A Love from Outer Space originally began in 2010 as a nocturnal experiment between Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston, and one that instantly resonated within the intimacy of The Waiting Room in North London. The plot was simple; Weatherall and Johnston, two veterans of the UK rave scene and a pairing whose friendship had been slowly maturing within similar circles, cemented by a mutual love of the music of Adrian Sherwood, were set to lower the pace, if never the tone. “A measured escape from the one-techno-fits-all mindset” and, “an elusion from the impersonality of the overly veneered and the tedium of the moronically paced”, were just a few of the words on their lips. In short; for once, let’s take it slow.
The best-part of a decade later, and ‘ALFOS’ have forged an offbeat path as a true British clubbing institution, at a time when such a precious outlet is increasingly rare. What’s more they have continued to do so “without ever knowingly exceeding 122bpm.” Instead, Weatherall and Johnston have taken the acid house nous of their past, and opened up the gateway to regular musical journeys that are embedded with it’s spirit and it’s style, if rarely it’s classics.
Instead, melding “disco’s drive and glossy gestures with the cosmic glints of kosmische, thunderous dub-sonority, and intrepid post-punk”, ALFOS have been charting journeys that pay-off gradually but powerfully, as a keen club-ready antidote to our contemporary culture of instant gratification. Inspired not by what is, but the brimming potential of what could be, A Love from Outer Space cull a specific sonic vision from their wide-ranging record collections, often finding hidden euphoria or outright oddness at severely manipulated tempos.
A Love from Outer Space are afforded their greatest freedoms entertaining a dedicated cult following throughout their residencies at both London’s Phonox, and further north at The Berkeley Suite School in Glasgow, but have also taken their unique musical attitude far and wide on the nightlife road map, while always remaining true to their mutually beneficial ethos. Appearances at Amsterdam’s legendary Trouw led to a natural return to it’s follow-up venue, De School, and a recent eight-hour excursion at Berlin’s notorious ‘Cocktail D’Amore’ suitably soundtracked moments of both sleaze and spirituality.
They’re just as at home on a boat off the picturesque shoreline of the Croatian countryside at festivals such as Love International, as they are bending minds at UK festivals big and small like Port Eliot, Festival No.6, or Green Man. Likewise beyond home pastures, at Finland's renowned Flow Festival. And if Todmorden’s Golden Lion wasn’t Britain’s coolest pub before Weatherall and Johnston propped up at the bar, it’s could certainly file it’s claim now – hosting a Weatherall & ALFOS weekender for 2019’s summer solstice. More highlights to look forward to this year will be their appearance at the Apollo 50 moonlanding anniversary celebrations at Goonhilly in Cornwall as well as their integral set at Convanenza in Carcassonne.