Newsletter #22 - November 2012

It's been a long time, as the John's Children tune would have it. In fact it's been about 12 months since the last Radiant Future Newsletter, and we hope you are still alive. Statistically at least, many of you still will be. Here, finally, are some updates and some compelling news as we reach for the low-hanging fruit and reveal how passionate we are about living our dream etc. etc.

Before we provide selected highlights of recent activities, we would like to make the following points. The CD format seems to have joined the wax cylinder and the man with the red flag who walks in front of your car on the scrap heap of technology. As no-one is motivated to buy the damn things any more, we are forced to adopt other routes in order to try to cover even our basic expenses. It seems that the actual music content of a release is secondary to compelling, lifestyle-enhancing fashion items branded with neon logos and fish. Thus we have decided that if you cannot beat them, you may as well join them, albeit in the Radiant Future modus operandi which you have come to expect.

We remember the thrill of a 12-inch cardboard LP sleeve and all it's attendant info with fondness. The CD booklet was a brave attempt to replicate the album sleeve, but who can read that tiny print crammed into 10 teeny pages? So this time around, with the release of the final part of Martin Gordon's Mammal Trilogy, we have created a plethora of material to solve this issue, of which the actual music will be but one part.

There will be music, there will even be a CD, but there will also be a lot of in a variety of formats! is good, we like Do you like ? You should. Ask a young person to explain to you, see if that works. Details of enticing Mammal packages full of will follow in due course, so keep your eyes peeled. But not literally, of course, that would be ridiculous, and frankly unlikely, no matter what level of interest you display.

So - what's happening, what's been occurring?

Mammal Trilogy Draws to Inevitable Conclusion

The sixth and final part of the Mammal Trilogy Mammal nears completion. The contributors include regulars Pelle Almgren and Ralf Leeman, new boys Romain Vicente on drums and Niklas Rundquist on electric violin, special guests from the Berlin Staatskapelle orchestra (conductor Daniel Barenboim was unfortunately washing his hair on the occasion of the recording), the Arthur Harrington Half-Mammal Double Trio brass section and others. More info about the contents will be provided closer to the planned release date of 4 February 2013. And keep in mind that is due. Alright? Got that?

Backwards Into the Future

Swedish nostalgia-freaks the 70-Five (including Martin Gordon on bass and Pelle Almgren on voice) made a couple of Swedish appearances - Stockholm in April and Gnesta in August, preserved on video. There was indeed some good to be found in the 70s, and here the 70-Five dig out those garage gems.

John's Children in Not-Finnished Shock

You thought John's Children were finished? Well, they are not, they are Finnished. Living proof was presented on Sunday Nov 11th 2012 at the Lexington, Pentonville Road, London, UK. Bass duties were undertaken by Kassu Kapanen. You can see them cooking up here.