Thai Elephant Orchestra

Northern Spy Records in partnership with Record Store Day have announced that original recordings by the Thai Elephant Orchestra—an ensemble consisting of Thai elephants located at a conservation center in Northern Thailand—will be released on vinyl for the first time ever on July 17th. This year, RSD Drops will take place on June 12 and July 17 at participating stores worldwide.

Co-founded by elephant conservationist, Richard Lair, and musical artist and a professor of Neuroscience at Columbia University, Dave Soldier, the Thai Elephant Orchestra are trained to play enormous, specially designed percussion instruments modeled after Thai instruments (such as the ranat ek). The completely improvised recordings consist of remastered audio of material released on CD via Mulatta Records as well as previously unreleased bonus material, new liner notes by Dave Soldier, and a beautiful package designed by D. Norsen.

The Thai Elephant Orchestra have previously been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered and BBC’s World Service. Read more about the Thai Elephant Conservation Center here.

Tracklist

A1. Three Renats, Gong, Thundersheet

A2. Diddley Bow, Two Renats, Khene, Gong, Thundersheet

A3. Renats, Diddley Bow, Bass Drum, Synthesizer, Thundersheet

A4. Reed, Two Renats, Gong, Synthesizer

A5. Two Renats

A6. Diddley Bow, Slit Drums, Harmonica, Khene, Thundersheet, Gong

A7. Pitch Pipe, Renat, Slit Drums, Diddley Bow

B1. Bass Drum, Gong, Thundersheet

B2. Diddley Bow, Slit Drums

B3. Two Harmonicas, Khene, Bass drum, Tom-Tom, Gong, Diddley Bow

B4. Three Renats, Slit Drum

B5. Renat, Two Slit Drums, Gong, Thundersheet

Bonus 7” Tracklist

A1. Two Renats, Thundersheet, Bass Drum

B1. Elephant Field Recordings

Performers [Elephants]

JoJo, Luuk Khang, Luuk Kob, Phangkhawt, Phrathida and Phumpang

Credits

Mixed by Dave Soldier

Produced by Dave Soldier, Richard Lair, Rory Young, and Linzy Emery

Recorded on location by Rory Young

Assistant recording engineers Maria Banks and Neil Budzinski

Elephant instruments designed by Dave Soldier, Ken Butler, Don Ritter, Richard Lair, and Neepagong, and built with the woodworking and metalworking shops at the Elephant Conservation Center

Illustrations by Jenny Lynn McNuff

Reissue design by D.Norsen

Remastered by Chris Weiss

Photography by Neil Budzinski

Liner notes by Dave Soldier

Links

thailandelephant.org/

northernspyrecs.com/

recordstoreday.com/