Man Or Astroman? ‘Your Weight On The Moon’ to be reissued
aaamusic | On 06, Aug 2011
MAN OR ASTROMAN?
‘Your Weight On The Moon’
Label: Overground
Cat. No. OVER 127CD / 127LP (limited picture disc)
Barcode: CD 689492106225 – LP 689492108267
Release Date: 3rd October 2011
Man or Astroman? claimed to be not the space-music surf-rockers they appear, but instead, unlikely emissaries from another galaxy who accidentally crashed their spaceship near Auburn, Alabama. Since that day in 1992, Man or Astroman? have released over two dozen seven-inch singles and seven full-length albums of dizzying, instrumental guitar virtuosity wedded to sounds derived from the quasi-modern technology of a Hammond organ or Theremin.
Band members Starcrunch (guitar), Birdstuff (drums), Coco the Electronic Monkey Wizard (bass and a battery of electronic gear), joined forces in Auburn, Alabama, in 1992 at a time when half of the band was underage and couldn’t get into their own shows except through the stage door.
John Peel played their debut EP and a highly impressed One Louder approached the band and in December 1993 released the masterpiece ‘Mission Into Chaos’ 7”. The band toured the UK and their outrageous live show which included flaming computer headpieces, 50s b-movie graphics and tesla coils won them a legion of fans.
Next up in August 1994 came the genre-defining and ground-breaking ‘Your Weight On The Moon’ 10-track mini-album on luminous colour vinyl and CD. John Peel, Marc Radcliffe, the music press and live audiences couldn’t get enough of them and the album entered the independent charts at No. 7.
May 1995 the ‘Return To Chaos’ EP was released, packaged in a top secret dossier format and with a track so secretive its name was classified. The EP charted at No. 4 in the top 10 independent singles chart. Man or Astroman? would continue to release many more records on One Louder, Touch & Go and Epitaph, but it is for this period that a majority of their fans will most fondly remember them. This reissue compiles ‘Your Weight On The Moon’ with the two EPs in a 16-page booklet. It is the first time that some of the tracks have appeared on CD.
TRACK LISTING:
Rocketship XL-3/ Secret Agent Conrad Uno/ Electrostatic Brain Field/ Shockwave/ Taser Guns Mean Big Fun/ F=GmM(moon)/ Space Patrol/ Happy Fingers/ Destination Venus/ Polaris/ Name of Numbers/ Of Sex and Demise/ Madness in the Streets/ Within a Martian Heart/ Point Blank/ Classified/ Secret Agent Conrad Uno/ Point Blank/ Goldfinger
