Welcome to Alan's blog. Well, everyone else goes on about blogs, so I thought I'd give it a go. But, what is a blog? An anything goes train of thought sort of thing - it seems. So, this page will be sporadically added to if and when I feel that I've something to say (reverse chronology, latest at the top that is). I've also decided to use this page to answer questions that may be of wider interest. Any comments on this, then email me! Alan Freeman utle2uk@tiscal.co.uk

29 May 2009
On Saturday 23rd May we did our first outdoor festival gig with Multimorph gig (hybrid project of Endgame with Maureen Anderson & others) at "Glastonbudget" in a tent in a field (mind the cow-pats!) and it was fun indeed!

21 May 2009
Tuesday's Quadelectronic was another night of surprises, with regulars trying out new ideas, like Chris Conway brought his Roland SH32 synth instead of his Theremin, and I took a laptop instead of my Roland SH32! Dave Dhonau took bass guitar instead of cello, and Victoria Bourne added keyboard and laptop processing! One newcomer this time, a friend from London (originally Leicester though) Zaheer who supplied some nice twisted electronics, etc., etc. You'll find all the info on the Quad page as soon as I have it. Quite a crazy Multimorph session last night, which bodes well for Saturday's bash at Glastonbudget.

15 May 2009
Busy with so many projects, I never seem to have much time to relax these days. I rarely have the time to do stuff on the internet that I need to either. But, better busy than bored! Barely making enough money to survive, but I guess I can live with that. Well, that said, isn't everything getting really expensive these days? And, to top it off - or am I just being cynical? - the government have invented another way to rip-off small businesses, that is that every business with a broadband connection now has to buy a TV licence. Yes, they've changed the law, if you can watch free to air TV on your computer, you need a licence. Okay £145 per year is nothing to a big business, with one licence covering a whole building. A good job I've not upgraded to broadband then at work, as that'd be another expense we could do without. We'll have to grin and bear the snail net! Of course, this also means that people at home who deliberately do not have a TV (to avoid a licence) and use the internet instead will now also be clobbered. It's no wonder the government wants everyone to go broadband!

8 May 2009
Saw an excellent and unusual performance the other night, during a special two night event at De Montfort University of electroacoustic and experimental musics. The act in question was a composition by one Andrea Santini called "Venusia", performed by members of the Ubik Teatro from Florence, Italy. The performers looked rather spooky under the spotlights, a man and two women in darks gowns, using voices and instruments and live electronics controlled by motion detection. Remarkable stuff indeed. The mood was a little like early Igor Wakhevitch, with a touch of Jacula (that was the spooky female recitation and "churchy" atmosphere). Naturally, none of the performers or composer had heard of Jacula! Remarkably everything else was also excellent, including a novel performance piece aptly called "Sound Canvas" and a new work from our friend David Hindmarch.

29 April 2009
Had the flu, almost got over it, and now it seems I'm getting it again! Must be the weird weather. Not good having to cancel social events, and I have to work now matter how grotty I feel! One disadvantage of being self employed. But we have to soldier on, don't we? Anyway, I hope everyone's well for this Saturday's Multimorph gig. Should be a stormer. Last night's Quadelectronic #11 went really well. Dave Powell came along again, as did a few newcomers who discovered us from the recent Phoenix Arts bash. So, Chris had his chance to do a Theremin & Hurdy-Gurdy duo "something I'd always wanted to do" he said, and Jim Tetlow & Dave Dhonau did a real unique duet for cello and didgeridoo. There were lots of highlights to remark on really, not a low point, lots of interesting combinations, 8 of us at the start and 12 towards the end (I think). No Victoria Bourne this time (she's off in Berlin, but will be back for the next one) yet there seems to be no lack of excellent experimental female vocalists around, with another making her Quad debut. Technical hitches? Well. there always are. I took along my old laptop to do some live Granulab and loop processing, but soon gave up that idea when it refused to be quiet! We also had some weird fried eggs and noise on the system, which I tried to identify in vain. Could it have been something to do with the storms?

12 April 2009
Just experienced one of the most awesome Black Carrot gigs ever. As I said to them "the further you take it the better it gets" to which Stu said "what, more eccentric than that?" - they were reeling on the experience, and they were one member short that night as well!

26 March 2009
Been a busy month for gigs and other things here, it seemed ages before we had the next Quadelectronic! Before that was the twice yearly EQ Festival, organised by Maureen Anderson at The Musician (again!) which saw the debut of the new Polymorph, or "Multimorph" as I jokingly called it. Seems Maureen went for that, and we did a unique set transforming from Endgame into a big jamming troupe with percussionists and Kevin Hewick on guitar, doing "Fish" as it has never been done before.
I suggested that Kevin should come along to Quad (he also recently surprised us with his new Cream/Hendrix style trio) after saying he'd really like to work with us more. The ideal event to test if his improvisation skills were up to it, he seemed to really enjoy himself. Maureen, after promising to join-in with us for a long time also made her debut Quad appearance. In case you don't know, these events are no longer free-for-alls but Chris picks the groups that are going to play at random (usually trios or quartets, depending on how many people turn up) and as luck would have it, who was chosen to play first but me, Jim Tetlow and Maureen - three ex-Shapeshifter's! Nothing like Shapeshifter though what we did - to quote Maureen was "quite scary".
For this event Chris also came up with a new idea, that each of us would do a 2½ minute solo spot, which resulted in some unique performances, not least my own pure experiment. On the edge, in the spotlight (so to speak) it was a challenge to do something exciting with the very limited kit I took along, but I think it worked well. I guess you'll be able to see it soon on YouTube!

14 March 2009
A lot to report on. First, some sad news: Dave Johnson (guitarist with Shapeshifter) died in early March after a long battle with cancer. A great guy, open to all sorts of challenges, a gifted composer, improviser and wicked freak-out soloist, it was always a pleasure to play with him, and he'll be sadly missed. He was laid to rest on Friday 13 March, after which we did a memorial farewell gig to him at The Musician, an expanded Shapeshifter for a rollicking freaky set, and a fitting end of an era. Dave played his final gig with Shapeshifter in January, when he was quite frail, yet he still managed to sizzle.
In between the above, Wednesday 11th March saw the return of Damo Suzuki, joined by local bands Black Carrot and Misterlee, at The Musician. Misterlee we hadn't seen before, but they were intriguing, "an avant-garde David Bowie" one person commented, more "John Cale meets John Cage with a bit of The Damned" I thought, though maybe not. A hybrid band performed with Damo, delivering a mad freak-out that almost left one breathless!

12 March 2009
I've tried various formats in designing the UT site over the years, and I've come to the conclusion that simplest is best. So you'll now find most pages here without frames and simple formatting. I hope these changes are not confusing. Comments are always welcome. I keep learning new tricks too. More blah, blah, blah, to follow!

12 February 2009
Not so much a blog entry, but an explanation. Last year we had a problem with the UT site going offline, for no reason at all. Something about too much bandwidth useage!? Which didn't seem possible. It later corrected itself after I changed our collection listing page from the whopping 1.2 mb html file it was (don't know what it beccame so big) to a text file of 200 kb, and trimmed-off other bits making the site a bit neater. As a safeguard I set up a smaller site via our old UK Online account and directed the .com address to that. That's fine, except that every time I wanted to update the news page I have to do it, copy it and upload it twice. So, the solution to that was to initiate our other web space account from our home studio computer and add what I've called the "Tachyon Leicester News Hub" at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/tachyons/main.html where you can find UT news, Gig news, and info about the Quadelectronic events. To use that as a launch hub from your browser, add http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/tachyons/index.html to your favourites.
I hope all this makes sense!

21 January 2009
After another great Quad night last night, this time with 16 performers involved, I started to write this and then realised (after going to another page to check-up on some dates and info) that I hadn't been keeping the log of Endgame sessions and gigs up to date. With Jim being away two thirds of the past three years, I guess I'd been a bit lax on that concentrating on other things. Well, I've now got that into some sort of shape! It's not easy to keep track of everything and remember to update all that's relevant you know. That's why I suggested that Jim should set up an Endgame MySpace page, as I also really need to set up a Triax one. People keep asking me why I haven't got a Facebook page, a this or that page...???? If I had the time I may well do! Most of these networking sites are incredibly slow without broadband. That's something else I need to look into. Anyway, back to the Quad bash, and what a night it was, quite a diaspora of elements fusing and clashing. I doubt there's anything like it anywhere else in the world! Where else would you get a Russian trombone player, an Irish saxophonist, a whole range of diverse musicians on electronics, synths, weird home-made gadgetry, and three such wonderful female vocalist all together? In fact, there's even more to it than that. And, Walt Shaw was there again with his table of amplified toys and instruments. From subtle cosmos to fry-your-brains chaos, and everywhere in between! Extraordinary!

31 December 2008
We had another great Quad night just before Xmas, with a bit more space-rockin', odd jazzy bits and a bit of seasonal fare even! As usual, it was great fun for all. Talking of fun, our Xmas break went without a hitch. Hope you all had a good one. And now the new year is looming. In all, 2008 was quite an eventful year, for UT with the publication of "The Crack In The Cosmic Egg" CD-Rom (at the end of 2007) and more recently the long-awaited ex Out Of Focus "Kontrast Vol 1&2" CD reissue, and with our own musical activities we got played on the radio, played support to Black Carrot, played in London, and had lots of other memorable gigs and sessions. Maybe one day we'll be famous? We can hope! I guess though, as with everyone else, I wish we had more money, as there are lots of projects we'd love to do but just haven't the funds. On the domestic front, we've been dogged by things breaking down or wearing out in recent months, our TV gradually died, as did our DVD player, and the rubber on our beloved Mission 707 speakers decomposed! All expense we could do without. Hopefully next year will be a more prosperous one, and you (of course) can help us here, but I think it will be difficult. The thing is, if all the competition goes under we're sure to win-out in the end.
Happy New Year everyone!

24 December 2008
Previously posted on the news page, re: The "Economic Downturn" prices & VAT change. There has been a lot of upheaval on the financial markets just lately. But, of course you know that - don't you? All this craziness has made it all a bit of a headache for the retailer. The £ (GB Pound Sterling) has moved quite beyond belief against the US$ and Euro, and then there's the reduction of UK VAT from 17.5% to 15%. So, whilst the cost of US imports has gone through the roof, European imports have also gone up somewhat. Also some UK distributors have been squeezing the margins recently! The VAT change does rather little to compensate against this, as 2.5% VAT reduction is not a lot (it's only 2.12767 pence in the £), although it does mean that we can reduce many UK releases, which would mean weird prices like a £12 CD now being £11.75. Steve is trying to decide exactly what to do about all this, as a total re-pricing of everything is quite a job. Many prices will inevitably change. I doubt the British Government realised just what a great deal of trouble they were putting everyone to. The thing is, will it actually make any difference to the economy?

20 December 2008
Endgame's first trek to London went down well it seems! This was a Resonance arts event called "Horselength" on Sunday 14th December, at the apparently notorious arts centre "The Horse Hospital", Colonnade, Bloomsbury, WC1N, London [near Russell Square tube]. We were the only band playing, all the rest was film and video work (some of it with rather interesting music) finishing with Michael Snow's intensive sonic barrage "Wavelength" - a cult film of the avant-garde apparently. Endgame were on at 4:30pm, in the dark and it was cold too, but we muddled along with dextrous gusto (I think), I certainly made the place shudder with some of the frequencies churned out on the Roland SH-32 synth. Tapes, bowed CD, bowed springs/ruler and sound samples, all with lots of processing, amounted to the rest of the equipment. Even when Endgame travel light we can still get a real big sound! Jim videod and recorded it, so maybe there will be a DVD in the making! A friend said it sounded like Stockhausen meets Tangerine Dream in an industrial mood, and that "we really surged". The 20 to 40 people all sat there silently and applauded enthusiastically, which was nice. But, so much for wealthy Londoners, I took down a box of CD's, all specially priced, but no one bought any!
We pretty much used the same equipment at Maureen's Winter Solstice gig: Thursday 18th December, at The Pav @ The Park, Leicester. I think we did a similar set too, handing over gradually to Shapeshifter during the second piece. Hardly any audience though, which was a shame.

6 December 2008
Previously posted on the news page, re: Pinnacle Entertainment has gone into administration! After restructuring, and then a management buy-out last year, it was announced that Pinnacle closed down operations on the 3rd of December. Pinnacle were the best and most reliable source for lots of UK independent product, as they acted as a hub for lots of other labels and distributors. This means that we cannot currently get any new stocks of: Ace/Big Beat, Angel Air, BGO, Discipline/Panegyric, Hux Records, Snapper, or anything through the sub-distributors: Cadiz (Revisited), Cherry Red (Esoteric), New Note (Crammed, ECM), and Shellshock (Funfundvierzig, Moonjune, Staubgold, etc.).

1 November 2008
Maureen Anderson's EQ festival on 27 September had a completey different line-up to that which was advertised on The Musician web site! The only "usual suspect" was Shapeshifter, naturally. With Jim back again we played as Endgame + guest Dave Powell (on flute and stylophone) which could have been billed as Extremities, but it sounded and felt like Endgame, like a space-ship's traction been had been locked on to The Musician pub, threatening to lift it off into space. An audience member filmed it on his little digital camera, and it's available for all to see/hear on our first Endgame "Official Bootleg" DVD release!
Quadelectronic - Hat's off to Chris Conway, this event continues to grow! 21 October's event was awesome - 12 performers in various combinations & a huge mad jam at the end! Listening back to the recording, it amazingly all worked. Can hardly wait until the next one!

19 September 2008
Tuesday's gig/jam at Quad Studios was quite an event. This time there was a total of nine of us on stage, if never all at the same time. Of the nine were two excellent female vocalists: Carol Leeming and Victoria Bourne, adding a whole new dimension to it all, Steve and I also did vocals, sometimes it ended up as a surreal cacophony of banshees. Wonderful stuff, I've always loved such avant-garde female jazz singing. Another newcomer was Walt Shaw from Derby, he had a whole table of gadgets, and more - a one man special effects studio - he fitted-in perfectly. Hope to do some work with him in the future. Not everything went swimmingly though, as we had to stop what should have been the big jam and start again, as Shekhar Raj Dhain's idea of throwing grunge-techno elements into the mix proved totally incompatible with what everyone else wanted to do. His previous Quad appearance, playing an old analogue modular synth system worked much better. The rest of the troupe? Me: Alan Freeman (bowed CD and springs, voice, effects), Steve Freeman (bowed DVD, voice, effects), Chris Conway (Theremin, voice, whistles, kalimba, effects), Simon Styring (guitar, guitar-synth), Rob Bryars (electronic percussion). Also, so excited by it all Chris forgot to take the recorder off pause! So, it's now but a memory to those that attended!

30 August 2008
Nice plug on Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone (BBC Radio 6 Music, Sunday's 5-8pm) recently, from Justin Spear, who came in for his annual visit. Seems it reminded a few people that we're still here, and alerted a few locals to our existence. Still pretty slack in the shop though. On a Saturday afternoon it used to be busy here once upon a time, but we've not even had a few browsers since lunch-time. Obviously this sort of thing is why we're one of the few record shops left! But, we'll struggle on, if we can!
Two more Quad gigs since my last report, each a different experience, and we even had some audience! We just do it for the fun of it though, and that we get some recordings that will eventually form an album.

19 June 2008
Tuesday's debut at Quad Studios wasn't so much a gig, but more a jam session, with no audience as such. But it was great fun, especially playing with people we'd never worked with before. In fact we all enjoyed it so much we're going to do it again.

25 March 2008
Maureen Anderson's "EQ Festival" Greenpeace benefit on 22 March was a huge success. Not sure how much money they raised, but musically it was a winner all-round. I think Maureen invited us to play so that she could claim there was "something for everyone" although our Alto Stratus set was clearly the odd thing out! Apparently our 24 minute set scared some of the audience, and one of the management commended me for this! The recording sounds something like Kluster/Cluster crossed with abstract Throbbing Gristle, and I was intending to do something more melodic. Maureen thought it was wonderful, and so did some others in the audience, and I suppose it was nice to get some perplexed/confused hecklers! Other good acts that featured, and worth a mention: Echolocation (who we'd only seen a week earlier supporting Shapeshifter, beat poetry meets Pil/Can, post-rock, and unique invention of their own), The Agonal Trace (promising band in the experimental Factory Records type vein, i.e. Joy Division, Royal Family & The Poor), and of course Shapeshifter, who tend to storm through sets these days, with my twiddly synth icing battling through! And, the stars of the show (at least to me) the ever brilliant Black Carrot!

13 March 2008
Our Triax gig supporting Black Carrot, upstairs at The Charlotte (8 March 2008), went really well. We did something different, 4 very different actual tracks, still pretty improv, but focused, using themes from "Alien Folk" which we'd not really explored further. We pretty much managed to drown out the "Oi" night downstairs, and thundered along mantric-like! Black Carrot were also roaring and now a 5-piece (new guitarist). Jim Tetlow video'd it all and no doubt the Triax will be a future DVD release! Olly of Black Carrot said "Let's do it again" - yeh, let's!

28 February 2008
I hope you're all now checking out Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone on BBC Radio 6 Music (you can get it on your Freeview TV box, DB radio, or listen to it online anywhere in the world for a week after on the BBC's web site). A very varied and constantly surprising show. On 17 February's show, Stuart played a track by our own project Extremities "Bite Me" one of the big tracks from "Fracture" sandwiched between PFM and Aphrodite's Child. Wow! As I said to Stuart (in an email) apt you playing that track though, title inspired by Alice In Wonderland, and the music (totally improvised, by the way) definitely inspired by the Third Ear Band (who you played the week before). I guess that Extremities (and the related Triax) are the only bands around with an electric hurdy gurdy player!

20 February 2008
I'm afraid there will be no more gigs at Bambu. Here's the email I got on the day of the gig from the manager Olivia: Hi guys, I'm really sorry about the late notice, but I'd like to cancel Electronic Bambu. I don't feel that it benefits the venue. I have really enjoyed having you all here, but I don't think the event has the potential to grow, and my existing customer's don't really appreciate what you're doing. Hope you understand this was a difficult decision for me to make, because as I said, I really enjoyed having you all here. All the best, Olivia. Now, why on earth she had to leave so late to tell us this we may never know. Only on the Saturday before everything was fine. This is the third time she'd let us down like this, and inconvenienced many of you our potential audience. I do think the event had the potential to grow, although I was reluctant to do lots of promotion based on the unreliability of the venue. It seem that we'd have had an audience of some 20+ people that night as well. So, we need to look for a new venue. But where?

14 February 2008
Been so busy lately that I've been lax on the Blog front. "The Crack In The Cosmic Egg" CD-Rom is doing really well, in spite the lack of any reviews so far. I sent copies to Record Collector, Mojo and The Wire. I guess it'll take off big time once we do get reviews. Although assembling the packages, inserts, bonus discs, etc. is all pretty time consuming. Hence the new Audion has had to be postponed again
We had a great gig in January at Bambu, that was the "Impromptu" band of Alan Freeman (guitar, electronics), Steve Freeman (tapes, acoustic CD), Simon Styring (guitar synth), Chris Conway (theremin, synths, voice, whistles, etc.) now known as Escape Route. Expect a double CD soon!

18 December 2007
Just phoned up the CD manufacturers today to find out that "The Crack In The Cosmic Egg" CD-Rom should be delivered to us tomorrow. Also just found out that the advert is definitely in December's "Record Collector". Now we need the word to spread.

15 December 2007
Another reputable source for the British music collector has ceased trading. Freak Emporium had been around as long as ourselves in one form or another, and we did much business with them during the years that they ran the Delerium label. Since then we'd not been in touch really, and they had in fact become one of our competitors, particularly in the field of Krautrock. Of course, Freak Emporium also did a lot of beat and psychedelia, and music more in the mainstream than what we do at Ultima Thule. It's a shame that they've folded, however it should hopefully mean the return of some customers that we couldn't satisfy readily enough. These days the explorative music fan is running out options. Freak Emporium blame their downturn on competition from Tax Haven based companies based in the Channel Islands who have a vastly unfair advantage with VAT free pricing. I won't name names, but I think I know who they're talking about. One such company I occasionally use to buy DVD's, and I stumbled on the fact that they were doing the new Harmonia Live 1974 CD at a price comparable to the cheapest I can find it wholesale! I think it's more likely that the people who buy such music are: 1) getting older, 2) have less money, 3) have so many other distractions these days, 4) get married, have mortgages, raise kids, get divorced - all which eats up money. Also, we don't get so many youngsters catching the collectors bug any more. It all adds up (down) to a shrinking market. Hopefully we can survive it.

8 December 2007
I wonder if there's much of a buzz around about Julian Cope's recently released "Japrocksampler" book? I don't own a copy yet. I was expecting Julian to send me a review copy, but he hasn't. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that last time he phoned me, when attempting to tie-up some loose-ends in the discographies, etc., I recommended that he should check-out Kimio Mizutani's excellent A PATH THROUGH HAZE (pretty much a trippy side-step from early Magical Power Mako towards esoteric Stomu Yamash'ta fusion, but slightly fried and psychedelic), a well-tasty album, but Julian slates it as one to avoid. Puzzling, indeed! After hearing some hubbub and controversy about the book, notably that Julian also slates Food Brain's remarkable and unique SOCIAL GATHERING, a shop customer lent me his copy (thanks Martin) to have a quick scan through. Anyway, like "Krautrocksampler" it looks like an enjoyably enthusiastic read. Yet here, it seems that a lot of what Julian rates in Japrock is what I'd deem as rather ordinary heavy rock, here I mean bands like Speed, Glue & Shinki, Love Live Life +1 and Blues Creation, whereas the Strawberry Path (who I'd deem in the same mould) Julian quotes as dreadful, and there's no mention of Flied Egg (arguably one of the better such Jap hard-rock albums, although still too straight ahead for me). Also, he rates Flower Travellin' Band's debut ANYWHERE (the famous nude biker album cover picture is used for the book jacket) which I always thought of as so-so, rightly deems their second SATORI as an all-time classic, and then goes on to rubbish the largely excellent (just one duff track, and it's a double LP) MAKE UP. Of course, it's all a matter of personal taste, yet I don't rate at all the J.A. Caesar or Les Rallaizes Denudés that I've heard to date. Two serious major omissions, if you ask me, are: Cosmos Factory (who made three excellent albums) and Dema (another Masaki Satoh project, an artist that Julian rates highly). No doubt Bi Kyo Ran, who debuted in 1982, were too late to fit in the book's time-frame. Apart from that, it's pretty well researched with lots that's new to me, and largely a fun read. And, a lot of the time, he's right on the mark. The problem though for the music fan is that almost everything covered is very rare on vinyl, and the CD's (if you can find them) are generally pricey and hard to find.

Another oddity in Julian's "Japrocksampler" is Datetenryu. Julian lists one album called UNTO 1971 (on Dragon Freek), whereas I have two by them: 1971 (CD on Gyuune CD 95-06) which is old raw archives from 1971 (not bad, but certainly not great either) and UNTO (CD on Belle Antique BELLE 97370) which is vastly superior recordings from 1975 & 78 sounding somewhere between Can and improv King Crimson. Based on Julian's write-up. he seems to be talking about a compilation from these. Hard to know exactly as all the titles are in Japanese!

29 November 2007
Surreal night at The Charlotte last night. Not the music, but the lack of audience! We went to see Black Carrot, who were second on stage. The first act Jesus Car Fish are a new Leicester band, and not a bad indie rock outfit with some nice numbers amongst their repertoire. Seems no one came to see them apart from a couple of groupies, one of which is a part time member of the band. The audience swelled for Black Carrot to a dozen or so. Although it was like being in a barn, I guess on stage it was ideal, as Market Harborough's adroit foursome really went on to kick up a storm, with a mixture of familiar favourites and new numbers, and surprises galore. Well, that was certainly worth the 4 quid! But, what of the next act? The Mai 68's sounded more like a relic from 1981, and their badly played pop/punk seemed to be deliberate, however they also cleared the venue a bit! Finally, it seems that no one actually came to see the headline act. Das Pop, from Ghent in Belgium may be touted as one of the hottest up-and-coming alternative pop acts around, but they sounded like many a dull indistinguishable American Velvets inspired act to me, straighter than Sonic Youth even, and not at all my bag. We stayed around largely to chat with Black Carrot people, despite the venue rapidly becoming like a fridge! I wonder if the smoking ban is having a negative effect on concert attendance? When Faust played at the Charlotte at least half the audience was smoking? Also, I guess the cold/damp weather didn't help. A strange night indeed!

24 November 2007
Hey, wow! We've just been praised/plugged in The Guardian! We're obviously doing something right then, but I wish we had more customers all trekking to Leicester spending £100+ each. I wonder if this will gain us many new customers?

Last Wednesday's Bambu Electronic gig went really well, with basically Simon doing a mellow intro followed by two huge jams, with the 4 of us: Alan (me), Steve, Chris & Simon taking to the stage and leaving ad hoc as seemed appropriate! Not much of an audience though. Well, we were competing against England losing to Croatia. But. Extremities fan Mo made it this time, scuppered by cancellations of his previous two attempts to see us play live.

Also just recently completed a tasty new Endgame DVD called "Dark Matter", with just one 84 minute opus (brand new Endgame, by the way!) accompanied by weird animations and space-warps. Lovely, hypnotic, mind-bending. Better than drugs, one person told me!

6 October 2007
Been so busy with many other projects that I've let this lapse for a while. First up, I recently set up a Myspace page for our band Alto Stratus http://www.myspace.com/altostratusendgame - as people kept asking why I hadn't got a Myspace page, and I thought "why not?" and investigated. It's a pretty well thought out site that means anyone can easily keep in touch with your musical activities. Of course managing it means more extra work, which I tend to do during spare time on Saturdays. I bet you're thinking "Why altostrausendgame?" Well, there was already an American outfit on Myspace called Altostratus (all one word) so when I'd set up my page it refused to let me use altostratus.

We've also been busy on the live front, with the Improv Electronic gigs. This has led to a number of unique releases. However, we ran cropper twice with the venue being closed one time and then they cancelled it at short notice another time. This led to all sorts of problems that makes me very reluctant to use Bambu again. Chris Conway says that he'll stick with it because he likes the venue. Well, so do I, except the PA's rather naff (so we have to take our own), but they are rather easy going and it's free, and they don't seem to mind what we do. Most venues would shudder in horror at the prospect of what we do. But I pity all those that got to the venue only to find that we weren't there. It was pretty frustrating for us too, I can tell you.

In case you hadn't noticed, we're now starting to issue DVD's on our Auricle label, the first few which document sessions in our home studio, complete with special effects, psychedelic visuals, etc. Time consuming projects, sure. Extremely gratifying though. So, if you haven't had chance to see us play live, then these are the next best thing. Amazing what we can do these days - eh?

19 July 2007
Chris Conway billed last night's Improv Electronic as "Simon's Choice" and not just wanting to do solo guitar all night he invited Endgame to join-in as collaborators. Many different performances ensued, starting with a really wild Endgame improv for 3 bowed acoustic CD's! These ad-hoc nights are now to be known as "Impromptu Electronic" as no actual band is performing. In fact, Simon started the trend for musicians walking onto the stage as and when they thought something more could be added. Also, Julian Broadhurst's percussion added another dimension. Yet to listen back to the recordings, but it seems we have another double CD "Live @ Bambu" in the making!

12 July 2007
The rescheduled Endgame gig went a treat last night, although not everyone disappointed by the June gig not happening could make it. Those that did all seemed to agog and mesmerised by it. Just 4 big improvisations, totalling around 140 minutes (I think) it inevitably means a double CD "Live @ Bambu" is in the works! Great fun you know, riding the edge of chaos and getting to some incredible highs, the buzz and satisfaction of it all makes it worth the hassle. Free fun for all.

28 June 2007
"What's a typical day in the UT shop?" someone asked me. "No such thing" I have to say. A good day can be just one customer that spends a lot, as opposed to lots of customers/browsers who spend very little. When we first opened, weekday lunch times were always busy, but then most of the service sector businesses moved to the suburbs. "I guess you're always busy Saturday afternoons?" - Well, no actually. I wonder if many assume this and thus don't come on a Saturday afternoon thinking we'll be too busy?

28 June 2007
Someone from BBC Radio Leicester phoned me up yesterday asking if I'd like to be interviewed about the plight of the British independent record shop. This is because the only two independent record shops in nearby Loughborough have now closed down. And, we're one of the few left in Leicester. They were after what I thought about the internet replacing shops, largely. I had to decline, as I don't really feel qualified to talk about such things. After all, Ultima Thule is no normal record shop, is it? And, we've always largely relied on the mail-order side to carry the business along, and the internet has worked as free advertising tool since we established the web-site several years back. I do know that the internet has made people lazy, and less likely to go out shopping, that's true. If I'm after an obscure DVD I generally look online. But I think there's much more to it all than that. So many shops seem to be closing down these days, or are in real difficulty, in all sectors of the retail market. But, let's not get glum, it is inevitable that people's habits change. We just hope that we can ride it out!

21 June 2007
Those expecting a report on last night's Endgame gig won't get one I'm afraid, as it never happened. There we were, all geared up and ready, and we get to the venue "Bambu" it's all dark inside, the door is locked and no one has even picked up the morning post. There's no door bell, so I rattle the letter box in case there's someone inside, but in that case they'd probably see us waiting via the street CCTV camera. But no staff turn up either. So, instead we are forced to wait 2 hours to tell the disappointing news to the few punters that turned up. If anyone turned up late, all we can say is we're sorry, but we waited until 9:30. Peter Smith had come all the way from Chichester for the gig, so we took him home with us to listen to a couple of unreleased Endgame sessions instead. It was a really annoying turn of events I can tell you. We're yet to find out why no one was there, and Chris Conway (who organises this) was even more surprised than we were. Maybe we need to search for a new venue yet again?

16 June 2007
At long last I got the new Audion together. It's always rewarding when machine spews out the first copy! Hopefully there won't be such a big gap before the next one. Audion is the only such UK specialist fan magazine that's still in operation. 21 years now, with 53 issues, and a number of other specialist publications. The internet is okay and web based magazines can be useful, but there's nothing quite like print on paper is there? Why not check-out the Audion page?

13 June 2007
Amazing Faust gig last night! - Here's a brief digest from the Audion #54 review...
First on were Now, now just a trio with rhythm machines, which could have been real dodgy, but remarkably they managed to pull it off. The best number I didn't know (or, at least don't recall) which was very Metabolist (kinda Can meets Magma) in its rhythmic base and hypnotic chanting vocals.
Black Carrot were apparently going to segue into the Faust set. They certainly grooved well, with a mix of familiar material, not so familiar new numbers, and a whole lot of that Henry Cow meets Zappa/Mothers crossed with Can/Faust/Neu!/Kraftwerk and a dash of Pere Ubu. Wicked stuff, they did things I'd never seen or heard them do!
Segue over, Faust were cooking, making a phenomenal sound for a trio. The new unknown guitarist (one James Johnston), and fourth musician, a girl (Geraldine Swayne, I believe) later also joined them on the crowded stage. The staple of good Faust gigs has been a variety of numbers from THE FAUST TAPES, and this gig was no exception, with one of the finest live versions of J'Ai Mal Aux Dents I've heard, and a few of those other weirdly twisted numbers whose titles escape me. Another staple of a Faust gig is the Peron surprise. What would it be tonight? You'll have to read the Audion issue when it's available! We also had the ritual of the power tools, angle-grinders, drills, anything capable of creating a din, JH and Zappi running amok, the red hot shards of angle grinder against metal caused the audience to move well-back! All in all, it had to be one of the most extraordinary of gigs ever. My ears were still buzzing way over a day later, but it was worth the sacrifice

17 May 2007
A bit of a gap, as I'm seriously trying to get a new Audion together. It's a lot of work you know, largely all down to me (and the few others I can get to write reviews) as Steve ran out of new ideas of what to say years ago. As Andy G. said "It's becoming the Alan Freeman show" - which has been the case for some time now. I'd left it a mite long though really, with trying to get other projects done, like finalising research on "The Crack In The Cosmic Egg" (an impossible task really) and making a serious start on the Italian book project. And, for some reason, this past winter I just didn't feel inspired to review anything. Nice that Peter Smith's been rolling out reviews of virtually all Auricle releases since I encouraged him to. His enthusiasm is especially rewarding and refreshing. I just wish we could get other people to stock our releases or gain reviews elsewhere. Any ideas?
Anyway, the real reason for this entry: last night's Improv Electronic at Bambu, with Chris Conway's space improv "not quite jazz" trio Continuum. Their first full night's gig, as far as I know, and a great vehicle for Simon Styring to wow us all with his new guitar synth. It was all pretty out there, kind of Stephan Micus in space meets Robert Fripp and Terje Rypdal's early 1970's band, well yes/no - and Chris's Theremin - wowwwaaa!

2 May 2007
Before I forget - the Damo gig, with support from Black Carrot and others went really well, except that only 36 or so paying audience turned up. Where were all the Can fans, and those that said they'd be there but weren't? We were on the "guest list" - a privilege of being friends with the organisers and musicians. The night's final big jam, with Damo backed by an expanded Black Carrot, with David Teledu on guitar (attempting a Michael Karoli emulation) rocked along wickedly, getting very close to Can's BBC recording "Along The Bakerloo Line". Yes, the spirit of Can was reborn in Leicester on Saturday. A shame so few people went to see it.
Note from David: one point - i wasn't particularly 'trying to emulate m.karoli' . irrespective of whether i can play as well as he did (which of course i can't) , i actually tried NOT to sound too much like him. i'd rehearsed a few well-known Can licks , riffs & chord sequences @ home the week before & i think i ended up using NONE of them. partly i was very tired when i got to play... - fine (I was possibly being nostalgic), whatever, it was great!

28 April 2007
Fun Shapeshifter gig last night, in which I added lots of sizzly bubblings and wooshes on the Roland SH32 synthesizer. Off to see Damo Suzuki backed by Black Carrot tonight. One person commented last night "you'll have a busy day tomorrow then, with loads of Can fans visiting Leicester" - I expected so, too - but no - hardly anyone came. Ah well!

19 April 2007
Last night's gig at Bambu was indeed fun! Chris's idea was for it to be a solo's night, from yours truly Alan Freeman, Steve Freeman, Simon Styring and Chris Conway himself, most of us adopting a more basic instrumentation, and hopefully some guests as well. Despite the fact that I invited a number of others to join in, all who said "they'd love to" and would get back to, no other musicians turned up! So, it was down to the four of us, each doing a solo bit first, then the 6 different possible permutations as duos, ending with a big jam. Novel, or what? I managed to get most of it recorded as well! So, no doubt there'll be a CD of it in some form.

7 April 2007
I'll try not to use this as a moan page, but I do wonder lately what is happening to the retail sector? Increasingly fewer people seem to have any disposable income, and here at UT we're feeling the pinch. Why is this? Well, for one thing, a few friends cum big spending customers have "passed on", whereas others get married, get divorced, move on and perhaps we hear from them again after a 10 year hiatus, and many regulars have moved away (saying they'll keep in touch, but few do so). Also, we're all getting older and priorities change - right? Remember, we need your business to survive, whereas the big retailers don't, and also they're more expensive, and you don't get that personal touch that we can give you.

6 April 2007
Anyone out there ever thought of where Quentin Tarentino (or whoever was responsible) got the idea for using a very brief piece of Neu! in his "Kill Bill Vol.1" ? Maybe he'd seen the dubbed version of a crazy Kung Fu film called "The One Armed Boxer II" which has Neu! music for the opening credits - wicked! It features various bits from Neu! 2 throughout the film, as well as big chunks from side 2 of Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" and bits of Tangerine Dream's "Ricochet" - sometimes these are also mixed together, making for a most bizarre soundtrack. Also heard twice is that wrrrrr...klang/dong bit from "The Faust Tapes" heard in dozens of Kung Fu movies. Nothing ever gets credited though in these films! At least Tarentino credits Neu! which means they now get a mention on the imdb (International Movie Database).

30 March 2007
A musical success, if not ovewhelmingly attended, the "Improv Electronic" nights at Bambu, 21 Welford Road, Leicester, are proving quite rewarding. IE5 in January even saw the 7 of us space-rockin' with gusto during the final big jam. But, unfortunately, something was set up wrong with the DAT and it's now a lost experience in our memories only. Chris's solo night in February was more like a private party for the 4 of us, with Chris (as always) impressing us with his versatle musical talent, especially his ambitious live improvised soundtrack to Murnau's "Nosferatu". Peter Smith kindly donated a review of the March Alto Stratus & Triax night. Next up we have a solos night, in which I plan to do a piece for bells, cymbal and echo/delay. I've no idea what anyone else is doing, but as always it's sure to be fun! By the way - it's free!

Finally
Is this page a good idea or not? Opinions and reactions are welcome. Let me know if you love it. Or, maybe you think it's a waste of time and think I shouldn't bother with it. Email me: Alan Freeman utle2uk@tiscal.co.uk
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