I finally got around to editing the footage from Further last month so you can see how the visuals worked in situ, I’m particularly pleased with how Pete and my projections turned out although the film still can’t convey the vividness of the slide colours. This is the start, we have plenty of plans for more…
Music
Four From Food Fridays – a weekly look at four things I’ve been loving in the last seven days. They can be new or old, any style so long as it’s been getting some rotation in the studio. From top left:
Jane Weaver – Modern Kosmology (Fire Records) – Still listening to this excellent record, one of the best of the year so far.
The Heliocentrics – A World Of Masks (Soundway Records) – New album of vocal-led jazz, beats and electronics, yet another step in a new direction.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – King Gizz 360 (YouTube) – Watch the full 360 degree concert playing two sets of brand new and old material and move the camera about in any direction. Can’t wait to see them live in two weeks
Lingua Lustra – Myst (Where Ambient Lives) Three tracks of deep, dark ambience
Seeing as it’s half term this week I thought I’d get my two out of the house and the city so, naturally, I opted to visit a secret nuclear bunker out in the countryside near Brentwood. The Kelvedon Hatch Nuclear Bunker is a spooky place and also soon to play host a second version of Alan Gubby’s play / album / gig, The Delaware Road (for more info on exactly what that is – please go here).
For those lucky enough to see the first incarnation at the Reading Arts Club some 18 months ago I can assure you it won’t be a repeat performance but something else entirely. The line up has swollen to twelve artists, the venue will have several spaces operating simultaneously with performers on rotation on different levels and the audience will very much be entering into something to be explored and experienced rather than the narrative-led musical presentation of old. Think of a Cold War setting channeling the Radiophonics and music concrete of the sixties with added pagan and occult references, it’s going to be like some sort of underground (literally) happening where the DJs use tape instead of turntables.
The story will still be a part of the night with Dolly Dolly‘s turn as ‘Director General of The Corporation, a state controlled media organisation‘ happening in one of the spaces, one he’ll be sharing with Ian Helliwell and myself throughout the night. There will be no headlining act, no support or warm up, every artist will contribute to the whole with the star of the night most likely being the venue itself. It’s spooky enough in the day, heaven knows what it’ll be like at night.
Tickets are selling steadily and are almost gone with at least one of the two double decker buses put on to ferry people up from London directly to the site having long sold out. Get yours here
The new Jane Weaver album is absolutely blinding, debuting at no. 50 in the UK charts this week too, the highest selling record in independent shops around the UK last week. Available on limited vinyl, regular, CD and digital, it’s an instant contender for album of the year lists. Buy it here
The artwork by Andy Votel is beautiful too, full of detail and tiny design flourishes, the foil printing being beautiful to touch.
Four From Food Fridays – a weekly look at four things I’ve been loving in the last seven days. They can be new or old, any style so long as it’s been getting some rotation in the studio. SO much good music about at the moment, from top left:
Jane Weaver – Modern Kosmology (Fire Records) – Fantastic new album, didn’t think she could better The Amber Light but this is already up there
Jon Brooks – Autres Directions (Clay Pipe Music) – Recorded on location in France, beautiful ambient soundscapes from Jon Brooks aka The Advisory Circle
Danny Scrilla – Ancient Musical Box (Cosmic Bridge) Cassette/DL – A surprise from Om Unit’s Cosmic Bridge label, in the form of an album on cassette and DL full of short ambient synth pieces with not a beat in sight.
Jean-Jacques Perry – Et son Ondioline (Forgotten Futures) LP – New reissue label unearthing unreleased early JJP recordings direct from his archive, beautifully packaged too.
Four From Food Fridays – a weekly look at four things that have been doing it for me. They can be new or old, any style so long as it’s been getting some rotation in the studio. A package arrived from the excellent Castles In Space label from Brighton late last week, from top left:
Kl(aus) – Kl(aus) (Castles In Space) LP – Perfect synthscapes evoking everything from 70s electronica to 80s library to 90s ambience, on green vinyl.
CHXFX – Transcranial Targets (Castles In Space) LP – Incredible experimental electronic album that’s as crazed as its sleeve artwork, on orange splatter vinyl too.
Two Ragged Soldiers – Asulya / Water (Castles In Space) 7″ – Beautiful red and black splatter 45
Akiha Den Den – untitled LP (Castles In Space) .wav – Bit of a cheat as it’s still in production, but I was lucky enough to hear the finished album soundtrack of the radio play of the same name and it very good.
Four From Food Fridays – a weekly look at four things that have been doing it for me. They can be new or old, any style so long as it’s been getting some rotation in the studio. From top left:
Markey Funk has been busy of late, releasing several 45s on his Delights label and he’s about to go on tour in Europe too, catch him near you soon.
Kunst – Kunst (Clone) LP – D’n’B producer dgoHn meets Jodey Kendrick which results in an incredible 4th World / post punk / drum n bass / gamelan hybrid.
Daisy Clan – Love Needs Love (Golden 12) 7″ – The guitar line from the Theme to Peter Gunn underpins this heavy, early 70s pop number from Germany.
David Vorhaus – The Vorhaus Sound Experiments (KPM) LP – post White Noise, early 80s electronica from Vorhaus on the KPM 1000 Series.
Pete Williams and I opened and closed our first Further at the Portico Gallery on Saturday. We’d spent the past six months or more preparing for this, creating over 350 hand painted slides, video loops, chaining projectors together to automate them remotely and working out the best way to transform the gallery into a canvas for our work. During my set I looked around and finally relaxed, feeling dwarfed by the encompassing visuals, most of which I’d been painting under a microscope only a few weeks earlier. This is just the beginning, we have plenty more to show and do…
I’ve been posting photos of each of the acts every day here and we’ve set up a new Facebook page for the venture where you can get a peek at all the photos right now, please ‘like’ our page if you do that sort of thing whilst you’re there. Martin LeSanto-Smith took the photos and without him we wouldn’t have been able to physically set the thing up. John Price from the Portico Gallery let us make it happen and was supportive all the way – massive thanks to both of them and also for Hannah Saunders from Big Fish Little Fish who gave advice, loaned projectors, helped on the door and bar and was generally a hero on the night.
Local tape loop heroes Howlround aka Robin The Fog and Chris Weaver performed the score to Steven McInerney’s film, ‘A Creak in Time’ for the first time at Further on May 6th. Tapes were tangled, tweaked and stretched with an audience member even acting as a loop holder at one point. I’ll be posting photos of each of the acts each day here and we’ve set up a new Facebook page for the venture where you can get an early peek at the photos right now, please ‘like’ our page if you do that sort of thing whilst you’re there.
Martin LeSanto-Smith took the photos.
Jim Jupp (Belbury Poly) and Julian House (The Focus Group) from Ghost Box graced us with a 90 minute AV set for the first Further on May 6th. With Julian DJing off vinyl and CD and Jim playing with a small suitcase of tricks it was a rare treat to host them and project their visuals around the hall. Martin LeSanto-Smith took the photos. I’ll be posting photos of each of the acts each day here and we’ve set up a new Facebook page for the venture where you can get an early peek at the photos right now, please ‘like’ our page if you do that sort of thing whilst you’re there.
The reason it’s been a bit quiet on here recently is because of a little (big!) thing called Further that’s been occupying my time for the last few months. Myself and Pete Williams hatched this idea last summer, started talking about it seriously in the autumn and stockpiling equipment over the winter. A studio space was found early in January and we started planning an event that brings together lots of the things we love into one space. Music, visuals, records, food & drink, analogue techniques and leftfield artists. After a test run a couple of weeks ago, at the behest of Alex from The Orb, at the Royal Festival Hall we unveiled the first evening at the Portico Gallery in West Norwood on Saurday May 6th.
Featuring guests Jim Jupp & Julian House from Ghost Box records playing an AV set and Howlround presenting the premiere of their live rescore to Steven McInerney‘s film ‘A Creak In Time’, we opened and closed the night with our own multi-projection slide / oil / video sets. Local café/deli Pintadera came over to provide delicious Italian food and Michael Johnson from the Book & Record Bar down the road set up a record stall selling records by the artists and music sympathetic to the event. The whole thing wouldn’t have been possible without the support of John Price at the Gallery who let us use the building as our own for the night and Martin LeSanto-Smith who helped set up on the day and managed to take amazing photos all night whilst simultaneously being on a date!
I’ll be posting photos of each of the acts each day here and we’ve set up a new Facebook page for the venture where you can get an early peek at the photos right now, please ‘like’ our page if you do that sort of thing whilst you’re there. There should be a video by the end of the week too but there’s a lot of footage to go through. To give you a taste, here are just a few of the photos harvested from social media, Tuesday I’ll post Ghost Box images, then Howlround, then us on Thursday with the video to follow by the end of the week.
Photo credits: Top: Neil Mason (Electronic Sound), 2x panoramas: Nathan Adams, slide stills: Spectrascopic, Howlround silhouette: Zoe Plumb, video: Tony Coleman (London Electricity)
Great poster by Pete Isaac (with illustrations by Sub2) for the 45 Live tent at the Masked Ball at the end of May in Cornwall. This is just one small part of the whole festival, more details and tickets on sale here
Four From Food Fridays – a weekly look at four things that have been doing it for me. They can be new or old, any style so long as it’s been getting some rotation in the studio. These are some selections for the first Further event this Saturday. From top left:
Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia – Obsidian (Deconstructure) (KK Records) 12″ – a 20 minute ambient trance classic and Further anthem if such a thing existed
Stereolab – Come And Play In The Milky Night (from ‘Cobra & Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night’) LP (Duophonic UHF) LP – Fabulous album closer from the ‘lab.
Sheila Chandra – One and Mecca (from Roots & Wings) (Indiepop) LP – beautiful vocal drones and harmonies.
Markey Funk – JLM 1913/1921 (no label) – as yet unreleased album of music for two silent documentaries about Jerusalem
Four From Food Fridays – a weekly look at four things that have been doing it for me. They can be new or old, any style so long as it’s been getting some rotation in the studio. As with all record store day releases, there’s a period of time that shops who didn’t order have to wait until the releases are officially available so some of these aren’t immediately easy to pick up. From top left:
The Future Sound Of London – Archived : Enviromental : Views (Jumpin & Pumpin) 3xLP – Triple collection of new and old material never before on vinyl (not available until next Friday)
The Comet Is Coming – Death To The Planet (Leaf) 12″ – New cosmic jazz from the trio on orange vinyl
Vanishing Twin – Dream By Numbers (Soundway Records) 10″ – incredible new 6 track EP on red vinyl
The The – We Can’t Stop What’s Coming (Cineola) 7″ – New song from the live broadcast last summer with etched B side (it doesn’t appear to be on the web yet but you can hear it open my 5hr set last Sunday at Spiritland)
Shot last Friday during our stint in support of the Orb – big shouts out to Steve Williams for filming, Martin LeSanto-Smith and Mike Oscar for photos and everyone who knows us.
This was a test, tickets for the first Further proper on May 6th at the Portico Gallery, SE27 are on sale now and nearly gone…
With the release of ‘We Can’t Stop What’s Coming’ by The The, widely touted as the first new pop material from Matt Johnson in 15 years, it’s as good a time as any to highlight five vocal performances that HAVE seen the light of day in the last decade. After quietly ‘leaving’ the music business (without telling anyone) with two new tracks tacked on to the end of a singles collection and a one-off performance with JG Thirlwell of radically reworked versions of old songs at David Bowie‘s Meltdown Festival at The Queen Elizabeth Hall in 2002, it’s great to hear material in the traditional song format resurfacing. Over a decade of quietly making soundtracks for independent films has bought a wealth of material under the The The moniker, some as yet released, but not all of it has been instrumental.
The The – Mrs Mac (Lazarus) A download only single from 2007
The The & Deadly Avenger – Darkness Cannot Exist In The Presence of Light (Radio Cineola broadcast March 2010) Only available as part of a 15 minute podcast
The Inertia Variations – Various verses from John Tottenham’s writings, read by Matt, are scattered throughout the Radio Cineola broadcasts, an ongoing series of podcasts made from 2010-1012 containing works in progress, alternative mixes, interviews and archive songs. Only available from TheThe.com and now the title of a new documentary that details what Matt has been up to over the last few years.
DJ Food – GIANT feat. Matt Johnson (Ninja Tune) 2012 *cough*
The The – Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven (But Nobody Wants To Die) (Cineola / Death Waltz Originals) from the Hyena soundtrack, 2015. Brother Gerard Johnson has directed two films that have been scored by Matt now, this lyric-less track from the soundtrack nevertheless contains Matt’s distinctive voice.
Saturday was Record Store Day 2017 and dragging myself out of bed and down to Rat Records in Camberwell was well worth missing a lie in for. The shop was heaving when I got there after 10.30am with one punter reportedly spending £1,400 already!! The bulk of a huge collection from a Scottish indie collector was making its debut in the shop and there were multiple copies of some sought after items flying out the store. I spotted the 10″ Rephlex 4×10″ Radiophonic Workshop compilation on the wall, a couple of copies of the JAMMs ‘1987′ LP and multiple 45s of The White Stripes’ ‘Seven Nation Army’. I ended up spending far too much and all of it secondhand, no official RSD releases at all. Sadly I don’t have any photos of that but it was a blast and it’s always a pleasure to chat to Philippe, Pete and a rare sighting of owner, Tom.
After a quick lunch break it was over to West Norwood to The Book & Record Bar to score some new releases and play a set in store after Alex Paterson, Andy Higgs, Mr Parker, Dave Laine and Pete Williams. I decided to play something quite ‘up’ and plowed through a pile of beaty hip hop and classic house/acid/rave 7″s to a bustling shop. I also managed to score all my wants and start going through a small collection of German 45s that had just come into the shop before giving way to Oliver Sudden on the decks.
All in all a fantastic day, not chasing crazy limited editions up in town but staying local and going to the record shops and hanging out in them which is what we should be doing first and foremost. People buying and selling records on the web are missing the point of RSD, it’s called Record STORE Day, go and support yours on more than one day a year. Shops like the ones above are hubs for people to come together and connect, form alliances and get creative, I’ve met so many good people through them, long may they flourish.
Friday saw myself and Pete Williams as part of the bill for the Orb‘s extravaganza at the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank, doing a test run for our Further event on May 6th. Upon being asked to play on the 5th floor balcony area by Alex Paterson, we decided to use a load of our equipment to projection all along the roof of the outside area overlooking the Thames. We got in around 1pm and were just about set up by 7pm when Michael from The Book & Record Bar and DJ Dadaist aka George Holt arrived. Teething trouble with getting the lights turned off or down so that we could see the projections were dealt with as were security who suddenly roped off the public space and would only let ticket holders for the gig in the main auditorium in. As the daylight faded and the projections along the balcony pointing across the ceiling appeared, everything clicked into place.
Tons of friends turned up and we managed to get a lot of great photos and footage before the 11.30pm curfew. I even managed to see a bit of The Orb with Youth painting a huge canvas live onstage, walking in just as one of my favourite tracks, O.O.B.E. was playing. Strip down of the equipment took two hours by the time we were loaded out, then driving back to unload and retiring to our beds saw that it was 3am by the time I hit the sack. All worth it though, a very memorable night and a success in terms of what we wanted to achieve.
(Many thanks for the photos above: Martin Le Santo-Smith, and below: Mike Oscar)
Four From Food Fridays – a weekly look at four things that have been doing it for me. They can be new or old, any style so long as it’s been getting some rotation in the studio. From top left:
Various Artists – Radiophonica – (Electronic Sound) CD – Unreleased / unheard Radiophonic Workshop gems both old and new – available only from the ES shop.
Various Artists – Electric Psychedelic Headswirlers (Rubble) 11xCD box – totally bootleg collection of psych wonders with sitar present in the mix
Andy Partridge – Powers (Ape House) CD – finally reissued, his alien soundworlds inspired by Richard Powers’ artwork.
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Nonagon Infinity (Heavenly) LP/CD/DL – Yep, still listening to this on loop, gets things done