Ides Of Space
Ides of Space came into existence somewhere around the turn of the millennium in Sydney, Australia. After a spluttering false start or two, the band released an EP, First Translated in 1965, on the now defunct Sydney label Quietly Suburban. The recording received rave reviews, solid airplay in Australia, and filtered overseas to several sympathetic ears. By 2001, Ides were recording their second domestic EP, We Have Nowhere to Be, the majority of which was coupled with the debut to form an album that was released in the U.S on Better Looking Records, Japan on Painted Sky Discs, and Sweden on Kasual Recordings.
This compilation of sorts, There Are No New Clouds, was again well received. Epitonic described the band's sound by asking its readers to imagine perhaps, if The Go Betweens had formed not in the wake of the punk and New Wave explosion, but instead in the wake of early '90s U.K. shoegazer and U.S. lo-fi college rock, and you get darn close to the joy of Ides of Space. Alternative Press heard "10 stunning tracks", the All Music Guide noted that the presence of "[soaring] Guitars, boyish multi-part harmonies [and] good old-fashioned hooks" and Pitchfork stated that the way they play and write, it's hard to believe they've only been together for two years. The melodies are well developed and the playing is technically flawless, yet rough enough to sound real.
On the back of touring the U.S. tours with the likes of The Gloria Record, Her Space Holiday, Despericidoes, and The Special Goodness, and Australia with Trans Am, Preston School of Industry, Art of Fighting and Knievel, these recordings reached no. 3 on the Australian AIR charts and 28 on the CMJs.
The band then retreated with producer Wayne Connolly (Underground Lovers, Youth Group, The Vines) to record its follow-up LP, which saw the light of day through low-key releases in Australia, Japan and Sweden in 2004 but not the U.S. Here the story gets a little hazy...various U.S. deals did not eventuate, lives got in the way of the band, and its activities began to contract. In 2005, Ides recorded 2 songs with Tim Whitten (Go-Betweens, Hoodoo Gurus) intended as a 7-inch single release. The masters of these recordings sat in songwriter Patrick Haid's desk draw until about 2 weeks ago.
But now Ides of Space's ‘lost recordings' Sleeping Fractures (and then some!) gets its long overdue release on Better Looking Records. The entire record, plus the insomniac's opus ‘fighting age/guaranteed escape' (previously only available on the Australian limited release EP We Have Nowhere...) plus the ominously titled pop-bliss nuggets ‘The Final Straight' and ‘No more Sound' (aka the desk-top draw recordings) will be available to those unwilling or unable to make Indiana Jones type expeditions for indie-rock.
Recently, members of Ides of Space have been active again in Line Drawings, who have a debut EP available through Bell Sounds. Check them out here (www.myspace.com/linedrawings).
Band members:
Patrick Haid - guitar and vocals
Mark Ayoub - guitar
Dave The - bass guitar
Martin Barker - keyboard
Anthony The - drums. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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