graham dowdall: outside broadcast

Graham "Dids" Dowdall has been active on the outer limits of music for several decades. Starting out as drummer in Manchester cult band Ludus he then worked with Eric Random & the Bedlamites and spent several years recording and touring with Nico. He's collaborated live and on record with many others along the way including John Cale, Suns Of Arqa, and Band Of Holy Joy. He is currently a member of avant rock legends Pere Ubu, has an acclaimed solo electronica project Gagarin and works with rising Welsh-Iranian singer-songwriter Roshi, in Roshi featuring Pars Radio. His last solo Gagarin album Biophilia (yes, Björk nicked the title) received great reviews, being described in Musicweek as "stunning beautiful glitchy electronica" and in Mojo as "electronica in its rawest sense." He has a wide-ranging portfolio career that also includes running music workshops with disabled children, and training and teaching at Goldsmiths College. Outside Broadcast is a departure from the more beat-driven glitchy style of Gagarin and is an evocation of childhood evenings sitting at an old "Portable" radio, obsessively tuning bakelite dials across the airwaves -- finding a weird sound to luxuriate in, then a bit of strange music, an exotically-named station, a call sign or simply the sound of the dial, all masked in MW/SW/LW noise. It's a distressed and lo-fi sound-world created with a cassette release in mind -- no sharp beats or hi-fi. The main instrument was a '90s radio-cassette player alongside two iPad apps. It's hoped that repeated play will enhance the sound as the tape deteriorates. 150 copies only.