Pre-order the new issue of Electronic Sound and get the special bundle with the Orbital cover of Kraftwerk‘s ‘Numbers’ on clear vinyl 7″ – only available from them direct and limited in stock
Records
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
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. 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.
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
My latest Freaky Formats piece for The Vinyl Factory is up – this one focus’ on moiré effect patterns on sleeves – read it here and see the sleeves animated. Photos and gif animations by Michael Wilkin.
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…
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
Up for pre-order and released next month, the latest on Ghost Box is from ToiToiToi – Sebastian Counts from Berlin – who has previously had a single on the label’s Other Voices 7″ offshoot. Fans of the Ghost Box output won’t be disappointed, it’s a beautifully assembled work with layers upon layers to discover.
Label heads Jim Jupp (Belbury Poly) and Julian House (The Focus Group and overall GB design) will be some of our guests at Further on May 6th at the Portico Gallery, West Norwood, where they’ll be playing an multi-projection AV set with a ton of label-related visuals. Tickets can be bought 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. From top left:
Eardrum – Last Light (Leaf) LP – recent rediscovery from the collection, love their 4th World percussion workouts
ToiToiToi – Im Hag (Ghost Box) LP – upfront pre-release of found sound hauntological excavations
Colin Towns – Dramatic Brass & Electronics (Chappell AV Series) LP – all about the track ‘Forest of Evil’ as sampled by Fridge on ‘Ark’
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Nonagon Infinity (Heavenly) LP/CD/DL – driving psych where all the tracks seque into each other and then the whole album loops at the end – gets me through doing my accounts.
Bristol’s The Allergies – featuring a certain DJ Moneyshot who I collaborated with on The Paul’s Boutique 3-Way Mix with DJ Cheeba – have a new single out and it’s a surefire summer festival electro pop earworm. There’s a great video (below) with a 45 on Jalapeno Records plus an album finished and due the summer.
You can get it here
Sad to hear of Alessandro Alessandroni‘s passing earlier this week, the Italian film and library composer probably most famous for the whistling on Ennio Morricone‘s theme tunes to ‘A Fistful of Dollars’ and ‘For A Few Dollars More’ scores and being the voice of Piero Umliani‘s famous ‘Ma-na mah-na’.
Weirdly I was listening to a very different type of Alessandroni the week before, this new release from Four Flies Records that collects unreleased music from his vault under the title,‘Afro Discoteca’. It’s a 4 track EP of library cues from the 70s that the title sums up perfectly with a disco beat underpinning congas and synths in equal measure. Sadly it was released only two days before his death. Jonny Trunk is dedicating the whole 2 hrs of his OST radio show to Alessandroni this week so tune in if you want to know more.
A random web search threw up the image above, citing that it was a rejected cover for The Beatles‘ Revolver album. More searching revealed that it wasn’t by Klaus Voormann, whose classic black & white collage and line cover everyone knows, but by photographer Robert Freeman. The Beatles passed over it for Klaus’ work and googling that cover image brings up masses of variations of the final piece, as many by Klaus as by fans who have reworked it for their own ends. Voornman not only did many different versions before he arrived at the final but has revisited it many times over the years as well as creating several works centered around Beatles songs in the same style for various projects.
The image below visualises ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, I’ve found some details so that you can see what’s going on a little more easily. There’s also a book, ‘Revolver 50’ that tells the story of how he made the cover.
New Coldcut meets On-U Sound album up for pre-order!! Including 8×7″ box set / CD / DL https://ninjatune.net/release/coldcut/outside-the-echo-chamber … Love that cover!