Records

Beyond 2000AD exhibition glimpse

Beyond2000_poster Beyond2000_progs Beyond2000_records1 Beyond2000_records2 Beyond2000_TimeOutI finally got time to pop into Orbital Comics and see their small but packed exhibition of 2000AD offshoots, tie-ins, cash-ins, memorabilia, music, magazines, toys and so much more. Not having an opening party because it would clash with the comic’s own 40th celebration a couple of weekends ago they’ve decided to have a closing party on Friday March 10th where there will be a podcast recording and music by yours truly among others.
I also just guested on the Big Mouth podcast pre-record, talking about the comic’s legacy which will be available online this coming Sunday. More details as I have it.

Beyond2000_art Beyond2000_badges Beyond2000_badges2 Beyond2000_game Beyond2000_mags Beyond2000_mags2

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The Delaware Road At Kelvedon Hatch Audio Apocalypse Survival Kit on OST

OST show 18.02.17
(Mark, Robin, Dan, Chris, me, Ian – out of shot Zoe, Hannah and Alan – who was taking the photo)

On Saturday I was invited to be a guest on the OST show on Resonance FM – this time with Robin The Fog ably sitting in for an absent Jonny Trunk (away on Basil Kirchin business in Hull). Joining us in the studio were Alan Gubby (Buried Treasure), Mark Pilkington (Strange Attractor Press), Dan Wilson (Radionics), Hannah Brown (Kvist), Ian Helliwell (Tape Leaders book and so much more), Chris Sharp (Concretism) and Zoe ‘Lucky Cat’ Baxter who stayed on after her show beforehand.

The reason was twofold – to try and present a sonic picture of all the artists who would be contributing / playing at The Delaware Road event at Kelvedon Hatch Nuclear Bunker on July 28th. If you’re not up to speed on exactly what The Delaware Road is then please go here.

The gathering was also to highlight a very special prize bundle assembled from all who’d be taking part that’s being auctioned off in aid of Resonance FM’s annual funding drive. Here’s a photo of most of the items to be included:

Delaware Road bundle

Here’s a link to The Delaware Road At Kelvedon Hatch Audio Apocalypse Survival Kit auction in aid of ResonanceFM

Here’s a link to buy tickets for The Delaware Road gig on July 28th

and here’s a link to the 2 hour show featuring music from a lot of the prizes featured above.

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Touched / De:tuned ‘Covert II’ EP

Covert II_Press Picture
Today 04.02 is World Cancer Day, Belgian label, De:tuned have got together with Touched (first ever vinyl release for them) to bring the ‘Covert II’ EP with all proceeds donated to Touched – Music for Macmillan Cancer Support. The five artists on the EP are all unnamed, can you guess who they are? Order digital or limited vinyl here
All artists, The Designers Republic & Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering offered their work for free.

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Swifty Book launch at the Exposure Gallery

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Ian ‘Swifty’ Swift and Gamma Proforma launched the book they’d been working on for 2 years last night at the Exposure Gallery on Little Portland Street, London (opposite the Heavenly Social). Packed to the rafters with faces I recognised from over the years (Ross Allen, Neville Brody, Chris Allen…) it was a resounding success even though I couldn’t stay long. The book in question is huge and everything you’d want in an overview of the man’s career – go get it here now before it sells out.

Swifty_crowdSwifty_Flyers1Swifty_sleeves1 Swifty_sleeves2 Swifty_logos1 Swifty_logos3 Swifty_logos2 Swifty_John Coltrane2Swifty_John Coltrane1 Swifty_Flyers2

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FourFromFoodFridays: 17.3

FourFromFoodFridays 17.3

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:
DJ Krush – Headz Tour, Custard Factory, Birmingham 1994 (Mo Wax) Cassette
Cavern of Anti-Matter – Blood Drums (reissue) (Duophonic) 3xLP/CD/DL
Jack Jones – Blast / Out Da Box (Structures Built) 7″
Run The Jewels – RTJ3 (Mass Appeal) LP/DL (still banging this!)

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Daydreaming with UNKLE exhibition at the Lazarides Gallery

F2T5The James Lavelle-curated Daydreaming with UNKLE show opened last night at the Lazarides Gallery in London. Full of original Futura 2000 and 3D canvases, prints, toys and record sleeves, video rooms and virtual reality headsets. The last was heavily oversubscribed so I didn’t get a look but Doug Foster’s arched videos accompanying new UNKLE material were beautiful, enhanced by a mirrored floor which gave the work another dimension. Favourite exhibit was the robotic Pointman figure from the 2010 video to ‘Runaway’. The show is on until February 23rd, worth it just to see the many iconic Futura pieces that have graced so many MoWax sleeves.

UNKLE titleUNKLEbot2 F2T1 F2T2 F2T3 F2T4 Futura ring
Eurochild3D
UNKLE toys1 UNKLEbears UNKLEbot1 UNKLEbottopUNKLEbotbottom UNKLEbotTVUNKLEbotlegsscreen1UNKLEbotlegsscreen2

UNKLEcrowd

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Children of Alice album + new Other Voices 7″

COA website
Children of Alice, the Trish Keenan-dedicated group of James Cargill, Roj Stevens and Julian House, are releasing an album on Warp. Essentially a compilation consisting of their ultra-limited Devon Folklore Tapes cassette ‘Ornithology’ from 2013 (original below left, new cover below right) and their appearances on the Folklore Tapes‘ ‘Calendar Customs’ material . Available to pre-order now from Bleep, the vinyl comes in a mirrorboard sleeve with a fold out poster. Go to childrenofalice.com for a sample.

COA LP front
Also related is the next episode in the Ghost Box 7″ off-shoot series, ‘Other Voices’ which this time features Belbury Poly and Moon Wiring Club. Released a week earlier than the Children of Alice LP on Feb 17th – you can sample it here and pre-order later in the month.
GBX719 front and back 800

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FourFromFoodFridays: 17.2

FourFromFoodFridays 17.2
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:
Bam Bam – Where’s Your Child? (Desire) 7″ (finally!)
Clocolan – Nothing Left To Abandon (Enpeg) Digital (STILL listening to this, officially out today)
Various – A Krautrock Sampler (ES) CD cover mount w. Electronic Sound mag #25 – really good!
Run The Jewels – RTJ3 (Mass Appeal) LP/DL (you know these guys)

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Flexibition 2017: Stephen Coates #3 – French flexi disc magazines

Theatrorama cover
The French, it seems, went gaga for flexi disc magazines in the late 50s as these four examples from Stephen Coates‘ collection illustrate. The 7″x 7.5″ ring bound format, similar to the American Echo magazines and their own long-running Sonorama seems to have been a winner although there are less pages in these examples which lean towards more specialist subjects. Occasionally included as a supplement with the main magazine, Theatrorama showcased extracts from plays across no less than nine discs and made it to at least a third issue in 1959.Theatrorama flexi 2 Theatrorama indexTheatrorama flexi
Cuisinorama (can you spot a theme emerging here?) followed the same format in the same year with five discs, a full colour cover as well as colour pages inside, concentrating on recipes, restaurants and food prep. You can see more examples of ‘orama’ spin-off publications on this excellent Made In Vinyl page including many of the issues featured here, Echo and the previously featured Soviet magazine, Krugazor.Cuisinorama cover Cuisinorama flexi 1 Cuisinorama flexi 2Cuisinorama back
‘Sound magazine of medical information’ Medicophone, issue seven from 1961. I’ve found evidence of up to 26 issues of this, all with the same cover. This one came with five discs covering such fascinating subjects as the heart and hernias.Medicophone coverMedicophone flexi 1Medicophone insideMedicophone flexi 2
In The Beginning There Was Rhythm, ‘strictly reserved for the medical corps‘ (this is stamped no. 0131 inside) concentrates on jazz and seems to be a freebie produced or sponsored by Vegetaline, a coconut-based lard.

ITBTWRhythm cover ITBTWRhythm flexi 1 ITBTWRhythm flexi 2

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Flexibition 2017: Stephen Coates #1- Postcard records

Atomium postcard 2
Stephen Coates – he of The Real Tuesday Weld, Antique Beat and the X-Ray Audio project amongst other things – gamely lent me part of his collection of flexi discs and postcard records late last year with the express purpose of me showcasing them on the blog. So here we have the first of several posts highlighting some of the treasures he’s found over the years.
Some of these were on show at the Horse Hospital in 2015 when the X-Ray Audio book debuted but have been hidden since. I especially coveted the nearly 6″ in diameter Atomium postcard above when I spied it back then and inspecting it now I see that it seems to be an idealised painting or possibly a hand-tinted photo with part of the background erased as similar photographs don’t quite match this viewpoint. The song, ‘Marche Atomium’ by M. Leemans, is a swinging brass type number which sadly doesn’t mirror the futuristic architecture it plays over.

Atomium postcardback

The tiny, beautiful but fairly unremarkable postcard below takes on a new importance when you turn it over to discover that the Beach Boys‘ ‘Help Me Rhonda’ is etched into the front image. Or ‘Help Me Rondoo’ as it’s spelt here. It measures 12cm x 10cm and, despite sounding like you’re listening to the song through a sandstorm, you can easily make out the pop classic, possibly a live version to boot which has very odd soft and loud parts near the end.

Beach boys card frontBeach boys card back

The 19cm x 16cm postcard below is the Polish singer Maryla Rodowicz as a young woman, and the song pressed across her face was the one that made her famous, ‘Malgoska’.

Maryla Rodowicz frontMaryla Rodowicz back

US Marines were allowed to record messages home for their loved ones and discs came with a pre-printed design as well as an envelope that broadcast the contents for the postman and recipients. This one is unused, approx 6.5 inches across and has a second hole stamped in the center label, presumably to steady the disc when it was being cut. The darker ring over the illustrations is a thick, shiny layer where the grooves would have been cut. The cartoons make war out to be a fairly light-hearted affair.

US Marine letter record

US Marine letter

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Remastered Spiritland set from 11.12.16 + track list

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My set from Spiritland on Dec 11th was uploaded to Mixcloud but was so quiet you could barely hear it. I got to work on the file and remastered it whilst compiling the track list for the full 5 hours. Photo by Karla Davis

DJ Food – Spiritland 11/12/16 track list…

The Heliocentrics w. Melvin Van Peebles – Prologue (Now Again)
Bernard Szajner – The Fremen (Cache Cache)
Voyager – Arrival (excerpt) (Union City Recordings)
Basement Jaxx – Stanley (Sunday Best Records)
unknown – Blue (CDR)
DJ Shadow – I’ve Been Trying (Third World Orchestra’s Folkumbia Remix – DJ Food edit) (https://soundcloud.com/punk-cho)
DJ Shadow – Come On Ride (Through The Cosmos) (Secret 7s / Island)
DJ Shadow – Dark Days (Spoken For Mix) (MCA)
Andre Previn – Executive Party Dance (UA)
The Dragons – Peace Garden (Rural)
Kool & The Gang – Summer Madness (De-Lite)
Stan Getz – Bonjour Tristesse (MGM)
Fourtet – I’m On Fire (part 2) (Text)
Lalo Schifrin – Joy To The World (Lo Recordings)
Warner Jepson – Deck The Halls (Shinkoko.com)
The Soulful Strings – Little Drummer Boy (Cadet Records)
Warner Jepson – Silent Night (Shinkoko.com)
J. P. Massiera – Silent Night (Finders Keepers)
Warner Jepson – Good King Wenceslas (Shinkoko.com)
Vincent Geminiani – Ophis Le Serpentaire (Jazzman)
Paul Schutze – Doubts About Waking (edit) (Extreme)
Alice Coltrane – A Love Supreme (Impulse)
Arnaud Robotini – The Choir Of The Dead Lovers (Blackstrobe Records)
Brain Machine – Massive Dying Stars Vibrating Like Giant Speakers (Tinae)
Chapterhouse – Beta Phase (Global Communication remix) (Dedicated)
Voyager – Arrival (excerpt) (Union City Recordings)
Howlround – OH feat. abandoned playground (The Fog Signals)
Sheila Chandra – One (Indipop)
Eurhythmics – The City Never Sleeps (Capitol)
Annabel (lee) – (1849) (IF Music/Ninja Tune)
Beautify Junkyards – Constant Flux (Ghost Box)
Cavern of Anti-Matter – Zone Null (Duophonic UHF Discs)
Stepkids – La La (Stones Throw)
Broadcast & The Focus Group – The Be Colony (Warp)
Vanishing Twin – Floating Heart (Soundway)
Stereolab – Miss Modular (Duphonic UHF Discs)
Sirconical – Moondance (Twisted Nerve)
The Twelve Hour Foundation – Sun and Air (Part 2) (Bandcamp/Environmental Studies)
Voyager – Arrival (excerpt) (Union City Recordings)
The Orb – A Huge 54 Minute Mix Mk.2 (excerpt 1) (CDR)
Grace Jones – Don’t Cry, It’s Only The Rhythm (ZTT)
Grace Jones – Rough Slave (Better Days version) (unreleased)
Flying White Dots – Slave To The Grid (soundcloud.com/flyingwhitedots)
Grace Jones – The Crossing (Ooh The Action) (ZTT)
The Orb – A Huge 54 Minute Mix Mk.2 (excerpt 2) (CDR)
Szuletet – Domino (Bandcamp) https://afxtribute.bandcamp.com/releases
David Sylvian – Home (Virgin)
Paul Schutze – Doubts About Waking (edit) (Extreme)
Sheila Chandra – Nada Brahma (Indipop)
Camille – Ta Douleur (EMI)
The Beastie Boys – Something’s Got To Give (Live) (Grand Royal)
NT – Distances By Air (RCA)
Annis le Neve – Stories (Apeman)
Grandmagneto – Night Fever (Big Single)
The Karminsky Experience Inc. – The Fifth Peg (Patterns of Behaviour)
The Hellers – Take 46 (Command)
The Karminsky Experience Inc. – Through A Prism Backwards (Patterns of Behaviour)
The Karminsky Experience Inc. – The House Band Takes A Break (Patterns of Behaviour)
The Casuals On The Square – Moonbound (Trans International Airlines)
Nino Nardini – Tropicola (Jazzman)
Vincent Geminiani – Ophis Le Serpentaire (Jazzman)
Jacky Chalard & Dynastie Crisis – Les Scandales (Fat City)
Bomb The Bass – One To One Religion (Skankapella) (Stoned Heights)
Scarper – Lacuna (Jani R Remix) (Plexus)
Drog – Curtains (Bandcamp) https://afxtribute.bandcamp.com/releases
The Shamen – Possible Worlds (Reverse) (One Little Indian)
Nico Motte – Morning Mist (Antinote)
As One – Where Did He Go… And Why? (De:tuned)
Steve Hauschildt – Same River Twice (Kranky)
Queen – In The Space Capsule / Ming’s Theme (EMI)
As One – Where Did He Go… And Why? (Heinrich Mueller Lamb Shift Model) (De:tuned)
Nico Motte – Necroville (Antinote)
The Emperor Machine – Introduction To Outer Space (part 1) (DC Recordings)
E.A.R. – Interlude (Earworm)
V.I.V.E.K. – Mantra (System Music)
E.A.R. – Transistor Music (Earworm)
Boards of Canada – Satellite Anthem Icarus (Warp)

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FourFromFoodFridays 16

FourFromFoodFridays17Four 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:
Trevor Jackson meets Trevor Horn (NTS) Interview
Clocolan – Nothing Left To Abandon (Enpeg) LP
Manuel Gottsching – E2:E4 (MG.ART) LP
DJ Food – Live at Spiritland 11.12.16 (Mixcloud) DJ set

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FourFromFoodFridays 15

FourFromFoodFridays15.2
Four From Food Fridays (except it’s been a very busy weekend so it’s Sunday) – 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:
Agnes Burnelle & Desmond Leslie – The Lost Noises Office – (HMV) 7″
Howlround – A Creak In Time (psyche-tropes) LP
Rendezvous – Suoni Della Paura II (Origin Peoples) Mixtape
The Soulful Strings – Little Drummer Boy (Cadet) LP

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DJ Food at Spiritland 11.12.16

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Sunday night saw my second set at Spiritland, this time for a 5 hr slot instead of 4. The chance to spread out and play a non dance floor selection in public is always welcome and the sound system there is particularly good with highly polished electronic music and deep bass tones I’m finding. In the mix you’ll find a short Xmas medley and part of an exclusive 54 Minute fan mix of The Orb’s ‘A Huge, Ever Growing, Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre of the Ultraworld’ interspersed with some special mixes of Grace Jones‘ ‘Slave To The Rhythm’ that I compiled. Some of the photos below are by Karla Davis and Arthur Arkin.
(The mix is a bit quiet, you need to turn it up) I’ve remastered the file now for maximum volume.

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FourFromFoodFridays 14

FourFromFoodFridays14
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:
Graeme Miller and Steve Shill – The Moomins OST (Finders Keepers) LP
Bad Lip Reading – Seagulls! (Stop it now) (YouTube)
JG Thirlwell – Music of The Venture Bros Vol.2 (Ectopic Arts) LP
Radio Trip / Left (Markey Funk remixes) (Delights) 7″

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FourFromFoodFridays 13

FourFromFoodFridays13
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:
The Karminsky Experience Inc. ‘Beat!’ LP (Patterns of Behaviour)
Various Artists – Selected Ambient Covers Vol.2 (Bandcamp)
David Sylvian – Gone To Earth (Virgin) LP
? – A Huge 54 Minute Mix Mk2 (unreleased) CD-R

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Howlround ‘A Creak In Time’ LP and film


I’ve been looking forward to this since I had a sneak peak about a month ago, the new Howlround album is also the soundtrack to a film called ‘A Creak in Time’. Two years in the making, “A Creak In Time is a film directed by Steven McInerney exploring the interrelation of the macrocosm and microcosm navigating its journey through time in two parts. The soundtrack has been composed entirely from creaking objects and manipulated on magnetic tape machines.”
The film is “…Taken from source material discovered in London, Yosemite and the Mojave desert, these sounds, through simple manipulation, gradually cast off their moorings and head into space, leaving their original identities far behind and chiming perfectly with the film’s recurring themes of transformation and altered perception, switching scale in a heartbeat from microscopic topography to the vast distances of the cosmos. Shot entirely on 16mm film with a musique concréte soundtrack, it’s both science and fiction and marks a dramatic new direction for all involved”.

Howlround CreakLP
Available to pre-order on McInerney‘s audio-visual Psyché Tropes label now, the LP comes with a download and link to an online stream of the full film. You can order it here or, if you want to see it and hear Howlround live they’re playing a launch party in London on Dec 10th at Iklectik as part of Pascal Savy‘s two day residence. The night after they’ll be doing a more traditional tape loop set at the Brunel Museum as part of the Film Sound Performance weekend – more info and tickets here (no tickets on the door).

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The Diskery, Birmingham

Diskery outside
Last weekend I played at The Dark Horse in Moseley, Birmingham and a fine gig it was too. The day after, Thomas, the promoter, and DJ Cro took me to The Diskery, supposedly the oldest record shop in the UK. It’s the kind you only run across occasionally these days, seemingly held together by the records pinned to every surface. Stuck in a time warp, a perfectly preserved example of your classic secondhand record shop of old, despite the Record Store Day banner in the window. There were so many records in every nook and cranny, on several floors, that I barely scratched the surface whilst I was there. We were offered tea almost immediately on entry and the two hours I had before my train yielded some great 45s, some of which are below. Definitely one of my favourite record shops in the UK and I want to go back and spend the whole day in there…

Diskery est1952 Diskery ceilingDiskery insideDiskery shelvesDiskery dolls Diskery stickersDiskery FCJuddDiskery Action Man Diskery happytime Diskery Huegel Paris Diskery JingleDiskery ListenMoveDanceDiskery Rhythm Diskery SparkyDiskery 3 blind mice
More about this flexi disc in a future post…

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