From the Top Drawer LI - Mandragora

 'Mandragora are a space-rock/world dance-music band from Brighton, England, whose formative output can be described as psychedelic rock with ethnic sounds and tribal rhythms. Formed in 1983, the band have released 5 albums of their own, and a collaborative album with Phil Thornton. They built up a loyal following on the free festival circuit of the 1980s and 1990s, and were signed to Delerium Records. In recent years Mandragora have evolved into a world music/electronic dance act featuring singers and musicians from all corners of the globe.' (Wikipedia)

Although nowadays Mandragora are, as mentioned above, a world dance music act, at the time of this recording they were more of an abstract space-rock outfit featuring the keyboards and synths of 'New Age synth guru' (gulp!) Phil Thorton and the guitar and vocals of founder member Simon Williams, and played many free festivals and gigs on the UK and European underground circuit.
This recording would have taken place in the period between the releases of their 'Over The Moon' and 'Head First' albums.

This is a first generation rip from a tape made by Michael Dog onto a chrome cassette using two PZM microphones fixed high up onto the wall at the back of the main room at Club Dog, then hosted on Friday nights at the Sir George Robey pub in Finsbury Park, London. Quality is very good, with only one cut around the 47 minute mark to accomodate the tape flip.
Sides A & B are joined together as one.

- Tracklisting -
Talking To God
Pendulum & The Pit
Hold On To Our Dream
Raga
Rainbow Warrior
Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
Solstice Song / Yesterdays Tomorrow
Eleanor Rigby
Magic Musick
(Thanks to Pete for track ID)

Date is 1st December 1989 as on the flyer.

Ripped as usual @320 kbps

Get a copy of it HERE

Live in Kharkov, Ukraine 1995

http://phil1.homecall.co.uk/mandragora.html
http://www.myspace.com/theoriginalmandragora

From the Top Drawer L - Timeshard

Timeshard was formed in Liverpool in 1988 by Gobber, Sim and Angstrom.

'As the very first acid house hit the streets our three intrepid chrononauts hit the stages of the UK with their bizarre technoid collision of sound. To give you some idea of the early 'Shard - they were compared to Vangelis, Motorhead, Brian Eno, Throbbing Gristle, the Radiophonic Workshop and Kraftwerk, among others. 

Live @Club Dog

The live set looked like the centre console of Doctor Who's tardis, hand made synth equipment vied with some pretty nifty, but out of fashion 'analogue' synths, with with the band members running around the circular set-up frantically re-locating cables from one module to another mid 'song' . 

 Our chrononaut heroes encounter the Time Tunnel

The whole performance seemed more like a chaotic sci-fi experiment than a traditional 'band' performance. There were hardly any other bands creating live electronic music like this, so the audience danced with a weird guilty look on their faces, like "I'm enjoying this but probably shouldn't be" the media consensus was - electronic music isn't real music kids!

The extended sound collages mutated across the hour long sets, these were interwoven woven with the themes which became early songs such as 'Atlantis' and '25th Century''.

(text adapted from their own blurb on their website http://www.timeshard.com/)

 

Called 'Hypoborean Dome Temples Of Apollo', this tape was issued in 1992 and has been ripped @320kbps as two side-long tracks, tracklisting as above. (Click on pic for bigger version)

 Get a copy HERE

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One of my favourite electronic/organic acts from this era - able to deliver a kaleidoscopic horizontal home-listening experience for mind-wandering on album and EP and a formidable live act if you like an uber-squelchy experience on the dancefloor. Shame they're not still performing these days...but it seems they're not ruling it out completely either...

You can order Timeshard CDs and get links for iTunes from the Planet Dog Records website HERE
Well worth shelling out for.

From the Top Drawer XLIX - Earthnicht

Earthnicht was a short-lived side-project centred around musicians from bands who regularly played at Club Dog at the Sir George Robey in Finsbury Park, North London, and who would also play at various squat/free/benefit gigs in London and further afield. Earthnicht live consisted of (when available) five full kit drummers (Sean, Jonee, Nick, Tanya and Generator John), a sax player (the ubiquitous Danny) and a synth/keyboard player (Paul).

 

Kicking off the opening night of the 1989 autumn season at Club Dog...

With this line-up, naturally the music focused on driving syncopated rhythms topped with improvised sound. When the drummers gelled and synchronised, the audience was in for a thunderous, danceable treat.

This tape (Earth Heartbeat) was compiled from live shows in London and Milton Keynes
 - tracks as above.

Ripped @320kbps as two side-long tracks

Get it HERE

From the Top Drawer XLVIII - Astralasia

Back in the saddle again after a bit of a hiatus, here we are with a new post.
Happily I have been lent a box of cassettes by an old friend (thank you Michael!) which contains a number of gems from back-in-the-day and I shall be ripping them to upload over the next months along with scanned artwork etc. (filehosting and copyright claims permitting!).

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Astralasia are a dance and ambient act who started off as an offshoot of the Magic Mushroom Band, a well-loved group who played many psychedelic gigs and festival appearances from 1982 into the 1990s.

Soon after Marc Hunt (aka Swordfish) replaced drummer Jim Lacey in 1989, members of the band began to explore Ambient-Dub (and eventually Goa/Trance/House) territory with Astralasia. While the members still considered themselves mainly as being the Magic Mushroom Band, Astralasia was a huge success from the start, and they soon spent more time on the side project than on the original formation until Astralasia took over and as far as I know, the (affectionately known) Mushies have been 'on hold' since 1995.

'Originally founded as a dub-oriented side-project to the UK's legendary psychedelic rock-ensemble Magic Mushroom Band, Astralasia have quickly gone on to outlive and creatively outflank their former mothership. The group's music is a high-energy concoction of trance-infused electronic wizardry, intoxicating live-grooves and well-chilled moments of sheer sonic bliss. In 1993, the project garnered international attention thanks to their classic remix of Porcupine Tree's breakthrough track 'Voyage 34' and since then, the six-piece have never ceased to further develop and refine their sound.' (from their own website - http://www.astralasia.co.uk/)

'Vol.2' is an early but ahead-of-its-time 1990 cassette release from this ambient/dance act who have gone from strength to strength and sophistication over their more than 20 years existence. It features an appearance by David Jackson of Van Der Graaf Generator on sax & flute.

('Tracklisting is very similar to that of the "Astralasia" album. "Astralasia (ambient mix)" appears as "Astralasia Pt.2" on that release.' Discogs)

Ripped as two side-long tracks @320kbps

Get a copy HERE  

Habemus Papam!

From the Top Drawer XLVII - The Ullulators

This almost totally electronic 1994 studio release from the Ullulators sees them exploring the world of 1990s dance culture with excursions into ambient techno/trance, trip-hop, samples and loops and what would later come to be known as IDM (Intelligent Dance Music).

Diehard fans of their earlier, guitar-based organic style and those likely to be offended by any extended series of repetitive beats may be disappointed by the changes, but anyone who has ears to listen will be rewarded by some finely crafted tunes which still retain the Ullulators' signature vision of playful spacy experimentation topped with world music overtones...

Ripped from an original cassette as two side-long tracks @320kbps - tracklisting as above.

Get a copy HERE

Lights in a Fat City live at Club Dog, London 1990

'Not sure who filmed this but this video captures fab didgeridoo-based combo Lights in a Fat City (Stephen Kent and Eddy Sayer) in full swing at Club Dog. 2nd didgeridoo player Cyrung, who later co-founded Tribal Drift features in this performance. He was with the band for about a year in 1990. Cobbled together from a rough one-camera shoot with some sequences re-used along with some atmospheric shots from the same night inserted to fill the space where the camera was pointing at the floor! Sound is as recorded from the camera mic, glitches and all. The Robey just like we remember it!'

Thanks to Michael Dog who uploaded this.
If you fancy some more of the same, click HERE for the first tape release from LIAFC, then still known as Mandorla Mu.