Bleep

Press Release

Colin Morrison’s Castles In Space label has launched a new publishing venture in the shape of Moonbuilding mag.

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.