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Our motto: Ars longa, spectatores fugaces ("Art is forever, the audience comes & goes.")

Pere Ubu, The Scrapbook 1975-1982
Communex has produced a 158-page, A4-sized paperback book chronicling the years 1975 to 1982, "gathered from the debris."

"It wasn't supposed to last for more than one single - one gig - one album - one tour... As told by the band themselves and the people who watched them."

Book designed and compiled by Kiersty Boon. Cover designed by John Thompson.

Box Releases and related
The studio albums contained in the Architecture box will have individual releases on cd and vinyl at some point, but not right away. The extras disk, 'Architectural Salvage,' will not. 'The Hearpen Singles,' from the Elitism box, will have a cd and vinyl release soon. The 'Manhattan' disk will not.

There is a special vinyl release in limited edition prepared for National Record Store Day.

Box 3, as yet untitled, will be the Fontana years albums but negotiations are not completed so Box 4 will come out next, sometime in the September/October region. Box 4 will be the time period of 'Raygun Suitcase,' 'Pennsylvania,' and 'Saint Arkansas.' RGS will not be re-mixed. PA will be remixed because the digital technology used to record it was too limiting on the mix stage. STARK may or may not be re-mixed - the jury is out and vacillating.

At some point there may be an all-inclusive Pere Ubu live box.

The guiding principles behind the Box Set initiative are:
1. The albums will be prepared for vinyl and under the strict rules of Vinyl. That means albums will only be 36-38 minutes long. The cd version will be exactly what is on the vinyl version. The box sets are now entering the digital period of production which means that the albums were recorded for cd release only, meaning that there are more songs on the albums than will fit on a vinyl record. How this will be dealt with is under consideration but nothing will be 'lost.'

2. The albums are being prepared 'for posterity.' That means the box sets, and subsequent individual releases, are the end of the line. They are the final and permanent representation of what was supposed to be going on. We are using cutting edge technology to prepare them. It's unlikely many members of the band will be alive when any more advanced technology makes a reconsideration possible.

3. The boxes will not contain any historical notes or commentaries or associated ephemera. The albums stand on their own.

The David Thomas Death Protocols
See the Protocols Page.

RFTT Expresses Solidarity With Pere Ubu
In 2015, in order to express solidarity with Pere Ubu, RFTT renounced its 'US citizenship' and applied for creative asylum in Port Talbot, Wales. In 2014 Pere Ubu renounced its US citizenship and moved to Leeds, England, after a cabal of the American Federation of Musicians and a clique of government clerks in a small town in Vermont determined that Pere Ubu was unworthy of being granted permission to perform in America.

the pharaoh's bee
Allen Ravenstine's first solo album, the pharaoh's bee, is now available in the Apple Lossless format at hearpen.com

Elitism For The People, Pere Ubu 1975-1978
On August 21 2015, Fire Records released a box set of four vinyl lps caled 'Elitism For The People, Pere Ubu 1975-1978.' It consists of 'The Modern Dance,' 'Dub Housing,' 'The Hearpen Singles,' and a live set recorded at Max's Kansas City in 1977 called 'Manhattan.' Also in the box are a reprint of the 'Datapanik '77' poster. Included are codes for free audio downloads in the MP3 (VBR), MP3 (320 kbps), FLAC, Apple Lossless, AAC (iTunes), and/or Ogg Vorbis formats. Purchase allows unlimited streaming via the Bandcamp app. 'Elitism' is also sold as a digital box set.

Paul Hamann at Suma digitally transferred the original quarter-inch two-track analog master mix tapes at the highest resolution available, 192khz / 24 bit. That's more than four times the audio resolution of CD music. The vinyl was cut directly from those files on the best lathe Neumann manufactured. The down-sampling necessary for cd production and audio download files was accomplished after a two year study of the 'black arts' of the realms beyond human hearing. The result is probably the best fidelity that's been commercially produced and as close as can be achieved to audio transparency between the various media.

All releases are available in all territories. An April 18 2015 release of the box set in conjunction with National Record Store Day was limited to the UK and EU.

Fire has also released individual cd, vinyl and digital album editions of 'The Modern Dance' and 'Dub Housing.' Purchase includes free download audio codes and unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.

'Irene' single release
'Irene,' the video for the first single from Pere Ubu's forthcoming album Carnival of Souls, complies with Ubu Projex Rule #2, 'Self Expression is Evil.' Clyde, a puppet from the Daisy Jordan Weebly Collection, hosts the song. "Singers should not be seen and not be heard" David Thomas says. The exclusive b-side 'Moonstruck' is a remix of the album track 'Drag the River' by Gagarin / Moliné.

The single can be purchased as a download.

Carnival of Souls sees Pere Ubu target Prog Rock in the continuation of their 'fixing things' manifesto; "a complex and sensual reaction to living in a world overrun with monkeys and strippers who tickle your ears, cajole you to join in with their cavorting and then become vindictive when you decline." The album is Pere Ubu's 18th album over a forty year career that has seen them break rules, confuse and continue to divide music critics globally.

Excerpt from the book 'Cogs, The Making of Carnival of Souls'
"The worst kind of musician is a singer. The dawning of wisdom for any singer is a healthy dread of singing. There are people who are in love with the sound of their own voice and evidently believe that their singing can add to others' joy and enlightenment. This is a bad attitude and a dangerous one. It feeds ego and self-esteem. It encourages paternalism.

"Don't feed the monkey!

"Far better that a singer should resent having to sing. Singing is a nasty social habit, like spitting in the street. Sometimes you gotta do it but you oughta be discreet."

Keith Moliné Solo Album
Keith Moliné has two electronic albums available on the Entr'acte label. The most recent of these is Crritic! (2013) It is themed around Moliné's work as a music journalist, and comprises two interlocking pieces carrying a dedication to Hans Keller, Desmond Leslie and Lester Bangs. 'I Only Asked' uses an interview recording - questions only - to modulate various sound parameters, and is a reworking of a piece first performed at Café OTO, London in March 2011. 'Hatchet Job' is based on a computer speech recording of all the negative reviews Moliné has penned for 'The Wire' magazine in the last ten years. These amount to around 50,000 words.

The album Ley (2012) is collaboration with trumpeter Andy Diagram from Two Pale Boys. It features acoustic improvisations recorded in Diagram's garden fed through Moliné's arcane modular software patches.

Both albums are available from the entracte.co.uk site following the respective links above. The following links might also be of interest:
Crritic! artwork
Crritic! video
Ley artwork
Ley video

Keith has a blog.