*5CD Box, includes a 28-page booklet* As far flung and remote as it may seem from most corners of the globe, New Zealand has always offered a well-spring of singular sonic creativity. From these two remote islands in the South Pacific, between the 1980s and early 2000s, the country produced some of the most singular realisations of underground music of that era, beginning with seminal post punk gestures delivered by labels like Flying Nun - The Clean, This Kind of Punishment, The Verlaines, etc. - before eventually coming to rest in the wilder reaches of experimentalism, via projects like The Dead C, Gate, and A Handful of Dust. Among these incredible artists is Clinton Williams, who, since the late 1980s, has pursued a singular and personal journey under the moniker of Omit, issuing self-released cassettes and CD-Rs that have continuously rethought the terms of DIY electroacoustic music. Back in 2018, Pica Disk (run by Lasse Marhaug out of Norway) and End of the Alphabet (run by Noel Meek in New Zealand) co-released “Enclosures 2011-2016”, a 5CD box-set dedicated to Omit’s radical musical exploitations. Critically heralded at the time and out of print ever since, we’re thrilled to draw attention to the long-awaited repress of this stunning body of work. Complete with liner notes by none other than Bruce Russell, and a survey of William’s surrealist drawings and science fiction themed artwork, it’s a remarkable immersion into a thrilling musical mind that can’t be missed by any fan of experimental, ambient, and DIY electroacoustic music, and the New Zealand underground at large.

First emerging into the thriving New Zealand underground during the late 1980s, Clinton Williams, working under the moniker of Omit, has been described as one of the greatest outsider artists currently working in the field of experimental electronic music. Working from his isolated home studio in the small town of Blenheim in the southern part of the country, he has contracted an arsenal of invented instruments, constructed from modified electric motors and salvaged sound sources to create his own startlingly original sound world, issued largely on his own Deepskin Conceptual Mindmusic imprint as cassettes, lathe-cuts, and CD-Rs, as well working with Bruce Russell as Dust/Omit, and Paul Toohey as Omit/K Group.

While Omit’s earliest musical efforts fall comfortably within the realms of noise, as the years and decades have progressed the project has veered toward more sparse and minimal realms of sonority. It is a generalised territory that the 5 CDs of material comprised by “Enclosures 2011-2016” occupy, all of which were originally issued in highly limited CD-R editions by Williams’ Deepskin Conceptual Mindmusic and Sysecular, with hand-made covers between 2011 and 2016, that were only available directly from the artist. Culminating across the length of “Encounters” as 30 fully remastered works, this singular sound world leaves little wonder why, in his liner notes, Bruce Russell states: “Clinton Williams is the hardest-working man in minimal electronic music. He is one of two people I know fairly well who I honestly believe is possessed by genius.” While completely cohesive over the collection’s sprawling duration, “Encounters” covers a remarkable amount of ground and displays considerable diversity over the course of its duration, ranging from strikingly abstract gestures that draw upon oblique electronic textures; sprawling ambient pieces; the broodingly musical, flirting with the melodic and rhythmic; and complex electroacoustic efforts that, while utilizing DIY handmade sound sources, rival the products of the most advanced electronic music studios.

Shadowy and moody, plumbing the depths of William’s soul, while remaining free, open, and exploratory, Omit’s “Enclosures 2011-2016” will hold countless revelations for anyone yet to encounter this visionary artist’s output, emerging once again in 2024 as one of the most strikingly unique bodies of electronic music we’re likely to hear this year. Issued by Pica Disk as a 5CD box-set, with each disc housed in individual printed wallets, alongside a 28-page booklet of artwork and liner notes by Bruce Russell, this is a true marvel that can’t be missed.