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…

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…

Broadcasts and radio seem to be a bit of a theme recently. First off, BLACK ARROW & ETHER/ORBIT were released together on cassette via The Dark Outside (normally broadcasting from the Galloway Forest) and now Cities and Memory has released a new project called Shortwave Transmissions (broadcasts from around the world), featuring my contribution, Ottawa Shortwave. 

You can listen to the entire release on Bandcamp and hear a special radio programme from its curator on Resonance FM (broadcasts from London). 

…

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…

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…

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…

The hawk-eyed among you might've noticed the recent appearance of a dual-colour, gem-encrusted cassette in various places. This is the first physical release of debut album 'Verxes', which is available exclusively to Bandcamp subscribers in the Neighbourhood. It's backed up on the B-side with demos, rarities and remixes, only 50 have been produced and once they're gone, there likely won't be another run, so if you'd like to get your hands on one (and also to see what else I'm generally up to), you can head…

New in the neighbourhood, mugs featuring your favourite finger puppet band (includes download of In Your Neighbourhood)!

My Bandcamp was looking a little drab so I put down some pink carpet to spruce it up a bit. Hands up who likes Pepto-Bismol?

Head over there now to admire the new carpet.

I hope you asked Father Christmas for a Bandcamp gift card this year, as Gilded Cage is now available on CD from Bandcamp (and subscribers get 20% off all physical merch)!

If you’re wondering about the availability of a physical version of ‘Gilded Cage’, then you’ve come to the right update. Currently, vinyl is still in production, but as soon as it’s here it’ll be going up on Bandcamp and, if you’re a subscriber, you can get 20% off. 

Secondly, a few of you have asked for CDs and whilst a record is a beautiful object, you’re right, it’s quite hard to listen to in the car, so I’ve had a limited number of CDs made and they should be here within the next two weeks! Thanks to @zo…

If, like me, you float between the digital world and the tangible world, you can get hold of new album Gilded Cage and every single digital Curxes release for £20, plus 20% off physical merch like CDs and vinyl. Read more over at Bandcamp. 

Photography by @zomtographer.

Along for the Ryde. I took this at the International Classic Car Show a few weeks ago because it reminded me of the kind of thing you see in Twin Peaks and Fargo.

More of that sort of thing in the Neighbourhood.

Seeing as yesterday was Friday the 13th and there is a puppet king for that, I thought I’d share some thoughts on one of the more obscure inspirations for ‘In Your Neighbourhood’. If you watch the video and listen to the glockenspiel melody, they might summon to mind elements of the US children’s television show, Mr. Rogers’ Neighbourhood, which ran from 1968 to 2001. It wouldn’t be a completely wild connection to make.

Mr. Rogers’ Neighbourhood wasn’t a show I ever watched as a child (although I did avidly…

Ahead of the release of single ‘In Your Neighbourhood’ this Friday (06.10.2017), I’ve designed a few Curxes x Mercht t-shirts featuring The Captain, Flamingo (constructed by Mitchel Wang) and Herman the Cat from the accompanying video. 

They’re available online for a very limited time and you can browse all of the designs here. Mercht also offer worldwide shipping options so you you can be part of the neighbourhood wherever you are.

P. S. If you’re a Bandcamp paid subscriber who’d like to purchase a tee -…

‘Uniseum’ is taken from the forthcoming album, ’Gilded Cage’, due for release 20.10.17. Go to robertafidora.bandcamp.com/neighbourhood to support this release and future projects. Thank you.

Directed by Rob Luckins.