Invisible Lines

An indispensable guide to seeing and understanding our planet through the divisions we make, find, or feel.

During the past two decades, there has been a resurgence of interest in issues of land reform in developing and transitional countries. This has been initiated by the large-scale re-distributive activities in former communist countries and by the growing number of claims by displaced indigenous population groups to restore their rights to land.

The human eye is a remarkable piece of precision engineering, but it is also extremely limited. Beyond the narrow range of light that makes up the familiar colours of the rainbow is a vast spectrum of light, entirely unseen. But …

The human eye is not all it’s cracked up to be. Human vision is pretty miraculous, but our eyes aren’t quite as powerful as you might imagine. What we can see is stuff that reflects or emits light with wavelengths in a very narrow band (since you ask, from about 750 to 400 nanometres). What we can’t see is the rest. That’s all matter that reflects or emits light over the other 99.99999999999% percent of the spectrum. In fact, we’re almost blind.

Flying Teapot is the third studio album by the progressive rock band Gong, originally released by Virgin Records in May 1973. Subtitled Radio Gnome Invisible, Part 1, it is the first of the Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy of albums, followed by Angel's Egg in December and You the following October. This trilogy forms a central part of the Gong mythology. The Flying Teapot idea itself was influenced by Russell's teapot. It was the first Gong album to feature English guitarist Steve Hillage, although he contributed relatively little as he arrived late in the recording process. According to Daevid Allen, "Steve Hillage arrived eventually, but there wasn't a lot of space left. He played some rhythmick wa wa [sic], some jazzy chords and a spacey solo on 'Flying Teapot'." In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, the album came #35 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums".

AMMAR 808’s previous album Maghreb United (2018) – a powerful mixture of deep TR-808 bass and Pan-Maghreb beats and voices – received widespread critical acclaim and shook dancefloors throughout Europe, North Africa and beyond. This time Brussels-based Tunisian electronic producer Sofyann Ben Youssef (aka AMMAR 808) has travelled to the Tamil Nadu region of southern India for a breath-taking new adventure.