Cyclobe
Encyclopedia
Cyclobe are a music duo based in London, formed by Stephen Thrower
and Ossian Brown
. They make hallucinatory electronic soundscapes by mixing sampled and heavily synthesized sounds with acoustic arrangements for strings and woodwind. Their approach draws upon diverse forms, including acousmatic
, drone music
, dark ambient
, noise
and sound collage
. Thrower is also a film journalist and author of Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci. Ossian Brown worked with Coil
from 1999 until the band’s cessation on the death of John Balance
in 2004.
, Horse Rotorvator
and Love's Secret Domain
) and went on to form the experimental trio Identical, with Gavin Mitchell and Orlando. All three members of Identical now work as The Amal Gamal Ensemble, alongside other musicians including David Knight and Karl Blake
of The Shock Headed Peters.
, Industrial
, and acoustic interludes for piano, strings and woodwind. They were joined on several tracks by Calina De La Mare (violin) and Niall Webb (bass clarinet). Next came The Visitors (2001), again featuring De La Mare (violin), alongside Sarah Willson (cello) and Coil’s Thighpaulsandra
(production). Although still assaultive at times, The Visitors developed a warmer, expansive sound, with lush atmospherics and harmonic complexity. A third album followed in the form of a collaboration with Nurse With Wound
, called Paraparaparallelogrammatica (2004). Cyclobe took their ‘remix’ of a 40 minute Nurse With Wound composition to the extreme, mostly obliterating the original. With contributions from David Tibet
of Current 93
, and Coil members/collaborators Thighpaulsandra and Cliff Stapleton, the result was complex electroacoustic psychedelia, completely individual but very much in sympathy with Nurse With Wound's methods. Cyclobe also recorded new title music for the film Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (dir: George Barry, 1977) – a surreal, independently shot horror movie, illegally bootlegged on video in the early 1980s but theatrically unreleased at the time – which made its official debut on DVD in 2004.
Ossian Brown in 2009 played on the Current 93 album “Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain”. Stephen Thrower recorded “The Temporal Bends”, a CD that was releasing in collaboration with David Knight under the name UnicaZürn, featuring a rare performance from the artist and musician Danielle Dax
.
In 2010 Cyclobe released the full length album “Wounded Galaxies Tap at The Window” on Phantomcode records. On this album Ossian Brown and Stephen Thrower worked with guest musicians Thighpaulsandra, Cliff Stapleton, Michael J York and John Contreras. The albums centre piece being the 17 minute epic “The Woods are Alive with The Smell of His Coming”, a track that was premiered at the Tate Gallery in St Ives. at the exhibition “The Dark Monarch - Magic and Modernity in Modern Art”. The front cover artwork to “Wounded Galaxies” was created by the American artist Fred Tomaselli
and the insert artwork by the artist Alex Rose. Alex Rose went on to create the front cover artwork for Cyclobe’s “The Eclipser/The Moths of Pre-Sleep” single which was also released that same year on Dot Dot Dot Music.
Ossian Brown's first book "Haunted Air" was also published in 2010 by Jonathan Cape
, with an introduction by David Lynch
and an afterword by Geoff Cox.
Stephen Thrower
Stephen Thrower is an English musician and author.Formerly a member of the music group Coil , his current music project is Cyclobe, with Ossian Brown...
and Ossian Brown
Ossian Brown
Ossian Brown is an English musician and artist.Brown is notable for being a full time member of the music groups Coil and Cyclobe.Ossian Brown's first book 'Haunted Air' was published in 2010 by Jonathan Cape in the United Kingdom, with an introduction by David Lynch and an afterword by Geoff...
. They make hallucinatory electronic soundscapes by mixing sampled and heavily synthesized sounds with acoustic arrangements for strings and woodwind. Their approach draws upon diverse forms, including acousmatic
Acousmatic
Acousmatic sound is sound one hears without seeing an originating cause. The word acousmatic, from the French acousmatique, is derived from ἀκουσματικοί akousmatikoi, a term used to refer to probationary pupils of the philosopher Pythagoras who, so that they might better concentrate on his...
, drone music
Drone music
Drone music is a minimalist musical style that emphasizes the use of sustained or repeated sounds, notes, or tone-clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmonic variations throughout each piece compared to other musics...
, dark ambient
Dark ambient
Dark ambient is a subgenre of ambient music that features foreboding, ominous, or discordant overtones. Although it had its roots in the 1970s, Dark ambient emerged in the 1980s and 1990s with the introduction of newer, smaller, and more affordable Effects units, synthesizer and sampling technology...
, noise
Noise
In common use, the word noise means any unwanted sound. In both analog and digital electronics, noise is random unwanted perturbation to a wanted signal; it is called noise as a generalisation of the acoustic noise heard when listening to a weak radio transmission with significant electrical noise...
and sound collage
Sound collage
In music, montage or sound collage is a technique where sound objects or compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as montage, the use of portions of previous recordings or scores...
. Thrower is also a film journalist and author of Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci. Ossian Brown worked with Coil
Coil (band)
Coil were an English cross-genre, experimental music group formed in 1982 by John Balance—later credited as "Jhonn Balance"—and his partner Peter Christopherson, aka "Sleazy". The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil, which he claimed to be...
from 1999 until the band’s cessation on the death of John Balance
John Balance
John Balance , born in Mansfield, England, was the founder of the experimental music group Coil, along with his partner Peter Christopherson...
in 2004.
Background
Thrower and Brown met in the early 1990s through their mutual association with Coil. Thrower left Coil in 1993 (having worked on the albums ScatologyScatology (album)
Scatology is the first LP and a second album produced by Coil.Scatology was released in three different formats with two different covers...
, Horse Rotorvator
Horse Rotorvator
Horse Rotorvator is the second LP released by the British industrial group Coil. It was named one of the Top 100 Albums of the 1980s by Pitchfork Media who ranked it 73rd.-Editions:...
and Love's Secret Domain
Love's Secret Domain
Love's Secret Domain is the third album by Coil and was released in 1991. The album marked a departure from the brooding synthesizers and melodies of their first two albums, focusing more on acid house sampling. The singles released from the album were "Windowpane" and "The Snow"...
) and went on to form the experimental trio Identical, with Gavin Mitchell and Orlando. All three members of Identical now work as The Amal Gamal Ensemble, alongside other musicians including David Knight and Karl Blake
Karl Blake
Karl Blake is a vocalist, bassist, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. Most of his own music can be described as progressive-experimental and sometimes psychedelic.-Musical career:...
of The Shock Headed Peters.
Music
The first Cyclobe album, Luminous Darkness (1999), veered between hard-edged electronic music, Musique concrèteMusique concrète
Musique concrète is a form of electroacoustic music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sounds derived from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical"...
, Industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
, and acoustic interludes for piano, strings and woodwind. They were joined on several tracks by Calina De La Mare (violin) and Niall Webb (bass clarinet). Next came The Visitors (2001), again featuring De La Mare (violin), alongside Sarah Willson (cello) and Coil’s Thighpaulsandra
Thighpaulsandra
Thighpaulsandra is a Welsh experimental musician and multi-instrumentalist known mostly for performing on synthesizers and keyboards. As Tim Lewis, he began his career working with Julian Cope. A collaboration with Cope in 1993 followed, as the experimental duo Queen Elizabeth...
(production). Although still assaultive at times, The Visitors developed a warmer, expansive sound, with lush atmospherics and harmonic complexity. A third album followed in the form of a collaboration with Nurse With Wound
Nurse with Wound
Nurse with Wound is the main recording name for British musician Steven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak...
, called Paraparaparallelogrammatica (2004). Cyclobe took their ‘remix’ of a 40 minute Nurse With Wound composition to the extreme, mostly obliterating the original. With contributions from David Tibet
David Tibet
David Tibet is a British poet and artist who founded the music group Current 93, of which he is the only full-time member. He had earlier collaborated with Psychic TV and 23 Skidoo...
of Current 93
Current 93
Current 93 is an eclectic British experimental music group, working since the early 1980s in folk-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982 by David Tibet .-Background:Tibet has been the only constant in the group, though Steven Stapleton has appeared on...
, and Coil members/collaborators Thighpaulsandra and Cliff Stapleton, the result was complex electroacoustic psychedelia, completely individual but very much in sympathy with Nurse With Wound's methods. Cyclobe also recorded new title music for the film Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (dir: George Barry, 1977) – a surreal, independently shot horror movie, illegally bootlegged on video in the early 1980s but theatrically unreleased at the time – which made its official debut on DVD in 2004.
Ossian Brown in 2009 played on the Current 93 album “Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain”. Stephen Thrower recorded “The Temporal Bends”, a CD that was releasing in collaboration with David Knight under the name UnicaZürn, featuring a rare performance from the artist and musician Danielle Dax
Danielle Dax
Danielle Dax is an experimental musician and producer most active from the late-1970s to the mid-1990s. She was born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.- Biography :...
.
In 2010 Cyclobe released the full length album “Wounded Galaxies Tap at The Window” on Phantomcode records. On this album Ossian Brown and Stephen Thrower worked with guest musicians Thighpaulsandra, Cliff Stapleton, Michael J York and John Contreras. The albums centre piece being the 17 minute epic “The Woods are Alive with The Smell of His Coming”, a track that was premiered at the Tate Gallery in St Ives. at the exhibition “The Dark Monarch - Magic and Modernity in Modern Art”. The front cover artwork to “Wounded Galaxies” was created by the American artist Fred Tomaselli
Fred Tomaselli
Fred Tomaselli is an American artist. He is best known for his highly detailed paintings on wood panels, combining an array of unorthodox materials suspended in a thick layer of clear, epoxy resin...
and the insert artwork by the artist Alex Rose. Alex Rose went on to create the front cover artwork for Cyclobe’s “The Eclipser/The Moths of Pre-Sleep” single which was also released that same year on Dot Dot Dot Music.
Ossian Brown's first book "Haunted Air" was also published in 2010 by Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape was a London-based publisher founded in 1919 as "Page & Co" by Herbert Jonathan Cape , formerly a manager at Duckworth who had worked his way up from a position of bookshop errand boy. Cape brought with him the rights to cheap editions of the popular author Elinor Glyn and sales of...
, with an introduction by David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
and an afterword by Geoff Cox.
Albums
- Luminous Darkness (CD) (1999)
- The Visitors (CD) (2001)
- Paraparaparallelogrammatica (CD, vinyl) (2004)
- Wounded Galaxies Tap at the Window (vinyl, download) (2010)
Singles
- Pathfinder/Remember, Archangels Protect Us... (vinyl) (2003)
- The Eclipser/The Moths of Pre-Sleep (vinyl) (2010)
Compilation tracks
| Song title | Released on | Date released | Format | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "I Believe In Mirrorballs" | Hate People Like Us | 1999 | CD, 2XCD | |
| "Silent Key" | Emre (Dark Matter) Emre (Dark Matter) Emre is a compilation album released on CD in a regular and limited edition version. The limited edition version was limited to a pressing of 500, in heavy card slipcase with a second booklet.... |
2000 | CD | |
| "Replaced By His Constellation" | Brain In The Wire Brain in the Wire Brain In The Wire is a compilation by Brainwashed Recordings, which is a collection of mostly rare, unreleased alternate versions of songs by many influential groups that Brainwashed's website promotes hosting for... |
2002 | 3XCD | |
| "Frostflowers" | Electrically Induced Vibrations | 2002 | ||
| "Indulge Yourselves With Our Delicious Monsters" | Not Alone | 2006 | CD Box set |