Strange Orbits

Back in 2006, under my old 'Psychic Space Invasion' name, I released an album called 'Pendulum' (click the name to hear / buy it).  It was made over the course of a weekend in the back room of my flat whilst watching the snow fall on Swansea.  It was made using layers of short loops I'd made from various sources that I overlaid and overlapped.

A couple of months later I started working on more loop pieces which when finished - with one exception that appeared on a very small run compilation on the Anima Mal Nata label - sat on the hard-drive of my computer whilst I got distracted by other things.  And there it remained.

Until today.

Today I was playing around with the logo I'd made for The British Space Group - that one up there ^ and realised that it seemed to fit with the long neglected album so here it is; seeing the light for the first time in 8 years is my 'new' loop album, 'Strange Orbits'.

It's a lot more intensely psychedelic experience than 'Eyes Turned Skyward' but after spending the last 8 weeks pretty much trapped indoors thanks to having split my tibia in half that's pretty much how I feel.

This one is going to be digital only (unless I change my mind) and for those of you wondering about them, lots of my tunes start off their lives with nonsense words for titles just in the case of 'Pendulum' and now 'Strange Orbits' the titles stay that way.

Hope you enjoy.

Ian

Under An Animated Sky

I'm still laid up with my right leg in plaster from toe to hip after the surgery to pin and repair my very broken tibia (I fell down the stairs) and now that the morphine has run out I'm getting increasingly bored of the view from my living room so I've been pottering with stuff.

So I've made a video for my track off the XPYLON charity compilation (see previous post).  The footage is from an old film called 'Our Mr. Sun' - https://archive.org/details/our_mr_sun - from which I edited a few of the animated segments.

I hope you enjoy it and if you do then please consider chucking some cash at the XPYLON compilation.  You can grab the album for £7 or individual tracks for a bargain £1 each.

Peace

Ian

[xpylon] charity compilation

One of my British Space Group tunes is featured on this new compilation released this Thursday in aid of the charity Mind; any and all support you can give would be hugely appreciated.

The title references the fabulous Exotic Pylon label and radio show which connects all the participants - in my case, the radio show.

Press release:
Once upon a time there was a radio show, then there was a series of live gigs and events. Eventually, there was a record label. They were all called Exotic Pylon. There was one man who was the creator, curator and driving force behind all these things: a man called jonny mugwump. A whirlpool of creativity and enthusiasm, jonny is as close to a raging Darwinian force of nature as you could ever meet.In its record label state, Exotic Pylon produced a series of releases that were completely unique from each other. There was no through - line of sound. No label aesthetic. The one thing they all had in common was that they had nothing in common. From torch songs to folk, from electronica to spoken word. All human life was on the label (assuming the human life was slightly lop-sided and walked with a limp). The one thing that united everyone on Exotic Pylon was a sense of comradeship. We were all proud to have been involved in some way or another. We were all members of the same invisible college. Almost without exception we all kept in contact with each other once the label had died. It may have disappeared but its spirit has remained.

Here we present XPYLON, a compilation of ex-Pyloneers. Each track is brand new and exclusive to the release. There are supergroups, individuals and collaborations, all of which evoke the heady days of the once great Exotic Pylon.

Some not so Wonderful Wooden Reasons

I'm tired.  So very tired.

I've been burning every part of the candle that would catch light for so long now that something has got to give soon and I think that it's going to be me.

I've been down this road before about 12 years ago and it's not somewhere I want to go again so I think I need to take this opportunity to change direction.

I need to take things out of my life and make space and it looks like one of those things is Wonderful Wooden Reasons.

I've loved doing my little magazine and it's led me to so much amazing music and I've met so many lovely people through it.  At it's height each issue was clocking up thousands of hits and it was truly humbling how many of you cared enough about my witterings to come back and read each issue.  But, I simply don't have the room at the moment to give it, not just the attention I should, but seemingly, any attention at all.

So, for now,  Wonderful Wooden Reasons is turning it's lights off, closing it's doors and saying goodbye.

I'm going to be continuing with Quiet World but perhaps in a much quieter fashion but your support is always appreciated.  There's a new album available there this week which is something I've been pottering with for about a year now, I hope you like it. 

Thank you for all your support over the past 12 years.  It's been a pleasure getting to know you all and hearing your amazing sounds.

The British Space Group

So after taking quite a long time out to recharge, refocus and reinvigorate I have today launched the digital copy (CDs to follow) of the first album by my new project The British Space Group.

The album - Eyes Turned Skyward - is a deliberate (but not huge) step away from the more post-industrial musique concrete style music that I've been making of late.  It's more in the spirit of the more synth driven albums I produced in a mad scramble a few years ago such as Pendulum, All Gods Children Got Space and Phantasms I & II.

The new identity is an attempt to create a home for this side of what I like to make that is distinct from the other music.  It's certainly not going to replace it - expect the long delayed Aurarora album to be available before the end of the summer - but is something I'm thoroughly enjoying playing with at the moment.

Digital only at the moment due to a delay with the CDs but they will hopefully be available by the end of next week.

Hope you like it.