The Sonik Youth Club, Braunton, Devon

 Way back in Feb 2020 myself and Jim Jupp were invited to play a DJ set at The Sonik Youth Club in Braunton North Devon. Unfortunatly we all went into lockdown, and with no chance of us playing this set live we were asked by Doug to do a mix for  The Sonik Youth Club on Mixcloud. Hopefully when all this is over a swift journey to Braunton might just happen...but until then put your feet up and enjoy all the The Sonik Youth Club mixes here
And now some words from and about The Sonik Youth Club.
The Sonik Youth Clubis a collection of DJ's and music enthusiasts coming together to play live DJ sets in amazing spaces. No genres, only interesting and diverse music performed by and for free thinking people. The first Sonik Youth Club was a live event at Saunton Road Studios, Braunton, Devon, 29th Feb 2020 and featured 3 live DJ sets from Doug Powell, Buko and Si Gracia. Saunton Road Studios is a great little venue, it’s not only a recording studio but it doubles up as a live venue and bar with great local beer, ideal for a small gathering of 50 or so. Perfect for the Sonik Youth Club. I’ve always wanted to put on a night were anyone could come and play anything they wanted to, not necessarily DJ’s and not a typical dance night and not even in a club setting, just a cool place where folks could listen to music that they are not usually exposed to. The first night was a great success with the promise of something a bit different from the usual night out at local pub. Buko opened the evening with a set of Psych, 60’s garage and Experimental Electronica. Doug Powell’s set was a wide-ranging mix of 60’s French Pop, Psych, Folk and Electronica. Si Gracia ending the evening with his trademark set of Jazz, Funk and House. Soon after we all went into lockdown, so Doug had to move the Sonik Youth Club online to Mixcloud. It was a shame not to able to carry on with the live events. Doug told us, but this opened up an opportunity for us to be heard worldwide and to get submissions for DJ sets and mixtapes from across the globe. We are currently up to 9 mixes and have loads more waiting in the wings to be posted. Mixes still currently available;
Sonik Youth Club 1, Doug Powell DJ Mix
Sonik Youth Club 2, Doug Powell DJ Mix
Sonik Youth Club 3, Lee Ackland DJ Mix
Sonik Youth Club 4, Jay’s Chaos Indie Classics Mix Tape
Sonik Youth Club 5, Russ Never Sleeps Mix Tape
Sonik Youth Club 6, Alan Cook DJ Mix
Sonik Youth Club 7, Stribbs DJ Mix
Sonik Youth Club 8, Jez Stevens DJ Mix
Sonik Youth Club 9, Keith Seatman & Jim Jupp DJ Mix

New Album Early Excerpts (2021 Castles in Space)

Keith Seatman · New Album, Early Excerpts (2021 Castles in Space)

Here are 7 early excerpts of tracks which will be on the next album. 11 tracks in total, will add more at a later date. Release date 2021 on Castles in Space. The tracks are: In The Fields Round the Back, Building a Hole with a Saw a Spoon and a Bowel, The Gnome Zone, A Swish of the Curtain, The Grand Alchemists Parade, Mrs Lawes & the late Mr Pomfrey, Sad Old Tatty Bunting.

Tim Smith and Cardiacs

On July 21st 2020 Tim Smith (Cardiacs) sadly passed away. I have been listening to a lot of
Cardiacs over the last week or so, and thinking quite a bit about how and when
I finally really got into them. The first time I heard Cardiacs I was round a friends house, to be blunt I hated them, I had never heard anything I had hated so much in my life...they were annoying me so much. This supprised a few people as they really thought I would like them given some of the other things that I listened to (Devo, Swell Maps, Wire, Psych, Prog) It was pointed out to me that someone I knew had worked on Cardiacs Seaside Treats Video (this did not cut much ice with me) Sometime later I heard Cardiacs again and was midly irritated...but strangely not as irritated. Time went on and I would occasionally hear them being played round at friends flats.  Then something strange happened, one day I found myself humming a tune, which I could not place and it would not go away. I suddenly realised it was in fact Cardiacs Is This the Life.

I really could not get the song out of my head. Not long after this I had the chance of going to see Cardiacs live. After much foot dragging I agreed to go. When we got there I could not believe how packed the venue was. The Band came on stage and did nothing...there was a bit of heckling and Tim Smith told them all to shut up, but then kept on saying it. At one point he seemed to punch/slap himself on the face, and still nothing happened. There was only minor lighting on stage and the band seemed to be dressed in tatty old prom suits or the sort of uniform worn by
a brass band which was covered in dust. The audience were getting more vocal and the tension was rising, but still nothing happened then...the band played, the whole crowd started to dance, jump up and down and at certain point almost every one would sing and raise their arms in the air. The song was Big Ship and it was at that moment that every bulb in my head went on and exploded at the same time. It was fantastic, how could I have not liked this band? even the song which annoyed me a year or so before was amazing (R.E.S) I left the show a changed man. I spent the next few months catching up with all I could Cardiacs related. I realise now that liking Cardiacs might not always be an instant thing for everyone, but when it does finally hit you its like opening a treasure chest of musical wonder. I had the pleasure of meeting Tim Smith on two occasions, and he was lovely and charming. I was at the time working at a music venue and helped Tim and the band with their equipment. I informed Tim that I was due to go home for a few hrs but had decided to stay on so I could meet the band and maybe have a chat. Tim was charming, polite, funny and lovely, he answered all my daft questions and more, we discussed music and bands and the music business. Because of Tim Smith and Cardiacs I started to listen to William D Drake, North Sea Radio Orchestra, Kavus Torabi.  Big Ship, Dirty Boy, Nurses whispering verses, watching Maresnest, Seaside Treats, Jim Plugs his bass in for 10 mins,  all this has given me so much Joy. Thank you Mr Smith for creating a truly wonderful and inspiring sound. Tim Smith RIP.

Cardiacs Bandcamp 

Cardiacs

Test Transmission Archive Reel 41

Its time again for another TT archive reel. Was not expecting to do another for a while, but seemed to have a lot more time on my hands recently (new album is coming along as well) This time round from Castles in Space we have Clocolan and Dalham. From Buried Treasure Records Zyklus and Yuri Morozov. Not only but also The Glove, Bloom de Wilde, Dudley Moore, The Shaggs, Laurie Johnson, King Tubby, Stavely Makepiece, Ice T, Fad Gadget, Mr Fox, Bruce Haack, Paul Williams, Steamhammer, The United States of America, Planet Jazz, Cal Tjader and Shirley Ellis. Quite a lot there to keep you going through the last of the summer. Do not know when the next one will be. So until then Play nicely, be good and please look after yourselfs .

The Spectral Fields Wyrd Kalendar Mix

My conection with A Year in The Country happened in 2016 when Stephen Prince asked me to contribute to The A Year in The Country CD Release: Fractures. To date I have now contributed 7 tracks to Stephen Prince's superb A Year in The Country CD releases and have always enjoyed visiting and having a good rummage through A Year in The Country. A few years back I bought a copy of Stephen's Wandering Through Spectral Fields book. It is something which I find myself constantly returning to, and I always seem to find something new everytime I pick the book up.

I only bought the CD Gather in the Mushrooms:
The British Acid Folk Underground 1968-1974 because of chapter 2 page 24.
“A new book caught my eye recently – the title A Year In The Country: Wandering Through Spectral Fields, that goes in search of the darker, eerier side of the bucolic countryside dream by looking at films of a certain genre, books, TV series, music; it is great to have this fascinating subject explored so thoroughly and brought together under one title.”
Verity Sharp, Late Junction, BBC Radio 3

Over the last few years Chris Lambert (Black Meadow, Wyrd Kalender)
has put together a massive 4 part audio accompaniment to Stephen's book. Each installment comes in at 2 hrs or just under. The mixes very skilfully follow and link to all
52 chapters in the book.

All Wyrd Kalender Mixes here
But before you do listen, visit A Year in The Country first. It is th best place to start. 

Chapters 1-13

Chapters 14-26

Chapters 27-39
Chapters 40-52

The Final Spectral Fields Wyrd Kalendar Mix – An Aural Appendix to Accompany “Journeys in Otherly Pastoralism, The Further Reaches of Folk and the Parallel Worlds of Hauntology” 
 

test Transmission Archive Reel 40

Having had a bit more time available than I originally thought, here is Test Transmission Archive Reel 40. All sorts of nonsense and jollyness on this one. Something cheery to get your feet tapping and body jumping around. This time we have The Goodies, Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby, Hawkwind, CCS, Kenny Everet & Mike Vickers, Rah Band, Loose Capacitor, Bernard Cribbins, Renaldo and the Loaf, Monty Python, John Kongos, Cult Figures, Perrey and Kingsley and loads more + all sorts of oddness inbetween. Now its time for me to go back to working on the next Album. So until then...

The Isolation Tapes & Castles in Space

The Isolation Tapes Cassette and Bonus Downloads
The Isolation Tapes Compact Disc

CiS062//The Isolation Tapes:
Castles in Space
Castles in Space brings you a stunning collection of new music recorded in isolation during the COVID19 lockdown//Released 29th May 2020//

On April 3rd 2020, two weeks into the UK's total coronavirus lockdown and in an attempt to find something positive as a break from ping-ponging between high anxiety and frustrated bemusement, I sent out the call for submissions for a new compilation of music,

A total of 62 tracks across CD//Cassette//Download selected from more than
250 submissions. 

The Isolation Tapes project is sold in support of the magnificent Cavell Nurses' Trust.
A wonderful organisation which helps nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants, both working and retired, when they’re suffering personal or financial hardship. This is often due to illness, disability, older age, domestic abuse and the impact of coronavirus.

It is sincerely hoped that you will find much to enjoy in The Isolation Tapes. It was both an absolute joy and an arduous headache to put together (in a good way). The final edit was extremely difficult and there is certainly enough stuff in the can for further releases if these volumes find some appreciation.

As ever, thanks for listening.
Stay safe and well.
Colin Morrison
Castles in Space. May 21st 2020 

releases May 29, 2020

Profits from this album will go to support Cavell Nurses’ Trust
(registered charity no. 1160148 and SC041453).
Cavell Nurses’ Trust proudly give money and support to nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants in hardship whether they are working or retired.
If you are a healthcare professional experiencing personal or financial hardship, please contact them today at: www.cavellnursestrust.org / 01527 595999. 

My track (Top Hat Disco) on the CD  came from a late night conversation that my Wife and I were having after she had come in late after her shift. We were discussing how a year ago that very evening we were at a 50th Birthday Party at The Carlton Club Whalley Range Manchester. It was a fantastic party in a lovely old building/Hall. Everyone was dancing, the music was 70s disco, punk, Northern soul, rockerbilly Psych, 80s…everything.
We discussed how one year on it is now so different, how could we have ever imagined we would be in this situation. We then discussed school discos and cheesy clubs from the late 70s and early 80s,unemployment was high but we did not care, life revolved around records and going out on a Friday or Saturday night, then...no money until your next dole came through (I cheated I was a cleaner at the uni and claimed dole) I was 16 with money. Shouting over the music in the clubs my friends and I were going to do so much…change the world.
My optimism for the future is still there in Top Hat Disco.
The sample in the middle is from my bedroom in 1979. My mates and I were recording ourselves talking and messing about, a friend said or did something and another replied “Thats bleeding disgusting that is, thats sick, if the Kendals saw that they wouldn’t know were to turn” I have no idea who the Kendals were.

Readers Digest Tea and The Clash

Some years ago I was at my Daughter's School summer fate. As I was browsing through some old books I noticed sandwiched between A Bill Bryson and a pop up Tweenies book was A large black book. This book was called Folklore Myths and Legends of Britain......Published by The Readers Digest in 1973
The reason this book stopped me in my tracks was because I had not seen a copy  of this book for decades. The last time I saw a copy  of this book was in the summer of 1977 on a shelf round my friends house. My friend and I noticed this book one dull day in our 6 week summer break. We were both bored and could not find anything to do...until by chance
we came across Folklore myths and Legends of Britain.
As we started flicking through the book our interest grew and the boredom factor diminished. We decided It was time to make a cup of tea have a sneaky Cigarette and put the 1st Clash album on and......read. By the time the tea had been drunk and the Clash had long since had their Career Opportunities and been in Garageland. We knew about The Haunted Fens, The Haunted Moors, The meaning of some sea Shanties, The Ghost Ships of Goodwin Sands, The Old man of Storr, The Rollright Stones, customs and curses, Smugglers and Highwaymen and women. We could not get enough of these old tales and legends. More tea was made The Stranglers entertained us musically and we read more and more. One night over the summer The film Witchfinder General was on TV. We both watched it. When my friend and I met up the next day we looked up Mathew Hopkins in the book. There he was... page 248. There was no mention in our book about Hopkins being hacked to death by Ian Ogilvy. In fact according to the book Hopkins more than likely died of TB. As the summer holiday drifted on we revisited the book many more times. Deciding that we should go and visit as many of these places and investigate as many of these strange things as possible. Alas we never really visited any of the places we had read about. Traveling from one end of the country in search of Ghosts weird things and all sorts of oddness was not really possible on about 50p a week pocket money. So by early Sept as the school term loomed nearer and nearer the book was put back on the shelf and for some reason we never really looked at it again. So by  just seeing this book at the school fate all those memories from that long lost summer came flooding back. I picked the book up and asked how much????? 
"50p" was the reply
50p for 552 pages of Folklore Myths and legends of Britain and some amazing memories. Now I know that you can find copies of this book on ebay and Amazon...but of course they are not on there for 50p. Well I parted with 50p and went home. Made a cup of Coffee put the Clash on and started to read.

Phantasmagorical Progtronica

Like peeking round a corner and viewing scenes from your own or someone else’s past. Old photographs brought to life with the horrible high-definition of reality.
Each track is a mechanical box, the album a set of Russian dolls peculiarly connected but of
the same family. It makes for a sometimes uncomfortably intriguing experience.
That unease you feel? It is just around the corner.

Stewart Gardiner: Concrete Islands Apil 2020 (Full Review)

Concrete Islands

Test Transmission Archive Reel 39

Hi people its been 4 months since my last Test Transmission Archive Reel and to be honest not 100% sure when the next will be. Since the last mix my album Time to Dream But Never Seen came out on Castles in Space which was rather nice. Being as we are all stuck in doors thought I better get this one out there. Lots of goodies (not Tim Bill or Graham...nxt time) we have The Soulless Party, Revbjelde,, Plone, Space, The Ventures, Forest, Nick Drake, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Julie Driscoll, Echo and the `Bunnymen, The Gamma Children, Johanna M Beyer and loads more. If you would be interested in reading some of my ramblings then go to here
https://hauntedgeneration.co.uk/2020/03/12/keith-seatman-doctor-who-and-time-to-dream-but-never-seen/  a recent interview I did with the wonderful Mr Bob Fischer.
So thats it from me for now. Until the next one...all you please keep safe, and thankyou for listening over the years. TATA for now.

Noahs Castle 1980

Drew Mulholland:
A Haunting Strip Of Marshland.
A New Soundtrack Album for NESS:
A book/film by Robert MacFarlane, Stanley Donwood and Adam Scovell.

Release Date: 18th April 2020:
Released By: Castles in Space- CiS053
Distributed By: Forte Distribution
Format: Heavyweight Black Vinyl & Digital Download

Robert MacFarlane, Sunday Times Bestselling Author of "Ness", "The Old Ways", "Underland".

"In the early 2000s, I made my first boat-crossing to the untrue island of Orford Ness. ‘Untrue’ because The Ness-–as I’ve since come to call it––is a ten-mile-long shingle spit that curves south along the Suffolk coast like a bracket, joined thinly––but still joined––to the mainland at its northern end. Shaped by storm, tide and longshore drift, The Ness is startlingly dynamic. Between 1812 and 1821 alone its length shifted by nearly two miles. If you could view the Ness as an aerial stop-motion film shot over several centuries, you would see its long stone tail whipping around in the North Sea.
For Ness is a place to improvise. Ness is its own realm with its own rules. 
Don’t look. Don’t tell. Don’t understand. Don’t ever remember.” "

The Haunted Generation Interview

Interview with Bob Fisher
(BBC Radio Tees, Forteen Times)
from a few weeks back.
The Haunted Generation
Castles in Space

Found Objects: In Search of the English Folk Song

Found Objects: In Search of the English Folk Song: Made in 1997 -  many years before the resurgence of interest in British traditional music among the hipsterati - Ken Russell's take on...

Out Now on Castles in Space

 

Time to Dream but Never Seen is out now and available from

Vinyl & Digi from Castles in Space
Digi from Bandcamp
 Credits
All Tracks written by
Keith Seatman
Except*
Seatman and Powell
Music
Keith Seatman
Words and Voice
Douglas E Powell 
Produced by
Keith Seatman and Jack Packer
© Keith Seatman 2019
Many Thanks to
Jim Jupp for Sleeve Notes and Audio Advice
Simon Heartfield Audio Advice
Jez Stevens for Video
Colin Morrison at Castles in Space
Nick Taylor for Artwork/Design
Antony at RedRed Paw Mastering
CiS and Keith Seatman would like to thank Spencer Robinson for
invaluable production support and Mr Bob Fisher at Electronic Sound and BBC Tees.
Cat: CiS042

 

Concrete Islands Review

Gigslutz Review

RIP Andy Gill

Three fine reasons why Andy Gill's razor sharp guitar playing and sound was so bloody awsome.
RIP Andy Gill 1956-2020

 

Pre-Order Time to Dream Norman & Rough Trade Records

It is now possible to Pr-order Time to Dream but Never Seen from
Norman Records

 

and Rough Trade