Aelita Red: Why have I been conned into listening to this again?!
Alright. Yeah that’s right. There’s another one, so let’s talk about me for a bit and get this over with.
I’ll do the quick version first so you don’t have to read all the long guff I’m going to write after. It’ll be worth a read if you want a laugh though! Ok here goes.
Q: Why is your album called ‘Le Uvst Tipex’?
A: Saw it written on a bridge.
Q: Who’s Böra Özkan
A: A psychedelic Turkish fella I met on the internet.
Q: What’s with the extra pre-album EP?
A: Had 3 extra songs and I’m impatient.
Q: Your first album started with the track ‘Introduction’, you’ve started your new album with the track ‘Introduction II’. Could you not think of a better title?
A: No.
Q: Anything special to look out for?
A: Yes, all of it.
Ok that was painful. Let’s do the in-depth version now.
Press play now. Have a listen and make sure you listen to the first album at some point. It’ll make sense.
Firstly have you read the biography that came with the first album? No? Oh you should! It’s a belter! Ask me for it, I’ll email it to you. It means I can skip loads of stuff and it’ll also tell you what Aelita Red is all about without having to repeat it all here.
Anyway, this album, much like the last one, was recorded on tour. Not my own tour you understand, other people’s tours. That’s my job you see, I’m a roadie and I look after guitars for rock stars. I’m that guy who comes on stage during a show and swaps the guitar with the person you came to see.
So anyway, I’ve got this little recording thingy with me and I record music when I get some free time. Sometimes I might record at the side of a stage in some big arena, or a small theatre or a festival stage. Depends who I’m working for and how famous they are.
This particular album, I started recording back in October 2017. Yep, I’m that lazy. 9 songs. That’s it, that’s all you get. Pure quality though so don’t grumble!
So you’re probably in the middle of the first song now and you can hear a bit of vibraphone. Yeah, I did that. I’ve gone a bit easy-listening. It happens a few times on this album so I’ll apologise in advance if it upsets you. Still, would you rather be listening to this inaccessible tripe or have Kings of Leon drip fed into your ears again? Exactly! They ain’t breaking new ground are they!? At least I’m trying. It’s aurally committed if nothing else.
I’m not bothered if it’s never on commercial radio. Most songs are over five minutes and I’d rather someone appreciated it for what it is. What is it? Not sure. Mike said it was post-psych-spag-west-math-rock so I’m sticking with that.
So, what’s with the mad album title. Truth is, I saw it painted on a bridge in my home town of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, and I wondered to myself, probably much as you are right now, ‘I wonder what that means?’ I never found out if I’m honest and I never got past page 1 of Google before I decided it sounds like a good title for an album. It’s as weird as the music and so I grabbed my trusty camera and took some photos.
I’m hoping it doesn’t mean anything bad or racist or something because that would be terrible and I’d probably end up with an undesirable following who think ‘muslamic’ is a word. That’s certainly not my intention. I was aiming for people who like to wear cardigans or buy obscure music from quaint record shops from record labels that print 7” singles on records made of yak milk.
Anyone is welcome to listen, after all there are no lyrics or human voices on this album and that’s intentional. Sometimes we need a break from voices so we can just stop and listen. There’s no message, apart from listen. Listen to all the little tid-bits I dropped in there, exercise your ears. Count the beats, they don’t always go to four. There’s still melody in there, I just swapped the human voice for a different instrument. Not every song needs someone going on about their feelings. Many sections of the public listen to classical orchestras and there’s never a single word uttered in a suite or concerto.
It is not to be said that I don’t have anything to say, but Aelita Red is not the vehicle for that. I have Twitter accounts for that. If you want to see what I have to say @evildave80 will show you. I’m usually trying to get blocked by Piers Morgan or re-tweeting something horrific the British government has done to its own people, but this is not the vehicle for that.
Stand out moments on this record include the beautiful guitar piece on the beginning of After The Beginning by a Turkish guitarist I discovered on the internet called Böra Özkan. He creates intertwining guitar creations and I was lucky enough to have him donate one of his creations to this album.
Other parts I’m particularly proud of are the trombones on Troposphere, the jazzy breakdown in Lost Cosmonauts and the best part I saved for the very end of the album which is the end of Cormorant. I was actually a bit drunk when I wrote and recorded that. Turned out alright.