Academy 23 was the name given to the new experimental music project created by Andy Martin and Dave Fanning immediately after disbanding their former group The Apostles. Founded in London in 1989, the band released music primarily on audio cassette, as part of the cassette culture movement. They disbanded in 1999.

Other members include Peter Williams, who also collaborated with Martin in the band Time To Think. Williams' record label Thinking Time released many of the Academy 23 recordings. Angus, another member, was also a contributor to the U.S. fanzine PC Casualties, edited by Mark Frietas who also ran Homocore Chicago. The most enduring line up of the group comprised Martin, Fanning and Williams alongside Nathan Coles (of The Unbelievables) and Lawrence Burton (formerly of Konstruktivists).

They released seven cassette collections and two albums, one on vinyl and one on CD, as well as two singles.

The group took an experimental approach, and achieved some success in continental Europe. Their sound combined elements from industrial, Scottish folk music, punk rock and pop music. Their successful merging of folk and industrial music made them one of the earliest exponents of the genre of music that would come to be known as 'neo-folk'.

Between 1992 and 2001, Academy 23 edited 26 issues of the non-commercial publication SMILE, an international magazine of which roughly 100 issues have been published in several different countries by various editors.

The group collaborated with the industrial band The Grey Wolves on two songs, "Terror Chamber" and "Terror Intensifies", both featured on compilations. In 1990, they contributed the song "The Boy Next Door" to the J.D.s cassette , J.D.s Top Ten Homocore Hit Parade Tape, the first queercore compilation to be released.

After the demise of Academy 23, the group continued to perform and record with the same line up under the name Unit.

Discography

Cassettes

• Bring Back Proof
• Europe Awake
• Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
• Aonaibh Ri Chiele
• Look Back In Hunger
• Birth In December
• Gegenseitige Vergeltongsmabnahmen

Albums

• Relationships LP, Thinking Time Records
• Kampfbereit CD, Thinking Time Records

Singles

• Cameo For Earth

Tracks On Compilations

• Demo(n)crats - "You've Heard It All Before" - the Crass covers double LP, Ruptured Ambitions
• Gay And Proud - "Mind Pollution" LP, Words Of Warning

External links

• Review of Europe Awake (scroll down)
• Reviews of Smile zine
• For Academy 23 cassette tapes