Greatest Imaginary Hits featured in end of year best of lists on Bandcamp, The Quietus, The Wire…

We were so busy getting “What The Fuck Did I Dream” and “Light Consequences” (which are some of our best by the way- check ’em out!) to press that we snoozed on the fact that Greatest Imaginary Hits made some end of year best of lists! First time for everything. We missed it because we didn’t realise it would be in the separate compilations and reissues lists.

Marc Masters gave us a lovely writeup in his review of the Bandcamp Best Experimental Albums of 2020. Check out the other good stuff he features here too:

https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2020/the-best-experimental-albums-of-2020

The compilation made it all the way to number 8 in The Quietus’ reissues of the year. Here’s Dustin Krcatovich’s writeup of us, click the link to read about all the other great albums reissued this year. https://thequietus.com/articles/29336-the-quietus-top-100-reissues-compilations-mixes-live-albums-etc-of-2020

And it was 24 in The Wire’s reissues. Get the new issue here to check out who else made the list https://www.thewire.co.uk/issues/443

Also notably, we were shouted out by the delightfully named DJ Petirrojo, who collects music related to birds, whether musically or visually. His Twitter account is here:

Con este logotipo tan pajarero es lógico que la discográfica @vhfrecords haya sacado el mejor disco de música experimental (psych, indietrónica, space…) de 2020. ¡¡¡¡Seis horas de música!!!! Esta magna obra es de @ashtraynav.
A disfrutarla: https://t.co/JWdezMfiOp#MúsicaYAves pic.twitter.com/bshptQ2WcK

— DJ Petirrojo (@DJPetirrojo) December 9, 2020

Cheers everyone!

Thurston Moore & Phil Todd Distant Duo now available

As part of the final batch of Mary Staubitz and Russ Waterhouse’s “very 2020” series of blindfold duets, Ashtray Navigations’s Phil Todd and Thurston Moore (who I think was in some band or other once, dunno…) have contributed 5 mins of guitar (and a bit of sampler) intricacies for your entertainment. Bandcamp and be sure to check out the vast array of luminaries and legends in the other 77 installments. Its all great stuff.

Bandcamp Friday! Two new CDR/DLs…What The Fuck Did I Dream…Light Consequences

What The Fuck Did I Dream

One long track, revisiting old times of textural drift from prior Ashtray installments, with added 21st century pixel dancing…furniture music flatpacked and automatically assembling and reassembling itself in time

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Light Consequences

Eight action pieces – jumping guitars, firecracker rhythms, dub murk and blend, field recordings and distant walls of fuzz, a fun size variety bag of audio illuminations.

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Those who do not bandcamp, available here for £5 per CDR plus postage. Contact ashtraynavigations (at) hotmail (dot) com

We also have a fine array of merchandise still available, if you want to wear or drink out of your very own Ashtray Navigation!

Two new Ashtray CDR/DLs, due early December

Hoping to get these ready and available for Bandcamp Friday (Dec 4)…

Pete Coward R.I.P.

With a heavy heart we face the loss of our friend and loyal AshNav supporter Pete Coward, compiler of one of the discs on our recent retropsective. Pretty much uniquely on the UK underground music scene, he didn’t make music, run a record label or write a blog, but he was an integral part of it for so many of us. There’s a Pete shaped hole now.

New Corwood Industries releases with Ash Nav connection!

Two new Jandek live releases from the legendary Corwood Industries with Phil Todd involvement! Way back from 2007, recorded in Amsterdam (wild power trio action with Todd and Alex Neilson rhythm section) and Aarhus (Todd on piano and guitar). Looking forward to hearing these again. We should have a few copies for sale soon, but the impatient or Americans should hotfoot it over to https://corwoodindustries.com/

Ashtray Merch – Badges and Tattoos!

The Sharp-eyed amongst you will have seen we now have 1″ pin badges and A5 sheets of temporary tattoos available in the Bandcamp shop.

There’s 4 badge designs, featuring artwork from classic Ashtray releases. They can be ordered individually or in a 4 pack.

See you at the virtual merch table.

Para Sol Production…new DL/CDR

New Ashtray Navigations album! Yes, you guessed it, it is bandcamp day again (Friday 4th). Six and a bit new tunes recorded back in May, a heavy dunking in the celestial dub pit, tinkling rhythms and pulsating melodies, no analogue synth whatsoever this time.

Digital available now (though obviously we’d prefer it if you held off until bandcamp day itself), CDRs (limited to 50 copies) should be turning up in a week or two though, as ever in these pandemic-infused times, delays may well occur.

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“Greatest Imaginary Hits” reviewed on The Quietus

Nice write-up by Dustin Krcatovich here…. “…it’s to Todd’s credit that he doesn’t seem to give a shit, carrying on as he would regardless.”

More oldies dug up for bandcamp day!

Some revivals on the bandcamp site today, in honour of bandcamp day tomorrow (7th Aug, Pacific time). That’s the day of the month upon which we get to keep all the money and we hope you will be thus inspired to send us a little. If you don’t have any (and who does these days?) you can listen to them all on the stream for free… anyway, back from the grave are…

San Francisco Loops, originally a CDR in 2008

Halogen Lazy Bunnys Birthday etc, a compendium of tunes from a split CD and a compilation, 2007/2008 recordings

Cobridge Red Church and other visual splendours, a CDR from 1998, now remastered to remove various digital glitches that plagued the technologically-embrassed original

Animalinterior, a bunch of noise that originally came out on CDR in 2008, a busy year it would seem