Label: Not on label - none
Format: Cassette, Single Sided, reprint
Country: UK
Released: 2025
Genre: Electronic
Style: Abstract, Experimental, Ambient
Home-brewed and impulsive domestic psychedelia. What a feeling it is to discover a new band. Well that’s was it was for us at least. Jed of Concentric Circles recently brought to our attention this amazing debut 1996 cassette from Glasgow duo Electroscope and we’ve been hooked ever since. To us there’s hints of early Marine Girls innocence mixed with the almost songs of Crawling With Tarts, conjuring images of weed-hazed Glasgow Art School dorm rooms and bubbling lava lamps. Wasting no time we’ve managed to produce a facsimile reprint of the original cassette (along with a scattering of other Electroscope titles). Over to Jed to put this into context…
''There was a trend in 90s indie music, where groups/musicians/whatever would issue a steady stream of 7”s and split 7”s (not to mention endless compilation appearances), sometimes at a clip that was hard to keep up with, even for the most rabid fan. At the time, 7”s were incredibly cheap and quick to produce, so they were a low barrier entry point to get your newest ideas out into the world. Glasgow’s Electroscope were one such group, or in this case a duo, who released one 7” after another on labels all across the globe, with little musical ideas and themes being given a chance to percolate and gestate in equal measure. I think it's important to contextualize this music in that framework, since as was typical for DIY recording projects, the ideas were flowing so quick that it was important to simply get your ideas out and move onto the next. But I somewhat digress from the get-go, since for Electroscope, as with many, it all began with a humble cassette tape, a reissue of which you will hopefully be holding in your hands soon.
To me, Electroscope have always sounded like the musical equivalent of Jules Verne or Georges Méliès, shot through tufts of cumulus clouds up to the stars and the moon. A farfisa organ drones away while incandescent voices, male and female, murmur in and out of the mix. Melodic and minimal guitar lines intermingle with a VCS3 synthi and clarinets drenched in reverb, the faintest sketches of a song emerging from the haze. Bits of the doomed romanticism, idyll and fried charms of Syd Barrett and Joe Meek peek their heads up at times too, like a surreal dream that is half remembered. Electroscope, born in the mid 90s, brings to mind both the turn of- and mid-century fascination with the future and space travel. An alluringly wide and starry eyed fascination with the world, still imbued with a sense of innocence and anticipation about the unknown, faraway and skyward places.
Although they were appreciated during their initial tenure, Electroscope has become unfairly forgotten over the years. This is the first time that any of their music has been made available again, in a physical format at least, for modern listeners. An enchanting possibility lurks around every corner, with Gayle and John Electroscope as your trusty guides. Enjoy.'' (Mint / New - with free instant download)
Tracklist
A1 Wattle & Weave
A2 Ugaldugal
A3 Octal Starvision
A4 Lament For The Lost 70
A5 Pan Pose
A6 RPM Overload
A7 Soldering For Beginners
A8 Freespirit Frequency
A9 Battle Of The Bees
A10 Barbalite
A11 Telephone Suicide
A12 Weave & Wattle
