Psyence

• Format: VINYL2
• Have: YES
• Released: 1998
• Added: October 19th, 2020

A massive collaboration on this record, Psyence Fiction was discovered by me a bit late, as it was released late in 1998 and I think I only found it around 2000 or so.

This album is such a mixture of so many styles, that it would be difficult to describe it as a style of music, but more of as a collage of soundscapes and tunes, peppered with strange samples.

There was a hidden rewind track on the CD that was more than a minute long and had tons of samples all mashed together.

Rabbit in Your Headlights with Thom Yorke from Radiohead was a standout track for me, and just finding a live performance of it here for you (the original video for this track is a bizarrely spooky effort by famed director Jonathan Glazer):

Want to learn the piano?

There is lots to explore with Unkle's music. More info about Unkle can be found here:

http://unkle.info

There's a 20 year anniversary release of this album:

https://thevinylfactory.com/features/20-years-of-unkles-psyence-fiction/

Cover Art

Cover art by Ben Drury (with his brother(?) Tim Drury and Andy Holmes), using a font he designed just for this record, as far as I can tell. Drury worked on several musical design projects over the years with some big hitters, including Massive Attack, Mo Wax, Stüssy, Converse, Nike, Microsoft, and more.

https://www.bendrury.com

Illustration/paint was by Futura 2000 for the art on this record, and there are a few different variations of the artwork for the internals of the sleeve and different formats. The spacemen seen on the cover were featured in music video footage, and were consequently made into vinyl figures on KidRobot (NYC Toy store). Futura's websites are wonky, but in case Instagram still exists while reading this you can view his account there:

https://www.instagram.com/FuturaDosMil/

The font used for the back of this design was Metropolitan, designed by Gareth Hague of Alias. Their sites are up but require Flash, so I'll let you go down that path, if you dare.

https://fontsinuse.com/typefaces/23748/metropolitan

The graph paper aesthetic also struck a cord with my cut and paste graphical history.

Notes

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Mo Wax Recordings
Phonographic Copyright (p) – A&M Records Ltd.
Copyright (c) – Mo Wax Recordings
Copyright (c) – A&M Records Ltd.
Mixed At – Record Plant
Mixed At – Metropolis Studios
Mixed At – RAK Studios
Mixed At – Matrix Studios
Mixed At – Strongroom
Recorded At – The Site
Recorded At – Strongroom
Recorded At – Milo Studios
Recorded At – CTS Studios
Recorded At – Record Plant
Published By – Mo Wax Music Ltd.
Published By – MCA Music Publishing
Published By – EMI Music Publishing Ltd.
Published By – Copyright Control
Published By – Brooklyn Dust Music
Published By – PolyGram International Publishing, Inc.
Published By – Warner/Chappell Music Publishing Ltd.
Pressed By – DFI
Lacquer Cut At – Metropolis Mastering
Credits
Artwork [Character Wire Frames By] – Derek Waters (2)
Artwork [Derek Waters Assisted By] – David Murray (9)
Band [UNKLE Is] – DJ Shadow, James Lavelle
Cover [Cover Image], Painting [Paintings], Artwork [All Characters] – Futura 2000
Design [Ben Drury Assisted By] – Andy Holmes (2)
Design [Custom Grids Conceived & Executed By] – Tim Drury
Design [Sleeve Designed By] – Ben Drury
Lacquer Cut By – Ty
Mixed By [All Songs] – Jim Abbiss
Photography By – William Bankhead
Photography By [Mike D Photograph] – Ryan Murphy (6)
Photography By [Mike D. Photograph Re-shot By] – William Bankhead*
Photography By [William Bankhead Assisted By] – Ali Peck
Producer [All Songs Produced By] – UNKLE
Sleeve Notes – DJ Shadow, James Lavelle, UNKLE
Notes
Issued in a hard cover foldout gatefold and booklet picture glued on each side of the sleeve when opened. Also issued with printed inner sleeves. Limited edition first run.

1998 MoWax Recordings/A&M Records Ltd. London. 1998 MoWax Recordings/A&M Records Ltd. London. Made in Japan/England.

Only the custom sleeve makes this version different from the standard edition.

A1 Vox recorded at The Site.
Kool G Rap appears courtesy of Ill Street Records / Small Change Management.
Published by MCA Music Publishing / Mo'Wax Music Ltd. (ASCAP)
℗ 1998 Mo'Wax Recordings/A&M Records Ltd. London.

A2 Mixed at Metropolis.
Published by MCA Music Publishing / Mo'Wax Music Ltd. (ASCAP)
℗ 1998 Mo'Wax Recordings/A&M Records Ltd. London.

A3 Mixed at Rak Studios.
Vox recorded at The Strongroom.
Alice Temple appears courtesy of V2 Records.
Published by MCA Music Publishing / Mo'Wax Music Ltd. (ASCAP) / Copyright Control
℗ 1998 Mo'Wax Recordings/A&M Records Ltd. London.

B1 Mixed at Matrix.
Published by MCA Music Publishing / Mo'Wax Music Ltd. (ASCAP)
"How do you feel?"
℗ 1998 Mo'Wax Recordings/A&M Records Ltd. London.

B2 Mixed at Metropolis.
Vox recorded at Mylo Cy.
Strings recorded at CTS.
Richard Ashcroft appears courtesy of Hut Recordings / Virgin Records / EMI.
Published by MCA Music Publishing / Mo'Wax Music Ltd. (ASCAP) / EMI Music Publishing Ltd.
℗ 1998 Mo'Wax Recordings/A&M Records Ltd. London.

B3 "As the record industry falls down around our ears, let's raise a glass to the ambulance chasers..."
[Note: The audio is from a 1970s toy commercial.]

C1 Mixed at the Record Plant.
Vox recorded at The Record Plant.
Badly Drawn Boy appears courtesy of XL Recordings.
Published by MCA Music Publishing / Mo'Wax Music Ltd. (ASCAP) / Copyright Control
℗ 1998 Mo'Wax Recordings/A&M Records Ltd. London.

C3 Based on the composition "Concerto For Strings And Beats" written by Wil Malone.
Mixed at Metropolis.
Strings recorded at CTS.
Inferior vinyl static courtesy of M44-7.
Published by MCA Music Publishing / Mo'Wax Music Ltd. (ASCAP)
℗ 1998 Mo'Wax Recordings/A&M Records Ltd. London.

C4 Mixed at Metropolis.
Mike D. appears courtesy of Grand Royal Records.
Jason Newstead appears courtesy of Elektra Records.
Published by MCA Music Publishing / Mo'Wax Music Ltd. (ASCAP) / Brooklyn Dust Music (ASCAP) / PolyGram International Publishing Inc.
℗ 1998 Mo'Wax Recordings/A&M Records Ltd. London.

D1 Mixed at Rak Studios.
Published by Copyright Control
℗ 1998 Mo'Wax Recordings/A&M Records Ltd. London.

D2 Mixed at The Strongroom.
Vox recorded at The Site.
Thom Yorke appears courtesy of Parlophone, a division of EMI Records Limited.
Published by MCA Music Publishing / Mo'Wax Music Ltd. (ASCAP) / Warner Chappell Music Publishing Ltd.
℗ 1998 Mo'Wax Recordings/A&M Records Ltd. London.

D3 "No easy answers this time."
℗ 1998 Mo'Wax Recordings/A&M Records Ltd. London.

"Special thanks to Ian Green for sample reconstruction."
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Barcode (Sticker, text): 0 731454 098014
Barcode (Sticker, UPC scanned): 0731454098014
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout stamped, Ty etched): DFI-98 6 MW 085 AI Ⓜ Ty
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout stamped, Ty etched): DFI-98 6 MW 085 BI Ⓜ Ty
Matrix / Runout (Side C runout stamped, Ty etched): DFI-98 6 MW 085 CI Ⓜ Ty
Matrix / Runout (Side D runout stamped, Ty etched): DFI-98 6 MW 085 DI Ⓜ Ty
Rights Society: BIEM/MCPS
Rights Society: ASCAP
(Notes from the Discogs release page)