"Wonder Why" - O.R.k.

 “Wonder Why” offers a rare insight behind the O.R.k. creative process, being a previously unheard and undeveloped, raw version of O.R.k.’s atmospheric album closer “Someone Waits”.

The new album Screamnasium itself was birthed during the Covid19 lockdown period, with everyone in the band keeping their creative minds alive by working on the music together, passing files and ideas over the internet.

“Wonder Why” is also a near perfect example of a painful synchronicity. News of the death of Pat Mastelotto’s longtime friend and King Crimson bandmate Bill Rieflin broke just as Lef, who was completely unaware of Bill’s illness, sent Pat his improvised scratch vocal parts.

Along with the overall atmosphere of the piece, the vocal line “Goodbye my friend…” appeared to frame the moment in a very fitting, albeit unfortunate manner.

At times, uncertainty and loss go hand in hand and “Wonder Why",  pandemic conceived as it was, mirrors the circumstances surrounding its creation, but also highlights a timeless, reflective, and deeply resonant moment.

"Wonder Why" will only be available until the end of March 2023 on the following link, after that it'll be taken down and will disappear back into the archives: 

https://orkband.bandcamp.com/track/wonder-why

New Interview with Innerviews (Anil Prasad)

Out now is a lengthy and in depth conversation/interview with Anil Prasad, on his long running Innerviews website.

https://www.innerviews.org/inner/colin-edwin

Mostly focussed on my recent activity with O.R.k., Fractal Sextet, Endless Tapes and also the Ukrainian connection.

Lisa's War Diary - The First Week (Edit)

Jon Durant, Inna Kovtun and myself have created an audio backdrop to complement a spoken word diary, originally written by Kyiv resident and street photographer Lisa Bukreyeva, documenting her thoughts and feelings during the first 130 days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Throughout the diary, Lisa describes the inescapable reality of the current conflict.

The diary is narrated by Nisha Pannu, whose northern English diction actually doesn't feel out of place in bringing the translation to life from the original text.

Lisa's War Diary is part of a wider exhibition of contemporary Ukrainian photographers put together by a very old friend of mine, Stuart Roy Clarke, and which has been running at the Rheged Centre in Penhills in the English Lake District for several months now and is scheduled to run until January 8th 2023.

The images on the trailer above, (which is the first week or so of the diary, the full thing being around half an hour long), range from documentary images to more abstract artistic photographs, and are all taken from the exhibition, high quality prints are also available to order with all profits going directly to the photographers involved.

Future plans include moving the exhibition to other parts of the UK and possibly the USA (currently under discussion) and also a possible book format for the imagery. For now I'd just like to share the trailer, and encourage anyone who is able to, to go and see the exhibition in real life. 

For more information please see: https://stuartroyclarke.com/ukraine-i-miss-you/

Something Old - Something New.

 Very pleased to say that Alessandro Pedretti and I have rebooted Endless Tapes with some new material, our first release since 2016's "Brilliant Waves" - "Third Reel" is a digital only release in partnership with Sonoton Music in Germany and is available to stream here: 

https://open.spotify.com/album/60ndHh6EARoILlBvjoWRen?si=_G9DDwkdSwmppHqB4oZpEA

Third Reel features 5 tracks recorded over the early part of 2022 with another great cover image courtesy of Carl Glover at Aleph (Carl also made the images for our previous releases)

Tracklisting:

1. The Pilot Exits

2. Upstream Colours

3. Lemons and Demons

4. Flashbulb Memories

5. Open Circles

Since Brilliant Waves Alessandro Pedretti and have collaborated on some abstract "installation music" for a sculpture trail in Northern Italy, but Third Reel is more in the spirit of "Brilliant Waves", our work together always brings something new to the surface, and I think Third Reel EP is a worthy continuation.

Secondly, I am very happy so say that O.R.k's first album "Inflamed Rides" is seeing a vinyl release for the first time ever. The reissue also benefits from a much improved remix and remaster with the CD version also having some extra tracks, including our -dare I say it- idiosyncratic Bowie cover "I'm Afraid of Americans" which has been a longtime favourite in our live shows, this is the first time it's been available in any physical format at all.

The two most recent O.R.k. albums (Screamnasium and Ramagehead) have had a much higher profile than the first two, so I know this album slipped under a number of radars in 2015, but despite Inflamed Rides getting a fairly limited release, it was very well received, I am posting below a few reviews that came out at the time:

https://theprogressiveaspect.net/blog/2015/11/06/o-r-k-inflamed-rides/

https://www.loudersound.com/reviews/o-r-k-inflamed-rides

http://www.liverpoolsoundandvision.co.uk/2015/07/16/o-r-k-inflamed-rides-album-review/

https://www.leontk.com/2015/05/31/o-r-k-inflamed-rides-review/

As well as a new mix and master, the new Inflamed Rides also comes in a very fetching blue vinyl. Available here: https://ork.lnk.to/inflamedrides 

O.R.k - Screamnasium - Out Now

Screamnasium is out now on, CD, Black or Green vinyl and various digital formats: https://ork.lnk.to/screamnasium

O.R.k. will be touring next year, so please connect with us via our newsletter which can be accessed here:  https://linktr.ee/orkband

Early press reception has been great, a small selection of reviews below:

https://www.unitedrocknations.com/chronique-ork-screamnasium-4049 (France)

https://musikreviews.de/reviews/2022/ORk-/Screamnasium (Germany)

https://www.betreutesproggen.de/2022/10/ork-screamnasium/ (Germany)

https://www.myrevelations.de/2022/10/20/o-r-k-screamnasium/ (Germany)

https://www.impattosonoro.it/2022/10/21/recensioni/o-r-k-screamnasium/ (Italy)

https://metal.it/album.aspx/46236/27976/ork-screamnasium (Italy)

https://metal-digest.com/2022/10/22/o-r-k-screamnasium/

https://ramzine.co.uk/reviews/o-r-k-screamnasium/

https://www.loudersound.com/reviews/ork-pitch-gentle-dexterity-against-bludgeon-on-the-beautiful-screamnasium

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/o-r-k-screamnasium-review/

Yogev Gabay talks about Fractal Sextet

Enjoyable video from the fantastic drummer Yogav Gabay, deconstructing the rhythmic cycle underlying Fractal Sextet's "Mise En Abyme" and talking about his approach to the drums. CD's available here

O.R.k. - Don't Call Me A Joke (Official Video)

Taken from the forthcoming album "Screamnasium" : https://ork.lnk.to/screamnasium