Coastal Electronauts initially began as a lockdown radio show in 2020 and has subsequently developed into a popular regular monthly live event currently held at the Waterfront Club in the seaside town of Whitstable in East Kent….

Coastal Electronauts Vol.1 – Ah, no, not another bunch of  sound artists, not another bunch of nerds pressing electronic buttons in some kind of self indulgent abstract kind of way, not more of this stuff, we get loads of this stuff, we really don’t need any more of this stuff! A two hour compilation album of the stuff for gawd sake, can’t I just pretend we never got the email or the link? There are only so many hours in the day and we get so so much of this droning electronic stuff that almost always sounds like it was far more rewarding for the people who make it that for the people who have to listen to it. I really haven’t got time for this today. This is brilliant, from the warm inviting open moments of the opening piece from Sophie Sirota to the closing moments of the delicious almost twelve minute album-closing piece from Mowgli TV

– “Mowgli TV’s approach to music is experimental, utilizing hardware-based setups that often include self-made instruments and obsolete technologies. His influences are diverse, ranging from musique concrète to African drumming, and he often aims to induce trance-like and altered states of consciousness through his improvisational and site-specific performances” –

Shape Navigator‘s Aramaic Hymn is gloriously glowing, a big big piece of engulfing beauty, worth the price of the double album for those twelve minute waves of warmth alone – most of the tracks here are around the eleven, twelve minute mark, there is one twenty-two minute piece. Aramaic Hymn is apparently an improvised piece inspired by an Assyrian choir and made using an Atlantis synth with a Rene sequencer and an Osmose keyboard. Actually there isn’t a bad track on this well curated album, all the pieces rather strong, AnalogueMechanic (Clive Walpole) is an electronic/experimental musician who has been creating and performing electronic and tape based music since the early 1970’s, he’s delivering rather painterly tangerine dreams here, dreams with a bit of a sharp edge though, and I could go on here, feeding you bits of information and positive comment of each track when really you just need to go listen yourself, it is highly recommended…

“Coastal Electronauts initially began as a lockdown radio show in 2020 and has subsequently developed into a popular regular monthly live event currently held at the Waterfront Club in the seaside town of Whitstable in East Kent.  The aim of the its founders from the outset was to offer a safe space for sharing experimental sounds and performances to a new audience of enthusiasts in the town and beyond. Up to a dozen short sets are played each month by a collective of musicians that include local artists such as Shape Navigator, AnalogueMechanic, Sophie Sirota, OSVoS and Sebtic Smile, accompanied by live visuals from diz_qo. With every event live-streamed, the reputation of Coastal Electronauts has grown in the UK and internationally and been a springboard to larger events including the annual International Drone Day in nearby Canterbury, as well as Synth and Electronic Music Soundbaths elsewhere. Coastal Electronauts Vol 1 is a two CD release. It features a selection of some of the many dazzling performances that have taken place during 2024″

And I could go on, Gagarin‘s piece, Cingulum is clever, different, kind of haunting as it evolves wonderfully. John Gallen‘s UY Scuti is an experimental work featuring a miniature music box enhanced with multiple effects and found manipulated samples. If this really is only the second piece he has performed live then that’s extra impressive, it is an exceptional piece. Field of View creates electronica, mainly using analogue gear – “I’m fascinated by how circuits and voltages can evoke such deep emotions through music” and well, there’s a lot here to explore, it is a double CD, over two hours of instrumental electronic soundscape experimentation,  all of it rather warm, none of it too abrasive of difficult, all of it rather welcoming, embracing, all of it rewarding.

Sebtic Smile/OSVoS/Head Gardeners are probably a little more hard-boiled than most of the contributors, Croissant Encryption is, according to the sleeve notes; “completely spontaneous collaboration using PO33 and monotron delay (Sebtic Smile), guitar, effects and samplers (Head Gardeners) and PO32, PO12 and KP2 mini (OSVoS), this psychedelic mix of loops and samples finishes with a frenzy of chaotic beats and chops. An unexpected triumph which was a lot of fun”. I have no idea what a PO32 is or what a PO12 might be, I don’t really want to know if the truth is told, some electronic keyboard I imagine, it is a track that does have an undercurrent of fun, still serious though, nothing throwaway, maybe colourful more than fun? Am I going to end up going through every track here? You surely are getting the drift by now? If you’re still reading that is? I would’ve cut the chase and hit the play button ages ago if I were you, who needs all these words? Ghostyhed‘s track takes off nicely, ditto The Visitation piece, well no, The Visitation track kind of pulses and throbs before it almost furiously builds up and ‘s /Dave Poole‘s Solstician Drone No.1, performed during this year’s Summer Solstice, his first live performance for 35 years apparently, a semi-generative piece (whatever that means). Was it performed as the sun came up? And we’re back around to the delicious almost twelve minute album-closing piece from Mowgli TV again and well, go explore, it is worth it…

Bandcamp / Instagram

And here’s a couple of hours or more of something from the CD launch event of a couple of days ago….