disc one...
1. ONCE UPON A TIME 22'00"
2. BALKAN NINJA GHOST DANCE 7'05"
3. CAN ANYBODY SEE THE FISH? (POING!) 11'28"
4. CAUCHEMAR 18'35"
5. DAG A LIG DIG DOG 5'22"
6. FORK THE MOLLUSC INDECENT 8'10"

disc two...
1. NOUS SOMMES CHERCHÉ 10'00"
2. FAIRE UN BRUIT DE SUCCION (SQUELCH) 12'55"
3. VYVOLVÁT (EVOKE) 9'55"
4. ORGANISTROM 7'20"
5. DEJA-RUE 24'10"
6. IHRE CANTATA DADA 10'40"

Recorded at Tachyon Studio 7/8/2002, 18/9/2002, 30/10/2002, & 2/1/2003.
Mixed by Jim Tetlow at Tachyon Studio (20 July 2003).

Alan Freeman: synths, keys, guitar, voice, loops, effects, whistle, percussion.
Steve Freeman: bass, synths, loops, samples, turntable, voice, harmonica, etc.
Jim Tetlow: synths, loops, guitar, voice, percussion, toys, gadgets, pipes.
Dave Powell: hurdy gurdy, effects.

1. BIG FACTORY 5'16"
2. UNDERGROUND PARTY 4'18"
3. VIERTE OHREN BAND 6'32"
4. ALTERNATE Y TUNING 4'45"
5. NEUBAUTEN 10'29"
6. WORMHOLE 8'43"
7. SUBMERGING 4'32"
8. BRUTAL BEAUTY 3'32"
9. ANOTHER MUSHROOM 7'07"
10. ECLECTIC HARVESTER 3'31"
11. FLIGHT ON HIGH 11'44

Recorded at Tachyon Studio 28 December 2004.
Transfer, remix and editing by Alan 10+17+19 January 2005.

Alan Freeman: guitar, synths, voice, loops, bells, laptop computer.
Steve Freeman: bass guitar, synths, loops, samples, turntable, voice, bells.
Jim Tetlow: loops, guitar, voice, pre-recorded percussion tracks.
Dave Powell: hurdy gurdy, effects.

1. LIKE SWAMPS & GAS, BUT THERE'S NO REASON 17'05"
2. THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST, ENCOUNTER #2 7'06"
3. PLEASE, CAN I HAVE A NEW FIST? 13'10"
4. POLITELY DOING THE TRANSYLVANIAN "EXCUSE ME" 8'45"
5. THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST, ENCOUNTER #1 7'06"
6. BEWARE OF THE SCORPION, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HE'LL DO 8'45"
7. ATTEMPTING THE REVERSE SIDESTEP POLKA 11'37"

Recorded at Tachyon Studio 29 August 2005.
Transfer, remix and editing by Alan 30 August 2005.

Alan Freeman: guitar, synths, voice, cymbal, laptop computer (drum/groove loops).
Steve Freeman: bass guitar, synths, loops, samples, turntable, cymbal, voice.
Jim Tetlow: loops, guitar, voice, pre-recorded percussion tracks.
Dave Powell: hurdy gurdy, effects.

1. THE ANVIL 4'49"
2. CHAMBER 1 1'55"
3. ZIGGURAT 10'02"
4. SINFIONETTA 9'45"
5. MACCHU PICCHU 7'47"
6. THE GREAT WALL 6'00"
7. CHAMBER 2 1'09"
8. FOUR RIDERS 5'12"
9. PERPETUAL DILATION 24'44"

Recorded at Tachyon Studio 19 November 2006.
Transfer, remix and editing by Alan 20-22 November 2006.

Alan Freeman: loops and rhythms (laptop PC running Granulab, Sound Forge and Wavelab, also Roland GR33 arpeggiator), guitar, digital synthesizers, acoustic CD, microphone.
Steve Freeman: loops, patterns and sounds (CD's, cassette, sampling effects pedals), percussion, guitar, bass, analogue synthesizers, acoustic CD, microphone.
Jim Tetlow: loops and sounds (laptop PC running Spektral Delay), pre-recorded hand percussion, acoustic CD, air-Fx.
Dave Powell: hurdy-gurdy, flute.

Recorded at Tachyon Studio 24/6/2007.
Digital transfer: 25/6/2007.
Preliminary mix: 1/7/2007.

Alan Freeman: guitar, Roland guitar-synth, Roland SH32 synthesizer, computer samples, voice.
Steve Freeman: tapes, loops, sounds, guitar, bass, Korg, Yamaha & Octave Cat synthesizers, acoustic CD.
Jim Tetlow: Laptop PC running Spektral Delay
Dave Powell: hurdy-gurdy, flute, snake charmer, voodoo guitar, kalimba.

EXTREMITIES - FRACTURE (AMCDR 112)

Picture the scene if you will dear reader. A Sunday afternoon in the middle of June 2007, the dawn chorus now little more than a distant memory. A third of the nation are sitting around a table eating a meal of processed roast beef, another are still semi comatose and recovering from the night before and the remainder are dragging themselves around a shopping centre, convinced that they need to purchase something, but unsure exactly what it is.

But wait! What's this? Our surveillance cameras pan across to a dimly lit room in the middle of leafy Leicester where we detect an image of four shadowy figures, huddled together seemingly deep in conversation.

A plot to overthrow the government perhaps? Or maybe a meeting of the Real Roast Beef Society?

There's something odd here to be sure, the only light in the room is emitted from a bank of flashing LED`s and from their red glow we observe that one of the group seems to be drinking from a bottle marked as Old Kluster Cider whilst another looks as if he is playing a strange ethnic instrument, possibly a Snake Charmer. That's it then, a group of dissident alcoholic anarchists involved in the importation of foreign animals.

Zoom in with those microphones, call out the Special Extremities Officers, I think we may have some trouble here, especially from the scruffy one who looks as though he `s been trekking across the Australian Outback for the past nine months! Watch out for him, he looks extremely dangerous.

Fast forward three days or so to a meeting between the Officer in charge of that ill-fated mission now known as Operation Fracture (Lets call him Frank) and his Superior.

"So you took it upon yourself to use fifteen officers, three units of Surveillance Forces armed with Jigsaw Polka guns and five tins of Triax Gas, sounds like a bit of overkill if you ask me if it was simply a group of four dissidents"

"You`ve no idea how much noise those four could make, at times the whole thing felt like an orchestra of Neolithic cavemen whilst on other occasions there was a singular Zen-like quality to the whole proceedings."

"Don't give me that sort of schism Frank, bite me if I'm wrong, but you totally lost the plot over the whole affair"

"Yeah, I know, I`ll be lucky if you don't erase me for this one, but I'm telling you, those guys in that room were producing something outta this world, some of those sounds haven't even been invented yet, the combination of four like-minded (non) musicians could have produced an over cooked mess of perpendicular proportions, but they worked so well together, each contributing just the right amount, just as you like it."

A diagonal shaft of light falls across the room whilst outside a fog bank fails to suffocate the sound of passing cars that drift across the otherwise silent hill.

"Honestly the whole thing blew three of our best microphones. It was the strange mixture of Teutonic industrial angst combined with the dreamtime qualities produced by flute and hurdy gurdy. At times it was like being engulfed beneath a wave of grinding guitars and then the scene would suddenly shift to something more formless, more ethereal, I've never heard such stuff before"

"Pull yourself together Frank, you're talking as if you're one of those noiseniks yourself, and that's not the Company Way, I think you better take a short vacation, you've been putting in far too many hours, all of that stuff will only end up giving you terrorforming dreams."

"But I'm telling ya boss, the stuff they are producing is utterly unique, more people need to hear this, I'm simply puzzled as to why you don't give them a chance."

"Enough of this ranting Frank, I suggest you leave now before I seriously reconsider your future with the Company, you know how precious I am about who works for me. Get out there and sort out that other problem, those damn Kni are still running around town like they own the place."

As Frank Leaves the room a sudden breeze reveals a T-shirt which had otherwise been hidden beneath the confines of a once pristine tailor made jacket, the image on the shirt is one of two crazed looking animals along with the statement "A Newt Hound Is For Life."

The corridor outside echoed for days with the sound of Franks manic laughter.

2. SYNERGY 37'34"
3. INTERACTION 35'55"
4. photo album 1'20"

Recorded at Tachyon Studio 11/2/2008.
Camera: Alan & Steve with live effects!
DVD directed & compiled by Alan, Feb-April 2008.

Alan Freeman: guitar, Roland guitar-synth, Roland SH32 synthesizer, computer samples, springs, bells, acoustic CD.
Steve Freeman: tapes, loops, sounds, guitar, bass, Korg, Yamaha & Octave Cat synthesizers, cymbal, chains, acoustic CD.
Jim Tetlow: Laptop PC running Spektral Delay
Dave Powell: hurdy-gurdy, flute, violin, acoustic guitar.

An unusual Extremities session that amounted to just three huge improvisations! Cutting out the weeds and chaff, splangs, k-junks, etc., I ended up with three still rather large pieces, each roughly in 5 segments: intro, swell and/or rhythmic phase, diversion & refocus, swell and/or rhythmic phase, tail-off into the cosmos. Three symbiotic homogeneous works, hence the very apt title "Symbiosis" that Steve came up with. The sessions were all filmed live to PC and simultaneously recorded direct to digital, this time with Steve & I doing lots of low-tech visual effects, filming through a whisky tumbler, wine and beer glasses, plastic sheets, smoke, etc. I also got Jim to loan me his "Organic Art Deluxe" software, a program that can generate the most extraordinary video effects in real-time, but has no way to save the results! For that reason Jim had never found any real use for it. Linking one PC to another via a video capture card meant that I could film the results, zooming in to cut off the Windows frames and headers, which fuzzed the graphics somewhat but still looks good. Some of the visuals are thus quite hectic and dizzying, some of it like animated paintings, some of it like nothing I've ever seen before. So, now you can experience the Extremities like you never have before!

1. COLLIDER 3'26"
2. FISSION 8'58"
3. SLITHER 4'10"
4. CORROSION 8'20"
5. ACTION <> REACTION 14'15"
6. QUARK 7'38"
7. SNIPPET 2'54"
8. CRASH 14'50"
9. ENERGY RELEASE 7'06"

Recorded direct to digital at Tachyon Studio 2/11/08.
Mixed and edited by Alan Freeman 19-21/11/08.

Alan: synths, guitar, laptop, samples, springs, voice, etc.
Steve: bass, loops, tapes, cymbal, synths, etc.
Dave: flute, violin, hurdy gurdy, etc.
Jim: keyboard, laptop, guitar, etc.

Another Extremities session that comprised of just three big improvisations, but this time we seemed to move in phases, 11 different phases in fact, of those phases I discarded two and ended up with the nine on this disc. "Collision Theory" amounts to a powerful outing. Only days before this (21st October) Alan, Steve & Jim had been involved in a heady inspiring session at Quad Studios "Quadelectronic 5" coincidentally the same day day as the CERN Large Hadron Collider was officially inaugerated in Geneva, Switzerland, hence the inspiration and concept of the titles!

9. NOTHING IMPORTANT HAPPENED TODAY 2'55"

disc 2...
1. c) FRESH BONES 3'09"
2. d) MEMENTO MORI 0'11"

3. THE POST-MODERN PROMETHEUS 14'38"

11. END GAME 24'09"

Recorded live in Tachyon Studio 15 February & 4 May 2009.
Digital transfer and premixes 15 March & 11 May 2009.
Mixed and edited 11-17 May 2009.
Engineer: Alan Freeman.
Digital assembly using Sonic Foundry Sound Forge 6, with DX effects and PSP
plug-ins, plus sound effects archive material, and sundry other special tricks!

Those in the know will know where the track titles come from!

Alan Freeman: guitar, digital synthesizers, laptop PC, spring-board, etc.
Steve Freeman: bass, analogue synthesizers, loops & tapes, acoustic CD, etc.
Dave Powell: hurdy-gurdy, flute, glockenspiel, etc.
Jim Tetlow: laptop PC with keyboard controller, cajon drum, cymbal, etc.

On " Vielle A Cru" the 12 tracks each inhabit a different world: The surreal opener sets the tone, although you'll find there's constant surprise, with sublime ethnic forgeries, Faustian, Krautrocky, diverse psychedelic intoxications, sonic nightmares and pure eccentricity. With lots of live electronic and electroacoustic work, analogue and digital synthesizers, sound canvas devices, lots of guitars, and some nifty percussive drives. And, yes, there's the hurdy gurdy - not that you'll always recognise it as such - processed and reinvented as a surreal disembodied Tony Conrad type sonic on occasions!

With "Quantum Mechanics" we have the most "rock" oriented release of our home grown products, with Jim laying down percussion drives on several tracks, as a vehicle for crazed guitars, electronics and demented hurdy-gurdy to weave over. With nods to the Third Ear Band, Faust, This Heat, Limbus, and such-like, all purely coincidental, as these jams all started without any conceived planning, except with the aim to be different. With considerable post-production and editing, it's a refined and very different experience.