astral social club

Model Town In Field Of Mud

Back in stock! Two of the UK underground's central figures return under the guise of Astral Social Club for this new LP on Textile: Neil Campbell, a veteran of Vibracathedral Orchestra, Sunroof! and other such projects hooks up with ex-Hood member John Clyde Evans (aka Tirath Singh Nirmala) for a glorious meeting of spiritual psychedelia and incisive electronic precision. There are times when you'll think you're listening to a turn of the century Mego recording - perhaps a General Magic album - especially when trawling through the uncompromising digital skipping of 'All That Glitters Is Not Chocolate'. On the other hand, you'll encounter passages of manipulated live recordings featuring a sound palette of Keystone Cops-style speed-up recordings of acoustic guitars, flocks of tweeting oscillators and other such organic, earthy noise sources. It's the meeting of a hard, computerised edge with more naturalistic elements that lends this release its potency, ultimately sounding a little like a Growing LP, but free from the perpetual motion looping that tends to come with that band's turf. Good stuff.