Early excursion in Aphex ambient works territory around '92/3

Ground

Epsilon 6

So this has been kicking around in the archives for a long time but on a re-lísten I decided to put it out here on Soundcloud. 

When The Roland Stoves arrived in London around 1995 the dance scene was already in a state of flux with Jungle breakbeats usurping the 4 on the floor Techno beats that had held sway for the last few years and which had become the mainstay of what we were working with. As Drum & Bass began to emerge we thought we’d better get on the wagon so started incorporating these beats into our tracks. The live set here shows the fusion between previous styles and this new slant with our penchant for spacey samples ;o) Starring: Lemmy, the Atari, Sulu and Kirk, the emperor, Robbie, the Krishnas, Q, the Traveller and Statler and Waldorf.

This was played out at a few gigs - Happiness Stans at Smithfields, The Sub Club in Brighton and at a Primal Scream party at The Fortress, where we had our studio. A bit was even played to Dillinga (the drum and bass producer when he came to buy a synth). Mostly constructed using a Roland S760 sampler and run live with an early colour Mac Powerbook laptop running eMagic Logic. 

Best played loud on a system with decent Bass response. Enjoy!

Interzone DNB set 96

Interzone Drum N Bass Live Set 1996

A 1995 track from the Fortress Sessions, London EC1. War never seemed far away, even back then, but this exercise in raiding Space 1999 seems all the more relevant now..

Fortress Sessions

Where Eagles Dare

An outtake from the Interzone Razor sessions in the Moonbase Alpha studio, Totnes, UK 1993. I’ve put this up for lovers of synth solos as this is basically all this is, a completely off the cuff improvised solo performance on the Roland Jupiter 6. It’s a bit rough and ready to say the least and those not into solos - guitar, synth or otherwise, can happily pass ;o) There were many influences going through my head as I played this, see if you can spot who was being channeled!

The audio is a bit fried around 3 mins in but soon clears so persevere.. but this precluded it from inclusion on the Roland Stoves / Interzone Bandcamp releases. Anyway just a bit of fun, enjoy!

How Do You Like My New Car

This one also from around '93 originally only had a mix on a crappy cassette that had been played to death (and seems to be mono!). So we tried to rebuild the tune and get a better mix but couldn't stop fiddling with it. This is the first of the rebuilds (so closest to the original) later versions had everything thrown in, even a brass band...

Hyperflight EP

Hyperflight (2nd Voyage)

Hyperflight

One of a trio of improvisations worked on a single analogue synthesizer (Korg DW-8000) with a little help from Cubase's mixer map on the Atari...'93

Bobgod

Sub Aqua 1

compact electronic sketch from the Moonbase munchkins '93

Out Of Sequence C

Eurodream

Edgy techno groove from the Electric Razor sessions '93

Razor

Intertwining sequential trancendence with heavily tweaked 303 from the Wilners sessions '94

Trancemission

Reserviced 1

From the Fortress sessions in the mid 90s this track was inspired by the Human League and particularly Richie Hawtin's Alpha Wave

Fortress Sessions Vol.1

The League

The Roland Stoves (aka The Interzone amongst other monikers) were pioneers in the techno, electronica and ambient scenes from the early 90's. Many recordings were made during the period '91 - '96, and at least three albums, several eps and a full length promo video were completed, but nothing received a general release. 

In the end only a few demos ever made it out of their Moonbase Alpha studio, mainly handed personally to contemporary artists like Aphex Twin, Orbital, The Shamen, The Orb, Drum Club, Eat Static, Coldcut etc. and a multitude of techno DJs. 

It seems that the diversity of styles that were being output made for an unlikely fit with the various labels of the time. A possible release on Aphex's Rephlex imprint was not mutually agreed, Mighty Force (who first issued Aphex Twin's Didgeridoo) couldn't take it all on board, Planet Dog appeared unreachable and discussions with Rob at Warp were unfortunately cut short.. Even an introduction to Novamute from Richie Hawtin led nowhere leaving The Stoves languishing in the wilderness.

The tracks featured here are from a selection of remasters in an ongoing project to resurrect The Roland Stoves from obscurity...

'High audio cuisine specially blended by machine'

The Roland Stoves

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