The New Composers* – Sputnik Of Life

'Round about 1995 I was working in a 2nd hand record shop. This place was a real dump with a hole in the roof out the back (not near the records), no toilet and few customers. That place was horrible to work in the winter of '95.... I wore 10 layers of clothing.

The boss bought 5000 12" singles off a local DJ who was going off travelling. This guy had hawked his records all over town but no one wanted them so my boss made a lowball offer of £200 which was accepted. There was a ton of great stuff in there as you may well imagine.

One day some clued-up guy came into the shop and went through the boxes. He found this weird looking 12" with the three-legged alien. He gave a cry of joy and said to me "if you ever see this record, just buy it". There was no indication of the artist - and he didn't say - but he did tell me that Dr Alex Paterson of The Orb used to DJ with it. We had it priced at £4 so he went off happy.

A couple of years later I was working in a slightly better shop 'round the corner. Every day people bought in boxes of records to sell. This was pre-internet so collections came in all the time. I always got first chance to go through the racks. The boss wasn't interested in dance records - except for making money. One day I saw the three-legged alien again so I bought it for myself. I still didn't know who it was by.

A few years after THAT Dr Alex Paterson came in to the radio station I also worked in at the time. I had bought my 12" in for him to identify. He took a look at it and then said after a few moments "New Composers" and the mystery was at last solved.

I have a 4 track CDr promo by New Composers which I can't see on Discogs. Tracks are: Onion Pizza, Entropy, Chronavtika and Automatic Fantasy. Tracks from 1994 - 2000. Looks to be on the Musa label. Has artwork but no other details. Maybe I will add this at some point.

killer track from 1990!really need it in my collection again..anyone selling? ill give em good money for mint copy!

"Он ждёт тебя, согрей его, прибавь ему любви и света !"

wicked dubby bleepy old skool piano prodded obscure gem . like sort of kraftwerk if they recorded for warp records lol. has a loud "SPUTNIIIIIIIIIK" shouted in middle . hardly ever heard or saw this about back in the day . worth old skool acquisition , i have it on one of my mix tapes from may 92 so it is well before that the release date

Think about Kraftwerk meeting Model 500's "Strings Of Life", with the added bonus of the russian accent : this one is a killer indeed. New Composers were hitting hard with this first release, and achieving the marriage of electronic bleeps with a fantasticely danceable housey mood.
The Mix 1 is the most famous (the one later featured on the LP), and the most energetic, while the Mix 2 sets the piano appart to focus only on the bleeps + stomping beats.
The 3rd track is a strange and original beatless piece, with Eric Satie-esque piano pattern plus vocalizings.
This legendary release has gained a cult status due to its small circulation then, and to the fact it never got any proper release except for this stamped promo for DJ. Often appears on ebay at ridiculousely high prices, but worth having : this is a perfect example of "Techno-house", and of a time when superb production and undergound spirit could meet radio airplay.