A Users Guide [2LP]

Ultramarine - A Users Guide [2LP]

WRWTFWW Records reissues revered UK electronic duo Ultramarines best kept secret from their discography, the superb A Users Guide album, available as a double LP housed in a beautiful heavyweight sleeve with inside out printing. On the rare occasions that Ultramarines story is told, the duos fifth album, 1998s A Users Guide, tends to get omitted from the narrative. Radically different to anything the duo released before or since, it has remained a slept-on, timeless and inherently futurist classic ever since. Unavailable on vinyl since the year it was released, A Users Guide was the result of a conscious decision by Ultramarine members Paul Hammond and Ian Cooper to change their working methods and the sound palette that underpinned their work. Out went the partially improvised hybrid electronic/acoustic sounds and the collaborations with guest musicians theyd become famous for. They were replaced by painstakingly created electronic sounds and textures, metallic motifs, spaced-out chords, rhythms rooted in contemporary techno and drum and bass culture, and nods aplenty to pioneering music of the period, from the post-rock atmospherics of Tortoise, and the hazy dub techno of Basic Channel, to the tech-jazz of Detroit, the minimalism of Berlin, and the musically expansive warmth of Chicago deep house. As this first vinyl reissue conclusively proves, the material showcased on A Users Guide has lost none of its sparkle in the 26 years that have passed since its release. Fully remastered from the original DATs by Jason G at Transition Studios, the 2024 vinyl edition of A Users Guide thrusts Ultramarines most overlooked album back into the spotlight. This WRWTFWW edition also features brand new contextualizing sleeve notes, complete with new quotes on the production process from Ultramarine, by dance music historian Matt Anniss (author of Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music, and founder of online electronic music platform Jointhefuture.net). For fans of electronic, leftfield, postrock, tech-jazz, IDM, minimalism, futurist electronica, dub techno, house, experimental, Autechre, Tortoise, Basic Channel, forgotten gems from superb discographies, and very good music. A1. All Of A SuddenA2. SurfacingB1. Sucker 4UB2. On The BrinkB3. ZombieC1. By TurnsC2. AmbushC3. 4U VersionD1. Ghost RoutineD2. What Machines Want