Red Martian's Floppy Disc Reboot with Retrailing.
Written by Steve Farrell on July 13th, 2016
Each CD is packaged in a floppy disk styled sleeve
What’s a floppy disc? That might be the question that anyone under 30 would have when confronted with the flexible disc inside a square light plastic covering that would be inserted into a giant slit in a computer. Back in its earliest days, computer programs were actually run off the floppy, rather than the hard-drive, let alone the cloud. That’s the retro-packaging for Red Martian’s for Retrailing, his new album of synth-pop improvisations. But don’t worry, it’s a CD inside, not a floppy disc, even though CD drives are coming close to extinction. Although the teaser video for this release barely grazes ninety seconds, older viewers will be flashing back to those days when a computer program might fill half a dozen or so of these sleeves. Red Martian has also made it a point to make each CD’s design unique to the others; all unified with a minimalist, bold red on the inner sleeve. Those who have an affection for early electronic music that sounds more like Switched-On Bach-era Wendy Carlos and early Synergy, might find some fond memories of beige boxes that were once considered the pinnacle of information technology.