Lots been happening since my last post, back in November. Much busy on upcoming release, Opaque Studies I – more news soon. A few live appearances, a new band project, collaborations, some compilation tracks… the list appears to go on.
Today I’ll just cover the concrete things – here goes…

Ars Sonor – The Second Circle
Ars Sonor has remastered & re-released the ‘Second Circle’ album. As with all Ars Sonor releases, the work is typically excellent. The album includes an AS/Mutate collaboration to boot. Get the album here:
http://artapeslabel.bandcamp.com/album/the-second-circle
Continuing the collaboration thread, I recently contributed some noises to the latest Mekano Set release:

Mekano Set / Onde Spheriqué split
A split with Onde Spheriqué, the Mek’s track ‘I Made You a Map’ is a 14 minute dream/drone fest of wonder. With added beats. Get it here:
http://prettyinnoise.bandcamp.com/track/the-mekano-set-i-made-you-a-map
Now on to the compilations.

Necktar 2017 Vol 6
Ed is back with Necktar 2017 Volume 6, the latest edition of this immense compilation. An unbelievable 151 tracks, including one from myself. Get it here:
https://archive.org/details/Necktar2017Volume6
There seems to be a few ‘Wheel of Fortune’ comps out there at the mo. I recently contributed to two of them:

Genre Wheel of Fortune – Round 2
Genre Wheel of Fortune – Round 2 challenges artists to make a track that is a clash of two randomly chosen genres, so it can be quite a challenge / learning experience. Weirdly (or luckily) I was challenged to contribute an ambient/alt rock track. Get it here:
https://pimpmelon.bandcamp.com/album/genre-wheel-of-fortune-round-2
The other Wheel of Fortune comp comes from Argentinian netlabel, Kermesse Records:

Kermesse Records – Wheel of Fortune #7
Twenty one tracks of non-genre-specific goodness. Get it here:
https://archive.org/details/WheelOfFortune7-V.A.Compilation-KRnet036
Bringing the compilations to a close, we have the final installment of ‘To the Prettiest One’:

To The Prettiest One, Volume 5
At last, I manage to get my act together and contribute to the last in the series of the Discordian compilation from the Brownian e/Motion(s) label. Cheers Walter! Get it here:
https://brownianmotion.bandcamp.com/album/to-the-prettiest-one-volume-5
There are other compilation tracks / remixes / et al on the way, but news of them will come when they happen.
Finally, onto live news…
In November, I played additional guitar and devices for the Mekano Set at the Giffard Arms, Wolverhampton.

My setup for The Meks gig
Alongside the Meks tunes we revisited a couple of old tracks, going back to the Odeama/Stray Dog City days, with versions of Heatwave and Fires Made Safe. Was a pleasure to play these again. Even dragged the record deck along to add that authentic concréte.
December brought with it the opportunity to play a solo set for Max’s ‘Interzone V Xmas Special’ at the Old Moseley Arms, Birmingham:

‘Twas a thoroughly pleasant evening with numerous Xmas-related short films being shown, all of which seemed to intersect Xmas and horror. Some seriously twisted and subsequently amusing stuff out there. It was also a good opportunity for me to do a very relaxed, slow-moving drone set relying on frequency interplay and stripped-down melody. Not overtly dark. It was well received, thankfully. I must say, many thanks to Max for putting me on…
The first gigs of 2014 came in the guise of a solo set and the debut showing of Lunar Obsid at the Bear Tavern, Bearwood.

Mutate @ the Bear Tavern
Again, the Mutate set started with slow-moving frequency interplay, but with a much darker feel, eventually drifting into noise before finally coming back down with intertwining drones. It seemed to go well and was again well received. Filmed for later upload to the youtubes.
Next up was Lunar Obsid’s debut gig:

Lunar Obsid – Two Hooligans & a Librarian
I initially saw Damian and Rich playing as the Crystal Set at a Freak Revival gig. I liked the echo guitar sound and asked if I could join them for one tune at their next gig. Thinking it a good idea to rehearse first, we arranged such and then I think by the second rehearsal I was pretty much in the band.
The gig at the Bear was the fifth time we’d played together and it went pretty well, I think. Video will be uploaded at some point soon. Guest vocals on two tracks were provided by HFR. Many thanks to Austin for putting us on.

HFR guests on vocals
Next Lunar Obsid outing will be at Freak Revival on the 21st March.
I think that’s pretty much it for this posting. At first there wasn’t much to tell so I delayed and delayed until there was too much. Such is life…