Radio Massacre International is a British trio of Steve Dinsdale (keyboards, electronics, drums), Duncan Goddard (keyboards, electronics, bass) and Gary Houghton (guitar, synthesizers). These three musicians have worked together in various configurations since they were 16 year old students in the 70s and formed R.M.I. in 1993.

After amassing a number of recordings that they were happy with, the group released their first CD in 1996 and also began playing shows and electronic music festivals. Throughout the 90s, the group released many CDs and toured much of western Europe. They have also appeared in the USA six separate times, beginning in 2002.

Their music is largely improvised and performed live, without overdubs, gathering shape via post recording editing. Their discography, which includes many BandCamp-only releases, is quite extensive. But in addition to the bands many ‘d.i.y’ releases, they have had a long relationship with Cuneiform, stretching back to 2005. Galactic Furnace is the group’s fourth collaboration with Cuneiform. With such a large output, we thought it might be a good idea to allow the band themselves to speak about this specific album:

“Galactic Furnace was made over the course of a week, in the middle of summer, in beautiful North Yorkshire. We inhabited a cottage space which was very kindly loaned to us by a good friend and unlike many recording environments, it was extremely pleasant with plenty of natural light and air. As is our wont, we always keep a live microphone somewhere in the mix and this one was outside on the decking pointing towards woodland and good old Yorkshire countryside. This album is unique, you could say, because it was recorded in this certain space which we know will not be available to us again (it now belongs to someone else, we didn't trash it or anything).

When assimilating the music we have made, certain images and pictures arrive unconsciously, there is a loose visual impression created. Whilst we never set out to paint literal sound pictures, or describe specific images, the music suggests these things to us afterwards. Certain sections of this music seemed to convey a vast turbulent cosmic fire, while others a peaceful sunlit place. You could maybe say this is our `Anthem To The Sun'. 

We'd been aware of the work of Greek painter Silena Lena through her galleries on social media, and the minute we saw `The Dimensions Of Stillness' we knew that there was an immediate synergy with the music. Sometimes you just know when the right cover has presented itself, and happily Silena loved the music and gave us her blessing to use the work. We're still great believers in the CD/LP as an artistic medium, and the artwork is crucial to the listener's perception of the music, so we are very happy that the two fit together so perfectly in this case.

Regarding how we see physical releases v digital ones: Physical releases are still the `major statements', the career markers, the work which adds up ultimately to your story, so a release like this is very important in reinforcing how the band is perceived. It is the work which may draw in people who are new to us, it's important to put our heads above the parapet occasionally and go for a higher profile regardless of how realistic this expectation may or may not be.

After nearly 20 years together as R.M.I. and over 30 albums and hundreds of concerts, you might think that there might be no surprises left, but like their undulating, flowing music, the musicians are always finding new twists and turns to incorporate into their music. At its root, Time and Motion very much has their "Berlin-school electronic music" sound intact, with music that gradually develops in the manner of the classic pioneers of this sound; the synthesizers and clouds of guitars take us all on a journey into the cosmos! But here they've added guest Martin Archer on reeds and electronics on about 40% of the album and he is fully integrated into the ensemble, adding a very unique solo and ensemble contribution to the spacey electronic music presented - a sound that I don't think has ever been used in this way in space music.

This is two full CDs (at a single CD price) which features over 2 1/2 hours of great music! The 2 CDs are structured as the equivalent of four lps, to cater to listeners who appreciate the older playing times of a 35'-40' album or to any listener who might find 80' of music at a time a bit overwhelming. So, this album is programmed to have four different 'entry points', each being a self-standing tranche of music that lasts aproximately 40'.

"...RMI's Steve Dinsdale, Duncan Goddard, and Gary Houghton know how to coax all sorts of nuances from their machines, and they function as a live, interactive trio, with each member responding to the others' riffs and musical motifs. It doesn't hurt any, either, that Houghton has very impressive guitar chops, so when he eases into the mix with some blistering Stratocaster bursts, he rather convincingly updates (and improves upon) Edgar Froese's generic and rather predictable guitar flights on the seminal Tangerine Dream recordings. In a word, Radio Massacre International nail the vintage electronic music sound, but the band is simply more "nimble" than the first generation models, which greatly enhances the listening pleasure of the suitably attuned listener...if you're a musical novice unacquainted with RMI's sources, this music will serve as a stellar introduction to the form." – All Music Guide

Radio Massacre International's second Cuneiform release (and the band's 27th overall), Rain Falls in Grey, is something quite different from the band's previous work. Best known for electronic space music for keyboards, electronics and guitars, here Radio Massacre have expanded greatly upon their usual sound and also use conventional rock instrumentation to create a sincere and moving tribute to Syd Barrett, and in doing so, manage to capture some of the psychedelic magic of 1967-1968. This album features a really striking cover by Daevid Allen, which is also a hommage to Syd.

"This album is our way of saying goodbye and thanks to a genuine one-off. His passing had an unexpectedly profound effect, despite the fact that he hadn't been near a guitar in more than 30 years. It forced us to consider what an enormous influence he was, despite his space-age ascendancy and equally rapid burnout. He picked up a zippo lighter, invented glissando guitar and incorporated non-musical sounds into the context of the new psychedelic movement that had hardly had time to leave the conformity of Rhythm & Blues behind. His creation was a particularly English take on what we now call 'rock'...and for those of us engaged in experimental or space rock, the debt is enormous." - R.M.I

"Rain Falls in Grey is Radio Massacre International's second album for Cuneiform Records, after who knows how many albums in their career overall. More important, though, this is one of their most accessible releases, both in terms of style and availability. It remains true to RMI's sound, but it has a distinctly more potent rock flavor -- psychedelic rock, in fact. A tribute to Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett, who died days before the first recording sessions, Rain Falls in Grey succeeds in capturing Barrett's sound world -- or at least the elements that have had an influence on RMI's music. The album opens with the glorious 17-minute title track, a highly inspired psychedelic rock improvisation featuring uplifting glissando guitar and the saxophones of guest Martin Archer. (Wasn't it Barrett's wish to add a horn section to Pink Floyd before he was retired from the band?) "Syd" and the closing "...Far Away" are also hosts for the spirit of early Pink Floyd. Keyboards and synthesizers are relegated to the back row through most of the album -- a departure from Emissaries, the group's previous opus for Cuneiform -- to make way for Gary Houghton's dreamy guitar lines. Archer's presence (on saxes, clarinets, and flutes) helps build a special aura around Rain Falls in Grey. An experimental improviser and electro-acoustic composer, Archer has been on a comeback toward more accessible music (the jazz project Hornweb, the folk group Army of Briars), and here he carves himself a nice nest within RMI's core trio, convincingly enough to raise hope for further collaborations. Rain Falls in Grey goes beyond the tribute album to become one of the group's best-paced and most welcoming albums yet. Also worthy of note is the colorful cover artwork signed by Gong's Daevid Allen."- All Music Guide

Radio Massacre International is a British trio of Steve Dinsdale (keyboards, electronics), Duncan Goddard (keyboards, electronics) and Gary Houghton (guitar, keyboards). These three musicians have worked together in various configurations since the early 1980's and formed R.M.I. in 1993. They released their first album in 1995 and since that time have released over a dozen CDs, all on small UK labels which are highly prized by collectors when they can be found. Appealing to fans of classic era work by Ashra/Manuel Gottsching, Heldon, Pink Floyd, Popol Vuh, Steve Roach, Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream, Radio Massacre International are considered one of the greats of the current spacemusic/electronic music scene. Emissaries is intended to introduce the band to the music world at large outside of the electronic music cognoscenti. This deluxe 2 CD set, which sells for the price of a single CD, features a new studio album, a live album recorded at radio station WXPN in Philadelphia during their 2004 USA performances and a stunning cover by cartoonist Matt Howarth. Additionally, the studio album is a CD+ release which provides the buyer with a beautiful electronic comic (in .pdf format), which is viewable on any computer!

"If you like Berlin school 1970's electronics...this is a feast of scorching sequencerrs and synthesizers, laced with searing guitars over lots of cool outer space drifting." - Expose