This Quiet World

Originally released 22 years ago  in January 2003 this was the first album I made under the Psychic Space Invasion name - a name I used for years before reverting to my given name and then more recently to The British Space Group.  My old punk band had just broken up and I wanted to carry on working with the more experimental side of what we had done so armed with a PC, some bootleg software and samples and a love of generally unsettling sounds I started tinkering.

Copies of 'This Quiet World' (the name was a homage to the brilliant New Zealand movie 'The Quiet Earth') were originally only given out to a few friends who were curious about what I was doing at the time. They seemed to like it and word spread and more and more people asked for copies.  I've no idea how many I made - it wasn't a huge amount - but those copies went all around the world and occasionally folks still message me about how much they liked this one.  

In the spirit of it's genesis it's free to download; always has been and always will be.

It started me along a path I'm still walking to this day on which I've made a lot of cool and talented friends and without it I perhaps would never have got to the point of starting Wyrd Britain and so it makes me happy and I hope you enjoy it.  

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If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain

Affiliate links are provided for your convenience and to help mitigate running costs.

The Machinery of the Moment

Wyrd Britain is a blog about stories, about the fictions we create around this odd little country some of us call home; stories about thin places and lost places, stone circles and ancient woodlands, about rabbit holes and hills of dreams, time travellers and triffids.  

The Wyrd Britain label expands on this theme by releasing music that also tells stories,  music with a narrative and a sense of the mysterious that would be at home within the occult territories of a stranger Britain.

Following on from 2020's 'The Ley of the Land' 'The Machinery of the Moment' tells a story of an extended moment. Of the point where perception of time - or perhaps even time itself - collapses and we exist in a state of timelessness; a minute in an hour, an hour in a minute, a lifetime lived in the second between the tick and the tock.

'The Machinery of the Moment' is the fifth release from Ian Holloway's current project 'The British Space Group'.  It is a deliberate attempt to merge the music he has created under various guises over the last two decades and released on labels like Quiet World, Fungal and Siren Wire with his love of the strange and supernatural fiction featured on the Wyrd Britain blog. 

'The Machinery of the Moment' is available for download or as a limited edition CDr by clicking on the player below.

 

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If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain

Affiliate links are provided for your convenience and to help mitigate running costs.

Quiet World

NOTE - not long after I posted this Bandcamp changed their policy with regard to the whole tax kerfuffle which meant that the albums could stay up.

For the last 11 or so years I have been making music (under a number of aliases) and running a little label called Quiet World.  If there was a competition for the world's smallest label Quiet World would definitely be in with a shout but over the years I have released a fairly large amount of music from some really rather amazing musicians including 2 albums by legendary Fluxus composer Philip Corner.

Whilst Quiet World the label will continue the new EU rules on VAT on sales of downloads mean that maintaining the digital side of things will, from New Years Day 2015, become far more work than it is worth and so (almost) all the music on the Quiet World Bandcamp page will be deleted.

So, with only two days to go until they all go to that big Recycle Bin in the sky I thought I'd share with you all some of the noises I've made over the last decade and a bit.

Obviously if you're reading this in 2015 only this link for the free download of 'This Quiet World' will remain active.

My music is predominantly slow, low and quiet, dealing in deep, dark tonal work and drawn out drones often mixed with field recordings.  Depending on my mood I alternate between using synthesised and acoustic sounds as the predominant noises.  Sometimes the music is wilfully abstract, other times cosmic, mellow, tuneful or creepy.  Hopefully (if you're quick) you'll find something you like.

Below is a small selection of what's there, there are lots more. Each album is priced at £2.50 but obviously can simply be streamed for the next couple of days.

Peace
Ian

Simple Ghosts and Lazy Old Bones
An album I made with two close friends featuring guitar, electronics, the gate to a local park (on 'I am an Owl') and theremin.




Strange Pilgrims
Made with Arizonan field recordist Banks Bailey using my electronics and his recordings of a Hermit Thrush.




The Earth in Play
A very mellow two song set of deeply ambient pieces.




Phantasms I & II
The first two parts of my personal tribute to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.  The third will now only be available on the actual CD release of all 3 volumes.






Walking Through Fireflies
A very personal set of ambient pieces created as a tribute to a friend now sadly passed.