Friday 11 December 2015

Relative Dimensions

Recently added to the Bandcamp page is a new 2 track EP called 'Relative Dimensions'.

The first track, Black Light, is a dubbish frug with extra added synthy swoops for extra cosmicity with samples from everyone's favourite Beryl Reid starring zombie biker movie 'Psychomania' and from one of my favourite videos on YouTube.

The second, Grasshoppers, is a twitchy little drum 'n' lounge tune with some sexy sax to get you all in the mood for love or for lunch, it's your choice.

It can be yours for the magnificent sum of 1 British pound.

Hope you enjoy.

Saturday 29 August 2015

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

Monday 10 August 2015

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 'Under Another Sky' 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

Thursday 6 August 2015

[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.


Sunday 14 June 2015

Reviews Turned Skyward #3

With thanks to Paul at Honest Music For Dishonest Times for the words.

[extract]
"By the looks of the strong design of its sleeve, this disc could be an examination of all those sci-fi, weird (or wyrd) 1970s schools programmes on tv, or their soundtracks, and indeed the first track Remote Viewing is built around a recording of a man talking about déja vous in the kind of officious home-counties accent that tallies with my own recollection of Schools & Colleges programming of that time.  Those expecting a Ghost Box–style, hauntological, period pop will be disappointed though; the music on Eyes Turned Skyward is actually contemporary-sounding drone ambient.  As always, the production is clear and glassy, like peering at the reflection of misty landscapes through the panes of an open window at dawn."

album available digitall from the link below or on disc from www.quietworld.co.uk

Thursday 2 April 2015

Reviews Turned Skyward #2

Many thanks to Simon Tucker at Louder Than War for the very nice review of 'Eyes Turned Skyward' - here.

'With this album, The British Space Group, have created something that is a must-buy for those into the more thought provoking side of music. It manages to bridge the gap between 70’s sci-fi soundtracks and modern ambient/drone. It’s an album that plays like a short movie with each component vital to the story. It’s an album that must be listened to from beginning to end as each song represents a chapter in this most enjoyable story.'

Wednesday 1 April 2015

Wyrd Daze

The latest issue of the Wyrd Daze zine comes complete with a podcast featuring The British Space Group's 'Haze of Summer' alongside other wonderful folks such as Kemper Norton, The Advisory Circle, Hacker Farm and the late lamented Daevid Allen.



Sunday 22 March 2015

Design inspiration

The inspiration for the front cover of 'Eyes Turned Skyward'.


Simple, elegant, eye catching and utterly beautiful.

Monday 16 March 2015

Reviews Turned Skyward

A huge thanks to Grey Malkin of The Hare and the Moon for his lovely words regarding 'Eyes Turned Skywards' over on The Active Listener.

'I cannot recommend this album highly enough. For fans of electronica, hauntology, soundtracks, minimalism and experiential music; there is something here that will touch something in all of you. Watch the skies, listen ...and wait.'

Saturday 14 March 2015

The album title

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your Eyes Turned Skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." Leonardo da Vinci (attributed)



Monday 9 March 2015

Eyes Turned Skyward

The first album from The British Space Group is available now on both digital download and CDr.

You can buy the disc from me over at the Quiet World shop or you can download in the format of your choice via the Bandcamp link below.
You can of course also simply stream it to your heart's content.

Whichever way you choose, I thank you for your time and I hope you enjoy.


Monday 2 March 2015