Our Secret Place

From my album Boxes Windows & Secret Hidey Holes, here is a video for the track Our Secret Place. Filmed out and about in Hampshire, Wiltshire and Wales. Still a handful of CDs left at the mo, but will get a re-press soon.

Bernard Cribbins Radio 4

Fantastic program about Bernard Cribbins on Radio 4 today. Part 2 being broadcast next Thursday at 11.30am. In part 1 Bernard chats about his early years in acting, his National service, fishing Carry on Spying and being directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Looking forward to part 2 next week, Jackanory Wombles Dr Who and lots more. I did not realise he was 85. Its on BBC iPlayer for another 6 days

Its a bit of a Twitter

After a lot of delay I am finally on Twitter. Last year I joined Facebook and lasted 23 hrs, then got bored with it. So if you go to https://twitter.com/KeithSeatman you just might every now and then catch a very dull and pointless Tweet from me. Who knows??? this might last a lot longer than 23hrs.

Shindig 32 (its a Whopper)

I have just got this months copy of Shindig magazine, and what a whopper it is. We have Interviews with James Cargill (Broadcast), Jim Jupp Julian House (Ghostbox) a look at The Childrens Film Foundation  The Sweet and also The rise and fall of Italian Giallo. Thats me taken care of for the evening. Feet up Glass of wine and Shindig 32.

Archive Reel 13 (a tad early)

Here a tad earlier than I anticipated is Test Transmission Archive Reel 13. To take us into the spring we have music from William Basinski, Prince Rama, Red Crayola, Scarfolk Council, Mark Fry, Sarah Angliss, Professor Elemental and loads more to get your feet tapping and your head throbbing. I will be spending the Spring working on a very strange and odd Audio project with my friend Mr Stevens (more on that later) so I hope to have Archive reel 14 ready for you all by late June or Early July. So for now TATA.

Dad knew Gurney Slade

The Strange World of Gurney Slade was 1st broadcast on Saturday 22nd of October 1960 on ITV at 8.35pm. By episode number 3 it had been moved to the much later slot of 11.10pm.

I 1st became aware of The Strange World of Gurney Slade a couple of years ago and really could not believe how good this strange surreal odd and bizarre program was.

At the time (1960) there really was nothing on TV to compare this series with. Written by Anthony Newley (who also played Gurney Slade) Sid Green and Dick Hills, in the 1st episode we see a standard sitcom family set up, then after repeatedly being asked a question by the sitcom actors Newley gets up, walks through the 4th wall past the cameras  and out of the studio into the street. From here on we follow Gurney through all sorts of strange a surreal events. In episode 4 we see a court case unfold in which Newley/Gurney is accused of not being funny and having no sense of humor, and Gurney/the series is put on trial. This episode in particular does remind me very much of The Prisoner.

The theme for The Strange World of Gurney Slade was composed by Max Harris, the single version managed to reach number 10 in the charts and stayed there for 5 weeks. Most people will remember the music from Vision On when it was used in the clock sequence.

So what has all this got to do with my Father?????? when I was growing up everytime Anthony Newley appeared on TV or the Radio my Dad would inform us that he knew Anthony Newley, I was quite impressed that my Dad knew someone famous, I also wondered how and when he knew him. The answer was quite simple and not very exciting at all. My Father had served with Newley when he was called up to do his 2 years National Service. My Father also did a very bad impersonation of Newley as well. Obviously I have no idea what my Father thought of The Strange World of Gurney Slade, or if he ever saw it???  But................my Dad knew Gurney Slade...........................Whoops!!!!! I should mention that all 6 episodes can be seen here.

WOW!!! Trunk 50p Friday

If like me, in the past you have bought some goodies from the wonderful Trunk Records, then 50p Friday is for you. I recently got an email informing me that the first Radiophonic Workshop single (Time Beat and Waltz In Orbit) would be available for 20p each TWENTY PENCE!!!!!!!!!. Well it seems that the boffins at Trunk have now decided to extend this idea to 50p Fridays. Every Friday Trunk Records will offer up a download (Album, Single EP Compilation) for 50p just for that day. So far we have an Eden Ahbez album and the Mighty Berned Cribbins ( I have an old EMI Starline Best of B C album, Gossip Calypso and Double Thinks are 2 personal favs). What does Mr Trunk have for us this Friday??????? I don't know, but I will be checking my email 1st thing Friday morning, or you could just go straight here with 50p at the ready. FIFTY PENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a way to start your Friday. UPDATE ALERT!!!!!! This week (Friday  22nd) The 50p treat was The MP3 soundtrack to the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore film Bedazzled.  Best 50p I have ever spent. 

Amateur Cine World Magazine and LP

Sometime ago I posted some copies of the wonderful Amateur Cine World magazine onto Found Objects. I was lucky to have found a pile of these magazines at Snoopers Paradise in Brighton. Last week I popped into a newly opened charity shop to have a very swift browse, and found this copy of the Amateur Cine World Music for your Movies album. What was even more pleasing was that on further inspection it still had the original dubbing licence enclosed in the sleeve. This album also has the wonderful Laurie Johnson track Las Vegas, which most of you will know as the Music from the long running (1962 - 1983) BBC Childrens program Animal Magic For more info on this wonderful album pop over to here

The Lost Hour

I have been asked to play a 1 hour DJ set at The King St Tavern Southsea on March 30th. This is In connection with Portsmouth's annual community arts festival 'The Lost Hour', 'The King Street Tavern is providing a day long session of live acoustic music and dj vinyl sets around the theme of 'time (sort of) and the hours we lose'. Live acoustic music sets will be occurring throughout the day, interspersed with The Tavern's own collective of djs & record collectors, creating a timely sound-scape of sofa loafing beats, with strange finds and odd ditties. Confirmed Acoustic Performers include: Lee Adach, Rhys Evans, Jonny Bell  Rex Domino. DJs include: Keith Seatman (Hello, Thats me) Mr. Foot Matt Esau Rusty Sheriff  Saturday 30th March 1pm-8pm.

Geoff Love Big Movie Themes

When I was a lot younger, there did not seem to be a Fathers Day, Christmas or Birthday when my Father did not receive a Geoff Love Movie Themes album. Now for those of you who might not know this (I am sure loads of you do) Geoff Love was a British Band/Orchestra leader, who recorded his own variations of movie themes for the EMI owned Music for Pleasure label. The Music for Pleasure label produced cheap budget albums which seemed to turn up in non traditional record outllets like WH Smith and your local News agent/Corner Shop (in fact the same News agents where I bought Night of the Crabs). Geoff Love's interpretations and arrangements of some of these themes, could be at times unusual to say the least. The Sax break on the Dr Who theme is always entertaining, and the Disco version of the  theme to Close Encounters is????? interesting.  All these albums at some time or other made their way into our house when I was growing up, and to tell you all the truth......I loved them all (with few exceptions of course)

1CD0332903 Sound Archive

Very happy to find out today that my album Boxes Windows and Secret Hidey Holes, has now been added to The British Library Sound Archive (formerly the National Sound Archive)
A very nice chap got in touch with me a few weeks ago and asked me if I would like to contribute a copy of the album to The British Library Sound Archive??? of course I said "yes", so as from today you can find me in The Sound Archive as Keith Seatman, Boxes Windows and Secret Hidey Holes or 1CD0332903 (now that has a nice ring to it)

Test Transmission Archive Reel 12

Test Transmission Archive Reel 12 by Keith Seatman on Mixcloud

Finally after a few busy old months here is Test Transmission Archive Reel 12. This time round we have music by Jonny Trunk, Ultravox!, The Langley School Choir, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Broadcast, Arban & Steve Severin, Simon Heartfield The Robert Mellin Orchestra, Vic Marrs and loads more, but way to much to list here right now. Next Test Transmission sometime in the spring.

The Wonderful World of Professor Elemental

I love this song by the Wonderful Professor Elemental, who is Professor Elemental?? what does he do?? Professor Elemental ether by choice or default has become a bit of a celeb on the SteamPunk scene, he also has a rather nifty dress sense. Professor Elemental's music is a cross between Hip Hop and Electro all performed in a very Victorian/Edwardian Style, with song titles like  The Great Race, I'm British, Penny Dreadful, Steam Powered and Cup of Brown Joy. His superb albums can be found on  Bandcamp. My favorite line from the Professor is on his song Penny Dreadful "Everything is possible, for a man in a top hat and a monkey with a monicle" Fantastic stuff indeed. I should also mention that the Professor can be heard performing vocal duties on  the track The Owl Club (Spacedog vs Professor Elemental) which can be found on The Spacedog Album Juice for the Baby. What more could you ask for?

Finally A New Album

Finally at last my new album Boxes Windows and Secret Hiddey - Holes is out now, and is available as a CD and Digital download from Bandcamp. The CD is £6 with free Download. 

Or £5 for Digital Download. Its all been a tad long winded trying to get the album finished, and I am only 6 months behind, so not bad by  my usual working standards. The video for the track The Woodcraft was finished way back last year, so that gives you an idea that I was being maybe a tad optimistic about my original release date (May September then October and finally Feb 2013) Righto I am of to plod along with some ideas for album number 3. 

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

Berberian Sound Studio Vinyl

Very happy chappy today. I have just been sent a copy of the Berberian Sound Studio soundtrack. Whilst drinking my choco coffee (and making another)  I have managed to listen to this 3 times in a row and believe me I must say how much I love this creepy and at times beautiful soundtrack. The soundtrack was composed by James Cargill and the late Trish Keenan of Broadcast. The superb artwork was produced by Julian House (you all knew that anyway) time for another listen I think.

paperwoodmetaldress

For the last 5 months I have had the pleasure of working with Hampshire based Artist John Thomson. John phoned me back in August and asked me if I would like to assist him with his A0 and A1 prints for an exhibition at The Bedales Gallery Petersfield. I said yes, we met and 5 months later after a lot of scanning, Photoshop work and copius amounts of coffee the exhibition is almost here. It was a fantastic experience helping John to get his ideas and thoughts onto screen and then printed. The Exhibition entitled paperwoodmetaldress can be seen Monday to Friday 2 - 5 and Saturday 10 - 1 at The Bedales Gallery Petersfield from 12th January to 13th February. 

Worth a visit I say.

John Thomson is known for his richly textured and crafted sculptures made both for public

sites and exhibition. His materials are primarily steel for small works with large scale commissions fabricated from stainless steel or cast in bronze.

Based in Hampshire (born in Dunedin, New Zealand) he has exhibited sculpture internationally for over thirty years in countries as diverse as Russia, Iceland and Ireland with artists including Richard Wilson and Darrell Viner. He was included in the survey of the RCC Letterkenny Collection (Ireland) in 2003 alongside Jeff Koons.

Drawing forms an essential part of his working process, moving from rough monochrome sketches through to highly coloured complex drawings and digital prints.

His drawings were included in the exhibition Fifty Years of British Sculptors’ Drawings – Musée des Beaux Arts de Besançon, alongside Armitage, Flanagan, Frink, Gilbert & George, Long, Mach, Nash, Moore, Plackman, Sandle and Willats.

“Nostalgia and precision, seriousness and wit, watercolour and metal – John Thomson’s drawings and sculpture contain observations in a manner which excite contrasting emotions whilst instantly engaging the viewer” Jacqueline Thalmann  
Curator, Christ Church Picture Gallery, Oxford University

RIP Gerry Anderson

Gerry Anderson

14th April 1929 - 26th December 2012

Electronic Music for Schools

Picked this wonderful book up recently. Showed it to my friend Mr Packer and we reminisced about many of the recording techniques (my fav was always turning the recording tape over and then turning it back, so anything you recorded was backwards). I should point out that Mr Packer was the 1st person I ever knew, who had a 4 track Tascam porta studio. For someone like me who had just mixed and bounced down from 1 cassette deck to another a 4 track porta studio was amazing. This book covers all sorts of fantastic topics like bouncing down, Tape splicing, making sound proofed boxes (shoe boxes stuffed full of cotton wool) for recording clocks etc. I recently saw some copies of this book on Amazon here. Definitely worth tracking down.

Some Presents from Christmas Past

Some time ago I was looking through an old box of family photos. Looking at these old images was the spark and inspiration for my new album Boxes Windows and Secret Hidy Holes, which is due out in 2013. But the new album is not what this post is about. As I was looking at these photo's I found a few old Christmas ones. A Photo of myself with my fav pressie from what ever year it might have been. So with this in mind I have decided to share with you all a glimpse at some wished for and received pressies from Christmas Past.
1st up is the colossus of digital technology, The MD2 Calculator??? I was desperate for a Calculator. In Dixons Store I had been looking at some very serious looking Calculators from Rockwell and Commodore and could not wait until Christmas day to get one. Imagine my surprise when I opened my present and it was not a Rockwell or Commodore but an MD2 Calculator?????? I was well chuffed (I really was) an MD2 was better than nothing at all. Within hours I had learnt how to type out silly words by holding the Calculator upside down. I had worked out how much pocket money I would have over the next 100 years and how many minutes there would be until my birthday. A few weeks later the battery ran out and the MD2 got put in the drawer for a very long time.

The Mighty MD2 Calculator

Image courtesy of Nigel Tout Vintage Calculator Museum

The Action Man Mercury Space Capsule was another desperately needed present. So desperate that as you can see from this photo of me I was yet again over the moon (sorry)

The Action Man Mercury Space Capsule was a superb chunk of molded plastic which

came in a rather hefty box, this box had a very dramatic Action Man in space image on the side. No space capsule would be complete without its Action Man Astronaut. And yes I got the Action Man Space suit as well. What deep space adventures I would have with all this.

But alas it was all to be short lived. On a deep space fly by of the sun (The Gas Fire on full blast) the imaginary heat sheild failed, and a large part of the capsule melted, imprisoning my Astronaut Action Man in a blob of plastic. That was the end of the Action Man Mercury Capsule. I should point out that leaving plastic toys in front of the fire is not very clever and can also lead to very pissed of parents.

My Commodore LED Digital Watch was as my mates in the playground put it "The Biz" I loved this Watch. At the time I truly believed that this Watch and its little red LED display were the future. One button on the side, pressed once, it showed the time, pressed twice the month and date. THE FUTURE at last. I remember walking into school with the sleeves of my Snorkel Coat rolled up, with my Commodore Watch on display. Hoping that everyone could see it, but at the same time hoping that the school, Pain Giver and Nut Job, did not decide that he wanted to wear it, or break it. The down side of these LED watches was that on a very bright sunny day, you could not see the LED numerals at all. So you would go around cupping your hand over the watch just to try and see what the time was, which never worked. After a while the battery ran out, the novelty of the LED watch wore of, and the Commodore watch joined the MD2 Calculator in drawer. But not to worry because The Trafalger LCD watch (with 3 buttons) would make all other watches in our house obsolete at a later date. 

The Commodore with its all functioning button

one press for time two for day and date

Sleep Games

I was very pleased to receive a copy of the new Pye Corner Audio album Sleep Games.
Now.......I am quite keen on Pye Corner Audio, and have enjoyed the Black Mill Tapes Vol 1, 2 and 3, which I have mentioned in previous posts here. I am very pleased to say that Sleep Games is as good, if not at times even better. Occasionally a feel for Phaedra/Rubycon era Tangerine Dream, Klaus Shultze, The BEF and even The Aphex Twin creeps in, but thats not a bad thing at all in my books (in fact a big plus in my world) One thing is for sure, Pye Corner Audio and Ghost Box working together was meant to be. This collaboration has produced a wonderful tense and at times even serene sounding album with a 1st class production from the mysterious Head Technician with mastering by Jon Brooks of The Advisory Circle. So thats my two bobs worth. If you have not got a copy, best you order one now.