Land of Nod

OCHRE BANDS - LAND OF NOD

This page last updated Sunday May 25th 2003

NEWS:

Welcome to The Land Of Nod site. The group have been in busy mode of late. On March 20th the group recorded their debut Session for John Peel’s BBC Radio One Show at the legendary Studio 4 at Maida Vale in London. The session was broadcast on Tuesday April 22nd. Tracks were: ‘Half-Light’, ‘Colli Di Pedona’, ‘Ice Station Nod’ and ‘Inducing The Sleep Sphere’. The band undertook a mini-tour of the West Coast in USA in April and performed at Sunset Station night at The Bigfoot Lodge in LA (April 8th), The Silverlake Lounge (10th) and the Café Du Nord in San Fransisco (11th). The group also performed a live session on Monday the 7th on KXLU in LA. Tracks performed were ‘Ice Station Nod’, ‘Reality Channel’ and ‘Colli Di Pedona’. The tour was to promote the new US album ‘Reality Channel’ on LA label Elephant Stone.

NEW RELEASES OUT NOW:

Inducing the Sleep Sphere

‘Inducing The Sleep Sphere’ is the eagerly anticipated new studio album from THE LAND OF NOD and was released on Ochre Records (distributed by Cargo) on Monday December 9th.

The album has been receiving constant airplay on the John Peel’s BBC Radio One Show. NME included a review of the album stating " And Cheltenham's Land Of Nod offer further proof that these cats know a good space-rock opus when they hear one. With it's glassy stare fixed on the darkest realms of inner space, 'Inducing...' sounds like the Spiritualized LP Jason Pierce could never get round to putting words to. A drifting slush of clicks and pulses, their twin obsessions with the fluffy end of electronic noise and Belgian sportsman Eddy Merckx could mean that The Land Of Nod do for cycling what Kraftwerk's 'Autobahn' did for motorway travel. Got to be worth a go."
Whilst David Keenan in The Wire stated that the album “conjurs the ghosts of countless experimental German roadgoers” adding, “The Land of Nod move further into late night atmospherics and moss coated folk drones, as spiralling metronomic instruments cut up with the burr of automated telephone exchanges, snatches of shortwave drama and eerie alien electronics”. The album has gained rave reviews in Italy (5 out of 5 in ‘Rockerilla’, 7 out of 8 in ‘Blow Up’) whilst Careless Talk Cost Lives stated “The rising soar of ‘Elevator’, the drifting ‘Loose Contact’, along with the driving ‘Eddy’ all surge to an inspirational climax peaking with the title track’‘.

‘Inducing The Sleep Sphere’ sees The Land Of Nod conjure up once again those dreamy soundscapes so reminiscent in the sounds of their contemporaries such as the Spaceman 3, Windy & Carl and The Durutti Column. Music that takes’s the listener off to that indescribable other-wordly place. Surreal, ethereal and blissed-out, where time stands still! Several tracks on the new album however possess music with a kraut-psych feel that can only be described as a mixture of Neu!, Can, Cluster and even the 13th Floor Elevators and The Seeds!

Tracks: 01: Half-Light 02: Elevator 03: A Sequence Of Speed 04: Close To Conscious 05: Loose Contact 06: Radiate 07: Le Sommet A Mont Ventoux 08: Change Of Mind 09: Shimmering 10: Eddy 11: Inducing The Sleep Sphere

Track 10 ‘Eddy’ is taken from The Land Of Nod’s session recorded for Slobodan Vujanovic’s ‘The Power Of The Witches’ show broadcast on the B-92 Radio Station, Serbia on 8th May 2002.

The Land of Nod / P.A.T.E split 7” (Ochre)

The split 7” (limited to 517 copies) from THE LAND OF NOD and the Japanese group P.A.T.E. (Pop Art Tradition Experiment) was released on Ochre Records (OCH051) on Monday March 17th. P.A.T.E remixed The Land Of Nod track ‘Eddy’ from the Nod’s ‘Inducing The Sleep Sphere’ album whilst The Land of Nod remix ‘Shinkai Cruisin’ # 2 from Pate’s excellent album on Sur La Plage ‘Mo’ Psycho’. Pate are Nobuyuki Ohashi, Genta Matsumura and Takeshi Suzuki. Nobuyuki Ohashi is also the bass player in Japanese group Cornelius. To order copies of the Pate album please check out www.surla.co.uk.

Reality Channel - Am Introduction to The Land of Nod

Elephant Stone Records based in LA in America released an ‘Introduction To The Land Of Nod’ compilation album on Monday April 7th titled ‘Reality Channel’.

Full track listing is: 01: Ice Station Nod 02: Half-Light 03: Quadrant Zero (Out-take) 04: Timeless Point 05: Parabolic Velocity 06: Filtration 07: Reality Channel 08: The Land Of Nod (Sunrise) 09: Chronicle Blueprint #1 10: Inducing The Sleep Sphere 11: Eddy 12: Masaki 13: Luminosity plus previously unreleased bonus tracks 14: Cadence 15: Mooger Superior ‘Eddy’, ‘Cadence’ and ‘Mooger Superior’ are all taken from the groups B-92 Radio Session from 08/05/02.

You can contact Elephant Stone at Elephant Stone Records, PO Box 931057,Los Angeles, CA 90093 USA.
Web site: www.elephantstonerecords.com or e-mail ben@www.elephantstonerecords.com.

‘Reality Channel’ features music from all four albums on Ochre Records.

GIGS

The band have no gigs currently lined up. They will be touring Italy in late October to promote the ‘Colli Di Pedona’ CD on SillyBoy Entertainment records of Padova which is due for release in September.

B92 RADIO SESSION

The Land Of Nod’s Session for the B-92 Radio Station in Yugoslavia was broadcast by Slobodan Vujanovic on his ‘The Power Of The Witches Show’ on May 8th 2002. All three tracks from the Session ‘Eddy’, ‘Cadence’ and ‘Mooger Superior’ all appear on the forthcoming compilation album ‘Reality Channel’ in the USA. The session version of ‘Eddy’ also appears on the new album ‘Inducing The Sleep Sphere’.

RECORDINGS
The track ‘Otter’ appeared on ‘Audio Wonderland’ the third volume in Enraptured Records compilation series ‘Bedroom Ambience’. The album was released in the early Summer of 2002. You can contact Enraptured at www.enrapturedrecords.com or e-mail jackenraptured@hotmail.com.

Four new tracks have now been finished and mixed ready for the new Ochre Records compilation album based on the theme of the ‘Seasons’. The album (OCH039LCD) is scheduled for release on June 9th 2003 and also features tracks from Stylus, Lakescene, Longstone and 90° South. The Land Of Nod’s tracks are titled: ‘Waiting For The Thaw’, ‘Summer-House’, ‘The Season Of Decay’ and ‘Lights Fades Fast’.

The Land Of Nod have just recorded a track for a new Silber Recordings compilation titled ‘Silber Family Values’. More details to follow shortly. This follows up the track ‘Temporal’ that appeared on the ‘Songs For The End Of The World’ Silber compilation released in January 2002. Silber Recordings released The Land Of Nod’s mini-album ‘Mont Ventoux’ in May 2001. Check out more at www.silbermedia.com.

The group have now finished recording an album ‘Colli Di Pedona’, for Silly Boy Entertainment records of Padova that has been inspired by the group’s visit to the Colli Di Pedona in Italy in May 2002.

A short exclusive recording of ‘Colli Di Pedona’ will be included on the front-cover CD of the next issue of Ptolemaic Terrascope (Issue 33) due out in late May 2003. The issue will also contain an interview with the band.

BIOGRAPHY:

The Land Of Nod to date have released four albums on Ochre Records, ‘Translucent’ (February 1999), ‘Timeless Point’ (September 2000) ‘Inducing The Sleep Sphere’ (December 2002) as well as the ‘Archive:02’ collection (March 2002) plus also the mini-album ‘Mont Ventoux’ on USA label Silber (May 2001) and the ‘Reality Channel’- Introduction To The Land Of Nod (April 2003) on Elephant Stone Records .

2001’s ‘Mont Ventoux’ release saw Edwin Pouncey state in The Wire “The group have been compared to Neu! But here they owe more to the hanging mists of Popul Vuh during the latters golden Herzog soundtrack period”, going on to add “Stripped of frills and posturing, their music gently breathes in your ear, urging you to dream”. The ‘Mont Ventoux’ release saw the group experiment with sound collages and loops and the title track was written about one of the highest summit's in cycling's Tour De France. The release featured a cycling theme throughout, ‘Anquetil’ was named after five times Tour De France winner Jacques Anquetil whilst ‘Sommet’ featured the voice of the great Eddy Merckx. The Land Of Nod’s recent performances have been backed by film of Merckx. The Land Of Nod continue this theme on the new Ochre album ‘Inducing The Sleep Sphere’ with the inclusion of the live favourite ‘Eddy’ and a re-working of the ‘Mont Ventoux’ track titled in this case, ‘Le Sommet A Mont Ventoux’. The track ‘Eddy’ is in fact taken from the Radio Session the band recorded and was aired on the legendary Serbian Radio Station B-92 in May in 2002.

On the debut album ‘Translucent’ Ptolemaic Terrascope stated ‘They are definitely ahead of the pack and well worth keeping a weather-eye open for’ whilst The Wire added ‘Translucent’ features some vintage Neu! 75 style atmospherics’. Mucchio in Italy made it an album of the week concluding in their review ‘in short a little space rock masterpiece’. On the recent ‘Archive:02’ compilation, Vendetta in America stated ‘The Land Of Nod might not be as trendy as Mogwai and You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead, but these guys are far better, the cream of the crop as far as guitar-based instrumentally inclined groups go’.

DISCOGRAPHY:

01	'Floating Around In The Bubblebuzz' appeared on the four-track 12" compilation EP 'Voyage To The Cosmic Underworld: Volume One' (OCHRE OCH002). Limited to 250 copies. Date of Release 12/6/95.
02	'Seeing Into The Great Void' / 'Revoid' appeared on the split 12" with The Bass Cadets. (OCHRE OCH007). Limited to 500 copies. Date Of Release 4/3/96.
03	'Spiral' split 7" with Ectogram (OCHRE OCH-PRO-003). Hand Lathe Cut on Clear Vinyl. Limited to 154 copies. Released 1/98.
04	'Masaki' 10". (OCHRE OCH023). The release was part of the Ochre 10" series. Tracks: 'Masaki','Chronicle Blueprint #1' and 'Exponential'. Limited to 523 copies on Claret Vinyl. Date Of Release 20/7/98.
05	'Escape Velocity' appeared on the 'HOPE' compilation CD Album. (AUDIO RESEARCH (ARE-101). The compilation was made up of one-minute tracks. Date Of Release: 8/98.
06	Translucent' CD Album. (OCHRE OCH007LCD). Limited to 500. Date Of Release 8/2/99. Tracks: 1. The Land Of Nod (Sunrise) 2. Quadrant Zero 3. Exponential #2 4. Filtration 5. Parabolic Velocity 6. Objective Reality 7. Ephemeral 8. Missing Mass 9. Luminosity 10. The Land Of Nod (Earthrise). Tracks 2, 6 & 10 (Engineered by David Wrench) were recorded at Bryn Derwen, Bethesda, Gwynedd. track 3 at Riverside Studios, Ossett (engineered by Ian MacWhirter-Morrison) with the rest recorded at Nod Studios. David Wrench played Piano on track 2 and Cello on track 6. Alan Holmes played Yamaha CS-15 keyboard on track 10. Merlin Zol, Harmonium on track 6.Drums by Smurf on tracks 2, 3, 6 & 10.
07	'C.O.B.E' appeared on the 'TRACE' compilation Double CD Album. (AUDIO RESEARCH ARE-102). The compilation was made up of two-minute tracks. Date Of Release: 12/99.
08	'Earthrise' from the 'Translucent' CD album appears on the front cover CD of the Brazilian magazine 'TRIP' - Issue 75, December 1999. The CD is devoted to Experimental & Electronic Music. The track was put on by mistake by the compilers instead of the Stylus track 'Deceleration' which is quoted on the CD cover artwork and in the magazine!
09	'Chronicle Blueprint #2/ Lake Merrit' 7" Single on Enraptured Records Limited to 500 (200 on blue vinyl). Date Of release: 24/01/00.
10	'Drop' appears on the 'ZERO' compilation CD. (AUDIO RESEARCH ARE-103). The compilation was made up of of one-minute tracks. Date Of release: 4/00.
11	'Bubblebuzz' appears on the 'Through The Square Window' USA CD Compilation (BLUE-FLEA RECORDS. Blue-Flea 10). Released in 5/00. Limited to 1000. Blue-Flea is based in Dearborn, MI, USA.
12	'Noose Of Ice' appears on the '271199' CD compilation (OCHRE RECORDS OCH020LCD). Released 26/06/00. Limited to 500. Track was recorded live at the Ochre5 Festival at Gloucester Guildhall on 27/11/99.
13	'Timeless Point' CD Album. (OCHRE RECORDS OCH022LCD). Date Of Release 04/09/00. Tracks: Ice Station Nod / Timeless Point / Signs Of Life / Second Sight / Reality Channel / Conventional Grid Pattern / Tropical Dust Cloud / Masaki / Alternate / Noose Of Ice
14	'Bubblebuzz' on the 'Interface' CD compilation (SPACE AGE RECORDINGS ORBIT 019CD). Released 25/09/00. Limited to 2000 in Gatefold Card Sleeve. The album was an 'Space Age / Ochre / Earworm compilation.
15	'Ice Station Nod' appears on 'Art-Rocker' compilation cassette that featured on one-side 30 minutes of Ochre acts. Free with 'Art Rocker #2' 200 copies. (11/00).
16	'Mont Ventoux' mini-CD Album. (SILBER RECORDINGS SILBER015). Date Of Release 08/05/2001. Tracks: Orientation Point / San Juan Capistrano / Altitude / Sommet / Anquetil / Mont Ventoux
17	'Quadrant Zero' (Remix) appears on the Ochre 7 CD Programme. (OCHRE RECORDS OCH030LCD). Date of Release: 17/11/01. Limited edition of 500. CD Programme made available for the Ochre 7 Festival. Features David Wrench on Piano.
18	‘Temporal’ appears on the ‘Songs For The End Of the World’ USA CD Compilation (SILBER RECORDINGS SILBER020). Date of Release: January 2002. CD was limited to 100 and made available free to those who ordered items from Silber Mail-Order.
19	‘Archive:02’ Double CD Album. (OCHRE RECORDS OCH029LCD). Date of Release: 04/03/02. Limited to 540 Copies. The CD was a 28 track compilation of non-album material released on various labels between June 1995 and April 2001. ‘Archive:02’ includes previously unreleased, live and demo tracks. Tracks: CD1: Floating Around In The Bubblebuzz / Seeing Into The Great Void / Revoid (Bass Cadets Remix) / Interceptor #1 (Demo) / Interceptor # 2 (Demo) / Spiral / Exponential / Chronicle Blueprint # 1 / Masaki / Escape Velocity / Chronicle Blueprint #3 / C.O.B.E / Ice Station Nod (Original) / Bubblebuzz. CD2: The Land Of Nod - Earthrise (Out-take) / Quadrant Zero (Out-take) / Objective Reality (Out-take) / Noose Of Ice (live) / Drop / Chronicle Blueprint #2 / Lake Merrit / Ice Station Nod (live) / Reality Channel (live) / Chronicle Blueprint (live) / Orientation Point (live) / Noose Of Ice (live) / Mont Ventoux Edit (live) / The Land Of Nod - Earthrise (live). The tracks live = Unity Theatre, Liverpool, 21/06/01
20	'Otter' appears on the 'Audio Wonderland' Bedroom Ambience Volume 3 Compilation CD album (ENRAPTURED RECORDS RAPTCDXL37). Date Of Release: May 2002.
21	Timeless Point, Quadrant Zero (out-take) and The Land Of Nod (Sunrise) appear on the 'Themes' Volume One Compilation CD Album (OCHRE RECORDS OCH:REEL01). Released: July 2002. Limited to 1000 copies circulated to the Film and Soundtrack industry.
22	'Inducing The Sleep Sphere' CD Album.(OCHRE RECORDS OCH037LCD). Date Of Release: 09/12/02. 1000 copies. Tracks: 01: Half-Light 02: Elevator 03: A Sequence Of Speed 04:Close To Conscious 05: Loose Contact 06: Radiate 07: Le Sommet A Mont Ventoux 08: Change Of Mind 09: Shimmering 10: Eddy 11: Inducing The Sleep Sphere (Track 10 'Eddy' is taken from The Land Of Nod's session recorded for Slobodan Vujanovic's 'The Power Of The Witches' show broadcast on the B-92 Radio Station, Serbia on 8th May 2002).
23	Eddy’ (The P.A.T.E remix) 7”. (OCHRE RECORDS OCH051). Split 7” with P.A.T.E. The P.A.T.E side was ‘Shinkai Crusin #2’ (The Land Of Nod Remix) Date Of Release: 17/03/03. Limited to 517 copies on Blue Vinyl..
23	Reality Channel - An Introduction To The Land Of Nod. CD Album. (Elephant Stone Records. OS2209). Date Of Release: 07/04/03. First pressing: 1000 copies. Tracks: Full track listing is: 01: Ice Station Nod 02: Half-Light 03: Quadrant Zero (Out-take) 04: Timeless Point 05: Parabolic Velocity 06: Filtration 07: Reality Channel 08: The Land Of Nod (Sunrise) 09: Chronicle Blueprint #1 10: Inducing The Sleep Sphere 11: Eddy 12: Masaki 13: Luminosity plus previously unreleased bonus tracks 14: Cadence 15: Mooger Superior. Note: ‘Eddy’, ‘Cadence’ and ‘Mooger Superior’ are all taken from the groups B-92 Radio Session from 08/05/02.

GIGS:

01: 14/05/98 CHELTENHAM, Cafe Tabac (with Longstone)
02: 15/10/98 BRIGHTON, The Albert (with The Freed Unit and Plankton)
03: 18/11/98 LONDON, Upstairs At The Garage (with Lefthand and Plankton)
04: 22/12/98 BIRMINGHAM, Flapper & Firkin (with Magnétophone and Longstone)
05: 26/03/99 BRISTOL, Louisana (with Experimental Audio Research and Longstone)
06: 03/04/99 BRIGHTON, Sussex Arts Club (with Avrocar and Longstone)
07: 09/04/99 LONDON, Upstairs At The Garage (with Experimental Audio Research and Longstone)
08: 27/05/99 GLASGOW, 13th Note (with Experimental Audio Research and Longstone)
09: 28/05/99 STIRLING, 'Le Weekend' at the Cowane Theatre (with Experimental Audio Research, Mount Vernon Arts Lab and Longstone)
10: 27/11/99 GLOUCESTER, Guildhall, OCHRE 5 '1 Day Festival'
11: 04/03/00 LONDON, Notting Hill Arts Centre (with A.M.P Studio and 90º South)
12: 29/07/00 LOS ANGELES, Playa Del Rey, Grizz's
13: 30/09/00 LONDON, Kosmische Club, Upstairs At The Garage (support from Mosquito Love)
14: 05/10/00 LONDON, Camden Underworld. (with E.A.R, AMP, Longstone, 90° South, Pete Bassman, 121 Dials etc).
15: 12/10/00 BRISTOL, The Cube Cinema, King Square. (with 90º South plus visuals from Joe Brinton).
16: 26/04/01 CHELTENHAM, The Strand. (with Longstone and 90º South).
17: 17/05/01 BRISTOL, Thekla. (with Applecraft, Longstone and 90º South plus visuals from WhiteEye Film Tones).
18: 21/06/01 LIVERPOOL, Unity Theatre. Mycroft's Curious Delights #2 (with Longstone, 90º South and Peter Smyth).
19: 12/07/01 CHELTENHAM, The Strand. (with Applecraft and 90º South).
20: 20/10/01 LONDON, The Spitz. (with 90º South and E.A.R.).
21: 17/11/01 GLOUCESTER, Guildhall. Ochre 7 Festival. (Headlined in Cinema).
22: 21/04/02 CHELTENHAM, Calmer at Mezza (Mitre). Support was an acoustic set from Silverman.
23: 25/04/02 BRISTOL, Louisiana. With Glide, Longstone and 90 Degrees South.
24: 26/04/02 LONDON, The Spitz. With Glide, Longstone and 90 Degrees South.
25: 14/11/02 BRISTOL Louisiana.With Charles Atlas and Yellow 6.
26: 16/12/02 CHELTENHAM Music Library. With Longstone and Chris Cundy.
27: 23/02/03 LONDON 12 Bar Club. Baggage Reclaim Night with Longstone, 90 Degrees South and Richard Sanderson.
28: 01/03/03 MANCHESTER Tmesis. With Marconi Union.
29: 08/04/03 LOS ANGELES Sunset Station at The Bigfoot Lodge.
30: 10/04/03 LOS ANGELES The Silverlake Lounge. With Rash Modernaire.
31: 11/04/03 SAN FRANSISCO Café Du Nord. With Charles Atlas and Mellow Drunk.

Back to Ochre Home