News 2007-2008
26-Oct-08: Awakenings on ARFm
We've been told that internet prog station ARFm.co.uk intend to broadcast our entire Awakenings set (warts 'n' all) on their new Monday night "Awakenings" slot. The broadcast will go out at 10pm GMT on Monday 10th November. This will be a sound desk recording and so should be excellent quality.
The Awakenings series will kick off with the two sessions from Edge Effect and The Glimmer Room on Monday 3rd November at 10pm GMT.
20-Oct-08: new compilation disc
Ion features on a new compilation disc from A-Frame Media called Framework 1.
Framework 1 features a very strong collection of pieces indeed, including tracks form SickMoth, Glimmer Room, Dreamaiden and none other than well-known and well respected John Foxx-collaborator, Louis Gordon.
We don't have a picture yet but here's the full track listing:
- 1. Sickmoth This Might Hurt
- 2. The Glimmer Room and Sara Ayers Don't Tempt Me
- 3. Headshock Cloisters
- 4. Signal Generator Memory helmet
- 5. Places Paper Clouds (Particles Mix)
- 6. The Global Zone 2 Peaks
- 7. Dreamaiden Deeper
- 8. Komputer We become
- 9. Mister Midi Space Rocket
- 10. Louis Gordon Movie Stars
- 11. Ion Evensong
- 12. The Jupiter 8 Dusk
13-Oct-08: DundeE-Live: Exit stage left
Last night, at roughly 930pm, we were somewhat unceremoniously dropped from the line up at DundeE-Live. By e-mail.
Now I know how Phil Collins' wife felt.
As was outlined yesterday in the blog, Health and Safety officials visited the venue last week and handed the owners a 3 page document detailing various faults that had to be corrected before they would allow any further concerts to take place. The feedback this morning is that the venue is unlikely to open for any kind of concert ever again. That's probably for the best, frankly.
The organisers tried to find an alternative venue but, sadly, nothing suitable was available at such short notice. The Dog House, not far away, was able to provide an afternoon slot lasting just 3-4 hours although this meant that they could no longer accommodate all of the acts. We were subsequently dropped from the line up on the basis that we hadn't performed at any of the previous UK Electronica events and priority would, instead, be given to those who had since this was, apparetly, a reunion gig. There was no discussion. No phone call. Nothing except a communal e-mail.
Ian Boddy had already excused himself from the line up, probably on the basis that he, like everyone else, could see that the whole event had degenerated into just one big pantomime farce.
Similarly, Ron Berry stepped aside to allow others to play instead, which left Vietgrove and Modulator to play one half hour slot each. They've since agreed to combine their acts into one 60 minute set of improvised music. They have my best wishes and good luck to them. I think they'll need it.
I make no secret of the fact that I was, and still am to a great extent, very bitter about the way this whole episode has been handled. Aside from the fact that we're enormously out of pocket, we have nothing to show for months of effort. My gut feeling is that this event should have been cancelled and rescheduled for a later date when every one could play. This is a poor compromise.
I, for one, am just glad that we're out of it. The whole business is just a fucking shambles. Will there be another reunion event like this? Maybe, but I sincerely do hope that they don't come knocking on my door again. I think it unlikely anyway.
Is this the end of UK Electronica? Yeah, I think so. The EM scene has moved on. Time to put this old horse out to pasture.
This chapter ends. Another begins.
10-Oct-08: Awakenings III
Two clips from the recent Awakenings gig have been posted on YouTube.com. Enjoy.
Evensong
The Missing Link
30-Sep-08: Awakenings II
The gig at the weekend was a tremendous success. Special thanks to all of those who travelled to the venue to show their support.
Jules and I would like to thank Jez Creek for inviting us to play and for doing a superb job with the organisation, which was probably the smoothest run we've ever experienced and certainly had some of the best vibes we've ever known. This, in itself, probably accounted for a very relaxed, very enjoyable first outing for Ion.
Thanks to Phil Booth, Martin (Analogue Kid) and Xan Alexander for some smashing pictures.
A short (25 minute) video clip is available here. Please be patient as this may take a while to load. (and ignore the movie trailer/adverts...)
More than anything, I want to say a special public thanks to Jules. It feels so natural to have her up there, doing her thing. She knows these pieces better than I do and she worked very, very hard to make this happen. Those efforts certainly paid off. We practiced very hard for this event, driven purely by her insistence that I get off my lazy arse and rehearse, nightly, to make sure that it was right.
There's a more detailed description of the day's events in the blog.
27-Sep-08: Awakenings
Apart from some minor glitches with the backing track last night, everything is peachy-poo for tonight's performance.
Fingers crossed.
21-Sep-08: Awakenings Poster 27th Septemebr 2008
I forgot to post the Awakenings promotional poster that was sent to me a couple of weeks ago!
Click on the image left for a bigger version.
Preparations for the gig are moving along nicely and the set is sounding quite together. More information later.
12-Sep-08: Tangerine Dream Fans Zone Pod cast 13th Septmeber 2008
Ion will feature in this weeks pod cast from Tangerine Dream Fans Zone. Click on the poster on the left for more information!
27-Jul-08: Busy, busy, busy...
Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been busy preparing for the forthcoming series of concerts and, of course, the sequencer business so updating these pages has had a lower priority in recent weeks.
11-Jul-08: Generations Re-scheduled
The Generations concert originally scheduled for 5th December 2008 has been postponed. However, the concert will be re-scheduled for early 2009.
The change of date has been brought upon us because the current organ master will be moving to a new position at the end of July and the Cathedral will not be able to appoint a successor until October or November at the earliest, which does not give the appointee much time to get to grips with the choir and organ.
We have provisionally set the new date for 6th March 2009.
02-Jul-08: Free Music / Work-in-Progress
A short piece, released simply to say "Thank you!" to the many folk who have supported us over the last couple of months! The number of people downloading the Ion album Future Forever has been very, very encouraging indeed.
The title of this piece gives a small clue to the inspiration... :)
Click here to listen to Annoying The Neighbours.
Enjoy.
15-Jun-08: Future Forever is Number One on Magnatune
Ion's Future Forever is currently sitting at number one in the Magnatune download chart.
Needless to say, we're thrilled.
Special thanks go to Jan Hanford and John Buckman of Magnatune for their faith and support.
30-May-08: Generations Concert
We've released some preliminary information relating to the Generations concert.
Further details will be announced in the next couple of days.
27-May-08: Samples Page reworked
I've junked the old samples page and reworked it to use the Magnatune FLASH player. You can now listen to the whole of Future Forever for free although you do have to put up with Magnatune's adverts. Let me know if you feel that these are too obtrusive and we'll find another way of providing the choonz.
25-Apr-08: Dundee Live
We are delighted to confirm that Ion will be appearing at the Dundee Live event in Dundee, Scotland on 11th October 2008. The bill currently looks something like this:
- John Dyson
- Altres
- Ian Boddy
- Ion
- Ron Berry
- Veitgrove
- Modulator ESP
Futher details will be announced later.
25-Apr-08: Terry Hawke Interview
The interview with Terry Hawke has been postposted until the end of May 2008 because we're working on a new concert/project that we'd like to announce on the show. This is a very special Ion event, something I've been working towards for 25 years and it finally looks as though it might just happen. Fingers crossed.
25-Apr-08 : Site Face lift
The site face lift is proceeding well. The title page image has been updated in keeping with the new themes we're exploring. Real or imagined? Does it matter?.
I think they look pretty good. Also, I restored the sample area, which appeared to have been deleted. Huh? Anyway, the samples have been restored so have a listen and enjoy.
19-Apr-08: iTunes / Bruce Gall Show on ARFm
The news we've all been waiting for... Future Forever is now available on iTunes. This essentially means that we've got the distribution problem solved and there are no longer any obstacles to downloading Future Forever. Just imagine... no more dealers blocking our efforts to market, no more crappy service, no more months to deliver a disc that they've had to snag from some dodgy source or, worse still, a disc they've made up themselves!!! Wonderful!!
Several tracks from Ion's Future Forever will feature on Bruce Gall's show on ARFM tomorrow, 20th April 2008.
08-Apr-08: Magnatune Top 10
Ion does it again by jumping straight back into the Magnatune Top Ten, this time at number 6.
02-Apr-08: We're on Amazon, iTunes and CD Baby
Future Forever is now available as a downloadable album on Amazon. We should be on iTunes by the end of the week. You can also buy the physical disc over on CD Baby.
I'm thrilled. Essentially, we've cracked the distribution problem. There should be no restrictions to buying the album anymore.
02-Apr-08: Terry Hawke Interview
The Terry Hawke Interview went very well and you can listen to an edited version of the show here.
22-Mar-08: Radio Interview
I've been invited to do a radio interview on the Terry Hawke Radio Show, which goes out over Harborough FM on March 29th 2008. Terry will be playing tracks from Ion and Skin Mechanix.
We were trying to remember the last time I did a radio interview. I think, although I'm not 100% certain, that it was with Radio Newcastle, way back in 2001, with the lovely Julia Hankin. That was a fun interview. Julia began the interview with the question "So, didn't this style of music die out 20 years ago?", which was a fair point, I suppose. We were busy promoting The Fabulous Neutrinos, an album which I like though I feel it's deeply flawed.
Anyway, thanks to the joys of the interweb, the interview will be broadcast worldwide. My bit should go out at around 2240 hours GMT so you'll need to watch the clock for the time difference and because Daylight Saving Time will start to kick in over that weekend.
I'm thrilled. It's been an excellent year for airplay so far. Slowly, but surely, the message spreads. Thanks to everyone who has helped set this up.
18-Mar-08 "Galactic Travels" Top 20 for February, 2008.
WDIY 88.1 FM "Galactic Travels" Top 20 for February, 2008. Shows #566 to #569; 7-February-2008 to 28-February-2008
Reported in non-ranked, alphanumeric order. Compiled by Bill Fox, website: http://galactictravels.info
ARC - Fracture - DiN Between Interval - Radio Silence - Spotted Peccary Ian Boddy - The Mechanics of a Thought - DiN DDL Ian Boddy - Three Dreams - DiN DDL Ion - Future Forever - Infection Keller and - Seven Long Tracks - Manikin M.Reuter and R.Rich - Eleven Questions - Unsung Mark Jenkins - Ghosts of Mars- Ricochet Dream Memory Geist - Funeral Cavern - Musica Maxima Magnetica Micro Nonet - The Marmalade Balloonn - Micro Nonet Rainbow Serpent - Seven Long Tracks - Manikin Spectrum - Forever Alien - Space Age Spyra - High Phidelity- Ricochet Dream synth.nl - AeroDynamics - Groove The Tangent Project - 2006/2007 Compilation - none Various Artists - Analogy Volume 3 - Groove Various Artists - First Decade 1992 - 2002 - Manikin Various Artists - Liquid Sound Vol. 2 - Maniklin Various Artists - Liquid Sound Volume 1 Volt - Nucleosynthesis - Groove
13-Feb-08 Galactics Travels Top 20 Playlist, January 2008
Frequent visitors will recognise the name of DJ Bill Fox as a regular to these news pages. Bill presents a weekly radio show called Galactics Travels, which airs on WDIY and his programme is dedicated to pushing forward the boundaries of prog rock, electronic and ambient music. Bill very kindly sent us his monthly Top 20 Report for January, 2008 and we were delighted to see Ion's Future Forever featured.
Here's the full list, in alphabetic order...
Adrian Beasley - Powerhouse - none Aloof Proof - Piano Text - Infraction ARC - Fracture - DiN Brendan Pollard - Flux Echoes - Acoustic Wave Ian Boddy - The Final Question - DiNDDL Ion - Future Forever - Infection Music Klaus Schulze - Are You Sequenced? - Revisited Klaus Schulze - Dosburg Online - Revisited Klaus Schulze - Timewind disk 1 - Revisited Klaus Schulze - Timewind disk 2 - Revisited Mark Jenkins - Ghosts of Mars - AMP/Ricochet Dream Mico Nonet - The Marmalade Balloon - mico nonet Psicodreamics - Ambienthernum - Witches on the Radiowaves Ricochet Gathering - New Ambient Worlds - AmbientLive Robert Scott Thompson - Pendere - Aucourant Shulman - Endless Rhythms of the Beatless Heart - AlephZero Spyra - High Phidelity - Rocochet Dream Traum - SEM - Equation Various Artists - Favourite Places - Audiobulb Various Artists - New Worlds - AmbientLive
10-Feb-08 Future Forever on MusicZeit
The extended version of Future Forever is now available from the MusicZeit download site, where it is also the featured album.
This version includes 3 tracks which were not included on the original CD release. These are:
Eternal Flame
Voyager
The Silent Scream Part 2
If you bought the CD or the previous version of Future Forever and would like to have the three missing tracks then please get in touch with us via the Contact Form and we can show you where you can download the files.
This version of Future Forever is now identical to the version available from Magnatune.
21-Jan-08 Future Forever, Best download of 2007
Future Forever has just been voted one of the best downloadable albums of 2007 over on the ElectroAmbient Space web site.
"Good Electronics! Great melodies!"
I am well pleased!
09-Jan-08 Magnatune Downloads / Echoes / Secret Music
Future Forever is currently sitting at Number 4 in the Magnatune Top Ten. I am thrilled.
It's been about 6 weeks since the release and it's still sitting high in the charts, which is remarkable. Thus far, sales at Magnatune currently outstrip all of our other download sites, including out own!!
I'm hard at work on the next Ion album, which should be out by the end of April 2008.
Future Forever featured strongly in the Magnatune Top Ten for most of December though sadly appears to have fallen off the map as I write this. Shame.
Evensong again featured on Echoes over the Christmas period and that put a smile on my face but it was the appearance of Scott Raymond's Top Ten Albums for 2007, produced in conjunction with his Secret Music Programme on radio station WKVR that really made me smile. Future Forever grabbed the Number 2 spot, which meant a lot because it was a very strong field this year.
Here's the listing in full.
1. Loreena McKennitt - An Ancient Muse - Quinlan Road 2. Ion - Future Forever - Thinking Metal 3. Various - Woodsongs - New Land Music 4. Markus Reuter & Robert Rich - Eleven Questions - Unsung Records 5. David Helpling & Jon Jenkins - Treasure - Spotted Peccary 6. Jim Kirkwood - Rituals Of Intelligent Design - Neu Harmony 7. Dave FUlton & Giles Reaves - The Range - Hypnos 8. ARC - Fracture - DiN 9. Redshift - Last - A Distant Sun Production 10. Mark Jenkins - This Island Earth - Ricochet Dream 11. Robert Rich - Music From Atlas Dei - Soundscape Productions 12. Adam Werner - Signatures - New Land Music 13. Redshift - Toll - A Distant Sun Production 14. Stars Of The Lid - And Their Refinement Of The Decline - Kranky 15. Robert Fripp - At The End Of Time - DGM 16. Roy Peters - Convergence - Storyteller Flutes 17. Diatonis - Dark Edges - Diatonis 18. Darshan Ambient - From Pale Hands To Weary Skies - Lotuspike 19. Numina - Shift To The Ghost - Hypnos 20. Zoe Keating - Live At Schubas - Schubas 21. Jonathan Block & The Circular Ruins - Gears Of Sand 22. Blackmore's Night - Paris Moon - SPV 23. Robert Davies - Garden Of Twilight - Dataobscura 24. Various - The Woodchopper's Ball - Divine Wind Records 25. Rick Cutler - Sanctuaries - Human Rick Music
03-Dec-07 Magnatune Downloads
Future Forever is now available as a downloadable album from Magnatune. The extra tracks not found on the physical disc are also available as part of this download.
13-Nov-07 More Echoes Airplay! / MusicZeit aka Download Platform
The Ion track Evensong has again been playlisted by Echoes (http://www.echoes.org). The programme will be broadcast on Tuesday 13th November and features in the third half hour of the show. Alternatively, you can listen to the programme via the web from http://www.echoes.org/online2.html.
If you've neverheard of Echoes, it's a daily two-hour music soundscape, distributed by Public Radio International and broadcast on over 150 US radio stations from Maine to California. Host John Diliberto, a writer for Billboard, Pulse and other magazines, brings together a wide array of styles, from acoustic to electronic, jazz to space music, the avant-garde to rock. Echoes is a sound that is cross-cultural and trans-millennial, merging cultures and forms, technology and tradition, the ancient past and the possible future.
13-Nov-07 MusicZeit
Ion's Future Forever can now be downloaded from MusicZeit. The tracks are available in two formats, 256K fixed-rate MP3 and lossless FLAC format, priced at £7.99 and £8.99 respectively.
14-Oct-07 Echoes Airplay
The radio show featuring the Ion track Evensong is on-line now. Sadly, Echoes won't let me link to it directly and so, to listen to the programme, you'll have to visit the on-line section of the site, http://www.echoes.org/online2.html, and click on the link for the programme reference 07-41C-1, which features in Week 41-07.
12-Oct-07 Ion / Flying Over Blue Waters video
The pilot version of the video for Flying over Blue Waters is now available on YouTube. This is the pilot version only, meant to illustrate the idea and to see what sort of technology was required to complete the project. The video has a few problems but we still felt that it was worth releasing because it looks pretty damned cool.
The video was filmed entirely in the virtual world SecondLife, using avatars in place of real actors. They're easier to work with than real actors, don't have hissy fits at inconvenient times and don't try to score with your girlfriend when you're trying to sort out a problem with the lighting.
Yes, there are some technical flaws. At the time the video was put together, we didn't know how to get rid of the digital on-screen graphics. That's been fixed and so the next step is to finish the video, ready for full release. That should be in a couple of weeks.
17-Sep-07 Ion / Future Forever on Echoes
John Diliberto of Echoes Radio send an e-mail last night to let us know that Ion's Future Forever will feature in their upcoming playlists. This is terrific news because it means that Ion will now be able to reach a very large audience indeed.
Echoes is a daily two-hour music soundscape, distributed by Public Radio International and broadcast on over 150 US radio stations from Maine to California. Host John Diliberto, a writer for Billboard, Pulse and other magazines, brings together a wide array of styles, from acoustic to electronic, jazz to space music, the avant-garde to rock. Echoes is a sound that is cross-cultural and trans-millennial, merging cultures and forms, technology and tradition, the ancient past and the possible future.
11-Sep-07 Ion / Future Forever
We are delighted to announce that Future Forever by Ion will be available on the Magnatune download service. Magnatune have to be one of the best companies we've ever dealt with - consistently friendly, open and honest. They're like a breath of fresh air in the music business. Other record companies please take note: this is how it should be done.
20-Aug-07 Electro-ambient space review
Phil Derby's excellent review of Future Forever has made it onto the net at last. You can find it, and other excellent pieces over at http://www.electroambientspace.com.
09-Jul-07 Ion chalks up its first No. 1!!
As previous entries readily illustrate, WVKR's Scott Raymond has been behind Ion's Future Forever since its release. We're delighted to report that Ion reached Number One in Scott's Top 20 playlist for June. Here's the list in full:
WVKR-FM "Secret Music" Top 20 Playlist June, 2007
- 1. Ion - Future Forever - Infection Music
- 2. Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of Their Decline - Kranky
- 3. Various Artists - The Woodchopper's Ball - Divine Wind
- 4. A Produce - Land of a Thousand Trances - TrancePort
- 5. Numina - Symbiotic Spaces - Numina Music
- 6. Various Artists - Electro Music 2007 - Electro Music
- 7. Mark Dwane - 2012 - Trondant
- 8. Michael Peck - Glacial - Gears Of Sand
- 9. Jeff Greinke - Winter Light - Lotuspike
- 10. Blue Feather, Dunlap and Henke - A Crown of Stars - Divine Wind
- 11. Galactic Anthems - Semper Fidelity - Galactic Anthems
- 12. Milieu - Of The Apple - Second Sun
- 13. Frank Smith - Gardens Of Hope - Just Love Music
- 14. Chris Yeaton - Kikaha Malie - Woodsong Acoustics
- 15. Denise Young - Something You Dream Of - Dancing Horses Music
- 16. Andrew Lahiff - The Distant Lights Of Forgotten Places - Andrew Lahiff
- 17. Deborah Martin - Anno Domini - Spotted Peccary Music
- 18. Kathryn Toyama - Hope for Harmony - Toyama
- 19. Create - Kindred Spirits - Create
- 20. Chris Short & Ma Je Le - The Garden - Chris Short
03-Jul-07 Even More Airplay!
Ion again enjoyed some airplay this weekend. Scott Raymond continues to champion our cause by playing selected tracks from the Ion debut release, Future Forever last weekend. Here's the playlist:
- Andrew Lahiff The Deep Blue Sky Begins To Darken The Distant Lights Of Forgotten Places
- Numina Waves Of Reflection Symbiotic Spaces
- Numina Delphinium Symbiotic Spaces
- A Produce Land Of A Thousand Trances Land Of A Thousand Trances
- Stars Of The Lid Dungtitled (In A Major) And Their Refinement
- Stars Of The Lid Humectez La Mouture Of The Decline
- Milieu Stretched Across The Sky Of The Apple
- Jeff Greinke The Conversation Winter Light
- Ion The Silent Scream Future Forever
- Mark Dwane Skywatchers 2012
- Galactic Anthems Semper Fidelity Semper Fidelity
- Ion Faraway Piano Voyager
- Mark Jenkins Dance Of The Satellites Electro Music 2007
- Margaret Noble Nufon Electro Music 2007
- Michael Peck The Impending Solitude Glacial
- Alpha Wave Movement Distant Signals A Distant Signal
- Scott Petito Afternoon In A Cloud Sbass Music
- Chris Lane Sweetness Memory Boxing
- Gorn/Levin/Marotta Man Walking From A To B From The Caves Of The Iron Mountain
- Louis Landon Peaceful Unwind
- Amy & Leslie Take Me Home Take Me Home
21-Jun-07 Airplay!
Ion enjoyed some more airplay this weekend. Bjorn Jepperson was kind enough to play Minerva from Future Forever on his most recent show. Here's the playlist:
Elektroland 44 - June 2007 (1st week).
- 1. Mac: Walking backwards (A deceitful hand)
- 2. Ion: Minerva (Future forever)
- 3. Bernhard Woestheinrich: Part 1 (Live in DŸsseldorf)
- 4. Inga: Moonlit path (Riding the wind)
- 5. Sync24: White pixels (Source)
- 6. Sonic Metro: Mindsphere (Six degrees if sepration)
- 7. Paul Walker: Shimmering images (Promo CD 2007)
- 8. Mac: Not as it should be (A deceitful hand)
- 9. Broekhuis, Keller & SchšnwŠlder: Orange one (Orange)
18-Jun-07 Secret Music 20th Anniversary Show
Secret Music is one of the best and certainly the most popular electronic music programmes in the US and regular visitors to this site will know that T-Bass, Skinmechanix and, most recently, Ion tend to feature in their playlists fairly frequently. Secret Music celebrated its 20th anniversary this weekend and so I offered to put together a living room concert for the show's presenter, Scott Raymond. That wasn't practical and so I sent him a set of tracks representing the state of the current bands. Scott was good enough to air 4 of them.
Ion Eternal Flame Voyager Ion Voyager Voyager Ion Silent Scream Pt.2 Voyager T-Bass Dacota Plains Unreleased
The only track which didn't air was The Faraway Piano by SkinMechanix, which was probably just a little too ambient/floaty for broadcast at the moment. The Ion tracks were grouped under a collective sub-project of Voyager, just as a reference. Voyager won't be commercially available.
11-Jun-07 Future Forever Reviews
I added a couple of new entries to the reviews section, including Phil Derby's excellent piece, which should hopefully appear in the next issue of electroambient space.
01-Jun-07 Future Forever Bonus Tracks
The Bonus Tracks missing from the downloadable version of Future Forever have now been uploaded. Please note that the original link has been expired. To obtain the new link, drop me a line with your e-mail/order number and we'll forward the new link to you.
31-May-07 Last Weekend
The Bank Holiday Weekend (May 28th 2007) was a pretty miserable affair. It was the end of May, spring had well and truly sprung and everything in sight was growing at an astonishing pace. Trees and branches that had been barren only a few weeks ago were now tapestry of rich and verdant greens, and our vegetable garden was full to overflowing with fruit and caterpillars in equal measure.
However, the weather was dreadful - cold and wet and utterly numb. We had planned on going into Newcastle to see some of the Freevolution festival but the prospect of standing on Newcastle Quayside in the rain listening to bands we didn't know wasn't all that appealing. In the end, Jules and I just went for a walk, which seemed infinitely better than sitting in front of the TV and all of the rampant idiocy that passes itself off as entertainment these days.
And so we found ourselves on Newbottle Street in Houghton-le-Spring. How glamourous. There was a live band on in The Britania but neither of us were in any mood to sit in a crowded pub getting drunk.
As we walked down Newbottle Street, we came across an Information Point, of one many recently installed by Sunderland City Council. Now, I've walked past this techno-obelisk on hundreds of occasions and never given it a second thought - much the same as most of the other residents of Houghton-le-Spring, I would guess.
As we passed by, and in a scene reminiscent of a "Douglas Adams" script, the screen burst into life accompanied by a cheary bleep. Aside from the usual adverts for chiropodists and flower shops, there was, centre-screen, a web browser. Mmmm....
I used the touch screen to key in "Ion Future Forever" and the browser quickly came back with a list of options. Top of the list was this web site. I clicked and I have no idea why but we were astonished that the page actually loaded and looked halfway right. Then I clicked on the "Listen While You Surf" facility. The usual Flash window appeared and the songs began to load. Wow...
Impish fun or a spot of ego-googling, you decide? :)
And then, to our complete fascination and astonishment, the music began to play... and Newbottle Street, in the middle of a wet and miserable Houghton-le-Spring on a grim Bank Holiday Weekend suddenly, burst into life with the high-pitched wavering solo from Future Forever.
Strangely embarrassed, and yet totally thrilled, Jules and I scurried away like a pair of naughty schoolchildren. I don't know why we were embarrassed or guilty but we were and, a week later, I'm still astonished by our reaction. The music continued, shifting into an edit from Logosphere and then Minerva as we shuffled away into the night, laughing like idiots.
Full of guilt, we returned 5 minutes later to stop the player. I had no real desire to inflict my choonz on the residents of Newbottle Street. However, in true "Douglas Adams" fashion, the afore-mentioned techo-obelisk had stopped playing, possibly out of boredom, and had returned to displaying the usual adverts for taxi firms, condoms and chip shops. Ho hum.
A really strange moment.
27-May-07 Future Forever at Cue Records
Cue Records now have copies of Future Forever in stock. Groove in Holand are also advertising copies but, curiously, didn't get them from me and persist in ignoring any e-mails sent to them. Mmmm... It's a funny old world, innit?
27-Apr-07 Future Forever at Synth Music Direct
Synth Music Direct now have a small number of copies of Future Forever in stock.
24-Apr-07 Future Forever CD's available
Future Forever is now available on CD.
21-Apr-07 Future Forever err, not released Part 2
Oh, this is so, so, wondeful. Impress Music have just told me that the reason my CD's are buggered is because I've apparently written the title of the album on the disc with a biro and it's damaged the disc.
What a load of bollocks! I've been at this game more than 10 years and I know you *NEVER* write on a CDR with a biro. I have a special felt pen for just this purpose.
Is it possible that, having listened to the disc on half a dozen machines, they couldn't find anything wrong and subsequently scratched it themselves to avoid paying the reprint costs?
The question is... Will I ever see my master again?
18-Apr-07 Future Forever err, not released
Future Forever is available as a downloadable album from the on-line shop. The physical CD won't be available for another few days because Impress have cocked up the replication. Apart from messing up the artwork, they delivered a batch of flawed CDs yesterday and now insist that it's all my fault. Way to go, guys.
So, if anyone reading this is interested in having some CD's replicated, give RPM a call on 0208 960 7222
12-Apr-07 Future Forever released
Future Forever is now available as a downloadable album from the on-line shop.
02-Apr-07 Website launched
The Ion web site is now up and running. Let's see what's out there...