MTC LP1 by Martian Tin Can

Colin Laird, Mark Pilkington and Matt Smith began recording together in the mid 1990’s at The Cutting Rooms, a college/community recording facility where Mark worked as a technician. Colin and Matt were studying Music Technology and accessed the studios to record project work. By 1996 they had produced an EP entitled Media Virus which pricked up the ears of the likes of Ninja Tune. Taking influences from 1950s sci-fi cinema, hip hop, jazz, electro and even contemporary music, they sampled a variety of sounds utilizing the limited sample memory available at the time to create interesting soundscapes paired with intricately-programmed beats.

Martian Tin Can have released music on Guidance Recordings, SKAM Records, Thought Universe and The Sonic World Service.

Now based in Manchester and Bristol, their latest work has been pieced together over a period of 2 years, with Colin and Mark recording new material at Thought Universe studio and Matt creating content between studio sessions at SOA studio in Bristol.

Some of the new material has been developed from their library of audio originally used in their Transmission from the Tin Can mixcloud broadcasts. These two-hour shows comprised an eclectic selection of music blended with their own synth jams, poetry, sci-fi dialogue, foley, scores, interviews and comedy clips, resulting in a psychedelic brew of long-form radio entertainment.

Other tracks were derived from a 1990s archive of floppy discs, DATs, ZIP drives and tapes, with these lo-fi elements contrasting with sounds created using electroacoustic practices. Human voice elements consist of self-created or sampled material from various media sources. For example, recordings of people under regression hypnosis claiming to have witnessed UFO phenomena.

Colin Laird, Matt Smith and Mark Pilkington

martiantincan.com
mixcloud.com
markpilkington.org.uk