Fflapogram

 

Fflapogram, featuring Ann Matthews and Alan Holmes from Fflaps / Ectogram, along with Dewi Evans. They will be playing songs from Fflaps and Ectogram. In memory of Emyr Ankst.

Yep, Ann and Alan resurrected both their early bands for a handful of local appearances in 2024 - playing The Curiad Pulse and Ara Deg festivals. 

Check out this great video / documentary on Fflaps.

Parking Non‑Stop & Ectogram at Klangbad Festival 2007

 

Bangor Experimentalists at Klangbad: 

Two boundary-pushing bands from Bangor—Parking Non‑Stop and Ectogram—took the stage at the Klangbad Festival in Scheer, Germany, a celebrated haven for experimental and avant-garde music founded by Hans‑Joachim Irmler of krautrock pioneers Faust.

Parking Non‑Stop, an ambient sound-art collective inspired by psychogeography and field recordings, delivered an atmospheric set that bridged electronic textures with spoken word and environmental audio. Their appearance at the festival marked their international debut and was a catalyst for future collaboration with Irmler's Klangbad label, leading to the release of their debut album Species Corridor in 2008.

Joining them were Ectogram, a band equally rooted in Bangor’s thriving underground scene. Known for their fusion of noise rock, psychedelia, and improvisation, Ectogram brought a heavier, more distorted energy to the festival. Their set underlined the band’s commitment to sonic experimentation and their place within the broader European avant-rock landscape.

The Klangbad Festival 2007, held from 3–5 August, showcased a diverse lineup of leftfield musicians from across Europe. Set in the idyllic town of Scheer on the banks of the Danube, the event was a celebration of musical freedom, far removed from commercial constraints. Both Parking Non‑Stop and Ectogram exemplified the exploratory spirit Klangbad is known for.

A festival CD compilation released later in the year features tracks from both bands, preserving a moment when two distinct voices from North Wales found an international platform among like-minded experimentalists.

ECTOGRAM release I Can’t Believe It’s Not Reggae

(The actual release date is a bit sketchy - I have it as today, other sources state 1st July - but I'm always right, so the rest of you can all fuck off)

It had to happen. Having wowed us so spectacularly with Super Furry Animals, Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci and their overhauling of glam and prog, it was never going to be long before top Welsh imprint Ankst uncovered yet more native talent, and accordingly, selected another unsuspecting age-old genre they could unleash it on.

This week: Krautrock. Sort of. Your hosts are the crazed dudes of Ectogram; who don’t so much carefully subvert Germanic noodlings as break into their local school’s music department and run riot with them for ages. And then a bit longer.

This is a colossal tinkle-fest of a debut, which starts out with the rumble of a vacuum cleaner and erupts into a series of open-ended improv jams – including prog-rock monastery chants (“This Is How It Is”), a befuddling bilingual tribute to Syd Barrett (“Syd – who’s a bit of a spiritual forefather here) and numerous other instinctively fused organic grooves.

Things – though they’re not exactly great – are at least unfamiliar. Wrer you to suggest they were a bit like Mercury Rev as folk-obsessives with a mystic Celtic grandma on vocals, you’d be fairly close. But what Ectogram are up to is continuing a tradition of resourceful and somewhat odd Welsh music; the “in” sound from way, way out… through a valley, up several large hills and into a strange spiritual spot only normally inhabited by a goat, three druids and Julian Cope.

Definately not reggae. (6)
(N.M.E., 20.07.96)

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