Keeping the collaborative spirit going, here's something new by Phantoms Vs Fire, which features some vocals from myself and many magnificent synth sounds. Listen below.

P. S. If you belong to the Neighbourhood, there's something for you already. You can download them from Bandcamp or through the main website.

P.P.S. No puppets were harmed in the making of this…

I recently contributed some vocals to a project by Simon Heartfield and they found their way into this atmospheric, immersive mix from when he supported The Orb last Thursday (full selection can be found by clicking the title). Hopefully the visuals will be up soon too, but until then, listen below.

It's out! Listening posts are on the website and over on Bandcamp. Also, following the Murder, She Wrote nod, here I am below, fighting with a puppet for your affections, with thanks to Rob Quickenden at Ford Lane.

Maybe it should be renamed Dark Krampus instead of Dark Compass given the time of year, but it's always nice to see songs getting a play on the radio, in this case, the song is In Your Neighbourhood. 

On that vague song theme, this year's festive Neighbourbood card has now been posted and there is a new collection of things over there which provides a backdrop to my previous seasonal efforts (and a whole lot of hoarding). Last year's festive episode of your favourite puppet adventures is also available to…

As many of the places for finding inspiration and discovering visual archives are shapeshifting again, I'm reminded that I should gather more things together and display them here, lest they disappear into some digital ether, along with all my best Myspace angles, birthday reminders (which were fairly handy actually) and NIN-adjacent MSN names. With that in mind, here are a few cassette-themed bits and pieces that I've been perusing recently for design referencing and general time-wasting purposes. Enjoy!

1. A…

Thrilled to see that all of the Cities and Memory field recordings and compositions (including my contributions Huygens and Ottawa Shortwave) are now permanently archived at The British Library as part of their Sound and Moving Image Catalogue! Read the full article at the Cities and Memory website. 📁

Thanks to Ro from DarkCompass for playing What You Want on the radio last night. Did you know that the show started in 2004? That's way back when MySpace was the go-to place. Speaking of which, you can find Ro on Mastodon and I am now also over here, definitely not following lots of nerdy tags like #postcard and #musodon. 👋

Halloween is almost upon us and it just so happens that my creepy orange child (an almost perfectly doom-y accompaniment to the spooky season), Gilded Cage, is five years old this year. For that reason, I've decided to put the instrumental version of it online for all your gloomy soundtrack and karaoke needs.

Ungilded Cage is up now for Neighbourhood folks.

Coaster by Tether.

Earlier in the year, I released my two space EPs with the finest cassette label and broadcaster in Dumfries and Galloway and was beyond delighted that they sold out in under 24 hours (especially in the post-Christmas period - arguably one of the most miserable times of year, perhaps second only to the hellscape known commonly as "summer"). My copies take pride of place in my tape collection, along with some of the earlier fever dream-esque Dark Outside compilations.

Long before this…

No new releases for Bandcamp Friday tomorrow (still on a learning and muttering under my breath curve), but I did make a video a few days ago which brings together my childhood TV habits, sandcastles and celebrity rocks in support of the Neighbourhood. I got stung by a wasp filming it so please give it a watch and help me feel like the suffering for art wasn’t in vain. Will keep you posted if any baby insects burst out of my leg.

With apologies to Ron Mael from Sparks, Matthew Corbett and everyone on Ryde…

I was fully intending to make some equus puns, but it's even too hot for horse jokes. Instead, I will just share this new horse-themed album from Glass Grave, which I recently contributed to (Neighbourhood folks, check your emails/Bandcamp for a download code). 



Also, for anyone that owns a BLACK ARROW record, you might recognise the release imprint BLACK ARROW COMMUNICATIONS and the "BAC" logo, which is part-broadcasting icon and part retro airline graphic. What started as just a riff on the rocket and…

So you might've noticed that the website is looking a bit fancier. We're very much back from space travels now and I decided to do some digital DIY. Hope you like it.

Also, I've made several improvements to the Neighbourhood. You can join up via Bandcamp and any newbies who do so during April will get a bonus CD as well as a limited edition cassette. I accumulated quite a lot of songs during lockdown so let's see how many we can get finished this year...

Finally, it's ten years since Haunted Gold was…

To what does the mysterious title above refer?

It can only be a new show from blue star radio! Here, you can listen to my contribution to the recent Cities and Memory project, Shortwave Transmissions, along with pieces from Moray Newlands and Audio Obscura (and also music from Grouper and Mica Levi for good measure). Get ecstatic for static below. 👂

They're back! Bandcamp will be resuming Bandcamp Fridays in 2022. They'll be on February 4th, March 4th, April 1st, and May 6th.

As a small token of appreciation, every order (at least until we run out) placed on Bandcamp Friday will get a shiny new "Fidoratone" sticker, inspired by a long, meandering thread on synth logos and locally, lovingly made by our friends over the water at Sticker Freak (they're fellow fans of retro design and everything hauntology and horror-adjacent, so have a virtual wander over…

Just a quick post to say thanks to everybody who picked up a copy of the recent cassette release of BLACK ARROW and ETHER/ORBIT from The Dark Outside. It was amazing to see 100 tapes sell out in under 24 hours and even more incredible that the obi edition was sold out by 18:01 (having gone up at 18:00)!

Appreciate all the folks who enthusiastically shared updates about it too and look forward to seeing those tapes in their new homes! If you do fancy sharing a pic, tag both @DarkOutside and @RobertaFidora…

As it turns out, I’ve accumulated quite a lot of my own space junk (some of which you can see in the video for The Stars, Like Dust) and whilst you can find Apollo moon landing commemorative plates, NASA mission patches and everything from Sputnik t-shirts to Cosmonaut Christmas decorations, there really isn’t much beyond a first day cover for BLACK ARROW or Prospero (and I only know that because Marlene, who I interviewed for BLACK ARROW, told me about having this lone souvenir at home - with a copy…

From High Down to Huygens, it's been exciting (not to mention a nice surprise) to see the new collaboration between Electronic Sound magazine and globe-spanning field recording project Cities and Memory. The new issue features an interview with Cities and Memory founder, Stuart Fowkes, along with a few picks from previous releases and I'm really pleased to say that Huygens is one of them (along with the original sound source for additional context)! The bundle edition comes with an excellent double CD…

Today marks a year since BLACK ARROW was released. This article from Mark Brown was something I read early on when researching more about it, which gives a good overview of the kinds of topics covered in the conversation with Marlene and probably best describes many of the ideas I wanted to explore further around this small chapter in the history of space and satellites. It talks about unrealised futures, the relief from several people who worked on it at pivoting to space-focused projects from missiles and…

Potentially your city, even, depending on where you're tuning in from. Anyway, nice to hear In Your Neighbourhood get a little play here whilst I'm working on some new bits and pieces.

Also, on the subject of synth cities, if the idea of owning a wall of vintage synths appeals but storage is a problem, then these might be the answer. They are made by a graphic designer called Ronaldo Lopes Teixeira Rolt and I love them. Check out the gallery (including a mini Space Echo) or watch one of my favourites, the…

Orange you glad you took some time to read this blog? Because Youth Ascension, from the album with the fright-filled front, is on Resonate's staff pick playlist for February. You can listen to this month's top of the co-op pops here.

Start your weekend listening with our February 'staff picks' playlist 🎧 link in bio 👆#resonatecoop #playfair #ethicalstreaming #digitaldignity #musiccooperative #stream2own #futureofmusic #staffpicks pic.twitter.com/UB0NuxnllC

— Resonate (@resonatecoop) February 19, 2021

…

When everything has felt firmly glued to the spot (and the sofa at certain points), I'd like to say thank you to everyone who joined me for a trip into space, with a special nod to Wavegirl, Simon and The Joint radio show (already well into 2021) for their kind end-of-year words and airplay. It's been really lovely and encouraging to read.

Best EP of 2020:

Roberta Fidora - Black Arrow

This is a work of stunning beauty from beginning to end, coupled with the artwork... wow!
I really can't wait to see what…

Set your radios to hum, because it's time for another instalment of The Dark Outside (the broadcast where you could hear anything from an acid banger to a particularly beautiful washing machine), this time as part of Aerial Festival. Join in here and listen out for something about top secret rocket documents or that sounds like wind whistling through island deckchairs. You can also follow along on Twitter as you listen.

Photo shared by Pete Warren.

In case you missed it (or I did), I was delighted to talk to the audio production platform SoundGym about budgie heads, flamingos and also non-bird-related matters, like how I like to work through songs and recounting my time imitating PJ Harvey at college. The bird is the word (and also a bit of a nerd) here.

This week I've been getting on my soap box Derbyshire because 'Retrophonica' is now bleeping and blooping out in the world - you can listen to the full release below.

Enjoy a review of my "swirling synths" and "strong architecture" via ANTI Music here, in addition to a track-by-track listen on Yeah I Know It Sucks, where I may well have been betrayed by my gothic past. Additionally, here's an article about Wendy Carlos I found really interesting prior to contributing, which beautifully articulates some…

Last year (or what feels like another 50 years ago), we celebrated the moon landing anniversary, an event that has inspired countless retellings and re-imaginings through television, film, design and song. A historic occasion that gave people the opportunity to imagine little pieces of the universe for themselves, to ponder what else might exist beyond our planet and where we imagined belonging to another, better future than the one we have now. 

So imagine my surprise when, in 2018, I stumbled across a…