The return of the commentaries

Merry Christmas!

Well, this has been a funny year, hasn't it? Having managed to get very much back onto the wagon last year with our ninth album Transmission, we kicked off 2012 with a proper reissue of our single I'll Give You Electro, backed up by two of our favourite b-sides. After a rather long gestation, the third proper single from the album Here Comes the Summertime followed in May, with a choice of mini and maxi formats.

We had hoped to finish this album off for good this year with a final single, but due to other commitments we haven't quite managed it yet, but we've been working hard whenever we had the time on extra bonus tracks and remixes for the next single, and so it will have to follow early in 2013.

This album continues to do well, although we long ago gave up the idea of making any money from it. Opening single Better Days has now been listened to nearly as many times as our Dusk singles from the heady days of MySpace. The videos are doing pretty well, too. I still want to see if we can get the album onto some kind of physical format, and maybe reissue the last one too, but that can all wait till next year. What's the rush?

As Simon noted at the time, we celebrated our twentieth anniversary of music making this autumn. It's been a long, and largely undocumented journey, and we managed a few pretty good songs along the road. One day we might even work out a way for you to hear some of them. But in the meantime, we hope you've enjoyed Transmission as much as we enjoyed making it.

If you want to read a little about the genesis of some of the songs, I've been busy writing a series of posts commenting about each of the tracks on the album, which we'll publish every Saturday starting in the New Year. Stay tuned!

Black Earth

As we gently sneak towards the end of our Transmission project, it's time to look in a little more at some of the tracks that made it what it became. So firstly, I'm sure you all enjoyed our song Black Earth from our recent single I'll Give You Electro II? Of course you did.


Black Earth is, perhaps not too obviously, supposed to be about the 'terra preta,' or 'black earth' found in the Amazon rainforest. Originally written nearly a decade ago, it was inspired by a television programme, and quickly turned into a fun - if misleading, given the title - metaphor about everything that we have done to the planet over the last few hundred years.

The first demos of the track actually date back to 2003, around the time that Fateful Hour and Not in My Name (2004 b-sides on A Picture on the Wall) were being recorded. It was then recorded four years later with the intention of appearing on The End, but was dropped at the last minute, and finally the whole thing was re-recorded late last year as a b-side to the most recent album Transmission.

You might be interested to know that it was also featured on this week's episode of QI, Jungles. You can read more about the facts and the fiction behind the theory on their website here. The words follow...

Do we hold in our hands the answers to
All those timeless questions that we always knew?
Is this the solution to which we turn
Levelling the forest as we slash and burn?

We walk on the black earth of history
Where we have lived for years
Today it all adds to that mystery
Lost like forgotten tears

We have always lived for the present day
Let the future guide itself in its own way
It's time to learn from our past, so long ignored
Before the earth is dead with no future ensured

We walk on, ignoring our wisdom
And swallow all we're fed
One day we'll unlock the solution
To how we gain our bread

Maybe we've reaped this earth
One too many times
It's time to sow our legacy
For the good of all mankind 

Maybe it's that black earth
That holds the days to come
The past will change the world again
For the good of everyone

We walk on the black earth of history
Where we have lived for years
Today it all adds to that mystery
Lost like forgotten tears

We walk on, ignoring our wisdom
And swallow all we're fed
One day we'll unlock the solution
To how we gain our bread 

(R. Martin / S. Martin)

Another little anniversary

It's 10 years since we released 'Synopsis', a collection of our first twenty singles (28th October 2002).

It's an interesting release because it includes all of the singles from our first six albums, plotting our development along the way. Certainly, quite a lot of growing up takes places during the course of the album.

Some of the single versions are quite different from the original album versions, which is a tradition that we still quite often continue when we can think of interesting changes that we would like to make.

With a bit of luck and a lot of hard work, we might be able to issue the second chapter in our singles history in the next few years, covering the period from 2003 onwards (three albums so far) and our adventures in the internet age.

Happy 20th anniversary!

It all started 20 years ago today.

The 26th October 1992 was when we released our first album Schizophrenia. It sounded about as good as you would expect for an album written and recorded by two people in their formative years using a few tape recorders, a tiny Yamaha keyboard and a variety of household objects.

It's not exactly a landmark in the history of modern music, but it's still an event that we look back on with a mixture of fondness, amusement and relief that we've learned a few things in the years since.

Our next challenge is to try to write and record our 10th album in time for our 21st anniversary...

Here Comes the Summertime - The Video!

Oh dear, we seem to have missed the summertime. Oh well... have a video instead:

The visual medium

You've probably noticed that we've been making our first tentative steps into the world of music videos over the last few months. Actually, we're working on a couple more (although the chances that Here Comes the Summertime actually gets completed in the Summertime are looking fairly slim).

But honestly, and speaking personally, videos aren't something I'm particularly bothered about. They're a nice novelty, but I'm not really interested in the visual medium. More importantly, though, YouTube is the means a lot of people are using to share and discover new music at the moment, and so for all its faults, I think we need to put some stuff up there. Hence the oddities we've thrown up there so far, and hence the things which will follow. They probably won't be particularly good for the most part, but they'll do the job!

How to buy our new single

Erm. Three weeks later, and I forgot to post the second half of this information. Sorry about that! There are also many ways of buying Here Comes the Summertime...

1. Bandcamp: http://purehype.bandcamp.com/album/here-comes-the-summertime (exclusive four track version!)
2. iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/album/here-comes-summertime-single/id541827492
3. Amazon USA: http://www.amazon.com/Here-Comes-the-Summertime/dp/B008H3C5UA
4. Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Here-Comes-the-Summertime/dp/B008H3V6QY
5. Amazon Deutschland: http://www.amazon.de/Here-Comes-the-Summertime/dp/B008H8CEJM
6. Amazon France: http://www.amazon.fr/Here-Comes-the-Summertime/dp/B008H30VI8
7. Amazon Japan: http://www.amazon.co.jp/Here-Comes-the-Summertime/dp/B008H37LJA
8. 7Digital: http://www.7digital.com/artist/hypernova/release/here-comes-the-summertime (also available worldwide if you search for it)
9. eMusic & MediaNet: should be available but I can't find it at present

But don't forget if you're not ready to buy it yet then you can just listen to it - see this post for more 
details.

How to listen to our new single

There are many ways. Please accept our apologies if one or more of them isn't available in your country, but as a bare minimum one or two of them should work...

1. Bandcamp: http://purehype.bandcamp.com/album/here-comes-the-summertime (exclusive four track version!)
2. Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/04VKvQMXD2rGuCbM9b8q35
3. Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/hypernova/here-comes-the-summertime

Places for which we don't have links yet, but where it should also be available:

1. Rdio
2. Muve Music by Cricket
3. Zvooq
4. iHeartRadio
5. Nokia Music
6. Simfy
7. 121 Music
8. Deezer
9. Rhapsody
10. Basepoint Media
11. We7
12. 24/7 Entertainment

We'll follow this up with a guide on how to buy it shortly, if you're ready for that!

Here Comes the Summertime - sleeve notes

Sometimes, the signs point in all directions. This time, we were on an entirely different mission, but then we reached a crossroads, and decided to turn away from the march of technology. Lured by the sound of a hip hop drum loop, we lost our way again, wandering around in circles like a caterpillar trail whose leader has accidentally latched onto the back of his own trail.

We combined the drum loop with Here Comes the Summertime, edited it, and then decided to make another version with everything put back in again. Just like they used to do in the 80s. Probably. It’s a nod to a long lost summer, when the warm days never seemed to end. The lonely traveller, Homeward Bound, questions the nature of place, and slowly comes to realise that it’s people that make places what they are. Words Come Easy is a bitter memory of how things used to be. Finally, as it always does, the summer returns, with an expression of hope that maybe this season really will never end.

So that’s your lot for now. Until the summer ends...

Here comes the new single!

Here:

Yes indeed, it is our new single! Its name is Here Comes the Summertime.

We've put out two versions. The first has two tracks:

1. Here Comes the Summertime (Single Version)
2. Homeward Bound

The first track is a completely new remix of the album track, and the second is a brand new b-side. Well, I say brand new - it's a track which we started writing nearly ten years ago. Anyway, coming over the next few days, it will be appearing on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, 7Digital, and various other famous music downloading services. We'll put some links up when we know what they are.

Or perhaps you would prefer a four track version? That's available now from Bandcamp, and adds two more brand new tracks:

1. Here Comes the Summertime (Single Version)
2. Homeward Bound
3. Words Come Easy
4. Here Comes the Summertime (Extended Version)

More details will follow over the coming days / weeks, but in the meantime you can listen to it (or even buy it, if you like) from the link below.

Erm...

Bit of a quiet patch there, sorry. We were going to do one single, and then we accidentally decided to do a different one instead, and then it took longer than we'd originally intended. Full details to follow later in the week...

A touch of spring cleaning

Spring is here! Apparently. Except in California, where it's going to start raining and snowing this evening and continue all day tomorrow. What was I saying? Oh yes, spring is here, which seems like an ideal opportunity for a little spring cleaning!

So... the bad news first. We've removed a load of tracks from music services which seem to have died a death at some point in the past. It's sad, but there you go. All good things must come to an end.

But there's also a load of new stuff, including various remixes and whatnot. Try some of these for size:

• I'll Give You Electro and Eyeballing on MP3Unsigned.com
• Better Days, I'll Give You Electro, Eyeballing and False Dawn on Viinyl.com
• Better Days, Eyeballing and I'll Give You Electro on Soundclick.com
• Eyeballing on Soundcloud

Finally, in case you haven't heard it yet, here's an embedded link to the latter...



If you haven't already, please go and make friends with us everywhere, such as Facebook. And don't forget you can get a whole pile of our stuff, including freebies, through our Bandcamp page.

False Dawn remix video

Also on Soundcloud in the next few days...

Better Days video

I'll Give You Electro remix video

The concept of choice

A few weeks ago, we released the second half of the second single from Transmission, I'll Give You Electro. If you've come across us recently, you're no doubt having trouble deciding which of them to buy. So here's a little summary...

I'll Give You Electro I
The original version of the single contains four tracks - the slightly rejigged Single Version, plus three exclusive new b-sides: Dissolution, Weather the Storm and The Journey Here.



I'll Give You Electro II
The second version may look a bit more orange, but it contains three tracks - a completely different remix, the Imperfect Attitude Mix, and another two new b-sides: These Four Walls and Black Earth.



Hopefully this helps you a little with your decision. Of course, if you're really struggling, why not just buy both of them? With seven tracks spread across both formats, they're exceedingly good value for money.

I'll Give You Electro - sleeve notes

Hello again.

This is the solution to which we turn: Another single and some exclusive previously unreleased material. More often than not, previously unreleased material is previously unreleased for good reason. That may still be the case here (we’ll very charitably let you decide), but Black Earth and These Four Walls came very close to getting released a while ago, so it seemed only fair that they should be let out into the big, wide, virtual world.

We collaborated on this new remix of I'll Give You Electro, merrily throwing electronic ideas across the Atlantic, which turned out to be more practical than putting messages in bottles. The result is ironically less in your face electro, but by then it was too late to rename the song, so please forgive this slightly misleading advertising.

In case you're wondering, this is the second part of the I'll Give You Electro single. The first part contains another remix of the title track, which we called the single version, and three more exclusive songs. As these are digital singles, we're afraid that there isn't a special collector's slipcase to put them both in. Now please excuse us while we have a cup of tea and work out what we're doing next...

<End>

Eyeballing video

Looking in both directions

It's a bit late for a 2011 retrospective, but then again, why not? We were both away over the Christmas period, so here's your slightly delayed entry...

All round, we think we had a Very Good Year. We finally released our ninth album Transmission, and managed to squeeze out a further six b-sides and a healthy handful of remixes on the singles Better Days, I'll Give You Electro and Remission. We've learnt a lot, particularly from the wonderful remixes which Sappy was kind enough to do for us towards the end of the year. We've also re-recorded some old tracks for our own amusement, which may one day see the light of day. Finally, if that weren't enough, we started work on four brand new tracks which we're saving for our next album.

After 2010, 2009 and 2008 being largely quiet, that's a lot of stuff that we've done there.

We've already kicked off 2012 with I'll Give You Electro II, and we're intending to follow that with another single soon. We're currently working on three or four b-sides and we've got another four or five remixes we're playing with too. At the same time we're thinking about what would be on a Transmission "special edition" if it happened, working out how to open up more of our back catalogue to the wider world, and toying with the visual medium too.

But more on all of that to come. Thanks to everyone who has supported or helped us in the last few months. Happy new year!

iTunes and Spotify

I'll Give You Electro II, our new single, is out now.

Here's yer actual iTunes link. For some reason it isn't classified as "clean" this time round, but don't worry - it doesn't have any naughty words in it.

And here's your Spotify link. Every time you listen to it on Spotify, we earn literally fractions of pennies, so make sure you listen lots and enjoy it!

I'll Give You More

We're about to do a bit of a reshuffle for our last "proper" single I'll Give You Electro.

It all started when we realised we'd all kind of forgotten to put it on iTunes. The first single Better Days has actually done quite well on there, selling over 2 copies (in addition to earning us nearly 50p from multiple plays on Spotify). So we decided to rectify the situation by adding I'll Give You Electro as well.

Then as we thought about it, we realised we actually preferred the remixed version, and we also had some nice new b-sides which we could put on there too. So actually it's ended up being a completely different single.

The tracks this time around are:

1. I'll Give You Electro (Imperfect Attitude Mix)
2. These Four Walls
3. Black Earth

The first track is exactly the same as you've already enjoyed on the Remission remix EP, and so is also completely free. On Bandcamp, it's called I'll Give You Electro II so you can tell them apart. I'll also put up iTunes and Spotify links as they become available.

So, since everything has changed, we've changed the front cover picture too. It's changed colour a bit, and it's now got some extra worms on it too:

Oh yes, and it's released on Monday February 6th. The original single is still entirely available through Bandcamp, including the original single version and three more b-sides, now for the very reasonable price of £3.

The album Transmission will also make it onto iTunes at some stage, but we're thinking of maybe putting together a "special" edition later in the year, so we'll hold off for the time being, and if that doesn't happen then we'll just put the normal version on there.

Remission - sleeve notes

<Remission Statement>

The story of the remix is one that shaped electronic music over much of its history. It evolved from little more than an extended version to fill up the extra few minutes of vinyl in the early 1980s to a slew of 10 minute long re-imaginings by the 1990s.

But taking something you've been slaving over for years, as we had with our recent album <Transmission>, and handing it over to someone else is quite an emotional experience. Imagine our astonishment, therefore, when the first one came back, Sappy's wonderful Treble Up remix of Eyeballing.

We were taken aback. It took the song in directions that truly would never have occurred to us. In fact, we liked it so much that we immediately asked for a mix of I'll Give You Electro as well.

At the same time we've been playing with our own gentle electronic reworkings of False Dawn and I'll Give You Electro, and so we are now able to present <Remission>. And yes, we know this isn't a 12” single. But we hope you'll forgive us the slight self-indulgence. It should be.