Ectogram give free reign to their psychedelic sensibilites to visualize an instinctively adventurous rock music that has evolved into the present century unencumbered by nostalgic reverence. At the same time, they never lose sight of the primal physicality and inquisitive thirst that made this genre so alluring in the first place. They stretch the limits of their minimal instrumentation: Ann Matthews on vocals & guitar, Alan Holmes on guitar and Maeyc Hewitt on drums, never falling back on mere generic stylings but at times evoking a sonic palette more reminiscent of an arms testing facility than a rock'n'roll trio. Drummer Maeyc stylistically fuses heroes Karl Bartos and Elvin Jones to catapult the listener recklessly through the sonic substructures linking the chromadelic splatter paintings of Ann's vorticist 12-string architectures to the shimmeringly abrasive aural iron filings dragged hither and thither across the soundfield by Alan's neo-fragmentist magnetic 6-string. Just when it's all on the brink of disintegration, Ann brings it back into crystalline focus with probably the only voice in rock history to have drawn comparisons with both Dagmar Krause and Clare Grogan.
The trio's fourth album "Electric Deckchair" is (alongside its sister LP "Concentric Neckwear" - see below), the fruit of sessions in Bryn Derwen studio with sound wizard Michael Auld at the controls. Several hours of live performances by the group were captured, of both improvisations and compositions, with the only subsequent overdubs being vocals. This has resulted in an album which comes closer to the elusive live Ectogram experience than any previous release. After whittling the results down to a manageable 80+ minutes, the group opted to compile two separate discs of standard LP length, each sequenced to stand as a complete album in its own right. The resulting 2 CD set makes for a much more focussed listening experience than the exhausting 80 minute marathons that have become the norm in the digital age, whilst still delivering a full quota of post-tonal sonic thrills. Both discs flit effortlessly between concise 2-3 minute songs and extended 20 minute odysseys in a manner that suggests the group have never been fully familiarised with market targeting. Since finishing the album, Ectogram have been to Germany twice to perform at the Klangbad festival in Scheer and the Schiphorst Avant Garde festival near Hamburg, having been personally invited as guests of krautrock godfathers Faust, with whom they subsequently toured the UK in October/November 2005.
You can get Electric Deckchair, and all the other Ankst releases (see full discography in blog section) direct from the label:
www.ankst.net
and also now as digital downloads from wherever you got these things from.
A Brief History......
Ectogram rose from the ashes of infamous Bangor noiseniks Fflaps in 1994, after drummer Jonny Evans retirement coincided with Alans bass amp packing up. With old friend Maeyc drafted in on drums, and Alan moving to guitar, a new bass-less group was born, releasing a handful of singles over the next year before Ankst Records released their debut (double) album entitled "I Can't Believe it's Not Reggae!" in 1996. The LP set the groups agenda, seeing them slipping between concise, melodic pop songs and somewhat less concise sonic explorations, taking in dreamlike pastoral soundscapes, expressionistic post-tonal rock, fish-like 50's cocktail dissonance, intergalactic folk music, 70's NYC art-punk minimalism and repetitive polyrhythmic hypnogrooves along the way, relocating 1996 Wales into a cosmic bubble floating in the ether somewhere between 1971 Germany and 1976 Cleveland, Ohio.
The inclusion of a Faust song on their "Spoonicon" EP ("Perfect for travelling at 90 m.p.h. down the A55", according to Mojo magazine) brought the group to the attention of the originators themselves and led to them playing onstage with the krautrock legends (and being set on fire by them!). Gigs with Pavement, The Raincoats and Beck followed and their epic 1998 white vinyl "Spitsbergen" 10" EP (on the Ochre label) somehow managed to reach No 1 in Serbia!
"Ectogram chase a particularly pure and intangible sound, equal parts Canterbury sundown jamming, communal Amon Duul clatter and slightly spaced folk rock. "Spitsbergen" is a monster, an eternally repeating, lazily locked groove." said The Wire in May 1998.
Writer Jon Savage described the live Ectogram experience of the time: "What they do offer is a fine post-punk/psych sonic assault; which means astringency rather than self indulgence, early Tom Verlaine rather than Jerry Garcia, striped neo-60's beatnik threads rather than long hair and crusty clothes"
Trips to Switzerland and Holland were followed by a second album "All Behind The Witchtower" released on Ankstmusik in 2000 - Select called it "a haunting blend of unhinged pastoral moods and leftfield music - like The Wicker Man remade by Sonic Youth" and The Wire said that it "captures the genuine essence of psychedelia without getting mired in its surface trappings".
While the group were quiet on the live front at this time (due to geographical separation), they appeared on several compilations, all participated in Ochre Records legendary supergroup The Serpents and recorded a third album "Tall Things Falling", which was released in 2002. Mojo magazine said it "makes your speakers squeal and rattle, treated vocals and all manner of sonic bolshieness driving Krautrock and psychedelia-influenced numbers - imagine Sonic Youth and Altered Images jamming. If you're looking for something more leftfield, this druggy experiment-fest should float your boat; those in more conservative social circles can use it to clear party stragglers." Q magazine said that the songs "suggest eerie pastoral events and a distinctive contemporary psychedelia" and Careless Talk Costs Lives said "Ectogram come up trumps throughout this instantly enjoyable listen."
Geographically re-united (drummer Maeyc having returned to North Wales from London), the group are now more likely to be seen live and have recently released their 4th album, a 2CD set entitled "Electric Deckchair". The same studio sessions also yielded a movie soundtrack, with the group providing the music for the Bafta award winning Welsh film "Y Lleill". In addition, playing at two festivals in Germany during Summer 2005 reunited the group with old friends Faust, leading to a full UK tour with the legendary Germans in November.
During 2006, the group finished two more albums, the first of which is a beautifully presented vinyl release on the new Pure Pop For Now People label. Entitled "Concentric Neckwear", the album has the same track listing as Electric Deckchair, but features completely different versions of all the songs. The LP is available from the label direct, in a limited edition of 200 copies (just click on their logo in our top friends below). The second new album, entitled "Fluff on a Faraway Hill" was recorded in Germany during Summer 2006 and released in the UK and Germany on the 18th June 2007.
