noos

TELEVISION etc
Ectogram were recently seen on the excellent S4C TV programme "CRYMI", broadcast on terrestrial S4C on January 25th 2001, but repeated on S4C digital a couple of times since and more recently nominated for the Montreaux Television Awards in 2002 (It was unfortunately beaten by "Pop Idols" !!). A self-styled "video fanzine", the programme included a video collage of Ectogram in rehearsal (a rarity !) and some fine footage of them playing live in the Notting Hill Arts Club. Also featured on the show were Infinity Chimps, Super Furry Animals, MC Mabon, Bubblegun, Llwybr Llaethog, Radio D, Tystion, Zabrinski and Radio B92 (a station in Belgrade, Serbia who have supported Ectogram for some time). Keep an eye out for repeats on digital - they've got a lot of dead airtime to have to fill ! Ankstmusik have plans to release an extended version of the programme on DVD in the near future as a free gift to anyone buying ANKSTMUSIK product directly from their website. Incidentally, February's issue of The Wire published the current playlist of Offbeat Radio 021 in Novi Sad, which included "All Behind The Witchtower", showing that the group must be big all over Serbia, and not just in Belgrade !

NO FUN ?

A rare cover version by Ectogram has just cropped up on a CD released jointly by Sicilian label Snowdonia of Messina and Japanese label Club Lunatica of Tokyo. The CD, which doesn't appear to have a title, is a remake of the debut Stooges album, in sequence, Ectogram's contribution being the song "No Fun". In contrast to the vast majority of tribute albums, this one turns out to pretty good and well worth checking out. Ectogram recorded their contribution two years ago, and had almost forgotten about its existence until the finished CD turned up this week !

JONNY EVANS (1st April 1967 - 3rd March 2001)

It brings us great sadness to report the passing of our very dear friend Jonny Evans, following a short and unexpected illness. Jonny played drums with Alan and Ann (and on occasions, Maeyc) in their pre Ectogram group FFLAPS, who toured extensively around Europe and released 3 LPs and an EP between 1987 and 1992. Jonny was universally loved as a person and admired as a drummer. His style was so integral to the Fflaps sound, that when he left the group to study history and Maeyc took over the drumming seat, the group realised that they were no longer in any way the same group, and thus became Ectogram.
(Click on the picture for more)

SPLIT RELEASE

Ochre Records have released an exclusive Ectogram track as one half of a split CD mini album shared with Michigan's swirliest sonic saucières FÜXA. We previously reported this upcoming release to be a nine inch single, but recent high-level board meetings at Ochre HQ noted the increased market penetration potential offered by the CD format.

The new ectosong, entitled "The Opal Soft Green Kumquat Of The Sun" is reported to be a 10 minute clangjazz hypnogroove that starts off in Astrud Gilberto vein and ends on a Van Der Graaf Generator vibe! According to an Ochre Records spokesman, the record should be available now in "all good shops" (but primarily recorded music outlets) - if no such vendors exist in your neighbourhood, the Ochre website should have copies available:: www.ochre.co.uk

FREE MP3s
An exclusive ECTOGRAM song, entitled "A Trousers" featured as November 2000's free MP3 at the Ochre Records web site. Each month during 2000 a different act appeared with an exclusive track. GLIDE, PULSAR, LONGSTONE, 90 DEGREES SOUTH, STYLUS, WR TWR, BRICKWERK, YELLOW 6, THE FREED UNIT and THE LAND OF NOD all contributed to the series, the final track in December featuring THE SERPENTS (on which Maeyc's distinctive "art-rock" rhythm stylings could be heard).
The Ectogram MP3, "A Trousers" is a rubbery 3-minute tune on which Maeyc played bass and rhythm guitars in addition to the distinctive "Steve The Trousers" style drum pattern that gave the song its title. Alan added some cosmic e-bow guitars and sitar, while Ann supplemented her vocal prowess with fine performances on both melodica and glockenspiel. The track will not subsequently reappear in this form, so download it now from : www.ochre.co.uk!

Ochre have also recently released the "271199" CD, a live recording of the Ochre 5 event which took place in Gloucester Guildhall in November 1999, on which Ectogram's Maeyc and Alan can be heard struggling to impose order on the opening track "KFZ" in their alter egos as the rhythm section of The Serpents. The CD also features great live tracks by 90 Degrees South, Infinity Chimps, Longstone, The Land Of Nod, Mount Vernon Arts Lab, Amp, Skyray, Glide, EAR and The Creeping Meetball (plus a bonus track by The Mindwinder) - get it from the Ochre website. Further rare MP3s will appear on our (this) site soon. The first of these can be found a little further down this page (see "NEW CD".)

PREVIOUS CD "All behind The Witchtower" is still available from AnkstMusik Records (and all good record shops). Although the album is over 70 minutes long, people with a short attention span can download a 5 minute MP3 concentrate of the entire album by clicking on the cover design above. This second Ectogram album was well received in all quarters, notably earning the distinction of being judged "too weird" to review by the NME !
According to a recent Dutch magazine "dis is muziek voor plankton, paarden en verlopen hippies.". Although none of us speak the language, we imagine that must be pretty complimentary !
Here are some easily digested soundbites from reviews, taken out of context to make them sound better:

   "Captures the genuine essence of psychedelia without getting mired in its surface trappings."- The Wire
   "A haunting blend of unhinged pastoral moods and leftfield music - like The Wicker Man remade by Sonic Youth."- Select
   "All Behind The Witchtower is the first great album of the new millennium."- Daily Post
   "Coming at you from the Welsh art-rock underground."- Record Collector
   "Ectogram have the ability to compose some curiously innovative psychedelic grooves."- Western Mail
   "somewhere between Joy Division and Sonic Youth, albeit behind the ravings of a madhouse dorm, broadcast via S4C."- Ptolemaic Terrascope
   "cauldron of druggy krautrock and sleepy psychedelia"- Melody Maker

Apologies to vinylphiles, but the album is currently only available on CD. If any record companies out there would like to put out a vinyl version, please get in touch!

STUDIO
Much of both "Tall Things Falling" and "All Behind The Witchtower" was recorded at the wonderful Bryn Derwen studio, situated in the picturesque wilds of Snowdonia, an ideal location to "get it together in the country". Any groups eager to replicate the unique vibe of our records are enthusiastically directed to BRYN DERWEN. Here their ambitions will be effortlessly realised with the help of the least pigmented engineer in the business, David Wrench, ably backed up by studio owner Laurie Gane - one of very few 60's avant-garde blues veterans to possess a criminal record for grave-robbing!

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