all hold hands and off we go (Release Date April 10th)

If all goes to plan Monday April 10th

Dinky's and Regrets

About 14 years ago I had a massive clear out (personal reasons) it was time to get rid of loads of old tat, things in boxes I would never really look at again. One of the boxes I cleared out was full of my old wonderful Dinky and Corgi toys. I went a slightly odd and had a year zero approach to these things and out they all went. I was recently given an old Dinky Toys catalogue. I was a tad excited about this and as I flicked through the catalogue I realised how many good toys I had had that were in the catalogue, I also realised that they all got binned in my moment of madness. So here for your amusement and my everlasting ongoing regret, are images from the catalogue of the Dinky toys I got rid of. I won't even talk about the full set of original Star Wars Cards.

Joe 90 Car and Maximum Security Vehicle.

Sea King Helicopter and Harrier Jump Jet

Merryweather Fire Tender

Police Vehicles Gift Set

Ed Strakers Car 

 On the plus side I did save a few : )

Wyrd Kalendar: It is February - Don't wander too far now...

Wyrd Kalendar: It is February - Don't wander too far now...: It is February. Open the Wyrd Kalendar and venture into a cold world with a young woman who experiences the days of February that the res...

Splitting the Atom XXXV Echopet

My friend Mr Stevens and I will be playing live as Echopet at Splitting the Atom The Green Door Store Brighton this Sunday (22nd) at around 5pm (give or take) We have had one rehearsal and have an idea of what we are going to do.........or not do which might be the case. Who knows???? our equipment might even work this time. Its Free!!!!!!!

 

Test Transmission Archive Reel 28

Here we are with the 1st Test Transmission Archive Reel of 2017. We have music from (but not necessarily in this order) Peter Howell & John Ferdinando, Eno, Max Gregor, Obsil, The Glove, Johnny Flynn, Simon Heartfield, Perrey & Kingsley, Bare Bones, Pram, Owl Service, Ligeti, Jacky, The Séance with Lutine, Quintron and Jeff Mills. Hope that keeps you all going. So until next time. TATA.

Gurdy Hurding

I have known Brian from Renaldo and the Loaf for a very very very long time. Our paths first crossed when I was in a little to known band called the Marilyn Monroes. I was very pleased recently when Brian invited me round to Renaldo towers to present me with a copy of the new Album. The first track I heard from the new album was A Convivial Ode, which has a lovely video, directed by the other half of Echopet Mr Jez Stevens. Fans of the band will not be disappointed in the 21st Century Renaldo and the Loaf sound. Gurdy Hurding is a superb album, full of pitched voices, strange sounds, quirky instruments, odd timings with a medieval feel and a wonderful production.  This is the first album from Renaldo and the Loaf in nearly 30 years, the last being Elbow is Taboo and can be purchased from Klang Gallerie and The Ghost Box records Guests shop.

all hold hands and off we go. Release April 2017

Here are 11 excerpts from all hold hands and off we go.
all hold hands and off we go is the 5th album of strange Electronics, Psych, Radiophonics, Drone and quirky Folk by Keith Seatman.
As on his previous release (A Rest Before the Walk) Keith re-unites with North Devon Singer/Songwriter Douglas E Powell for two tracks
mr metronome and boxes with rhythms in.
Release Date April 2017
CD and Digital download from Bandcamp.
The tracks are
a lighthouse might look long
all hold hands and off we go
skipping rope
mr metronome*
left behind or lost & dropped
four steps at a time
odd in a nightcap and cup
tap tap
boxes with rhythms in*
with salt and candy
please, is it you?

Out into the light sometime April-ish and again finds Mr Seatman forging alliances with Mr Powell for an album length sonic journey into the surreal, the strange and the sinister, a psychedelic pseance populated by waking dreams, nocturnal nightmares and supernatural forbearance, a melodic map of discovered Barrett-esque continents and hitherto beyond the eye magick lands. Trippy stuff.
The Sunday Experience (Jan 2017)

Keith Seatman's science fiction landscapes explode with meekness that is undiscriminating as it is enthusiastic. Seatman is a talented sound designer, and it shines on his instrumentals.
Wire Magazine 383 (Jan 2016)

Spellbinding, Captivating, Evocative Radiophonic keyboard compositions and electronic folk. Brilliant.
Carl Griffin Electronic Sound Magazine (Dec 2016)

Seatman’s odd melodies sit with industrial repetition to convey the scares of the synth laden themes and incidental scene setting pieces of early 70s through early 80s kids TV
Jon Mills (Shindig Magazine issue 39 2014)

"Seatman is a kindred spirit, and this is his most evocative and personal sounding work to date."
Jim Jupp, (Ghost Box, 2013)  

Keith Seatman is someone whose music I first heard in the context of my old experimental music zine, ‘WonderfulWooden Reasons’ and who’s album left me craving more. His latest is an utterly glorious selection of filmic folk and ghostly electronica that is utterly mesmerising from first to last.
Wyrd Britain (Nov 2015)
 
Hampshire’s Keith Seatman is a name that will be familiar to many from his previous albums such as ‘Around The Folly And Down Hill’ and ‘Consistently Mediocre And Daydreams’, both modern classics of spooked electronica and shadowy synthesised vignettes. If you have not already do take a journey through his back catalogue, there are many evocative and unsettling treasures to be found. Seatman is also known for his superb ‘Test Transmission Archive Reels', extensive mixes featuring vintage recordings, electronic and hauntological tracks and choice musical offerings.
The Active Listener (Oct 2015)

A Happy New Year to you all

A Happy New Year to you all.

Lots of projects for the New Year. New album in April, a number of tracks for
compilation albums, 7in EP with Douglas E Powell and something live in January at the Green Door Store Brighton (Echopet)

Space Age Seasons Greetings to you all

Happy Merry and Yuletide Greetings to you all.

A Couple of Fine Christmas Tunes

Two very fine Christmas tunes.
I did Tweet about these last Christmas, and will probably do the same again this
year and next. Both perfect in there own way.

A Christmas Carol (This cat was a drag)

I have always enjoyed Charles Dicken's Christmas story A Christmas Carol. So what better time of year than now to have a look at some book covers for A Christmas Carol. Have to admit the Pulp! the Classics cover is a fav and the last one is my own copy. Why do I like A Christmas Carol so much???? probably for the same reasons as yourselves. Very fond of a number of the films, the animated version form 1971 with the voices of Alistair Sim Michael Redgrave and Michael Hordern is a particular fav which can be viewed here. But never never risk watching the Albert Finney Musical version Scrooge which I saw many years ago and still bothers me to this day.    

.

This is my own cherished and old copy which I have had for years.

all hold hands and off we go (Excerpt)

Another excerpt from the new album all hold hands and off we go, due for release in 2017. There are also plans for a 4 track ep late in 2017 and I have two tracks on another compilation, so busy times ahead. More on all this at a later date.

DARK OR DARKER SHIVERING OR NOT!

 

DARK OR DARKER SHIVERING OR NOT!
If all goes to plan I will be playing at this event with Jez Stevens as Echopet
Together we will be performing a 30 minute piece live. Using Synths Samples an Old tone Generator and all sorts of pther things we can get our hands on.
You can expect noise feedback echos drone and video.

An exploration of the urban supernatural, occult temporalities, uncanny architecture, hauntology, the phantasmagorical, the monstrous, supernatural cartographies and the psychogeographic imagination.
 A night of: audio visual performance, live electronica, spoken word, installations, interstitial architects, psycho-geographers, kinetic sculptors, live artists and theatre makers.
With live performances from 7pm to 11pm followed by DJ's in the bar until 1pm.
FREE admission though a collection may be taken during the night.

This event is part of Darkfest, a celebration of creativity in Portsmouth, UK
inspired by the Supernatural Cities Project.
 Coastguard Studio: Montague House, Clarendon Rd, Portsmouth, Southsea PO4 0SA
 facebook.com/events/1596815733948366/
 one000plateaus.com/darkordarker/
facebook.com/1000plateaus/

New Album 2017

More info at a later date.
Until then snippets and segments can be heard here
All previous albums and reviews here

Test Transmission Archive Reel 27

Here we are with the last Test Transmission Archive Reel of 2016. I have quite a lot on at the mo trying to finish the next album which is out in 2017 so a tad busy. For your pleasure this time round we have Laurie Johnson Ultravox Current 93 Hotlegs The Rowen Amber Mill Paul Ferris Cybotron Concretism Implosion Ron Geesin Wire Broadcast The Gasman Dick Mills Listening Center Moon Duo Pye Corner Audio Cramps Nico Mark Hollis Pattern Forms and all sorts of audio oddness and shenanigans in between. So until 2017........or if/when I get round doing another mix, wrap up warm sleep tight against the old winter nights.

Folk Horror at The British Museum A Fine Day Out

 

On Sunday 16th Oct I got up very very early (5pm) and caught a coach to London. The reason for this is because I had a ticket for The Folk Horror Revival at The British Museum.

What a fine day it was indeed, despite the fact that a few days before I came down with a rather grim cold but thanks to some heavy duty cold and flu tablets and huge amount of throat lozenges I got through the day (should not have gone for drink the night before) Guest Speakers for the day were Andy Paciorek, Darren Charles, Eamon Byers, Iain Sinclair, Adam Scovell, James Riley and Gary Lachman. Also present and speaking at the Q & A was Shirley Collins. We were also very lucky to be present at the 1st Public Screening of Death and the Lady by Shirley Collins. Compare for the day was Chris Lambert (Songs from the Black Meadow)

Sadly I had to leave early to make a dash for my Coach so I missed most of the Q & A session where Jim Peters Darren Charles Andy Paciorek Sharron Kraus & Shirley Collins were joined onstage for this end session by Reece Shearsmith. I had a fine informative and wonderful day despite feeling grotty for the most of it.

Radio 4 The School is Full of Noises/John Paynter

How did tape loops, recycled everyday sounds and countless other weapons of the avant-garde find their way into school music lessons during the 1960s? That's the challenge for Ian McMillan as he sets out on the trail of one of music education's more unexpected byways.

It begins in an attic. Jonny Trunk is a collector of music's less travelled pathways, amongst them LPs of school children from the 1960s performing the most ambitious musical works imaginable. They have titles like 'Music for Cymbals', 'An Aleatory Game' and 'Don't Drink and Drive'.

So where did this all come from? Ian McMillan sets out to rediscover the creators of these musical curiosities, both the educators who conceived them and also the pupils themselves. Now in their 50s, what might the former pupils of the likes of Burnt Yates School and Hessington Primary make of those experiences from their youth?

Eventually Ian's travels take him to a dark place. A very dark place. In a cavern complex near Pateley Bridge he retreads footsteps taken by children not just for a recording project but also one of those schools documentaries we love to chuckle over at the distance of five decades. Only now can we discover what the class of '69 really thought of these ground-breaking musical adventures.

Missed this back in August, but finally caught up with it, and well worth the wait.
To hear this superb Radio 4 programme  go to here

Pattern Forms. Peel Away The Ivy Oct 21st 2016

The Pattern Forms is a collaborative project between Ed Macfarlane and Edd Gibson of Friendly Fires and Jon Brooks of The Advisory Circle. Peel Away the Ivy is the culmination of a fruitful collaboration that followed on from a debut single for Ghost Box’s Other Voices singles series in 2015. Release date Oct 21st 2016.

Folk Horror the British Museum Oct 16th

On 16th October I will be visiting the British Museum for a day of Folk Horror Revival. Master of ceremonies on the day is Chris Lambert curator and writer of Songs/Tales from the Black Meadow. The first Folk Horror Revival event will be taking place at the British Museum, London on  October 16th 2016, featuring talks, lectures, short films, poetry readings, museum tours and other wyrd and intriguing happenings.

Cult television programmes and films of the 1960s and 70s are inspiring a new generation of poets, writers, artists and musicians with their atmospheric themes of contemporary individuals interacting with a uniquely British world of ancient mythology and magic, often uncanny and unsettling.

This special event will feature lectures, film screenings, performances and gallery tours of featured objects in the Museum’s collection to explore themes of cultural rituals, earth mysteries, psychogeography and folklore. Come along and prepare to be scared!
For more info about the day and guest speakers please go to here

Sight & Sound Aug 2010. Old Weird Britain

After a lot of rummaging, tidying up and sorting things out I came across a copy of Sight and Sound from Aug 2010. In this issue is Rob Young's wonderful article on the films of Old Weird Britain called The Pattern Under the Plough. To read more on this please wander over to A Year in the Country.

Found Objects: F.C.JUDD Tape Recording for Everyone

Found Objects: F.C.JUDD Tape Recording for Everyone: I had the very good fortune to find this wonderful book by Electronic Music pioneer  F.C.JUDD  ( 1914–1992) . at a recent car boot sale. T...

Another almost completed track from the new album. I am plodding along at a slow old pace, trying to get the album completed for the new year. This is the 2nd track to feature the vocals of Douglas E Powell. Album is due for release early 2017.
Music
Keith Seatman
Vocals/Lyrics
Douglas E Powell