Spaceheads - Storm Force 8
(Graham Massey Remix of "Trance Fig 8")

Spaceheads - Low Pressure

Spaceheads - Low Pressure

FR 2002 CD; Bip Hop: BLEEP 14 [Digipack]
US 2002 CD; Merge: MRG183

08:01 Storm Force 8 (Graham Massey Remix of "Trance Fig 8")

Released:

14th June 2002.

Credits:

Written by Andy Diagram, Richard Harrison, Graham Massey.
Graham Massey remix of "Trance Fig 8" taken from Spaceheads CD "Angel Station".

Press Release:

SPACEHEADS :

low pressure
(Blep 14)

Low Pressure, is the new album from UK duo Spaceheads. It is their 7th album, and features 10 new tracks. On Low Pressure, Andy Diagram (trumpet) and Richard Harrison (drums), take their unique sound, based on live trumpet loops, drums and electronics, to even greater sonic extremes.
The album hangs on lazy grooves and thick harmonised trumpet chords; sleazy deep beat brass and crushed up metallic drumbeats. Spaceheads mix the raw emotional sound of breath with the banging of wood on skin, and push it through the blips, crackle and distortion of pixelated electronic noise.
Low Pressure is about impending danger, the coming storm. We live in uneasy times, in a world with invisible enemies. Environmental destruction is no longer just a dangerous possibility but is happening now. Our weather systems have been turned upside down. Science and technologies' potential to liberate us, grows greater by the day. Contrasting more and more with its use to manipulate and control us.

1) low pressure
2) on a clear day
3) the lugano affair
4) astro temple
5) pressure point
6) fog
7) the hut
8) storm force 8
9) red shift
10) over the moon

The cover features a toy drummer and a toy trumpet superimposed on weather charts. The cover also features a straw bale mud hut built by Richard during the recording of the album.

Is it a case of old technologies offering us all a hope for the future?

The Hut is a low pressure building, built using local materials and recycled wood. Low impact, Lo-Fi, Eco–housing.

The Trumpet and Drums are ancient sound machines, battling their way through electronic webs. The hot-wired, super charged, electro-panic of modern living.

The album opens with the title track, Low Pressure. Thick velvet layers of harmonised trumpet hang like brass slabs over the crunched up metallic drumbeats. A heavy sensuous and uneasy beauty overwhelms the listener.

An inside out, upside down, backward drum pattern sucks you into the next track,
On a clear day. Galloping multi-speed drums emerge from a dark brooding brass loop. The track builds up to a fiesta of trumpet fanfares, before settling back into the dark swamp. On a clear day is a re-mix of a spaceheads jam by the Bleach Boys, one of three re-mixes on the album.

The sound of fingers being dragged down a chalkboard opens The Bleach Boys second contribution, Pressure Point, a re-mix of Low pressure. The Bleach Boys are Richard Harrison and Mick Routledge (of Twelve Tone). They are based in Manchester and are soon to release their first album.

Graham Massey, contributes the album's third remix, Storm Force 8. Graham is a long time associate of Andy and Richard, and like them, was active in the early 80s Manchester music scene. He made his name in the late 80s / early 90s with techno pioneers 808 state, and re-mixing for the likes of Bjork. He plays regularly with Richard in the Manchester based bands Homelife and Toolshed.

Other guests on the album include Paddy Steer also from Manchester's Homelife. His pounding electric bass on Lugano Affair pushes this mysterious track through its many thematic twists and turns. It wouldn't be a proper Spaceheads album without an appearance by Chris Cornetto, a regular guest on Spaceheads albums. He contributes the heavy synth bass line on the ecstatic trance of Fog, a favourite in the Spaceheads live set.

Low Pressure ends up taking us through the shimmering curtain of deep space on Red Shift, evoking soundscapes of cinematic proportions, before drawing us to the albums escapist conclusion.

There is a sigh of relief and a twinkle of love as Over the moon emerges with a heavenly brass loop. A lonely trumpet floats over a lazy funk beat and loping tuba bass line. Has the storm passed? Or have the spaceheads simply left this troubled planet and escaped to the stars.

Reviews:

Compiled into a PDF here.

Remarks:

Purchase the French CD via Bip-Hop here.
Purchase the US CD from Merge Records here.

Spaceheads - Low Pressure - French CD - Front Cover
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - French CD - Front Cover
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - French CD - Back Cover
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - French CD - Back Cover
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - French CD - Credits
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - French CD - Credits
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - French CD - Credits
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - French CD - Credits
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - French CD - CD
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - French CD - CD
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - US CD - Front Cover
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - US CD - Front Cover
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - US CD - Back Cover
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - US CD - Back Cover
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - US CD - Inner
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - US CD - Inner
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - US CD - Credits
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - US CD - Credits
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - US CD - Credits
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - US CD - Credits
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - US CD - CD
Spaceheads - Low Pressure - US CD - CD