Out today is the first of two new releases on Quiet World; 'The World After Autumn' by me.
I've been slowly piecing this one together for quite a while. The album's longest track ' The Daughter of the Sea and Me' is layer upon layer upon layer of sounds and took over a year to get to the point where I was happy with the mix.
In a way it's almost a follow up to the 'Simple Ghosts...' album I made with Rhod and Steve the other year in that it's almost entirely acoustic and is very much a product of my various environments with sounds sourced from my garden, my classroom, one of the local beaches and of course my cramped and cluttered studyo (part study / part studio).
It's available on CDR in the usual very limited signed and numbered edition of 50 from www.quietworld.co.uk or as a download from the Bandcamp link at the bottom of this post.
i hope you like it.
Friday, 22 November 2013
Thursday, 31 October 2013
Wonderfully wooden reasons
now online are the first updates of the new 'look' Wonderful Wooden Reasons. it actually looks exactly the same but instead of doing the monthly update thing that has been driving me nuts for the last few years I'm adopting a more writer friendly as and when method that I can fit easier around my workload.
here's the link to the WWR site - www.wonderfulwoodenreasons.co.uk
I've also just uploaded a new mix covering this months reviews..
here's the link to the WWR site - www.wonderfulwoodenreasons.co.uk
I've also just uploaded a new mix covering this months reviews..
Sunday, 15 September 2013
All You Need Is (Geoff) Love
The first album I ever bought was a copy of 'Star Wars and other Space Themes' by Geoff Love and his Orchestra. It was about 1979 and I bought it in a jumble sale in next town along from the one i grew up in. I think i paid a staggering 10 pence for it but I can't be sure. I remember my mother looking at it disdainfully and asking what on earth I wanted it for which even at the time - at the grand old age of 9 - i thought was the stupidest question ever. i mean look at it. it's beautiful
She relented and I walked home the happiest kid in town and only got happier when the needle hit the groove. I cannot begin to tell you the joy this album gives me. the version of the Doctor Who theme is to die for and Star Trek isn't too far behind. This was the beginning for me of a love for rearranged cheesy lounge music that has never gone away.
A good few years later a friend - now sadly no longer with us - turned up at my house with a gift he'd dug out of the back of a cupboard where it had languished for about a decade. he handed be the carrier bag and my breath caught in my throat as i pulled the ugliest LP cover ever made from the bag.
It's another frankly awesome experience of the finest cheese. The drum break in Batman is blistering. Steve Austin never sounded so kitsch, Wonder Woman would still be shaking her star spangled booty and Spider Man is doing anything a spider can but he's doing it with a strut.
There are a couple of odd choices in there that don't really live up to the Superhero billing. Dick Barton, The Saint and Blake's Seven not really living up to the title. But album run times need to be filled and there were only so many superhero films and TV shows.
Through the rest of his career Love continued to churn out the reworked themes. Westerns, TV shows, Disaster movies all felt his baton waved over them. The Bond one is another to look out for.
He also did many, many more albums of love themes, kids music, etc. there's a banjo one, several with Shirley Bassey and the one with my favourite title 'The Biggest Pub Party in the World: 36 Boozy Ballads' which is one of the most 1970s British sounding titles ever.
Anyway, if you live in the UK and have ever looked in the record racks of a charity shop you will have seen many of Geoff's albums. I counted 23 in one box once. Most of them are pretty awful but in amongst them are some real gems like the ones above. So, to celebrate Mr Love and his busy, busy orchestra here is a mix I've made featuring some of my favourites from the 4 albums I've shown you up there. Hope you enjoy.
Monday, 9 September 2013
In Space No-one Can Hear The Quietude
I'm having great fun making Mixcloud mixes at the moment. I thoroughly enjoy doing the WWR ones but I'm in dire need at the moment of finding a way of making the zine into something that fits into the busy busy of my life. I have an idea but that's something to lay on you all another time. there is a new issue almost ready to go i just want to get two and a half more reviews down and then it'll go online later this week.
In the meantime I'm exploring different sides of my musical tastes that don't really get a look in within WWR. I adore lots of genres of music. I'm a magpie for the stuff. if i find a genre i don't know I'll attack it and strip mine it of everything i like. The Quietude mixes I've been doing of late are kinda reflecting some of these, in particular the more spacey and / or library music based ends.
Anyway, there's a new one (#13) gone online called 'Outer Space & Outta Sight'. It features some library music, some Daniel Padden, some ukulele Star Wars, some Krautrock, some Bernard Hermann and a little bit of nu-jazz.
it's here - i hope you dig it.
In the meantime I'm exploring different sides of my musical tastes that don't really get a look in within WWR. I adore lots of genres of music. I'm a magpie for the stuff. if i find a genre i don't know I'll attack it and strip mine it of everything i like. The Quietude mixes I've been doing of late are kinda reflecting some of these, in particular the more spacey and / or library music based ends.
Anyway, there's a new one (#13) gone online called 'Outer Space & Outta Sight'. It features some library music, some Daniel Padden, some ukulele Star Wars, some Krautrock, some Bernard Hermann and a little bit of nu-jazz.
it's here - i hope you dig it.
Stewart Lee and the Children of the Stones
I'm entirely certain that there are plenty of people out there who share my love of the odd, the fantastical and the wonderful in British film and television of the 60s and 70s.
I was giving 'Children of the Stones' a long overdue rewatch the other day whilst simultaneously googling the show and cast members to see what else they got up to when i came across a 30 minute BBC radio docu on the series called Happy Days: The Children of the Stones narrated by Stewart Lee. I already knew he was a fan from the segment he did a few years back for one of Charlie Brooker's shows where he compared 'CotS' and 'The Changes' to more modern fare, 'Skins'.
The 'Happy Days' doc is light but fun and is well worth a listen if you're a fan.
I was giving 'Children of the Stones' a long overdue rewatch the other day whilst simultaneously googling the show and cast members to see what else they got up to when i came across a 30 minute BBC radio docu on the series called Happy Days: The Children of the Stones narrated by Stewart Lee. I already knew he was a fan from the segment he did a few years back for one of Charlie Brooker's shows where he compared 'CotS' and 'The Changes' to more modern fare, 'Skins'.
The 'Happy Days' doc is light but fun and is well worth a listen if you're a fan.
Saturday, 31 August 2013
27 well spent minutes
I've just finished watching this rather lovely little documentary about Bruce Russell of New Zealand's finest sound manglers The Dead C.
It was made by his daughter for a school project and is very much deserving of your time.
27 minutes with Mr. Noisy- a documentary about Bruce Russell from Olive Russell on Vimeo.
It was made by his daughter for a school project and is very much deserving of your time.
27 minutes with Mr. Noisy- a documentary about Bruce Russell from Olive Russell on Vimeo.
Friday, 23 August 2013
Friday, 2 August 2013
from irish quiet places with love.
i'm coming to the end of a week long jaunt to the far side of ireland - dingle to be precise - and have managed to avoid getting too wet. have also got two nice quiet field recordings from two Irish churches. one that had building work going on outside and the other had tourists wandering around. at a cursory listen the sound pretty nice.
i'll post them when i get home.
also went to a fabulous little museum and took lots of photos.
Friday, 26 July 2013
Just like Martin Luther King, I had a dream...
except in mine I was at a garden party where one of the guests suddenly floated up into the air and was shot.
everyone panicked except me and Ms. Marple who soon realised that the dead man was the Mekon. We investigated and discovered that the killer was a Treen named Lurpak.
it wasn't as deep or as profound as MLK's but at least now the Mekon won't be terrorising the 1950s of the future & Mars is free of his tyranny but I bet Dan Dare is spitting feathers at not being there at the end.
Ms. Marple for the win.
everyone panicked except me and Ms. Marple who soon realised that the dead man was the Mekon. We investigated and discovered that the killer was a Treen named Lurpak.
it wasn't as deep or as profound as MLK's but at least now the Mekon won't be terrorising the 1950s of the future & Mars is free of his tyranny but I bet Dan Dare is spitting feathers at not being there at the end.
Ms. Marple for the win.
Thursday, 25 July 2013
The siren call of sleep
About a year ago I was honoured to release a frankly beautiful album of Eric Satie pieces as interpreted by Susan Matthews. I'd been listening to her music (via Wonderful Wooden Reasons) or some time and when at the beginning of 2012 I decided to reboot Quiet World and start featuring a wider variety of people she was one of the first people I asked. Even though she only lived a half hours journey away we had never met and indeed only did so when she moved slightly further away. We now meet up semi-regularly for delicious food and chat at a nice little vegetarian cafe in Carmarthen.
Well, this week she has very kindly released one of my releases - Somnia - on her own Siren Wire label. It's a deep and dark soundscape piece that is an evocation of sleep and dream. As a borderline insomniac I have a love / hate relationship with sleep. I find it frustrating as it's often slightly out of reach and so when I finally hit a point where sleep is easily attainable I sleep too deeply for the dreams to surface with me leaving them as vague and indistinct sensations that can then colour the rest of day.
Somnia is an interpretation of this; the flashes of emotion, the spasms of recollection, the glimpses of essence and the phantasms of memory.
“What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams.”
Werner Herzog
Well, this week she has very kindly released one of my releases - Somnia - on her own Siren Wire label. It's a deep and dark soundscape piece that is an evocation of sleep and dream. As a borderline insomniac I have a love / hate relationship with sleep. I find it frustrating as it's often slightly out of reach and so when I finally hit a point where sleep is easily attainable I sleep too deeply for the dreams to surface with me leaving them as vague and indistinct sensations that can then colour the rest of day.
Somnia is an interpretation of this; the flashes of emotion, the spasms of recollection, the glimpses of essence and the phantasms of memory.
“What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams.”
Werner Herzog
Tuesday, 16 July 2013
I've heard about this thing called sleep
it sounds amazing.
i'd like to try it.
i'd like to try it soon.
i'd like to try it.
i'd like to try it soon.
Sunday, 14 July 2013
Funk This Funking Heat
The UK is melting / basking (depending on your perspective) in a heat wave at the moment so I thought it was time to share some of the sultrier sounds from my record collection.
So, for your delectation, here is a selection of European library and soundtrack pieces.
So, for your delectation, here is a selection of European library and soundtrack pieces.
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
This music is Radiophonic
as is usually the case I find myself almost completely unable to slow down now that I'm on holiday. I'm 4 days in and I've posted a new issue of the zine, done two new Quietude mixes and booked a gig (more on which in another post on another day). I'm awful at relaxing.
anyway, here's the new mix. it's one that expresses a personal passion and one I've been wanting to do for a while now. hope you enjoy.
As I'm sure long time readers and listeners will have gathered I absolutely love this shit. Love to the point that I've done two EPs of my own take on Radiophonic music. I'm currently working on Part 3 which should be out by the end of the year but in the meantime here's 'Phantasms' parts 1 & 2...
anyway, here's the new mix. it's one that expresses a personal passion and one I've been wanting to do for a while now. hope you enjoy.
Monday, 8 July 2013
Reasons that are wonderful 1...2...3
It's Monday afternoon, it's really bloody hot and my hay fever hasn't kicked in for which I am extremely grateful. yesterday was an absolute dog of a day filled with sneezing, sniffling and general bleurgh. I'm new to all this hay fever palaver as I never had it before about two years ago. I'm not a fan.
anyway through the fug I've finally managed to get a new issue of Wonderful Wooden Reasons online featuring write ups of...
Music
Andrea Borghi - Vetrale
Bruno Duplant - Quelques Usines Fantomes
The Infant Cycle - Drop Out Center
Mark Lorenz Ksela - Eins+
Mecha/Orga - 53:30
Monos - Everyday Soundtracks
Joao Castro Pinto - Panaural
David Rothenberg - Bug Music
Carlos Suarez Sanchez - Transit Mundi
Keith Seatman - Boxes Windows & Secret Hidey-Holes
Teledu - Soiling Charge
Books
Douglas Adams & Gareth Roberts - Doctor Who: Shada
Derf Backderf - My Friend Dahmer
Mark Gatiss - Doctor Who: Last of the Gaderene
K.W. Jeter - Infernal Devices
Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill - Nemo: Heart of Ice
Movies
A Good Day to Die Hard
The Battery
Battle Los Angeles
Blindness
Conan the Barbarian
Iron Man 3
Pandorum
Priest
Seven Psychopaths
Terminator: Salvation
there's a Mixcloud also which I'll put here for those of you who don't want the words.
anyway through the fug I've finally managed to get a new issue of Wonderful Wooden Reasons online featuring write ups of...
Music
Andrea Borghi - Vetrale
Bruno Duplant - Quelques Usines Fantomes
The Infant Cycle - Drop Out Center
Mark Lorenz Ksela - Eins+
Mecha/Orga - 53:30
Monos - Everyday Soundtracks
Joao Castro Pinto - Panaural
David Rothenberg - Bug Music
Carlos Suarez Sanchez - Transit Mundi
Keith Seatman - Boxes Windows & Secret Hidey-Holes
Teledu - Soiling Charge
Books
Douglas Adams & Gareth Roberts - Doctor Who: Shada
Derf Backderf - My Friend Dahmer
Mark Gatiss - Doctor Who: Last of the Gaderene
K.W. Jeter - Infernal Devices
Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill - Nemo: Heart of Ice
Movies
A Good Day to Die Hard
The Battery
Battle Los Angeles
Blindness
Conan the Barbarian
Iron Man 3
Pandorum
Priest
Seven Psychopaths
Terminator: Salvation
there's a Mixcloud also which I'll put here for those of you who don't want the words.
Saturday, 6 July 2013
The Taste of the Weekend
Morning folks
It's the first Saturday of my holiday and I'm starting to relax but am still pretty twitchy from the comedown from the unrelenting furore of the end of the academic year. to try and meld my restlessness with the more relaxed me that I'm trying to head towards I spent the morning making a new Quietude mix. It's been a while since i did one of these and it was a bit of fun.
those of you with eagle ears may notice a snippet of an, as yet, unreleased track from me at the end.
It's the first Saturday of my holiday and I'm starting to relax but am still pretty twitchy from the comedown from the unrelenting furore of the end of the academic year. to try and meld my restlessness with the more relaxed me that I'm trying to head towards I spent the morning making a new Quietude mix. It's been a while since i did one of these and it was a bit of fun.
those of you with eagle ears may notice a snippet of an, as yet, unreleased track from me at the end.
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