mikey12356
A stunning compilation of electronic soundscapes and current sounds. Looking forward to reading the Fanzine as I recently saw The Orb’s Alex P up close and personal doing a DJ set at Loafers in Halifax with Martin Glover aka Youth
Jonathan Sartin
Fantastic magazine, with an aesthetic all of its own. Warm and enthusiastic articles and reviews. Terrific companion CD is a great introduction to CIS - it's not left my player since its arrival last week.
Colin Morrison’s Castles In Space label has launched a new publishing venture in the shape of Moonbuilding mag.
The A5, 48-page full-colour title is fronted by former Electronic Sound commissioning editor Neil Mason and comes with a 13-track sampler CD featuring previews from forthcoming CiS releases and a number of exclusive tracks.
While Moonbuilding is a Castles In Space publication, it also covers a raft of like-minded DIY labels and artists. The debut issue stars I Monster/The Sound Of Science’s Dean Honer. The cover image was created by the scene’s go-to illustrator Nick Taylor, who is also the guest designer for the in-depth cover feature itself. The rest of the mag has been put together - in true fanzine style - by Neil Mason. ”The fine art degree wasn’t a total waste of time then,” he says.
Inside there’s interviews with The Grid/Hive Mind’s Richard Norris, the BAFTA-winning composer Kenny Inglis, Woodford Halse’s Mat Handley and Lavender Sweep’s Ant Jones. There’s reviews of the latest releases from CiS and labels including Clay Pipe Music, Sonic Cathedral, Prole Art Threat, Preston Capes, Quatermass and Buried Treasure.
Moonbuilding welcomes The Orb’s Alex Paterson as a columnist and is home for an all-new adventure from Steven Appleby’s Captain Star who first appeared in NME in 1986 and enjoyed spells both in The Observer and SFX mag.
THE MOONBUILDING STORY SO FAR…
During the early days of Electronic Sound, Neil Mason began to notice there was a steady flow of independent DIY labels serving up brilliant music with beautiful artwork on sought-after, limited edition vinyl, cassette and CD releases.
He began to review many of the early offerings and soon labels such as Castles In Space, Ghost Box, Clay Pipe Music, Spun Out Of Control, DiN and Burning Witches were regular fixtures on the pages of ES.
All these labels had echoes of Neil’s formative years, a time when he’d discover new music on via the likes Mute, 4AD, Small Wonder, Fast Product, Cherry Red, Rough Trade and many many more.
The idea for Moonbuilding is to create a home for a scene that was accidentally created on the pages of Electronic Sound, drawing the artists and labels Neil has been championing for nearly a decade into a new title that is in keeping with the DIY ethic of the artists and labels themselves.
Both Neil and Colin fondly recall hoovering up fanzines from the counters of record shops in the 1980s in search of their next new favourite band. “I was always buying mags and fanzines and loved to read about all this new music,” says Colin. Moonbuilding is made with the spirit of those indie fanzines spread liberally across its pages. Brace yourself for John Bull printing sets, vintage typewriters and Ben Day dots galore.
credits
released July 1, 2022
ABOUT US...
Neil Mason has been at the sharp end of music publishing for over 25 years. He worked as a sub editor on dance music title Muzik, before becoming albums editor, then reviews editor, at Melody Maker, features editor on NME.COM and the editor of War Child’s pre-iTunes music download site warchildmusic.com. He was commissioning editor at Electronic Sound until April 2022.
Colin Morrison set up Castles In Space in 2015 and has released over 100 titles including acclaimed albums by Polypores, Dohnavùr, Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan, Concretism, The Twelve Hour Foundation and more. In November 2021 he promoted the label’s first two-day Levitation festival in Whitby. This year’s event, headlined by The Orb, is already sold out.
Colin Morrison’s Castles In Space label has launched a new publishing venture in the shape of Moonbuilding
mag.
The A5, 48-page full-colour title is fronted by former Electronic Sound commissioning editor Neil Mason and comes with a 13-track sampler CD featuring previews from forthcoming CiS releases and a number of exclusive tracks....more
supported by 231 fans who also own “Moonbuilding Summer Special”
This is very close to what I heard/felt everytime we visited the grandparents in Runcorn.
Ominous dread. Bleak dystopia. Concrete and terraced houses. Plus the air smells! MonkeyMajiks
supported by 228 fans who also own “Moonbuilding Summer Special”
This entire album is staggeringly good, but my favourite is Slowly Coming Together, which does indeed seem to slowly distill all that is Jilk into one track. Amazing work, and wonderful to come across through the subscription library. swansither