Pete ‘Sonic Boom’ Kember is best known for his role in British narco-rock institution Spacemen 3, and latterly for his production work on MGMT’s recent Congratulations LP.

But the Kember solo oeuvre is substantial and not something to be skirted over: working under a number of aliases, Kember has channelled influences from Memphis soul, LaMonte Young, The Velvet Underground and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop into an ever-evolving and uniquely unsettling strain of Brit-psychedelia. Probably his most rewarding post-Spacemen project is Experimental Audio Research (E.A.R.), a group which has in its time featured such sonic luminaries as Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) and Kevin Martin (The Bug, King Midas Sound). The most widely acclaimed E.A.R. effort is 1997’s The Köner Experiment, a collaboration with Thomas Köner (of then Mille Plateaux and Chain Reaction-affiliated ambient techno outfit Porter Ricks) that also featured contributions from Eddie Prevost (AMM percussionist), Andy Mellwig (Köner’s partner in Porter Ricks and a cutting engineer at Berlin’s Dubplates+Mastering) and the two aforementioned Kevins. Check it out if you’ve not done so before.

Our present business, though, is a less well-known Experimental Audio Research album, aptly entitled Mesmerised. Originally released in 1994 by Sympathy For The Record Industry, and comprised of four long tracks, Mesmerised is essentially E.A.R.’s debut LP. It’s been out of print for the best part of 15 years, and so it’s with considerable gratitude and relief that we welcome a new CD reissue from Space Age Recordings, who were responsible for the first edition all those moons ago. They have the following to say about the release:

“[Mesmerised features] four tracks – the last being an extra not found on the original vinyl – that transport the listener into a soundscape devoid of usual musical references. E.A.R. demand you to consider any sound or texture, technique or emotion you feel as the music. You are treated to a melting, shifting, undulating offering where you are part of the experiment. Packaged – by request of Sonic Boom – with transparent acetate artwork, visual layers blend together as your point-of-view changes. Are you looking at the CD, the case or both? Limited in this acetate op-art form, Mesmerised is another step in the historical footprints (or should that be ear-prints?) of Pete Kember.”

Tracklist:
1. D.M.T Symphony (Overture to an Inhabited Zone)
2.Mesmerise 4901
3.California Nocturne
4. Guitar Feedback Manipulation