Music

The Dark Outside – September 26th – 27th, 2015

TheDarkOutsidelogo
What is The Dark Outside?
24 Hours of Music nobody has heard before in a place where nobody might be listening.

Who is taking part?
There are quite a lot of contributors, you’d best scroll down the list here.
I’ve contributed an unreleased remix but it’s hidden in the line up.

When?
Sept 26th-27th, 2015

Where?
Murrays Monument, Talnotry, The Galloway Forest Dark Skies Park, Scotland. More explicit directions are here

What’s the catch?
You need travel to one of the darkest places in the UK and bring a radio.

Can anyone contribute?
Yes! Send material to [email protected]

Where can I find more info?
http://www.darkoutside.co.uk/

What’s this?
TheDark Outsidelocation
The location that The Dark Outside will be broadcasting from (in the day of course)

PS. What is the Stolen Library?
Ah, that is something possibly even more wonderful

Posted in Event, Music. | 1 Comment | Tags:

DJ Food meets Ambigraph – Dune AV mix

Last Saturday (Sept 12th) I played an hour long set after a showing of ‘Jodorowsky’s Dune’ documentary at one of the FEAST film nights in West Norwood’s Portico Gallery. During the mix the audience were greeted with a film of the slowly evolving, geometric designs of Ambigraph aka Ameet Hindocha.
Night co-ordinator Pete Williams recorded the mix and Ameet has reworked his visuals to accompany it in an hour long, meditative soundscape where all tracks are sourced from releases connected with Frank Herbert‘s most famous novel. *I recommend viewing in HD, probably late at night with the lights off.

Dune Screening
Over the decades many artists have been inspired by this work and there are many concept albums built around themes from his books. As well as Toto‘s score for David Lynch‘s big screen adaptation there’s also music from the forthcoming soundtrack to the documentary I mentioned and tunes from Bernard Szajner‘s ‘Visions of Dune’ release among others.

4xDune

Posted in Design, DJ Food, Film, Mixes/Solid Steel, Music. | 4 Comments | Tags: ,

Ghost Box ‘In A Moment’ compilation

GB10front
I was very pleased when one of these popped through the letterbox the other day – a present from one of my consistently favourite labels. Ghost Box records are 10 and what does any self-respecting label do when they reach that anniversary? They compile some of the best bits and that’s exactly what ‘In A Moment’ showcases.

GB10 inside GB10gatefoldGB10back
Nestling in the credits as well… that’s very serious company to be keeping. The comp is out on 9th October on double vinyl, CD and DL with sleeve notes by Simon ‘Hauntology’ Reynolds.

GB10credits

Posted in Design, Music, Packaging, Records. | 1 Comment | Tags:

Jodorowsky’s ‘Dune’ soundtrack artwork by Signalstarr

DUNE COVER FRONT BACKweb
Beautiful artwork by Nick Stewart Hoyle aka Signalstarr for the soundtrack release of ‘Jodorowsky’s Dune’. Pre-order is up now via One Way Static for European customers, who have an exclusive variant. For US customers, order via Light In The Attic. It comes as a double LP with coloured swirl vinyl, silver foil embossing, gatefold sleeve and a poster version of this cover.

DUNE GATEFOLDweb

“Building upon director Frank Pavich’s idea for a score with a “Tangerine Dream-type feel,” Stenzel lays out a cosmic arsenal of analog synthesizers that would make any collector green at the gills: among other gems are a rare Moog Source, CZ-101s, and a Roland Juno 6, as well as unorthodox instruments like a toy Concertmate organ and a Nintendo DS. “I also played guitar and did vocals,” says Stenzel, “some chanting… and some screaming, which comes naturally to me.” The score also features narration by Jodorowsky himself. As Stenzel notes, “Jodo’s voice is actually the soundtrack’s main musical instrument–listening to him was almost like hypnosis, like going to the guru every night.”

My DJ set from Saturday, performed after the showing of the doc. at the FEAST night in West Norwood, is almost ready to post and contains several cuts from this album alongside all manner of other Dune-centric material.

Signal Starr poster

Posted in Design, Film, Music. | No Comments | Tags: ,

The Delaware Road

This is slowly creeping up on us, a new release and launch party from Buried Treasure whose recent compilation of John Baker cuts, The Vendetta Tapes, I loved.

“London. 1968. Two pioneering musicians compose electronic themes for television & radio. They discover a recording that leads to a startling revelation about their employer. Fascinated by the occult nature of the tape they conduct a studio ritual that will alter their lives forever.”

Delaware Rd

The Delaware Road is a psychological thriller & an audio-visual treat for fans of archived electronica, far out jazz & haunted folk grooves. Conceived & written by Alan Gubby. Additional material by David Yates. Compere: Dolly Dolly

Debut performance on Sat 14th Nov 2015 @ South Street Arts Centre, Reading, Berks.
Tickets here:

Live performances by: Howlround, The Dandelion Set, Ian Helliwell, The Rowan Amber Mill, Robin Lee, Loose Capacitor, Tim Hill, The Twelve Hour Foundation & Revbjelde.

DJs: Jonny Trunk & The Séance (feat. Pete Wiggs from Saint Etienne)

Tickets: £15 advance, £13 concession; £16 on the door.
Price includes free poster & advance download code for ‘The Delaware Road’ compilation album on Buried Treasure Records. All tickets are inclusive of booking fee

Posted in Event, Film, Gigs, Music. | 1 Comment | Tags: ,

Sunday digs: 7″s and obsolete formats

Pelham front
Obsolete formats: I have no way to play these first few items and already own them in several other forms but I couldn’t resist picking these up today.
The ‘…Pelham 123’ release is a Video disc in a huge plastic ‘cartridge’, bigger than an LP, I originally thought this was the same as the Laser disc system but it seems it’s an earlier, failed format that was read with a physical needle rather than a laser! – more info here.
I was amazed that the Derek & Clive release was even on 8-Track – this one almost as dirty as the audio it contains. The Curtis Mayfield cart is just a beautiful object.

Pelham backD&C8trackfront D&C8trackback SweetExhorcistfront
This is Toolshed‘s first ever release from 15 years ago, a 2 track 7″ in a ziplock bag with screen-printed, folded card cover. Toolshed is Graham Massey‘s occasional all-star experimental supergroup featuring the likes of Paddy Steer, Seaming To and many more.
Toolshed1st7
‘Punk Funk’ was my favourite track from The Brotherhood‘s Elementalz album back in the mid 90s and I never even knew this existed on 7″. With a great heavy remix by 12 Rounds (who included Atticus Ross among their members) exclusive to this format it’s probably my favourite find of the day. This particular version is not on YouTube so you’ll have to take my word for it.
PunkFunk7
Finally found this Psychedelic Furs 7″ with a flexi stuck to the cover, play the sleeve as well as the 45 inside!
PsyFurs7
This Jona Lewie single is actually only 6″s in size and includes a funny little disclaimer about the realities of automatic turntables trying to play it. Stiff Records up to their old tricks again, strange that they should do a 6″ and a 7″? This one was bought purely for its odd format and joins the tiny ranks of my irregular-sized vinyl collection.

JonaLewiewarning JonaLewie6inch

Posted in Flexi Discs, Music, Packaging, Records. | No Comments |

The Future Sound of London ‘Archived 8’

Archived-8-small
From the seemingly bottomless archives of the Future Sound of London‘s tape cupboard comes vol. 8 in their From The Archives series, 12 tracks from unspecified times that never made the cut. As well as this new release there are now vinyl versions of earlier volumes of their more ambient Environments series, complete with Buggy G. Riphead sleeves. You can preview one track from Archived 8 below and get CDs, downloads and vinyl from their FSOLdigital online store where they also have posters and T-shirts. Also you get an extra exclusive 3-track digital EP if you order from there too.

Posted in Music. | No Comments | Tags: ,

RIP Colin Faver

Techno DJ Colin Faver has died, best known for his Abstract Dance radio show and club night, Knowledge. His and Colin Dale‘s shows on a Monday and Tuesday night on KISS FM in the early 90s were essential listening. It was there that I first heard the Aphex Twin and the emerging UK electronica scene amongst all the other great Hardcore and rave tunes. A pioneer.

Posted in Event, Music. | 2 Comments |

New 45 Live member images by Sub2

djfood-1

Here’s my new 45 Live image by Paul Trewin aka Sub2 – he’s certainly captured the likeness even if I do look a bit serious. Check his work out here and see the whole 45 Live roster below (including new member Jon More from Coldcut). There the start of a new night in Plymouth on the 26th of this month too with myself, Boca 45, Pete Issac and Francois Parker if you’re in the area. There’s be a new mix from me next week to go with it…

45 Live Roster

45LiveflyerFactorySept26

Posted in Art, DJ Food, Gigs, Music, Records. | No Comments | Tags:

‘In A Moment’ Ghost Box 10th anniversary compilation

In A Moment GB web
A new record from Ghost Box is always a cause for celebration on this blog but this next one is actually celebrating their 10th anniversary so congratulations are in order. It’s a double album of highlights from the back catalogue on CD and LP with thirty one re-mastered tracks, heavy with The Advisory Circle, The Focus Group and Belbury Poly as you would expect. Graphic design as ever is by Julian House and extensive sleeve notes are by music writer, Simon Reynolds (who coined the term ‘Hauntology’).

Only one track is new – from the forthcoming Hintermass album – and you can hear clips from the compilation here. They promise a double CD with booklet or gatefold LP with DL code. Available on 9th October 2015, (pre-orders in the Ghost Box shop from 19th September). I’m really looking forward to listening to this in one sitting,  from one of the most consistent labels out there and a constant inspiration.

Posted in Design, Music, Poster / flyer. | No Comments | Tags:

The Dragons in Shindig! magazine #49

Shindig Dragons1
My article on The Dragons is in issue #49 of Shindig! Magazine – out now, 6 pages too. New interviews with Doug & Dennis Dragon plus Donn Landee who produced their BFI album. After their recent publisher troubles the mag is back and as good as ever, you should be able to find it in most WH Smiths and decent record shops. If the article piques your interest and you want to hear the music they made then Ninja Tune still has digital and CDs in stock although the vinyl is long gone.
Shindig Dragons2 Shindig Dragons3

Posted in DJ Food, Magazines, Music, Ninja Tune. | 3 Comments | Tags: , ,

C418 ‘Minecraft Volume Alpha’ soundtrack

C418 Minecraft vol.A If any of you have young children you’ll probably be familiar with Minecraft, the computer game where you can build whole worlds and adventure around without all the usual shoot ’em up, dodge the obstacles, collect the gems and battle the boss-type things (although you can do all that too if you want). It’s like virtual Lego and each self-generating land is populated by all manner of creatures who each have their own quirks. I always remark on the music when my kids are playing it, a collection of short, ambient piano pieces which remind of Satie, Eno or Budd and makes for a refreshing change from the usual repetitive manic mayhem associated with most games.

Now the soundtrack – by Daniel Rosenfeld aka C418 – has been released on vinyl and CD by Ghostly International, or the first volume has anyway – subtitled ‘Alpha’. Vinyl fiends take note: the first run of the LP (1000 copies) comes in transparent green after which is switches to black and the sleeve is a lenticular version of the graphic above. It’s available digitally for just $4 from C418‘s Bandcamp page which has previews of all tracks and the second volume, ‘Beta’, follows at some point in the future.

Posted in Games, Music. | No Comments | Tags:

The Grateful Dead Movie animated intro by Gary Gutierrez

Pretty much the best quality version of the animated intro from the 2 hour + The Grateful Dead Movie from 1977 I can find on the web. It was created by Gary Gutierrez who “had already apprenticed at John Korty’s Mill Valley studio as an animator of children’s films, creating and directing live action and animation for “Sesame Street” and “The Electric Company,” before working on the Dead’s animated sequence. He continued working withe band on various projects of theirs, including the surreal title sequence for the CBS revival of “The Twilight Zone” television series (1985), for which (Jerry) Garcia composed the score.” *

* Info from www.nightflight.com

UPDATE: There’s a good minute of the intro in very high quality over on Vimeo on the trailer for the film.

Posted in Film, Music. | No Comments | Tags: , ,