artificial life by Radium88

He lives in a cave in the forest and reads sci-fi novels, searching them for clues.

It is a little-known fact that the answers to all the problems of the world are contained in his lyrics.

How he maintains his youthful appearance is, however, a mystery.

JEMA DAVIES (vocals / guitar / overall visual co-ordinator) In her guise as Lumber-Woman Jema has now saved the world 15 times.

In her easy to spot checked shirt she tears up trees with her bare hands and hurls them into the path of the evil rampaging alien hordes, shouting her war cry: INTERACT! ENGAGE! SUBVERT! The secret source of Jema's power is her unusual diet of root vegetables.

She catches and consumes them by the expert deployment of stealth knitting needles with which she also constructs her eye-catching costumes.

KNOWN ASSOCIATES CLARE WILSON (violin / string arrangements) Clare is actually the brains behind a sinister anarchist group dedicated to the overthrow of those evil and oppressive laws of physics.

Despite being an expert fiddler her part-time association with with radium88 is merely a front to provide her with alibis with which she easily fools those silly men from the FBI.

SURREALISM IS THE ONLY REALISM! History: It all started in the summer of 1996.

Tim had been spending the last 200 years putting the finishing touches to his Concerto for Melodeon and Unsuspecting Tourist, and was beginning to admit that his musical endeavours might benefit from the input of other humans, albeit ones with unusual powers.

He placed an advertisement in a café, which was a known haunt of bohemian intellectuals and eccentric superheroes.

Eventually, one dark night, a keyboard player arrived at Tim's cave.

Wary of entering by herself she had asked Jema to accompany her, safe in the knowledge that no evil-doer would dare try anything in the presence of Lumber-Woman.

Jema could not help but be impressed by Tim's gnomic utterances and his dexterity with a potato and she decided to give the music a go herself.

No-one ever found out what became of her friend, though.

Several days later Jema was struck by the appearance of a tall handsome stranger as he strode past her in the street.

It was not so much the way he walked on his hands as the guitar which flew out of his foot when he seemed to trip over something invisible.

Reaching out reflexively with a knitting needle she caught the guitar - an ancient tibetan electric - and their eyes met.

It was destiny.

And the most mysterious thing of all was that every one of these events had been foretold by a mysterious gypsy woman who turned out to be none other than Clare in Disguise! WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER Sound: The two vocalists do kind of good cop / bad cop thing, mixing up surreal and sarcastic rapping with floaty angelic choirgirl vocals while in the background play evocative themes from films you've never seen.

Meanwhile, funky, skuzzy guitars mongrelise with dub, hip hop and chemical beats.

Hillbilly slide guitars get it on with gypsy violins sounding like the surprise happy outcome of a deranged genetic experiment.

It's smart, loud, aggressive, moody, mellow, bleak, beautiful, trippy and, above all, tuneful.

It's deadly serious.

And kinda funny.

Variety.

It's the spice of life.

It's like No-Rules Football, only, y'know, like, Music.

Radium88 surf the interstices of the postmodern world, sneering at musical genres and raising an eyebrow archly at niche markets and passing fashions.

They are the lo-tek sound of tomorrow, the kitschmongers of doom.

Call it SPACE HOP, call it TECHNO-NOIR, call it WEIRDO-HIP-TRIP-POP, call it RETRO-FUTURIST GENRE-SPLICE.

For lyrics, anecdotes and other clues to the mystery that is Radium88, not to mention a free listen to their music visit http://www.mp3.com/radium88 YOU MAY HAVE ALREADY WON Public Record: Steve Levine, Grammy award winning producer of The Honeyz, Louise and Culture Club may seem a slightly improbable choice of recording collaborator.

Radium's asset-stripping approach to musical genres has yet to make the acquaintance of hi-gloss chart r&b, however Steve seemed to understand what they were trying to do and after meeting him at a gig in London they arranged to start recording some songs in his studio.

Perhaps unsurprisingly Steve's industry contacts never quite shared his enthusiasm but radium are proud of the four tracks that eventually emerged.

radium have always had two sides to their nature: the beats plus guitars plus vocals side which represents their live set and the melodic instrumental remix side of some of their recorded work.

Since opinion about which they do best seems to be equally divided, the released recordings have emerged as a mixture of both.

Public Access: radium88 play live every month or so.

In '97 they made it onto the (UK national) radio1 roadshow as part of Music Live in Manchester.

Occasionally they stage multi-media happenings.

As well as appearances all over the UK they have toured Spain, Belgium and Holland.

For an up to date list of gigs check the calendar page at http://www.mp3.com/radium88 EVERYTHING LOOKS NORMAL NOW Vision: radium88 have always seen themselves as a widescreen technicolor kind of thing, (simply working ourselves up into an adrenaline frenzy on stage being not nearly enough for you, our endlessly deserving public) and to this end have forged alliances with film-makers, most notably heroes-of-film.

This Bradford based collective have made video for projection at gigs (where budget and venue size permit) and in return radium recorded original music for incorporation in their projects including the theme to their cult sci-fi magazine show "SciFi Lounge, currently available on radium's Watch the Skies ep.

Why not have a look at their website http://www.heroes-of-film.co.uk.

Another regular collaborator is the artist and propagandist martin pearson.

As well as creating original artwork and slogans for sleeves and posters Tim and Martin run an e-zine called ART of the STATE mainly dedicated to humour, surrealism and exploring the postmodern condition.

No, really.

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