Alto Stratus

Bio:

Alto Stratus

is the duo of Alan and Steve Freeman, from Leicester, England. Aficionados of Krautrock, prog and weird musics since the 1970's, later becoming publishers of Audion magazine and owners of the Ultima Thule record shop.

History...

We spent much of our spare time during the early 1980's experimenting with synthesizers, sound collage, etc., and during that period we recorded some 30 odd cassettes as Alto Stratus (and under other guises: as Vrije, Q.S.O., Electric Junk), also as soloists, and the trio with sound artist Nigel Harris in ZBB (aka Zircon & The Burning Brains).

After a lengthy hiatus, establishing the Ultima Thule shop, Alan got into playing music again becoming the synth effects and weird noise maker in Maureen Anderson's Shapeshifter. Later Alan and Jim Tetlow left Shapeshifter, joining up with Alan's brother Steve to form Endgame, an improvising trio, now with over 50 releases. Alto Stratus also continued as a duo, reissuing the classic "TACHYON" after which we named our home studio.

We tend to make one album a year under the Alto Stratus moniker. Other guises include The Newt Hounds (a Nurse With Wound inspired project) and Triax (a trio featuring a hurdy-gurdy player), and various other hybrid projects.

We've also both recorded a number of solos.

Alto Stratus work incognito as The Newt Hounds
Alto Stratus are also two thirds of Endgame.
Alto Stratus are two thirds of Triax.

We have a huge discography - check our web-site!

Cassettes, CD's, & now DVD's!

Ultima Thule news: "The Crack In The Cosmic Egg" CD-Rom is available now, & it includes a free Auricle sampler inc. Alto Stratus musicians. Many new releases also available. We now take PayPal as well! Check the UT web site!

Ultima Thule new address - 21 Hether Road, Leicester, LE2 6DF (0116) 270 2354

Member Since:

August 11, 2007

Members:

Alan Freeman
guitar (with effects, violin bow and gliss), Roland SH32 synthesizer, Roland guitar synth, bowed spring-board & acoustic CD, prepared sounds... Steve Freeman
bass (with effects, violin bow), bowed cymbal & acoustic CD, prepared sounds, tapes and loops, guitar, synths (Korg MS20, Yamaha CS5, Octave Cat)

Influences:

Krautrock, Kosmische, Tangerine Dream, Throbbing Gristle, Conrad Schnitzler, Stockhausen, Cluster, Faust, Nurse With Wound, Robert Fripp, Brian Eno, Heldon, Pierre Henry, sci-fi, surrealism, etc.

Sounds Like:

No one else really! Electronic mice and insects do battle, whilst metallic objects writhe and mutate

Record Label:

Auricle