Having successfully navigated the difficult second issue, Moonbuilding returns with a dazzling Issue 3. Edited by former Electronic Sound commissioning ed Neil Mason and published by Colin Morrison’s Castles In Space label, the first two issues went down pretty well. No reason to think this new one will be any different…

… especially as the new Spring Has Sprung offering stars the unstoppable Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan, who also provide an exclusive CD of previously unreleased tracks.

Best form an orderly queue, this issue ain’t going to be around long.

As well as a truly bumper chat with Warrington-Runcorn big chief Gordon Chapman-Fox, we profile Dan Saville’s SubExotic label, Audrey Golden tells us about her excellent new book, ‘I Thought I Heard You Speak: Women At Factory Records’, and John Foxx answers our There’s A First Time For Everything questions.

There’s reviews of the latest releases from labels such as CiS, Blackford Hill, Tone Science, Werra Foxma, Clay Pipe, Alter, Kiite Records, This Is It Forever, quiet details, Woodford Halse and many more.

There’s also our thoughts on the latest books, including Lucy O’Brien’s ‘Lead Sister - The Story Of Karen Carpenter’, Mark Blake’s ‘Us And Them - The Authorised Story Of Hipgnosis’ and Cathi Unsworth’s ‘Season Of The Witch - The Book Of Goth’.

Once again, the cover illustration is by the magnificent Nick Taylor. He also adds his exceptional skills to the design of the cover feature. People have been asking who our designer is. Well, the rest of the zine is “designed” by Neil Mason who reckons he has Fine Art degree. Next thing he’ll be telling us he studied in Sheffield and lived a few doors up from Phil Oakey.

The whole thing is topped off with a column from The Orb’s Alex Paterson and the wonderful reboot of Steven Appleby’s legendary Captain Star strip, which has previously appeared in NME, The Observer and SFX mag.


THE MOONBUILDING STORY SO FAR…
During the early days of Electronic Sound, commissioning editor Neil Mason began to notice there was a steady flow of independent DIY labels serving up brilliant music with beautiful artwork on sought-after, limited-edition vinyl, cassette and CD releases.

He started to review many of the early offerings and soon labels such as Castles In Space, Ghost Box, Clay Pipe Music, Spun Out Of Control, DiN and Burning Witches were regular fixtures on the pages of ES.

All these labels had echoes of any discerning music fan’s formative years, a time when you’d discover new music on via the likes Mute, 4AD, Small Wonder, Fast Product, Cherry Red, Rough Trade and many many more.

The idea for Moonbuilding was to create a home for a scene that was accidentally created on the pages of Electronic Sound, drawing the artists and labels Neil had been championing for nearly a decade into a new title that is very much in keeping with the DIY ethic of the artists and labels themselves.

Both Neil and Colin fondly recall hoovering up fanzines from the counters of their local record shops in the 1980s in search of their next new favourite band. “I was hooked on underground magazines and comix as soon as I encountered them. I used to save up to come to London and do the megastores, the indie record shops and Forbidden Planet on the same day." says Colin. Moonbuilding is made with the spirit of those indie fanzines spread liberally across its pages. Brace yourself for John Bull printing sets, vintage typewriters and Ben Day dots galore.