Steven Wilson Headquarters

Steven has recently started writing about music again, this time in the form of a monthly column for the US magazine Electronic Musician. It's called "New is the New Old", and each month he writes about an aspect of the music industry as we know it today, compared to how it was in the past. 3 columns have so far been published, and they are also available online at the EM website.

There are a few ToneFloat vinyl releases just added to the Headphone Dust mail order page:

The original vinyl version of Porcupine Tree's In Absentia was released by Warner Brothers in 2003, but that version sold out very quickly and has become quite a rarity, so now a new 180gm 2LP vinyl edition is available on either marbled or regular black vinyl. This new edition improves significantly on the quality of the Warners release, and is housed in a beautiful spot varnished gatefold sleeve.

SW's Cover Versions V + VI are now available on 7 inch singles, completing the Cover Version series on vinyl. There's no box for the set to go in as there is with the CD version, but orders will include a post card of a reproduction of two pages from SW's personal note book, on which he noted any song it occurred to him might be good to record for the series.

Finally there are a few remaining copies on sale of the exclusive split 7 inch single given away to attendees of the Bass Communion / Fear Falls Burning concert in Antwerp in 2008, and a small number of copies of the Continuum Recyclings Volume II double vinyl set, which is a complete reconstruction of the second Continuum (SW and Dirk Serries) CD, by Justin Broadrick of Jesu/Godflesh (this item is not listed on the mail order page, but please email hd@swhq.co.uk if you would like to reserve a copy - the price is £25 plus shipping).

ToneFloat are now pre-selling a new 180gm double vinyl edition of PT's In Absentia album. It came out on vinyl originally through Warners in 2003, but that version sold out very quickly and has become quite a rarity these days.

They are also pre-selling the last two SW Cover Version 7 inch singles, which completes the vinyl series. There's no box for them all to go in as there is with the CD version, but orders will also include a post card of a reproduction of two pages from SW's personal note book on which he noted any song it occurred to him that might be good to record for the series. Both the PT vinyl and Cover Version singles are expected to ship on 12th July.

"Atlanta", a complete 2 hour live performance from Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet tour, is now available as a download from the PT Store. The show was recorded and mixed to the usual PT standards in order to provide material for a planned live album, but when the decision was taken to film much of the same repertoire in Holland for a major DVD release instead, the Atlanta recording ended up back in the vault. Now PT have now decided to make it available in complete form as a download only release to raise funds for Mick Karn's treatment for cancer. Although the repertoire is similar to that on the Anesthetize DVD, the performance has its own atmosphere, and also includes the first ever officially released live recording of "A Smart Kid".

The mp3s are high quality 320kbps files, and there is a break between tracks 8 and 9 in case you want to burn your own 2 CD set, for which Carl Glover has also provided CD artwork.

Please note that profits from the sale of the Atlanta download will go to Mick Karn and his family.

Well, kind of....The new Pendulum album "Immersion", on which Steven co-wrote and sang the track called "The Fountain" has entered the UK album chart today at number 1. Congratulations to Rob Swire and Pendulum!