Ashtray Navigations is a psychedelic noise project from the United Kingdom, active since 1991 and centred on Phil Todd. The act is also known as Ash Nav. It operates from Todd’s home in Stoke-on-Trent, where he also runs the labels Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers and, later, Memoirs of an Aesthete.

Style and sound

The project works across drone, experimental, psychedelic, noise and post-rock, but its music resists fixed categorisation because its sound, methods and personnel vary. It often uses extended droning passages and long guitar-based pieces. Descriptions of the sound emphasise distorted guitar, tape hiss, synthesiser textures and sustained feedback-like movement.

Releases and labels

Ashtray Navigations releases music through a wide range of labels, including Siltbreeze, Jewelled Antler, American Tapes, Menlo Park, E.F. Tapes and Freedom From. The discography is extensive and includes many limited cassette and CDR editions. Wider-distributed albums include Four Raga Moods, later followed by Four More Raga Moods, The Love that Whirrs, To Your Fucking Feather'd Wings, Dirt Mummies & Bloody Amps, You Cannot Tell Cigars.... and Use Copenhagen 69 Guitars and Park Drive Circular Effects Pedals Exclusively.

Personnel and collaborations

Todd continues to record solo, but more recent Ashtray Navigations material and live appearances are usually made as a duo with Melanie Crowley or as a trio with Crowley and another musician. Phil Legard is a frequent third member. The lineup also includes Alex Neilson, Bill Kouligas and Ruaraidh Sanachan at different points. Neilson and Sanachan appear on Backstage Education, a four-disc document of the 2007 summer tour. One Melanie Delaney also appears on a track from The Love that Whirrs, playing reeds and tapes.

Critical descriptions

Writers have described the project in contrasting terms, ranging from underwater-like electronic drift and damaged cassette textures to a “trashcan antidote” to La Monte Young. A review of The Love that Whirrs notes its long-form structure, with six lengthy tracks built around dense drone sections and detailed instrumental contributions from collaborators.