MIDDLETON, IAN - Aural Spaces

Ive been in touch with Ian Middleton for over 13 years now, lured into contact by a Remora lathe-cut LP, I believe, which sounded similar in intent to IFCO material that Karla and I were working on at the time. Ian was a somewhat prolific figure of the 90s UK underground scene, both with his music and his visual art. There was an LP for Swill Radio in the can, which ended up on Eclipse as there wasnt any money here to release it. Ians music has always had both organic and artificial elements combined with the vague melancholy of distant beauty. With Aural Spaces, Ian has refined and distilled his processes into a gorgeous electronic diamond. To quote my good friend Oskar Spee, Aural Spaces is an exotic, scientific, and beautiful perfume that slows down time and allows one to live, however briefly, in a better possible world. I couldnt agree more. There is not a wasted moment. Ian has kept a low profile the last few years, preferring to concentrate on his work and make it better, an approach of which I heartily approve. The sequencing of this LP is immaculate, a skill that is becoming a lost art in this shuffle-play world. Aural Spaces is totally removed from the confines of todays backwards looking fads and instead points its bow directly towards the future. Fighting the good fight. - Swill Radio.