Image by Andrew Longhurst
If you’ve been paying attention to the news coming from the scientific community, particularly the recently beamed-down images from NASA showing stars that hold seven planets in their orbits only a handful of light years away, you’ll have been getting pretty excited by the possibilities of life beyond the reaches of the currently bewildering atmosphere of Earth.
You may not yet have noticed a space collective who have recently beamed down into Stroud, who have chosen to come to this quiet backwater of the galaxy to spread the word that this is just the beginning for the next great space adventure – through the medium of beat-infested synth driven dance music which they will be bringing to the venues of Stroud this summer. “We are exploring the universe one small town at a time!” says Mr Marko, founder of the Outer Space Emporium, who was initially drawn to this planet by big beat and early 80s synth pop. “A little like Doctor Who, but with bigger beats.”
Mr Marko is accompanied in the Emporium by a disco dervish in a glitter dress, the space siren Cheroona Moonchild, as well as rapper Jake Kirton and, as a terrestrial extra, poet Adam Horovitz. “We want to create a euphoric, beautiful place where aliens, space robots and humans mingle in glorious multi-hued harmony, listening to Quantum Physics they can dance to,” says Mr Marko.
Think Barbarella meets 60s Star Trek in a club somewhere off the autobahn playing an eclectic mix of the Chemical Brothers, 70s and 80s synth legends such as Kraftwerk and variations on the work of Ron Grainer’s theme for Doctor Who, written in the darkest, strangest and most delightful recesses of the Radiophonic Workshop. “That’s what we’re aiming for,” adds Mr Marko, “sci-fi with a sense of fun.We don’t want to think outside the box so much as imagine a universe where there is no box, where we can take our place in the great wide forever amongst the stars!”
Mr. Marko’s Outer Space Emporium will be beaming into a venue near you in late May and early June. You’ll find them at Mr Twitchett’s Café at the Subscription Rooms on May 26th from 8pm (tickets cost £3 - click here for further info)and at the Crown and Sceptre, Horns Road on June 9th from 8.30pm (entry free click here for further info).
Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/mr-marko-2 / Facebook: facebook.com/Mmosemporium