Sean Johnston celebrates 15 years of A Love From Outer Space, the party he co-founded with Andrew Weatherall, with a compilation, via Material Music. The collection consists of largely exclusives. Previously unreleased tracks, “secret weapons”, willingly donated by their creators, which Sean and Andrew turned into ALFOS classics. Those tunes that have been released before are super hard to find (and super expensive). There are 12s track on the vinyl, 19 on CD, and a continuous mix. 

Starting with Neville Watson’s brilliant rework of Balearic favourites The Blow Monkeys, Sean segues seamlessly into the electric voodoo of Jonny Sender’s Zhivago Zhivago. From there we’re on a journey through a sorta stripped back, minimal sound. Momentum building via hypnotic repetition. Everything is epic. Some of the tracks might start in the dark, and might take their time to hit their hooks, but boy when they do… they always finish euphoric, with their arms held aloft.

Sean’s selections are sometimes “proggy”, a tad trance-y even, but never full on face-melting. There’s the odd bleep, and a lot of Italo-flavoured chunky chug. Kosmische collides with growling bowel-bashing bass. Post-punk influences poke their nose in. Dub is a constant presence. Some bits, such as Duncan Gray’s Gone & Forgotten, are a little “gothic”. Others, like Discoscuro’s robo-disco, resemble a meeting of Chris & Cosey and Giorgio Morroder. Arpeggios a-go-go vie with acidic undertows. Wild echoed guitar licks weave in and out of Middle Eastern / North African percussion. Throughout the energy climbs and increases. Laars’ None – impossible to find spirit-lifting nu disco with tiny, tumbling trippy sequences, harp-like glissando and a theremin solo – is another highlight.

Darlyn Vlys’ tribal Wuzu touts elephant roars and treated Tarzan shouts. Niv Ast’s Jungle Marvin mixes a Plastikman-like drum machine workout with rocking fuzzbox riffing. Popular Tyre’s Feel Like A Laser Beam features a vocoder-ed cat, as high as a kite, his gear peaking. Weatherall remixes Phil Kieran. When listening, dancing, resistance is futile. You WILL be swept along for the ride. Plus the set, of course, serves as an essential document of ALFOS up to this point. It’ll be ultra interesting to see / hear where the party goes next.

Released on Valentine’s Day, February 14th, A Love From Outer Space // A Compilation can be ordered directly from Material Music.

You can RVSP here for the release day listening party.