"Before Time was Now" Boxset

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I’m excited to share with you all the second limited edition boxset I am releasing this year - “Before Time Was Now”. Completing a cycle of all the album work I’ve created as Juno Reactor over the past 30+ years with my collaborators.

Following on from “Imagination, Use It As A Weapon”, boxset 2 features the last 4 JR albums which included here are: Labyrinth, Gods and Monsters, Golden Sun Of The Great East, Mutant Theatre along with a 5th album with my favourite obscure tracks,  both old and new…

The artwork for “Before Time Was Now” is a piece from my friend Koji Morimoto. We first met after working on the Matrix films because of his Animatrix film “Beyond”. I wanted to do more film projects, We then collaborated on his film “Dimension Bomb”, in which he drew each frame, which was a bit crazy to work on as I was writing to line drawings, rather than film.

The Labyrinth album is also being released on Vinyl for the first time, it now looks how it was intended, which is the Silver on Black on Black, as Bible of Dreams, with four new montages from my brother Simon. The additional mastering sounds great and is an improvement on the CD release.

For the first time also we have made available T-shirts to go along with these releases. Check https://junoreactor.tmstor.es/?lf=a2fb2dac3fe22380a6ecedef4a7220db

Before Time Was Now  & Labyrinth are now available to pre-order from the 23rd May, click this link to secure your copy: https://junoreactor.lnk.to/JunoReactor

Signed Prints by Ben & Simon Watkins

I have always been interested in photography and filming, it used to be super 8 film and analogue cameras, and recently I converted a Sony camera to Infra Red, I was surprised by the results and so I am happy to make them available as a signed version to you.

Simon, my brother has had a lot to do with my visual tastes growing up, the music he played, spoon feeding me Captain Beeheart, the Incredible String Band, early Pink Floyd and a ton more of Motown, Dr John and the Night Tripper etc so when he does his thing, it has a resonance with me, love his humour or view on our more diabolical human aspects.

Some of his prints are up also. I will be uploading more well known images later.

Let me know what you think.

https://www.junoreactor.com/prints

Trance Pioneer Juno Reactor to Release 5 X CD Box Set & Limited Double Vinyl LP

‘Imagination, Use It As a Weapon’ CD Box Set contains the first five Juno Reactor albums: ‘Transmissions’, ‘Luciana’, ‘Beyond the Infinite’, ‘Bible of Dreams’ and ‘Shango’

The seminal 1997 album ‘Bible of Dreams’ will also be released on a limited heavyweight double vinyl LP.

Juno Reactor, Japan 1994, credit Ronne Randall.

Available March 15 through Edsel Records, ‘Imagination, Use It As A Weapon’ collects the influential soundscapes of trance music pioneer Juno Reactor.

Spanning releases from 1993 - 2000, five classic Juno Reactor albums have been newly mastered in one 5 x CD box set: ‘Transmissions’ (1993), ‘Luciana’ (1994), ‘Beyond the Infinite’ (1995), ‘Bible of Dreams’ (1997) and ‘Shango’ (2000) - including music featured in the films ‘The Matrix Reloaded’, ‘Once Upon a Time in Mexico’, ‘The Animatrix’ and ‘Mortal Kombat Annihilation’.

Each box set includes a print signed by Ben Watkins, the creative force behind Juno Reactor, and will retail at £35; pre-order here.

Brighton-based composer, producer, musician and performer Ben Watkins is an essential innovator of modern electronic music. He formed Juno Reactor as an art project in 1990 to collaborate with other artists, producing exciting projects that were not commercially driven, experimental music and non-musical soundtracks that would work with installations, art pieces, and film projects.

Also released on March 15 through Demon Records is a double vinyl LP reissue of ‘Bible Of Dreams’. First released in 1997, ‘Bible Of Dreams’ drew on tribal influences, including collaborating with the traditional South African percussion act Amampondo on the single ‘Conga Fury’. Juno Reactor and Amampondo opened for Moby on his 1998 US Tour and performed at that summer’s Glastonbury Festival.

Over the past 30 years, Watkins has created a unique driving fusion of electronica, orchestral and global music executed on an epic and symphonic scale. As well as releasing highly regarded albums such as Juno Reactor, Watkins’ tracks have been placed in numerous high-profile feature films, television programmes and computer games. Watkins composed large sections of the original score for the films ‘The Matrix Reloaded’ and ‘The Matrix Revolutions’ and the entire orchestral score for the Japanese anime feature film ‘Brave Story’.

Get your pre-order here.