hello friends and fellow travellers. We made it through January - if not unscathed, then at least intact - well done everyone.

Despite the fug of the winter months, things have been busy in the pod and surrounding area.

this occasional society update

The upcoming collaborative album with James Hastings is progressing well and sounding great.

Also on the horizon is a remix of a great C.Circo track. More about that next month.

In collaboration with the Gravitons collective, a new online monthly gig night has been launched called ‘3rd W3dn35day’. More on that below.

Finally, I’ll be having a mooch about at Synth East in Norwich on 20 - 22 Feb trying not to buy things and watching Scanner and Cabaret Voltaire. Maybe see you there.

This month’s music sketch here if you want to check it out.

the next newsletter will be with you 3.3. as ever, if you want anything included in the ‘updates from friends of the society’ section, just let us know.

updates from friends of the society

The wonderful Alison Wilder will be the artist at this month’s ‘3rd W3dn35day’ gig on 18 February at 20.00 UK time. Expect a room full of synthesizers, wild vocals, guitars, experimental soundscapes and a vibe where anything can happen. Join the fun at https://stream.gravitons.org/

'Sketches in Pink Noise’ by Signbit is already out on Jam & Mirlo and will be on other platforms this very day! Their percussion & bass heavy future garage sounds have been augmented by more overt melody for this release. Top stuff.

Simon Heartfield has a great other ep out. Noon State EP is brutalist doom-laden analogue techno aimed purely at the dancefloor. Dance music for our troubled times.

inpc has an ep of great dubby off kilter electro out now. ‘it’s not ok computer’ is great stuff, that immediately makes the space round you feel slightly smokier when listening to it.

Wonky pop types Hello Midlands, release their single ‘Wendy’ on 6 Feb with an album due in the near future. Another epic tale on a micro scale from the dark underbelly of Placeford, it conjures up the kitchen sink drama of Pulp, whilst sounding totally unique.

Also the curator and driving force of the wonderful Quiet Details series of releases and expert mastering engineer, Alex releases beautiful music as ‘Fields we have found’. landscape 02 is an enveloping, meditative set of tracks, perfect for unwinding to.

finally for this month, N3wjack has a great album of glitchy electronica made while on a road trip through South-Korea. The trip clearly inspired them massively - Klitch is well worth checking out.

aob - things that have replenished our creative wellspring recently

Haiku Salut seem to have been away for ages, but are thankfully now back with a new album. There Is No Elsewhere continues to mine their thick seam of dreamy Derbyshire electronica.

This fantastic mix by The Kleptones was all I listened to for months when I first heard it many years ago, so I was delighted when someone shared the original blog online again and reminded me of it so I could download it straight to my phone. I hope you do too.