Warping sounds and minds since 1985
tourmaline hum have been creating and publishing music since 2011. Our music comes from sounds and instruments, processed and produced electronically. We work across many genres and this is reflected in our extensive catalogue. tourmaline hum members Dental Drill and Lone Cosmonaut first made music together in the 1980s, with WarpCensor and Aidan Walsh, under various names, most notably Except Buses. WarpCensor remains a close associate.
Now we’re back after a rest lasting a quarter of a century. Music technology has improved so we’ve seized the controls and dialed them into our way of thinking. Through the internet, we’ve gained a following of fans around the world and we thank them.
RELEASES
Kairos
Simon (Dental Drill) first met Steve (Lone Cosmonaut) in a West London social security office on Monday 24 June 1985. This turned out to be the seminal moment that lead to them creating music together over the next four decades and counting, under a variety of names including Except Buses, tourmaline hum and British Experimental Rocket Group and led to the creation of The Committee For Sonic Research audio label. Shout out to Richard (WarpCensor) who has been integral to all of these projects.
Simon and Steve continue to work together and individually (Richard dropped out of tourmaline hum some years ago but also contributes both individually and jointly to TCFSR) however they feel the tourmaline hum has now run its course (although never say never!). What better time to wrap things up than with a farewell release on the day of the 40th anniversary of their first meeting.
Invasive Species
Five years since their last album 'system Imperfect', the 100th release on TCFSR Bandcamp is 'Invasive Species' by tourmaline hum.
During this time the duo of Lone Cosmonaut and Dental Drill have each created a number of solo releases and contributed to a variety of other projects (and Dental Drill has taken on the day to day running of the TCFSR label) so the tracks for 'Invasive Species' were created intermittently between 2017 and 2021. Nonetheless the album demonstrates a thematic consistency. The album has a darker edge than most of tourmaline hum's previous work.
Invasive Species
The Imperial EP was the second release by tourmaline hum following their return in 2012 from 20+ years wandering the wilderness.
At the time they were self releasing. TCFSR have re-released the early tourmaline hum albums but not the EPs. The original Imperial EP has remained popular on their bandcamp page https://tourmalinehum.bandcamp.com/
TCFSR have now overseen a complete refresh of the original release.
'Defiant' has been remastered from the unmastered 2012 mix.
'Imperial Deluxe', 'Enforcer' and 'Flag of Shame' are new productions with some different instruments and revised compositions.
'Colosseum' is an unreleased track from 2014 that was not on the original Imperial EP.
In Transit
A diverse EP that starts with a music based composition before moving towards soundscape and experimentation.
system Imperfect
'system Imperfect' is a diverse collection of completely new compositions.
Impossible to pigeon-hole, the album opens with the ambient synth of System Imperfect. It encompasses retro synth and world fusion sounds in tracks such as Tears and Bridge and sound and noisescapes, Sifting and Obsidian, before closing with the driving rhythm and sublime variation of Commute.
The cover image is 'New York - Draft' by Dental Drill.
Double Exposure
The tourmaline hum summer album. The first release since slimming down to the duo of Steve Tree (Lone Cosmonaut) and Simon Lewry (Dental Drill).
One of the tracks is titled 'Double Exposure', which, under the circumstances, seemed an appropriate title for collection as a whole. The track 'Double Exposure' was not envisaged as a 'title' track for the album, rather it coincidentally shares the same title.
The album is a collected release of works presented for the first time and works that have drifted out on Soundcloud (mostly) that had not found a place on a formal album release. Notable amongst these is 'Vanishing Point', the track used when tourmaline hum were 'Soundclouders of the Day'.
'Planetarium' was created as thanks to Mental Minority for releasing his magnificent retro synth work for free and refusing payment when we offered. Planetarium can be downloaded for free with it's own icon from the individual track page on bandcamp.
Thousand Yard Stare
An album of generally ambient audio. The album includes a completely reconstructed version of 'Blue Sunrise', the closing track from the 'Ossuary Embers' album.
254 / Red Rock
A single unrelated to the album 'Thousand Yard Stare' that was released in the same month.
Sussex Gardens
The final release of a loose trio of collections covering different aspects of tourmaline hum, 'Sussex Gardens' is generally ambient. Some works have cropped up elsewhere (Soundcloud), some are released here for the first time.
Provisional Artwork
The second in a loose trio of collections covering different aspects of tourmaline hum, 'Provisional Artwork' contains many of their more 'experimental' compositions from the past few years. Some have cropped up elsewhere (Soundcloud), some are released here for the first time.
Trade Winds
An album of summer relaxation and dance.
Something for the hip cats in the discotheques of the Mediterranean.
Ossuary Embers
An album of dark ambience
The Coffin Clubbin' E.P.
An EP of compositions from tourmaline hum's period of darkish downbeat, mildly unsettling coffin clubbers.
The opening track 'Saints of Filth' was inspired by a fictitious 15th Century ritualistic cult that experimented with occult powers in UK horror writer Adam Nevill's superb novel 'Last Days'.
Voices Distorted
We decided that it would be a good idea to create audio using nothing but our own voices... Voices Distorted.
Originally released by tourmaline hum, reissued by TCFSR.
On Sentinel Hill
A compilation of ambient soundscapes created during the second half of 2013.
Originally released by tourmaline hum, reissued by TCFSR.
Conscience
How far could you go and if you choose darkness, how do you live with the result?
Originally released by tourmaline hum, reissued by TCFSR.
choreography
The history of The Committee For Sonic Research is entwined with the band tourmaline hum and its precursors. So when in 2014 TCFSR was resurrected in digital form the first thing that we did was to release material that tourmaline hum had self released in our absence.
This included three of four albums, however for some reason their first album, choreography, was omitted.
Thinking back no one can remember why!
The tenth anniversary of TCFSR on Bandcamp seems a good time to correct this oversight.
Originally released by tourmaline hum, reissued by TCFSR.
Prior to the revival of The Committee For Sonic Research audio label tourmaline hum released on our own Bandcamp page.
As listed above, the albums have been reissued by TCFSR hoverer five singles and E.P.s remain available only from https://tourmalinehum.bandcamp.com/
