Jansky Noise - Born of Black Light (2025)
There's a new album from Jansky Noise (a.k.a. Andy MacGregor), called Born of Black Light (February 2025), now available at Bandcamp.
Back in 1996, Jansky Noise helped to set up with Leyland James Kirby the V/Vm Test label and worked very closely on numerous projects on the label. V/Vm was known for its plunderphonic copyright-baiting releases, turning familiar pop tunes into some chaotic collages of noise frenzy.
Jansky also collaborated with Speedranch (a.k.a. Paul Richard). As Speedranch^Jansky Noise they released for Planet Mu (a label run by Mike “µ-Ziq” Paradinas) the album Mi^grate (2003), also material for such imprints as Leaf, FatCat Records and Hot Air.
Furthermore, there was some solo material from Jansky Noise for Vukzid and Digital Vomit, then the 2011 album Slow Order V2 for El Perro Rojo (“The base of the album evolves around an '80s synth classic”, claims Discogs).
After that there was no new music in years. Had aliens perhaps abducted Mr. MacGregor, as it seemed he had totally vanished from the face of Earth? Then, one day last autumn, out of the blue, pHinnWeb received from Jansky Noise a mysterious communication, informing that he was still on the planet and that there was also new music on its way!
After yesteryear’s noisy excursions, Slow Order already represented a sea change in Jansky’s sound, but still I was caught unawares by these new tracks delving into free jazz, power noise, Detroit techno and avantgarde, inspired by the ideas of Afrofuturism and ethnosphere.
(For those needing an explanation, in his lectures, the Canadian anthropologist Wade Davis described the myriad cultures on our planet as the "ethnosphere", by which he means the "sum total of all thoughts and intuitions, myths and beliefs, ideas and inspirations brought into being by the human imagination.")
Such luminaries as Jeff Mills and François Kevorkian have already namechecked Jansky’s new material. Born of Black Light is an omnivorous grower, especially recommended, in these days of rampant chaos and lunacy, to everyone who — in Sun Ra’s words — finds Earth boring. Jansky Noise also granted pHinnWeb a brief interview which you can find below.
Jansky Noise - In the Corridors with Santanna | featuring Brokli | Born of Black Light LP
“Track one from the upcoming album Jansky Noise - Born of Black Light (10-track LP).
The first release from Jansky Noise (a.k.a. Andy MacGregor) in 13 years. 'In the Corridors with Santanna' is an epic journey through deeply drenched electronica. Born in Black Light is an ten-track LP which blends Afrofuturism, jazz, avant-garde electronics, power noise, and the spiritual.
Each track is a deep dive into the boundless connection between space, the spiritual realm, and the cosmos—a fusion that reflects Jansky Noise's decade-long immersion in the ethnosphere and his exploration of the unseen forces that bind our universe.
The album, Born of Black Light, revisits many of Jansky Noise's old projects, pulling content from as early as 1999 and reworking them.
'Corridors with Santanna' features Brokli who adds a signature touch with guitar work and vocal harmonies.”
Brokli is a UK musician Jansky Noise has worked closely with, among all as a producer and manager, also collaborating on Brokli’s 2024 music videos such as 'Mother Gaia' and 'Let Me Be Your Driver'.
Tracklist:
1. In the Wrong Café
2. Embracing the Illusory Nature of Reality
3. Sonar Code 313
4. 1396 Elephant Nebular
5. The Corridors of Santanna (LP Version)
6. Muzimu Wakaita - The Ancestral Spirits Called
7. Afrogalactic Oscillations beyond the Earthly Realm
8. Echoes of the Ankh
9. Centuries of Effort for Nothing - the Blue Note of Saturn
10. Hope Riddled with Contradiction
Jansky Noise tells about the album:
"'In the Corridors with Santanna' is a bonus from the album and features stunning guitar work by Brokli. Together, we added vocal harmonies to enrich its spiritual atmosphere. The name 'Santanna' is reference to Orange and Lemon - 'Dreams of Santanna' as well as to the legend Carlos Santana, the double 'n' symbolizing the 'noise' that permeates this entire project.
I'll be releasing more tracks from Born of Black Light through the winter solstice. If all goes well, the full album will be out over 2024-2025.
This album has some quite serious sonic fiction within, but it is all mixed up as we attempt to repaint the future with a sonic canvas written today.
Track 1 on the album, 'In the Wrong Café' takes you on a cosmic and surreal journey through a space jazz, afro-noise, white noise and the interstellar. This track is an explosion of frantic percussion, spaced out vocals by Orion Vox, and broken horns. The saxophone wails, and the brass spins smoky rings through galaxies. Scenes of dim lights, hazy parades, and surreal serenades, all set within a jazz maze under a star-kissed haze.
This heavy space jazz, Afro-futuristic track bends narrative, noise, and jazz into a disorienting yet meaningful soundscape. I wanted to merge dissonance with comfort—to show that even within chaos, there is clarity. The song salutes jazz’s spirit of improvisation, abstraction, and surprise, much like the Wrong Café itself — where everything feels off, yet profoundly resonant.
But here’s the shift: realizing you’re in the wrong place is not a failure — it’s a moment of power. So often, we drift through life unaware, trapped in rhythms that don’t belong to us. But the instant we recognize the misalignment, we gain the ability to move. Orion does exactly this — he slams the door, not in defeat, but in liberation. The music reflects this awakening, guiding the listener toward a new path, away from the static, into the unknown Muzimu Wakaita - The Ancestral Spirits Called - inspired by the Bantu and Dogon people's spiritual connection to the Sirius, the song offers a ritual to the sky and spiritual forces and Sirius which breaks a pathway into wisdom reconnecting to the knowledge of past civilisations. As well as tracks about the Ankh Frequencies, a key to hidden architecture of time, an alternative vision of the future is forming, the future is not cancelled."
To conclude, Jansky Noise shared his insights with pHinnWeb.
After a 13-year hiatus, what inspired your return with Born of Black Light?
After the release of my last album, Slow Order, my awareness of the unseen began to stretch in ways I hadn’t anticipated. It felt as though some energy was pulling at the edges of my perception, a force that brought my nephew, Brokli, and me together. Over time, our dual DNA has aligned on this work, our frequencies finding a harmonious connection across generations through a shared love and exploration. While we played with that harmony, we are also quite aware of the dissonance and noise that surrounds us all — and it was here that Orion Vox emerged. Orion and his voice is a spirit caught between realities, drifting through time like a signal waiting to be received. We all move on different timelines, Brokli moves at a different velocity, but for me its so familiar, almost like I’m meeting myself on another timeline. He is the new pulse, while I carry echoes of my past explorations — V/Vm, and other Jansky works. Born of Black Light is the synthesis of all these energies, a convergence of timelines, channeling the cyclical nature of sound, space, and experience into a singular wave. It’s a new spark, a breaking of the loop, and a search for new pathways and experience via sound.
Are you planning any videos for the tracks on the album?
Yes, I’ve been creating reels and short videos that reinterpret 'In the Wrong Café' — so far, I’ve produced about 10 different versions and alternate takes of the track, with the goal of reaching 101. This ongoing project explores how a song can evolve through various moods, structures, and imagery. Each version represents someone who recognizes they are in the wrong place.
Some of this material will transform into more experimental video pieces, and I’m excited to invite others to remix the song, creating their own video and audio interpretations. The track serves as a starting point — an invitation to realize we’re in the wrong place and feel empowered by that awareness. That’s how I want this song to be remembered.
If listeners connect with this message, I’ve achieved my goal. It’s a song about freedom, breaking away, and moving forward from situations we find ourselves in. Whether you connect this to your own life or to Orion Vox’s journey, I’ve kept it open-ended. There’s a lot of duality in this album.
In addition to 'In the Wrong Café', I also created a video for 'Centuries of Effort for Nothing – The Blue Note of Saturn'. I repurposed the swamp scene from The NeverEnding Story, as this song is about despair. It’s like the soundtrack to a reality you don’t want to watch, much like witnessing a nation destroy itself. The scene from the film pairs perfectly with the track, reflecting the deep loss, sadness and pain that resonate throughout the song. Yet, it also conveys the sense that despite everything, we must keep moving forward. The imagery enhances the feeling of struggle and the inevitable passage of time.
Brokli is family — I’m his uncle. From a young age, he’s been making music. Funny enough, he began when he was around 13. That’s when he asked me how to make a song, and I introduced him to Fruity Loops, synths, and VSTs. From there, we both dove deep into the rabbit hole, sharing a love for sound texture and vintage synths like CS80, the Minimoog and Fairlight, as well as our quest for a greater musical reality. Just as black light is not visible to the eye, there is an audio frequency we seek in order to reconnect with a hidden light within sound.
Working on this album with Brokli was effortless. We share a free-flowing approach to experimentation. Our first collaboration was on 'In the Corridors with Santanna' — Brokli plays guitar on that track, as well as 'Elephant Nebula'. Beyond that, Brokli contributed to programming, vocal harmonies, and arrangements. There’s a strong sense of experimentation and harmony in our work together — intuitive and fluid. In addition to guitar, we’ve woven breath — literal breath — into the sound. I wanted to use breathing as an instrument, and this is embedded in the tracks. In a way, we’re both breathing life into what is and what can be. 'Echoes of Ankh' and 'Centuries of Effort for Nothing' carry this sense of revival, as we breathe life into our art, across two generations, reconnecting with the essence of our songs.
Any background information about other collaborators on the album (e.g. Orion Vox)?
Orion Vox is both a character and a voice in this project. His story — of a quantum mystic who travels through sound, space, mind, and frequency — flows throughout the album. He represents themes I’ve been exploring: ancient wisdom, cosmic vibrations, and the blurred lines between inner and outer space. Musically, Orion Vox’s presence is shaped by abstract vocal processing, textures, and the interplay of different instruments. We’ll continue to collaborate on 'In the Wrong Café', and I look forward to seeing many more video interpretations of Orion’s journey.
Anything else you’d like to share about this music?
This album is an experiment in perception — it’s a 33-minute journey. We hold our hands open and we invite listeners to start the album and experience it from beginning to end. It is an album of hope, yet at times, it’s hopeless. It wishes to position the listener within the work, internalizing them, while also allowing for passivity — imagine it from the perspective of Orion on his journey. It’s meant to be experienced as a journey rather than a collection of tracks. The themes are open for interpretation, and I’ve added a small description on Bandcamp, outlining where I imagined Orion was at each stage of the tracks. This information is available for anyone to explore.
You can read more about the album from Jansky Noise's blog.
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