2b (1999)

Early Explorations Vol. 2c

All can be found and purchased on the Lugubrious 78 - elasticStage site. For more information on the “Early Explorations Series” visit Lugubrious 78 - About the Music. For the lyrics to “The Twelfth Ominous Anxiety” and "Repeat. Blindly." have a look at Lugubrious 78 - Song Lyrics.

Lugubrious 78 CDs are finally available via Lugubrious 78 - elasticStage after an almost 25 year hiatus. 

Currently, the first available release is Early Explorations Vol. 2b (1999) - elasticStage. More will follow soon and vinyl options are currently being explored. 

L78 Merch can be found at the L78 Store.