Artists: Astralasia
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Politics Of Ecstasy CD - £7.99 |
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S/T CD - £7.99 |
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Volumes 1 & 2 CD - £7.99 |
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The Hawkwind Remixes CD - £7.99 |
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Cluster Of Waves CD - £9.99 |
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Astralasia Biography
Astralasia are well known as the psychedelic dance-oriented alter egos of The Magic Mushroom Band. Much of the work accredited to Astralasia is principally from Swordfish, with contributions from the other members of the band. The origins of Astralasia lie in the name ascribed to a series of rhythmic backing tapes created to accompany The Magic Mushroom Band live. The name of course came from the track on The Magic Mushroom Band’s 1990 album ‘Spaced Out’ and Astralasia were to release two cassettes in this style. The initial line up consisted of, Swordfish, Ed Bones, Kim Oz and Gary Moonboot. The self-titled debut album was released in 1991 and consisted of extended and remixed material from these cassettes.
The band’s second album in 1992, emphasised the links between the Magic Mushroom Band and Astralasia by bearing the title ‘The Politics Of Ecstasy’. This of course, as fans will be aware, is the title of The Magic Mushroom Band’s debut album some six years earlier. ‘The Politics Of Ecstasy’ also referred to the Timothy Leary book of the same name, which in the days of ecstasy fuelled raves, had become popular once again. The title track of the album even features samples of Timothy Leary over a hypnotic backdrop. By this stage the various members were spending as much time working on material for Astralasia as they were for The Magic Mushroom Band. It also has to be said that in keeping with the genre, whilst Astralasia were operating, the band released a great many singles, almost thirty in seven years. This included a collaboration with Hawkwind on ‘Spirit Of The Age’, which was released in 1993.
Things within Astralasia also began to change around 1993. The band was becoming more of a creative outlet for Swordfish, who was responsible for the composition, arranging, programming and production of most of the material. However at this point the other members of The Magic Mushroom Band were contributing whenever and wherever necessary. It would perhaps be this dominance of Astralasia which prompted both Gary and Kim to subsequently leave and concentrate on their own project, Moonboot Oz. In the meantime Astralasia made a significant differentiation between the singles and albums. The albums were generally more spacey and chilled out and the singles were more conventional rave pieces.
The band’s third album from 1993 was entitled ‘Pitched Up On The Edge Of Reality’. This included one of the mixes of a recent single ‘Univeria Zekt’, which was built around samples of the French progressive rock band of the seventies, Magma. There then followed the double album, ‘Whatever Happened To Utopia’ which was well received, although the last to feature both Kim and Gary. The band also released 'Mother Durga', the title track being a fine original piece. Other tracks on the 'Mother Durga' release were also of interest. The band had elected to cover Arthur Brown’s Time Captives which was originally a track on the Arthur Brown and Kingdom Come album , 'Journey'. Also more surprisingly there was an inspired version of Space’s 1977 disco hit 'Magic Fly'.
After the departure of Gary and Kim from the band it seemed like the end of an era. ‘Astraology’ was a compilation which gathered together some of the singles and rare tracks in chronological order. ‘The Space Between’ from 1996 is seen as a companion album, drawing together a collection of the best tracks which were remixed for the release.
Two further albums have been released by Astralasia, ‘Seven Pointed Star’ and ‘White Bird’ from 1997 and 1998 respectively. As well as this Swordfish was in great demand as a re mixer, notably working with Porcupine Tree and Hawkwind.
Astralasia re-issued a number of albums in 2004, the first being ‘Pitched Up At The Edge Of Reality’. The albums were all re mastered for this series and have original artwork. There was also an album released containing the singles. This series of
re-releases confirmed what many have known for over twenty years, that Astralasia were one of the dominant forces in ambient dan
