ASTRALASIA – AN INTRODUCTION TO (Fruits De Mer) (4 x CD) (2026)

This is the second Astralasia 4 x CD set to be released over 2025/2026 following “The Seven Pointed Star” as reviewed previously on DISS. Marc Swordfish, in his 36^th year of all things Astralasia gives the background to this hand-picked collection in the press release. CD 1 has eight tracks from the “Wind on Water” double LP, the “Oceania” double LP and the “A Momentary Lapse of Vinyl” double CD and others. Two of the tracks are covers: Brainticket’s ‘Cotton Wood Hill/ Places of Light’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun’.

Overall, Astralasia are pretty unique with comparisons perhaps to Tangerine Dream, The Orb, latter day Steve Hillage and Ozric Tentacles and occupy a techno/underground space with some Motorik beats and dubs, all instrumental with extracts of various sounds and occasional vocals. There is much to enjoy on this welcome latest addition to the “An Introduction to” series but I must admit at times it all got a bit weird even for my eclectic tastes. There being 40 tracks in all I would advise taking one CD at a time.

The instrumentation is also very varied. On the second CD there is slide guitar and harmonica on ‘Darkest Voyage’ and ‘Deep Magick Whirly Mix’ is a real hall of famer. There is also mix of styles, notably the deep dub of ‘Zhala Dub Dubber’. Some of the covers work better than other; an excellent copy of The Monkees’ ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ particularly impresses. On CD 3 there is a no holds barred space rock jam called’ Dr Terror’ which includes guitar and organ. ‘Cluster of Waves’ is a good title for what follows and there is a step change five minutes in, typical of Astralasia. ‘Can You Read Me’ is from a previously unreleased movie soundtrack with vocal while ‘Butterfly’ is another track extrapolated from the vaults, a dancefloor filler with a striking guest female vocalist, Neve. ‘Girls Talk’ is a rarity from a 1982 cassette and bears no resemblance to Dave Edmind’s hit of the same name.

On CD 4 ‘Zigzag’ is a groove based on a bass riff with guitar, synth and harmonica breaks, ‘Invisible Guitar; is an extended guitar fest. Incongruously there is a western hoedown in a cover of ‘Johnny Remember Me’ and finally, some sitar and acoustic guitar on a remix of ‘Love or Confusion’ from The Chemistry Set’s “Endless More and More” special edition demonstrating the variety of sounds, electric and acoustic, that Astralasia deploy.

Is it all too much? Probably not if you love synth-based techno/ rave/ trance (whatever you like to call it) and if you do then look no further.