March to the finish line

Hi there. This is just a quick update and an apology if new posts on the blog have seemed a little less frequent over the last few weeks. The reason for this is that for the last five years I have been spending a considerable number of my weekends and holidays working on a book about the legendary musician Manuel Göttsching. My other blog is here: http://manuelgottsching.blogspot.co.uk/ and I also plan to update it with the latest developments soon.

Over the last three weekends I've been proofreading my book before it goes to friends for further checks and a few fresh pairs of eyes. Having spent a very long time putting it together the time has come to finish the job off and to be able to share it with an audience. With this in mind please bear with me if there are little periods when the blog isn't updated as much as it has been. It will continue but I'll be doing a bit of juggling between different projects...

In other news over the weekend I've really been enjoying Autumn of Communion 2, a superb record that probably betters Autumn of Communion's magnificent first effort but don't take my word for it. At time of posting the record is currently streaming in full here: http://anodizesound.bandcamp.com/album/autumn-of-communion-summer-2013

Lorenzo Montana's Eilatix has also arrived and I've been enjoying this a great deal as well. If you liked Black Ivy this is really going to float your boat, as stylistically the two records have a lot in common.

http://psychonavigation.com/post/40721969237/psy066-lorenzo-montana-eilatix-the-new-album

I'm heartened to see that Ear/Rational, Psychonavigation and Anodize are between them now releasing music by many former Fax artists and I'm really looking forward to hearing the (ever expanding) Pete Namlook tribute album, or should I say box set.

In other news I was just out in the backyard and the marigolds that I'm growing as a tribute to Pete have started to come through. Photos will hopefully follow soon. Don't forget that if you decide to grow marigolds or any other plants as a tribute to Pete send your photos and I'll put them up here on the blog.

As regards interviews for the blog I am promised a couple of exciting exclusives but it isn't so easy to get the answers to my questions, as the musicians are currently busy touring the world. At some point I'm sure that this will come together. I have another interview in the pipeline but this will be via telephone, as the musician I've had contact with is incredibly busy. I will need to record our conversation and then transcribe afterwards, which will take a little time. Should be very interesting, though.

So, please do bear with me. The blog will still be updated with new content whenever I can find the time and get the opportunity. Speak soon...

Stormloop

With output on Fax now quite possibly bookended there will undoubtedly be some speculation as to which artists may have recorded for the label in the future. My money is on Stormloop (aka Kev Spence from Leeds, England). Beautifully crafted, deep drones and perfect music for drifting into the realms of inner or outer space. Stormloop's last album, Back to Dust was a requiem for all of those who lost their lives in 2012 (including Mr. Pete Namlook).

It is possible to check out Stormloop and have a listen to some extracts from the latest album here:

http://stormloop.bandcamp.com/album/back-to-dust

In addition, the whole discography is available on Bandcamp by following this link: 

http://stormloop.bandcamp.com/

As reported recently a tribute album for Pete Namlook is currently in the works. See here:

http://namlooktribute.tumblr.com/

Some of you have probably read that this is to be a mixture of material by ex-Fax recording artists and fans with a voting system to determine which fan material will make the cut. Stormloop has recorded a beautiful track, titled Snowdrift and you can hear it in its entirety here:

http://stormloop.bandcamp.com/track/snowdrift 

See what you think. It certainly gets my vote!