Alexander Tucker sits down with me to explore the twists and turns of his sound on his new MICROCORPS album "Clear Vortex Chambers." Our conversation takes us through a creative rebirth, sparked by crucial production advice from Regis (Karl O'Connor) that transformed his approach to electronic music and helped him to scrap a years work and start again.

Like Sudan Archives last week, Tucker is fundamentally a visual thinker – "I feel like I'm a painter and probably never should have got into music" – yet this visual sensibility is precisely what gives his soundscapes such distinctive character. He describes creating music as "digging up a modem or electronic equipment that's all rusted and covered in earth," where "nature has somehow moved in and mutated it." You can feel this fusion of organic and technological elements seep across his work, creating something both familiar and otherworldly.

Growing up in Kent surrounded by ancient forests and sandstone formations, Tucker absorbed the layered history of his environment. This sense of "peeling back the past" continues to be an influence, whether working with an acoustic guitar and a 4-track or modular synthesis. We delve into his creative partnerships with Stephen O'Malley, Nick Colk Void and others, with Tucker beautifully describing collaboration as "giving each other these chunks of your life."

Whether you're familiar with Tucker's extensive catalog or discovering him for the first time, this conversation offers remarkable insight into an artist who refuses to be confined by genre boundaries or conventional thinking. Listen now and journey through the clear vortex chambers of Alexander Tucker's musical universe.

Listen to MICROCORPS:
🎧 Bandcamp | Macrocorpse – 2021–2024 | XMIT

Follow Alexander Tucker on Instagram:
📸 @alexandertucker_oldfog

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Want to go deeper? Grab a copy of my book Coming To Berlin, a journey through the city’s creative underground, via Velocity Press.

And if you’re curious about Cold War-era subversion, check out my BBC documentary The Man Who Smuggled Punk Rock Across The Berlin Wall on the BBC World Service.

You can also follow me on Instagram at @paulhanford for behind-the-scenes bits, guest updates, and whatever else is bubbling up.