Strom Newsletter 03.2026

Hello

Well, that’s the shortest month of the year finished with already and it seemed to flew past in the blink of an eye.

 And yet the month was non-stop! Beginning in Paris with meetings, greetings and countless visits to galleries and museums – from an enormous retrospective of German artist Gerhard Richter to Philip Guston, Joseph Cornell, Picasso and Raymond Pettibon, and so much more. And some tasty treats in between, of course.

Underflow in Athens

Then it was off to Athens to perform at the very cool underground record store Underflow, in both a solo set and another with Greek musician Nikos Fokas. Athens remains such an amazing place to visit and I was overjoyed to make so many new friends there and even leave with a suitcase filled with new musical toys from the synth companies Dreadbox and Nekyia Circuits.

Synth East with Cabaret Voltaire

And I was back on the live stage a few days later at Synth East in Norwich in the UK, in an extremely social day. It’s an event where manufacturers show off their delights and in between different artists perform by way of their names picked at random.

So, my sonic blind date took place with bass player and modular synth fanatic Gaz Williams, a fine fellow who has worked with Marc Almond, Karl Hyde, Charlotte Church and many others. And remarkably, on a day where the volume of voices was often as loud as the music, we played to a muted room, with people somehow hypnotised by our music. Here’s a little excerpt.

A few hours later I was back on stage supporting the seminal electronic band and old friends of mine, Cabaret Voltaire. What a joyful night this turned out to be. Again, I’ll be sharing footage of this soon too.

In between these trips life has been very intense. I received a call this week to work on a new science fiction film so have begun work on that, whilst at the same time I received a surprise call from the BBC.

Musical Freezers in Supermarkets. Yes, really

I was invited to speak on The World Tonight on BBC Radio 4 about the rather strange phenomenon of a symphonic freezer in a Sheffield supermarket. As odd as this might seem, it’s the most beautiful sound which you can hear in the news item at the end of this link.

It was also a pleasure to be able to name check and speak about the work of Max Neuhaus, Messiaen, Steve Reich, Throbbing Gristle and much more on national radio. Listen back here.

EarSpace on Slack City Radio

EarSpace episode 33 was released to the world at the end of February. As always, I played electronic music from the past, present and future. You can hear the fresh hypnotic beats of False Aralia, Nathan Fake, Soul Center and Picture, and pulsating modular synths from Surgeons Girl and Keith Fullerton Whitman. 

We slip back to the 80s and 90s with Severed Heads, Cabaret Voltaire, Higher Intelligence Agency and Meat Beat Manifesto, and enjoy film music from Coil and Timo Kaukolampi. All this and more in just two hours. Listen back in full here.

Through Global Frequency LP

I was also recently honoured to give voice, quite literally, to a new release by Dutch composer Michel Banabila. Cult Glaswegian label 12th Isle marks a decade of trippy business with one of their best too. It’s a microcosm of cryptic sound poetry set in milky ambient textures, and featuring the voices of different guests reciting Michel’s texts.

The album unfolds as a deeply human response to a period shaped by social upheaval, shifting migration policies, and rising political tension across Europe. You can listen to the entire work online or pick up the vinyl in NL, or from Boomkat or Norman Records in the UK.

Join the Fan Club for Exclusive Sounds

It’s common today that album releases feature often unreleased material recorded around the same time as special bonus tracks, but I was thinking how interesting it might be to hear works in progress (WIP), BEFORE any actual album release.

So, I uploaded a series of sketches and ideas produced in the last month that might lead towards something else, or simply gather digital dust on my desktop, to Bandcamp for my Fans only.

Remember, it’s never too late to sign up, for less than the price of a cup of a fancy coffee a month. Join in the fun, and you’ll have access to a host of exclusive material unavailable anywhere else and also be directly supporting my work so you can sleep better in bed at night in the knowledge. More here.

Two live shows are coming up in March – beginning in Barcelona at Casa Montjuïc on 6 March, then a very special show in London on 20 March at Rich Mix. I hope to see some of you at these!

So, wishing you a great month ahead. Plenty to keep me busy here it seems ☺️

Warmest wishes

Professor Scanner

LISTEN
Nurse with Wound: Shipwreck Radio Vol. 1 (ICR)
Coil: Astral Disaster (Infinite Fog)
Erik Hall: Solo Three (Western Vinyl)
Craven Faults: Sidings (The Leaf Label)

READ
Theodore Gordon: Composer’s Black Box (Uni of Califonia Press)
Philip Guston: The Irony of History (Editions Gallimard)
Charlotte Mew: Selected Poetry and Prose (Faber & Faber)
Carys Davies: Clear (Granta)

WATCH
Feuchtgebiete: David Wnendt
Variety: Bette Gordon
Good Time: Indian Donaldson
Certified Copy: Abbas Kiarostami