A.R. Kive

A.R. Kive collates the three most astonishing works from that most miraculous of duos - A.R. Kane - comprising the ‘Up Home’ EP from 1988 that signified the band’s dawning realisation of their own powers and possibilities, their legendary debut LP sixty nine (1988) and its kaleidoscopic, prophetic double-LP follow up i (1989). In founder-member Rudy Tambala’s new remastering, the music on these pivotal transmissions from the birth of dream pop, have been reinvigorated and re-infused with a new power, a new depth and intimacy, a new height and immensity. Vivid, timeless and yet always timely whenever they’re recalled, these records still force any listener to realise that despite the habits of retrospective myth-making and the safe neutering effects of ‘genre’, thirty years have in no way dimmed how resistant and dissident to critical habits of categorisation A.R. Kane always were.

Never quite ‘avant-pop’ or ‘shoegaze’ or ‘post-rock’ or any of those sobriquets designed to file and categorise, A.R. Kive is a reminder that those genres had to be coined, had to be invented precisely to contain the astonishing sound of A.R. Kane, because previous formulations couldn’t come close to their sui generis sound and suggestiveness. This is music that pointed towards futures which a whole generation of artists and sonic explorers would map out. Now beautifully repackaged, remastered and fleshed out with extensive sleeve notes and accompanying materials, A.R. Kive reveals that 35 years on it’s still a struggle to defuse the revolutionary and inspirational possibility of A.R. Kane’s music.

This beautifully crafted box includes digitally remastered vinyl editions of the Up Home EP, and the Sixty Nine and "i" LPs. These remasters have taken the music to another level; more detailed, bigger, brighter and deeper. Also includes newly commissioned mini A.R. Kane biodiscography printed booklet and the ARK Hive, a fold out timeline of the music and times of A.R. Kane. A postcard with digital download code (The Up Home EP with three remixes exclusive to A.R.Kive, W.O.G.S remix by Slowdive, Baby Milk Snatcher remix by Tim Reaper, and a Baby Milk Snatcher remix by Louis Tambala).