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

Stasis. Pye Corner Audio

The new album Stasis by Pye Corner Audio arrived through the letterbox this week. Available for pre-order from Ghostbox records now. Fans of PCA will not be disappointed with Stasis. Stasis is a fine sounding album, with a superb production and feel. At present my 2 personal favs are Ways Regained and Mountain View. Stasis will be released on Aug 26th.

Found Objects: Cold War Colossus

In light of the imminent release of the Year in the Country compilation The Quietened Bunker, I remembered that some years ago I posted this on Found Objects about the mighty Burlington Bunker.
Found Objects: Cold War Colossus: Air Vents Telephone Exchange P.A Systems valve amplifier The BBC Broadcast...........all is well Prime Ministers Bathroom Welcome to The mig...

Also A year in the Country has just posted this wonderful piece about signposted decommissioned Bunkers in the UK here. If you would like to investigate these things further then Nick Catford's book Secret Underground London is def worth a read.

A couple of new tunes, early mixes/excerpts

A Couple of early mixes/excerpts from the new album All Hold Hands and off we Go. Due for release early 2017.

The Quietened Bunker - Lower Level Clock Room

Here is my track/contribution to the new Year in the Country Album The Quietened Bunker. The track is called Lower Level Clock Room. Other musical contributions to the album are supplied by Grey Frequency, A Year In The Country, Panabrite, Polypores, Listening Center, Time Attendant, Unknown Heretic and David Colohan. Pre-Order is 1st August and Release date is 15th August.
There is an excellent, evocative piece on The Quietened Bunker and personal related history / explorations of an abandoned Cold War Monitoring Post by writer Simon Reynolds at his Retromania blog. The album will be available via the Artifacts Shop, Bandcamp Ether Victrola and Norman Records.

Test Transmission Archive Reel 26

As I upload selection of music I must point out that it is very very hot today. So with that I decided to stay in and not go out. The sun and I do not get on, I am more of an Autumn/Winter person really. So on Test Transmission Archive Reel 26 we have Syd Dale, Richards Dawkins, Belbury Poly, The Fall, The Flirtations, Orbital, Twisted Tongue, Oneohtrix Point Never, Visage, Hare and the Moon ft Alaska, Jodie Lowther, La Dusseldorf , Edwin Astley, Purson, Syd Barrett, Michael Nyman and The The Dandelion Set. Hope to get another mix done before the end of the year, still working on the next album. So until then, have a good summer.

The Quietened Bunker – preorder and release dates

Pre-order 1st August 2016.
Release date 15th August 2016.

Will be available from the  Artifacts Shop and our Bandcamp Ether Victrola.
Audiological Transmissions Artifact #4
The Quietened Bunker is an exploration of the abandoned and/or decommissioned Cold War installations which lie under the land and that would have acted as selectively populated refuges/control centres if the button was ever pushed; a study and reflection on these chimeric bulwarks and the faded but still present memory of associated Cold War dread, of which they are stalwart, mouldering symbols.
Audiological contents created by Keith Seatman, Grey Frequency, A Year In The Country, Panabrite, Polypores, Listening Center, Time Attendant, Unknown Heretic and David Colohan.

Mr Foots Front Room & a visit to the Seaside

 

Have been invited along by Mr Foot to play some records at the
Aurora Cafe in Southsea on July 28th.

So starting to compile lots of tunes for the night.

Will probably have way to many records to carry, must remember this
time to travel light for the journey.

Coming Soon The Quietened Bunker

Audiological explorations by:
Keith Seatman
Grey Frequency
A Year In The Country
Panabrite
Polypores
Unknown Heretic (The Owl Service / The Straw Bear Band / Rif Mountain) Listening Center
Time Attendant
David Colohan (United Bible Studies)

BFI Ghost Stories for Christmas expanded six disc collection

The rather splendid BFI Ghost Stories for Christmas expanded six disc collection.
Was trying to save this for the Autumn/Winter, but could not resist watching a couple, then ended up watching the all of them. A really wonderful collection.

Fractures Night and Dawn Editions Out Today

 

Fractures is a gathering of studies and explorations that take as their starting point the year 1973; a time when there appeared to be a schism in the fabric of things, a period of political, social, economic and industrial turmoil, when 1960s utopian ideals seemed to corrupt and turn inwards.A Year in The Country (Fractures 2016)

Further Audiological Contents Details:
1) The Osmic Projector/Vapors of Valtorr – Circle/Temple
2) The Land Of Green Ginger – Sproatly Smith
3) Seeing The Invisible – Keith Seatman
4) Triangular Shift – Listening Center
5) An Unearthly Decade – The British Space Group
6) A Fracture In The Forest – The Hare And The Moon ft Alaska/Michael Begg
7) Elastic Refraction – Time Attendant
8) Ratio (Sequence) – The Rowan Amber Mill
9) The Perfect Place For An Accident – Polypores
10) A Candle For Christmas/311219733 – A Year In The Country
11) Eldfell – David Colohan

Fractures is Available from

Norman Records 

Ghostbox Records Guest Shop 

A Year in the Country Artifacts Shop

Bandcamp 

New track Mr Metronome (vocals by Douglas E Powell)

This is a slightly shorter version of Mr Metronome a longer version will be on the new album All Hold Hands And Off We Go (late 2016/early2017) Douglas E Powell will also be supplying vocals for one other track on the album.

Fractures – Seeing The Invisible

Seeing the Invisible (which can can be heard here) is my contribution to the album Fractures, which has been wonderfully collated and put together by A Year in the Country. 

Fractures is a gathering of studies and explorations that take as their starting point the year 1973; a time when there appeared to be a schism in the fabric of things, a period of political, social, economic and industrial turmoil, when 1960s utopian ideals seemed to corrupt and turn inwards. Audiological contents created by Circle/Temple, Sproatly Smith, Keith Seatman, Listening Center, The British Space Group, The Hare And The Moon ft Alaska/Michael Begg, Time Attendant, The Rowan Amber Mill, A Year In The Country and David Colohan.
Transmission sent, received, transmitted: considerations of Fractures by Kim Harten at Bliss Aquamarine: “Keith Seatman provides a soundscape that combines chilling, horror filmic drones with whooshing electronic bleepage straight out of a 1970s sci-fi movie…
…excellent snapshot of current experimental music, showing the coexistence of darkness, strangeness, and profound beauty.“
Fractures is available for pre-order and is released on June 16th

Music for Zombies: A Rest Before the Walk - Keith Seatman - Review

A Nice review from the Music for Zombies Blog.

Music for Zombies: A Rest Before the Walk - Keith Seatman - Review: Click to listen/buy. A Rest Before the Walk by Keith Seatman And so I rest before my walk. I put Keith Seatman's new album into the player and begin my ritual. I know it will be good for me. I have been Around the Folly and Downhill. 

Games For May. Black Meadow Relaunch

 

May 29th will see the relaunch of "Songs from the Black Meadow".
MFZ have released a mix that includes tracks from the album and extracts from short stories and poems written especially for the event by Chris Lambert.

Tales from the Black Meadow. Where it all began.