Location: Sherborne, Dorset, UK
Est: 2015
Potted History: Label head Matt Saunders, who formed 4AD act Magnétophone back in 1995 along with art school mate John Hanson and later recruited Spacemen 3’s Sonic Boom, had a near-fatal car crash in 2013. Last rites were read. Life was reappraised during a lengthy rehabilitation and Patterned Air was born.
Mission Statement: To release a unique blend of exploratory electronica and sonic archaeological gold, balancing new work with previously unreleased 80s and 90s buried treasure. “We’re a quarter of a century away from the beginning of techno now,” says Saunders. “It’s becoming a distant memory and the connection between early techno and current electronica is becoming very hazy. I like making direct links to those roots and thinking about how old sounds might ‘look’ with the passage of time.”
Key artists and releases: As well as being the conduit for Saunders’ Assembled Minds alter ego (his ‘Creaking Haze And Other Rave Ghosts’ debut is an eerie alt-techno masterpiece) and that of like-minded artist Vickie Wilson (aka woodland electronica composer Cukoo, whose first album is coming soon), there’s also a long-player slated for new ambient experimentalists Lo_Five and a brooding Radiophonic-flavoured record by The British Space Group. The label’s electro-archaeological release schedule will begin with Running On Air, an early 90s Boards Of Canada-like act whose exploratory dance/ambient atmospherics will stop you in your tracks.
Future Plans: Saunders is currently recording the next Assembled Minds album with Sonic Boom. It should surface towards the end of the year. He’s also working with psychogeographer and experimental composer Drew Mullholland on a mystical 23-minute 23-second drone piece which will hopefully include some of the last recordings made by the late Coil duo of John Balance and Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson. Watch this space.
Assembled Minds’ ‘Creaking Haze And Other Rave Ghosts’ is out now
