Between 1983 and 1993 The Land of Yrx released 10 cassette albums, one 3 cassette retrospective and appeared on 8 compilations. Please note that all of these are now deleted.
The Land of Yrx Environmental Studies Group
Glee Club Wallow In Arrogant Self Gratifiction BASL6 - C90 - 1982 (unreleased) This was intended to be the first 'album' by our post-Aerie band, containing a mixture of live material from our first fw gigs, unused Aerie studio material and some tracks we had recorded between bands. Thankfully it never saw the light of day.
Dave Gate: Keyboards/Electronics/Voice
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Oh Look! There's A Red Door! BASL13 - C60 - July 1983 The first proper Land of Yrx album. Recorded live at our first birthday party in The Quarry Park in Shrewsbury, which had been the catalyst for our formation out of the ashes of Aerie in 1982. In the interim we had made contact with a band from Hampshire - Uncle Ian & The Tooth Decay - who had a simlar outlook on life and music as ourselves and we had decided, after a brief meeting in London to work together. In the event Mark & Nick from Uncle Ian chose to guest with us on this occasion rather than play a set of their own, and with our old mate and mentor Mark Jenkins in tow we faced appalling weather and an indifferent audience to produce this.
Dave Gate: Keyboards/Electronics/Voice
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. . . And Damn The Consequences! BASL16 - C46 - October 1983 Our first 'studio' album. After spending a year gigging, and not really recording very much we felt that we had to do something else. Luckily one of our mates, Richard Andrews, had been messing around with synths for a bit (see 'Jellyfish On Vacation') and suggested that we should do something together. This was quite surprising as our previous collaborations had resulted in some of the most disposable Aerie work. Still we got together on September 13th 1983 and in one afternoon recorded nearly an hours worth of material. The bulk of that ended up on this album; with the addition of a jam around one of our live themes with Mark & Nick from Uncle Ian and what is probably our first genuinely structured piece, which ended up being the title track.
Dave Gate: Keyboards/Electronics/Voice
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Cerebration BASL19 - C60 - July 1984 / reissued as C90 with new cover November 1984 The second studio album reflects the first Land of Yrx experiments with multi-tracking, courtesy of a borrowed TEAC144 Portastudio. Although we had done some work on 4 track in the Aerie days this was the first time we had had the chance to do some serious overdubbing. The first side of the original release reflects the weekend we spent with the portastudio. Originally the second side was a mix-up of two of our 'live' recordings; but for the re-release we seperated them, put one piece onto side one and made the majority of side two over to 'Merman Ikon Bee', a tape delay piece recorded just before New Years Eve 1983. Many of track titles are culled from a glossary of musical terms printed in the back of a book of manuscript paper.
Dave Gate: Keyboards/Electronics/Tapes/Voice/Percussion
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Nadir & Eventual Decay BASL23 - C46 - November 1984 After doing a largely multitracked and structured album The Land of Yrx reverted back to live improvisation or most of this next release. By this point we had recruited two new semi-permanent members for the live line up and were therefore in a position to jam more easily. The first side is live and 'studio live' recordings, while the second is back to the multi-track, but still largely improvised. 'Windows' is the exception, being the only track that was entirely written and rehearsed in advance.
Dave Gate: Keyboards/Electronics/Tapes
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Miracles Of Modern Surgery BASL24 - C60 - December 1984 Following the relative success of Nadir & Eventual Decay the line-up split following a gigging trip to Portsmouth in November. It seemed quite possible that the band had finished, so this compilation of well-received live material that had not previously been released was thrown together. Ironically although Steve and Andy had both left the Land of Yrx did not finish there, although the ensuing line-up never recorded and gigged very rarely. This tape did not sell at all.
Dave Gate: Keyboards/Electronics/Guitar/Trumpet
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Termination Point Dark Star International DSI01 - C60 - January 1986 Thankfully, although we may have lost faith in ourselves from time to time, our friends and supporters could still pull us round. In this instance after our live appearance at the UK Electronica Festival in September 1985 we were feeling pretty miserable: we had rowed with friends, got a good reaction but been slagged off by the 'music' press and were not really talking to each other. Into this maelstrom stepped Steve & Al Freeman, later to found the Audion magazine and Ultima Thule shop and mail order service, who asked if they could release our set from UKE as a cassette as they had really enjoyed it. We, of course, said yes, and added the full length version of Annus Mirabilis 1983 - which we had since realeased as a video - as the second side. This became our best seller on cassette, as Steve & Al had, and still do have, numerous contacts all over the world; and if they like something they tell their friends!
Dave Gate: Keyboards/Electronics
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Coming Forth In Light Auricle AMC020 - C60 - March 1987 Once again Steve & Al Freeman stepped in to keep the Land of Yrx name alive. At the time we were all concerned with other things - Dave & Rob were vaguely in an electro-pop band 'Cynic The Bismarck' with John Kertland, both were also trying to hold down jobs; and Martyn had gone to University - so some impetus was needed. This came from a suggestion by Alan Freeman: 'What would you put on a compliation of released and unreleased material?'. The master wsa produced as a demo of a suitable compilation, and it was realeased and sold.
Dave Gate: Keyboards/Electronics/Percussion/Voice/Tapes
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A Place Under The Sun BASL34 - C60 - July 1990 The Land of Yrx had effectively split up in 1989 after a particularly disasterous gig. Rob had vowed never to be a part of it again, Martyn had disappeared with personal problems, and Dave wasn't exactly in the best of health. It was Martyn's suggestion to Dave that they should work together again that set the ball re-rolling. It was never the intention to reform The Land of Yrx, but that's how it turned out. After numerous jams and talks round at Daves house we decamped to Mark Jenkins' 16 track studio in London for our most overdubbed creation yet.
Dave Gate: Keyboards/Electronics *** A remastered version of this album will be available on CD soon ***
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The Rhetorical Answer POLI35 - 3 x C90 - September 1993. 50 Copies Only. After A Place Under The Sun Land of Yrx matters were necessarily put on hold due to Martyns return to univesity after taking some time out and Dave's ill health. Ironically during this time Dave's other band, 'Cynic The Bismarck', also broke up. Equally ironically a chance meeting with Rob led to a partial reconcilliation and Rob's interest in what Dave, Martyn, and Andy Pinches who had also resurfaced, were up to. Rob's idea was that a compilation should be made of the best of our works right back to the Aerie days. After a lot of discussion and swapping of potential track lists this is what we came up with.
Dave Gate: Keyboards/Electronics/Voice/Tapes/Percussion
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Free Live Performance WIth Your Poster &
Chocolate BASL36 - C60 - September 1993 The first 10 copies of POLI35 came with this C60 cassette recording of what was probably the best ever Land of Yrx gig - the Bear Steps Hall Gallery in Shrewsbury on August 18th 1984. One day this might be remastered for CD. The title refers the the fact that everyone who came to the gig got a free poster and bar of chocolate to offset the fact that this was the first gig we'd promoted ourselves where there was an entry charge.
Dave Gate: Keyboards/Electronics/tapes/Voice
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Walking Into The Sky BASL37 - C60 - September 1993 This was the album that Dave and Martyn had been working on sporadically when Martyn comitted suicide in February 1993. Rob brought Dave the unwelcome news, and subsequently stepped in to finish the album off. The Land of Yrx sort of started again from this point, although on a very occasional basis.
Dave Gate: Keyboards/Electronics *** A Remastered version of this album will be available on CD soon *** |
Compilation Appearences
The Land of Yrx contributed tracks to the following compliations
Someone Elses Problem - Land of Yrx Products BASL11 - June
1983
Track: Half Can
Now That's What I Call A Dithyrambic Conflux! - Land of Yrx
Products BASL 21 - October 1984
Track: Beschneidener Erich
INKEY$ Issue 12 (Cassette Magazine) - December 1984
Track: Beschneidener Erich
The Cantilevers Of Passion - Land of Yrx Products BASL27 -
May 1986
Track: Venice 1959
Broken Playgrounds - Mystery Hearsay BP1 - May 1986
Track: Venice 1959
A Cage Went In Search Of A Bird - Dark Star DIS 1/2 - August
1985
Track: Merman Ikon Bee (extract)
New Age Music For Industrial Areas - Land of Yrx Products
BASL33 - January 1990
Track: Venice 1959
The Second AMP Records Compilation - AMP-C007 - 1988
Tracks: Joyeux!/Leopold Bloom (For It Is He)