In 2009, Glen Johnson invited fans of his band, Piano Magic, to make a contribution of no less than £10 towards the recording of a new album by his experimental electronic project, Textile Ranch. In return, copies of ‘Tombola,’ featured an exclusive “sketch” dedicated to each of the individual purchasers – ie, ‘Sketch for Aaron Tilford.’ Hence, no two copies of the album were exactly the same. Given that the recording of the exclusive tracks and hand assembly of the physical sleeves was rather taxing, ‘Tombola’ was limited to just 50 copies. Many were more than generous with their donations and any profits, once Johnson’s production overheads were covered, went towards establishing a new record label : Second Language Music, on which ‘Tombola’ was the debut release.
“‘Tombola’ was hand-packaged, stamped, filled, embossed, glued, folded, and typed by Mr Johnson. No two copies of the album are the same. No two people have either exactly the same track listing or the same packaging. Your copy is unique.” – From ‘Tombola’ info sheet included with album
Recycled chipboard CD sleeve, embossed gold hare, tracklisting unique to purchaser, typed tracklisting on recycled paper in hand-stamped recycled envelope, vintage glass watch face, individual Players’ bird cigarette card, tombola ticket, in hand-stamped grocery bag.
SOLD OUT
Note : all 52 tracks recorded for the ‘Tombola’ exercise, including the personalised “sketches,” can still be heard/bought here
