"mushroom-warped devil disco...wired mixture of The MC5, gospel and acid house" NME

"they put on parties that rave without hype or elitism, where everyone is welcome...songs sit somewhere between Kate Bush, KLF and The Orb" Sounds

Astralasia formed in 1990, but Swordfish's recording history goes back further than that...

Our latest 'Introduction to' set takes us through more than four hours of Astralasia - with plenty of Fruits de Mer tracks, but much more besides, including new mixes and previously unreleased recordings...and even Marc's first-ever track!

Swordfish explains....

"This compilation is hand picked by us; its an eclectic, electric selection of some released but a lot of unreleased tracks, and mixes that you won't find anywhere else (probably ever).
We think it gives a more balanced view to what we do that hopefully defies genre stereotyping and putting us in a bracket (or bucket), which sadly everyone wants to do these days.

These recordings originate from our earliest in 1982 on a 4-track Teac A3340 reel to reel (which we still have - the start of it all) that was an accident, as we got some singers in that couldn't sing, so it's a recording of them chatting over a backing loop; then it was the Magic Mushroom Band, which morphed into Astralasia then back again to Mushroom Project ,now just Mushroom and Astralasia (a lot as gone on between then and now.)

And to explain the difference...Astralasia is more beat or loop driven whereas the Mushroom is forever growing and spawning new spores, more organic and freeform between us all."

'An Introduction' includes tracks from 'Oceania', 'Wind On Water', 'The Darkest Voyage', 'Lobster Basque', 'Tales From The People Who Are Astralasia', 'Cluster Of Waves', 'Coloured In Dream', unreleased tracks from the 'Something Somewhere' sessions....ooooh, and lots more besides - over four hours of twists and turns (and great music).

A short, early history, taken from Last.FM...

Astralasia’s debut album was originally released on the fungus label in 1990. The band at the time all had suitably cosmic pseudonyms like Swordfish, Nosmo, Kim OZ and Moonboot although one early member was Jason Relf son of Yardbirds vocalist Keith Relf. Jason had also worked in the Magic Mushroom band and initially was part of the Astralasia set up but moved on to his own projects soon after the formation of Astralasia. One of the originators of the acid-house rave revolution, and major player in the trance scene across The UK and Europe. Early appearances include many Techno and underground parties at venues and clubs such as Megatripolis, Escape from Samsara, Whirl-Y-Gig, Return to The Source, and the Shamen's Synergy raves. Astralasia have appeared at Womad, Glastonbury and Phoenix Festivals, and appeared on many compilations such as Big Chill Classics, as well as having toured extensively across the UK and Europe.

More news soon

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