AirSculpture are a UK based electronic music group. Its members - Adrian Beasley, John Christian and Peter Ruczynski - established it in the mid-1990s as a reaction to a music scene that no longer reflected their tastes. The energy and edge of '70s EM had become diluted into a melange of clinical digital sounds played over safe pre-recorded backing.
Most of AirSculpture's music is created live on stage, improvised with little or no pre-planning. Over time it has evolved to a unique sound melding driving Berlin School rhythms with engaging, flowing melodies; or sometimes moving into darker ambient realms; or shifting gear with danceable beats.
The band has released seven full length albums; of these five are live recordings reflecting the live nature of the music. There have also been numerous tracks released on compilation albums.
Photo by Jeff Towne
The older AirSculpture albums have been out of print for a while now, and we have been considering how to reissue them. The problem has been solved by the creation of the MusicZeit download service. This provides CD quality, DRM free downloads with full artwork. As our old friends from SMD are involved, all of the Neu Harmony albums are already available.
If downloads are not your thing, you can order any of the downloads as a CDR from SMD. In addition, Tranceatlantic is still available as a pressed CD. We plan to keep on releasing physical CDs as long as there is sufficient demand.
A collaborative project including the members of AirSculpture along with Paul Nagle, Grant Middleton, Andy Bloyce, and a small green alien. The simple idea was to bring a set of musicians together for the first time, give them some rehearsal time and to present the results as a concert. As all of the music was improvised, this was an even more skin-of-the-pants affair than usual.
The results of that first concert and the sessions that preceded it resulted in three albums, available for download at MusicZeit. A second concert saw Andy turning up with his guitar replacing Adrian who was otherwise occupied, and showing the Smokers line-up to be a fluid thing.Starting life as a Tangerine Dream fan gathering, the RG has grown into a wider playground for electronic musicians and fans. Moving around the world, it brings a varying collection of musicians together to jam, and sometimes to perform more structured collaborations. For the audience it gives a unique chance to see the musicians working (and playing) close up.
There has been an AirSculpture presence at most of these gatherings. Numerous recordings have been released with AS members in various large and small combinations. More information at the Ricochet Dream site.
Ideation is Pete and Paul Nagle. The collaboration released a CD "Adrift" in 2009.
John, Adrian and Peter have all played solo concerts in the Hampshire Jam concert series. To tie in with the concerts John released a CD titled "Bohunt Sabotage" and Adrian has released a CD titled "Powerhouse".
Copyright © Airsculpture 2008 - 2009.
Since the last update we have been relatively busy. At the end of 2009 we released a download-only
album from the last Hampshire Jam.
This is available exclusively from MusicZeit.
It has also been a good year for live performances, with concerts in Burton, UK (as part of the Awakenings series), Oirschot in the Netherlands (E-Live) and - at last - as part of the Ricochet Gathering in Berlin. Sadly Adrian was unable to make Berlin, so Bill Fox was drafted in on guitar. In addiition to the usual RG jam sessions, Pete also played as part of Ideation.
A new recording of the concert on La Gomera has been released. There has been a raw demo disk knocking around for a while; this is a much more focussed edit. Before the Moon is a mix of experimenal ambience (playing processed versions of the waves against the real thing) and some quite dancy electronica.
Two albums will be released at Hampshire Jam 8. The first isn't exactly new - it's the CD version
of Burn. The second is John's brand new solo album "Susbarbatus".
We had hoped to have a new AirSculpture album "Graveyard Shift" too; it is almost ready to go (in fact the track on the HJ promo download was meant to be a teaser for it). With any luck it won't be long (like we've not said that before...). Let's say "the ideal Christmas gift". Or Easter. Or something...
Hampshire Jam 8 has been announced, and AirSculpture will be playing along with
r.m.i., Brendan Pollard and Callisto.
Pete has joined forces with fellow Cosmic Smoker and Ricochet Gathering regular Paul Nagle to form "Ideation".
They have a limited edition
album called "Adrift" which is on the Richochet Dream label and will be playing at the
Thimbleberry festival in June (County Durham, England).
Visit the news Archive for older news items: Stars End 30th anniversary CD; Burn album; Hampshire Jam 7
Timeline2010
Album: Before The Moon
Concert: Ricochet Gathering, Berlin Concert: Oirschot, NL (E-Live) Concert: Burton-on-Trent (Awakenings) 2009
Album: Doom Bar
Ideation Album: Adrift Concert, Hampshire Jam 8, Liphook Solo Album: Susbarbatus (John) Album: Trick or Treat 2008
Album: Burn
Back catalogue available for download at MusicZeit.com Track: "Argent Engine" on Stars End 30th Anniversary Anthology Solo concert: Hampshire Jam 7, Liphook (Pete) + band set 2007
Concert: Y
Theatre, Leicester (Cosmic Smokers)
Ricochet Gathering, Yellowstone Solo concert: Hampshire Jam 6, Liphook (Adrian) Solo Album: Powerhouse (Adrian) 2006
Concert:
National Space Centre, Leicester
Concert: The Gatherings, Philadelphia Radio: Live On-air performance on Stars End Track: Manikin compilation "Liquid Sound vol.2" Solo Concert, Hampshire Jam 5, Liphook (John) Solo Album: Bohunt Sabotage (John) 2005
Ricochet
Gathering, La Gomera
Concert: Awakenings, Leeds Track on Awakenings sampler CD Mojave RG album Album: Tranceatlantic 2004
Cosmic Smokers
Concert: National Space Centre, Leicester
Concert: The Gatherings, Philadelphia Live On-air performances on Stars End and Emusic 2003
Concert:
National Space Centre, Leicester
Ricochet Gathering, Mojave Desert 2002
Concert:
Hampshire Jam 2, Liphook, Hampshire
Concert: Manikin Marathon, Bad Sulza, Germany 2001
Concert:
Hampshire Jam, Liphook, Hampshire
Ricochet Gathering, Okefenokee Album: Quark Soup Album: Okefenokee Dreams 2001 2001
Ricochet
Gathering, Okefenokee
Concert/Installation: Jelly Leg'd Chicken, Reading 2000
Concert:
Jodrell Bank planetarium
Concert/Installation: Jelly Leg'd Chicken, Reading Album: Fjord Transit 1999
Concert:
Eurosonic festival, Valö, Sweden.
Concert: E-Live, Nijmegen, Netherlands. Track: Hub on E-Live CD Ticket. 1998
Album:
Thunderhead
Concert: Sheffield City Hall 1997
Concert:
Jodrell Bank planetarium
Concert: Alfa Centauri, Huizen, Netherlands Concert: Truth or Dare, Eindhoven, Netherlands Album: Europa 1996
Concert:
Jodrell Bank planetarium
Concert: Big City Bash, Derby Marketplace Album: Attrition System Appearance on Soundscapes Radio show Unique CD: Amazonian Lepidoptera theorise on Chaos 1995
Concert: EMMA
3, Sheffield Octagon
Album: Impossible Geometries 1993-1995
Band Formed.
Rehearsals.
1981
Band members
meet. Nothing much happens for a while.
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