Spaceheads are a unique trumpet and drums duo, formed in 1990, with Andy Diagram’s layers of melodious live brass loops, breathy samples, electronics and effects combining with Richard Harrison’s driving percussion to generate a highly danceable fusion of electro jazz funk with an indie flavour. These ancient astronauts have now been joined by another traveller on the Arrow of Time for their latest release, a special eight track mini album, to add yet another dimension to their unique and distinctive sound. Andy’s hotwired, loopy trumpet and Richard’s skippy beats are perfectly complemented by the mellow rhythm of long-time friend Vincent Bertholet on Double Bass. The project has been over 11 years in the making, starting life with a series of recordings in Vincent’s home town of Geneva in 2005, and finally being completed earlier this year with several sessions in both Geneva and Spaceheads’ studio near to Manchester. The resulting sound carries at its heart the Spaceheads’ characteristic live loops, with twisting melodies set over shifting grooves, its ambient atmospheres accompanied by blissful, harmonized trumpet loops – yet each track has its own individual feel and texture which sets it apart from its neighbours. Entitled, “Laughing Water”, it is released on 21st November 2016 on Spaceheads’ own Electric Brass label, the label’s 6th release, following hot on the heels of last year’s successful double album, “A Short Ride On The Arrow Of Time”, which combined a series of 20 minute jams into four parts, or ‘continuums’ with each track leading the listener on a journey through time and space, the duo instinctively working off one another to produce an album of spiky effects mutating into joyous dance tracks and wandering off into reflective, trance-like rhythms. Andy Diagram has brought a new facet to the trumpet over the years, playing through loopers and effects with a wide range of bands, from the bright leftfield pop of Manchester’s indie heroes James to the darker, more abstract sounds of Pere Ubu’s David Thomas. He has a long history of taking the traditional sound of the trumpet, adapting and changing it to give it a completely new voice within the heart of today’s alternative music. He has recently integrated a mobile phone into his set up, working in conjunction with effects and pedals, transforming the traditional brass instrument into a modern, electronic sound – with the help of something as mundane and unexciting as a fish slice, lashed to the trumpet – enabling him to transform a single horn into the full sound of widescreen, cinematic brass, right in front of your disbelieving eyes and ears! Along with drummer and percussionist Richard Harrison, Spaceheads are pioneering a live electronic looping sound that is beat driven with fragmented melodic bursts and disjointed, cut up samples. Vincent Bertholet, a long time friend, associate and founder of the Geneva-based big band Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, uses the double bass in much the same way as Spaceheads use their instruments; instantly switching from melodic grooves to expressive improvisation, incorporating looping machines to add layers and ambience. Like Spaceheads too, he has recently been touring Europe successfully with this sound, releasing albums with the Orchestre as well as a more recent duo project, Hyperculte.