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

Revbjelde - HOOHA HUBBUB

Release Date: March 6th 2020
Format: LP CD DL
Label: Buried Treasure

The 2nd album by Alan Gubby [ The Delaware Road] & his protean noise folk collective. Recorded in Berkshire, England between 2017 & 2019 “whilst enveloped in a post-referendum smog of lies, schemes & misinformation”. Shifting from psych rock to glam & motorik free jazz to industrial soundscapes, Hooha Hubbub is a kaleidoscopic call to action & a lament for a country that maybe never was. With guest appearances by:
Peter Hope: vocals [The Box, Richard H. Kirk]
Jim Lacey: drums [The Magic Mushroom Band, Astralasia]
Andy Prince: bass + chapman stick [Sham 69, Damo Suzuki]
Emma Churchley: vocals [The Silvermoths]
Tim Hill: saxophones [Tongues Of Fire]
Steve Christie: vibraphone + ondioline [Vintage Keys]
Mordecai Smyth: Mellotron [Mega Dodo]
Jez Butler: mastering [The Twelve Hour Foundation]

Some Random Christmas thoughts and stuff

When I was growing up, we had some very chunky coloured lights on our Christmas tree.
Very much like the lights on the right side of this image.

It snowed once quite close to Christmas/or just after.
I look quite confused or bemused in this pictue. I loved that coat.

Picked this up some years ago. Love the cover and some very lovely songs on it.

Always wanted a Johnny Seven OMA for Christmas. But one year I got this...Flight Deck.

and an Airfix Pontoon bridge

A selection of the much treasured Christmas Annuals.
They are still with me and are happy living on the shelf.

A Christmas tradition to watch every year.

There are Christmas songs, and then there is Billy Childish Christmas 1979

Were you Scarred for life?

A few weeks back the Scarred for life CD was released. All (and I mean all) proceeds went to Cancer Research. It sold out almost instantly, but the good news is that more copies will be available in January 2020. I had the the priviledge of being invited to contribute a track to this mighty compilation. The idea was simple, all artists had to contribute a track that was in some way inspired by the "terrifying televisual sounds of our childhoods" The idea was concived by Kev (Soulless Party, Black Meadow) Oyston, Colin (Castles in Space) Morrison and Stephen (Scarred for Life Book) Brotherstone. My track Words from the Wireless was inspired by the 1972 ATV series Escape into Night which in turn was based on Catherine Storr's book Mariane Dreams.

There are so many artists/musicians that I like, admire and have listened to, who have contributed to this project; the list is vast and quite staggering.
A tip of the hat and a thank you to you all.

Scarred for life CD and Digi available from here.

There was a certain something about watching television in the 70s and 80s. The static crackle when you switched on your set. The faint smell of ozone as it slowly warmed up. The chunky buttons (including such flights of fancy as 'BBC3' and 'ITV2"). And, of course, the
programmes themselves. Whether it was HTV's seminal Folk Horror tinged children's classics 'Sky' or Children of the Stones, BBC1's fiercely intelligent 'adult-show-for-kids' 'The Changes' or ITV's everyday tale of alien possession, 'Chocky', the era was bursting with inventive, unforgettable and yes, terrifying shows. The only thing more memorable than the actual programmes were their theme tunes. The unique talents of Paddy Kingsland, Sidney Saget, Eric Wetherell, John Hyde and many more were responsible for the atmospheric, eerie soundscapes which formed the aural backdrop to our favourite shows. Which is where Kev Oyston (The Soulless Party) and Colin Morrison (Castles in Space) come in. They've corralled the best of today's innovative electronic musicians, and together they've created 'Scarred For Life: The Album', a collection of new music inspired by the terrifying televisual sounds of our childhoods.

All proceeds for this album will go to aid Cancer Research UK, a charity which is close to the hearts of some of our artists, one of whom is currently undergoing treatment for cancer.

Enjoy. And remember: DO have nightmares. They're good for you.

-Stephen Brotherstone & Dave Laurence, co-authors 'Scarred For Life Volume One: the 1970's'. September 2019. 

Time to Dream but Never Seen (Feb 28th 2020)

Time to Dream but never Seen.
Release Date Feb 28th 2020

 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 would like to thank Spencer Robinson for
invaluable production support
Cat: CiS042

 Keith Seatman’s music is an anachronistically repurposed assemblage of sounds, melodies and technologies plundered from different time zones. Perhaps no surprise as he lives and records a stone’s throw from the jaded, yet jaunty seafront of Southsea in Portsmouth on the south coast of England. This album however is far from being a haphazard and spontaneous collage. Keith’s busy and dense soundworld is composed though a very deliberate and painstaking process. Unlikely musical and sonic juxtapositions artfully evoke a sense of place and narrative. This latest excursion is bad-trip psychedelia shot through with wistful and whimsical melodies and occasional haunted voices.
So, on Last One In for example, what could be a chirpy and exciting theme tune to a 1970s kid’s adventure series is modulated into a minor key by a sinister synth bass line and menaced by a stomping bother boy rhythm. In the opening track On to the Pier & Down to the Sea, the amusement arcade din is submerged in a watery digital swirl during. Likewise, on Tippy Toe Tippy Toe the tiddly-om-pom-pom of the pier is heard from the point of view some approaching aquatic creature or perhaps by a drowning man. This track heralds the closing section of the album which shifts focus from the seafront to its rustic precursor, the mayday fair. Something weird comes to the village in Waiting by the Window. Sounding as if late period Radiophonic Workshop (when they got hold of expensive synths) had popped back 15 years to work with their boffinish tape wielding forbears. It summons an atmosphere like a Nigel Kneale drama or one of those folk-horror inspired episodes of Dr.Who. 
Finally, the album’s title track seems to offer a chance of escape to a more rustic idyll 
with melancholy mellotron flute and mumbled nursery rhymes. But as the album 
closes it feels like a relentlessly inescapable holiday-special steam train drags us back
On to the Pier & Down to the Sea. Jim Jupp, Ghost Box Records   (extract Sleeve Notes) 

 

Test Transmission Archive Reel 38

A tad late but here is the last mix of the year. Should have put this up back in October but got sidetracked with other things. So for the end of the year for your listening pleasure there is Jodie Lowther, Johnny Flynn, Kate Tempest, Paddy Kingsland, The Utopia Strong, Gasman, Tomita, Geoff Love, Plone, Bellprover, Revbjelde, Misty Bywater and all sorts of other audio goodies (not The Goodies,but maybe next time) Have a good winter, enjoy yourselfs and keep warm.
"A simulated tree, you can sit round the tree"

Wyrd Britain: Alice Through the Looking Glass

Wyrd Britain: Alice Through the Looking Glass: In 1974 a young composer named Peter Howell joined the BBC Radiophonic Workshop where he stayed for the next 23 years composing some of ...

More info over the coming Winter months

More info over the coming Winter months
Castles in Space