Just when you thought British children's TV had completely gone to shit-along comes a gem like this. In The Night Garden is made by Ragdoll (the company behind the almighty Rosie and Jim, Brum, Boohbah and, more dubiously, The Teletubbies) who have decided to fly in the face of whatever agenda most kid's tv shows are trying to satisfy at the moment and instead give us an unashamedly surreal, inexplicable show that will no doubt make for fond memories in many adult's minds in 20 years time. Unsurprisingly, ITNG has also built up quite an internet fanbase of people way above it's intended age range, just as any decent kid's show should.
I'm very pleased to say that String Theories is here after a year or so of tentative arranging and organising. Although no specific guidelines were initially set for the release, it's ended up being a five-way split album featuring; relapxych.0 (Swe), Sunao Inami (Jpn), Randy Greif (Usa), If, Bwana (Usa), Evan Leed (Usa), and Pendro (Gbr) (Evan Leed and If, Bwana both feature on the one track). If I may say so myself it's bloody good and you should all make the effort to buy a copy (only £4 off the myspace)! If you're not familiar with the artists mentioned most of them are in the Metamorph top friends at the myspace.
It all comes to over 70 minutes of cathartic/searing/soothing/provoking ambient/drone/experimental. All the tracks feature stringed instruments in some way-hence the name. It comes packaged in a cardboard wallet with a hand-numbered inlay card, all for the measly sum of 4 british pounds.