Wyrd Britain Mix 11

It's been a long time since I've made one of these but today I got the urge again.  A few years ago I made a run of mixes featuring a blend of old favourites and new friends and thought it was about time I made a new one.

Opening the mix is X-TG, former Throbbing Gristle members Peter Christopherson, Cosey Fanni Tutti & Chris Carter are here joined by Antony (now Anohni) on vocals, producing a stunning interpretation of Nico's 'Janitor of Lunacy' which you can find on the bands 'Desertshore / Final Report'.

'Possessors of the Orb' is taken from the eagerly awaited new Teleplasmiste album, 'To Kiss Earth Goodbye' released in early June on House of Mythology.  Band member Mark Pilkington recently contributed to our regular '3 Wyrd Things' slot which you can find here.

Embertides' is a collaboration between David Colohan of United Bible Studies and Grey Malkin (formerly) of The Hare and the Moon the pairing here making music of a deliciously darker hue than I'd previously heard from either before.

The great Paddy Kingsland I'm sure needs little introduction to readers of this blog and his composition here - 'Brighton Pier' - comes from 'The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy' which needs even less of one.

Heavy Water is another in a long line of pseudonyms adopted by Pk Chown the artist occasionally known as all of Action Catalyst and of Julius Vanderbilt, as half of James Beige and as an indeterminate amount of The Dandelion Set.  This album and more can be found at Fine Tune Recordings.

Grey Malkin (who has also done a '3 Wyrd Things' for us) has been on a roll of late and this, his most recent release, finds him in collaboration with Australian folk musician Adam Geoffrey Cole or Trappist Afterland as he's known to his mum.  The album is available from either chaps Bandcamp pages.

Hen Ogledd is a 4 piece consisting of Sally Pilkington (vocals), Dawn Bothwell (vocals & electronics), Richard Dawson (guitar & vocals) and Rhodri Davies (harp).  'Sky Burial' is taken from their third album 'Mogic' released on the Domino Records offshoot Weird World.

Revbjelde are old friends of Wyrd Britain and this is the title track of their most recent album on Buried Treasure.  Watch out for Revbjelde and Buried Treasure's head honcho Alan Gubby's '3 Wyrd Things' in early June.

Closing the mix is Carmarthen based Susan Matthews heard here alongside her son Roan on guitar.  Susan has been making amazing music for years both solo and alongside such folk as Tony Wakeford, The Dead Mauriacs and me.  This song, taken from the album 'The Self -Harm Handbook', and many more can be found on her Siren Wire label page.



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Wyrd Britain Mix 10: Alan Gubby guest mix - Buried Treasures Albion

I'm very pleased to be able to bring to you the next in our series of guest mixes with this frankly stunning set of the Wyrdest of British musical delights compiled by Alan Gubby.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Alan he is a musician, with the band Revbjelde, and head honcho of the really very wonderful Buried Treasure label which over the last few years has released a string of fabulous records both new and old.  Indeed, if memory serves, last years Wyrd Britain's 'Best of 2015' list featured 3 of their releases and the 'Best of 2016' one already has one of theirs on it, the phenomenal 'A Thousand Strands' album by The Dandelion Set.

Alan is also a Radiophonic Workshop fanatic and so far has been responsible for the three compilations of Workshopper John Baker's music - the two volumes of the 'John Baker Tapes' on Trunk Records and 'The Vendetta Tapes' on Buried Treasure - all of which are utterly essential purchases for any fan of the BBCRW.

To give you some idea of just how diverse Alan's label is the most recent release is of a warehouse find of original copies of Konstantin Raudive's 7" of his experiments with communicating with the dead via 'electronic voice phenomena' - 'Breakthrough' - which older readers may remember was also issued as a flexidisc with copies of 'The Unexplained' and a sample of which can be heard in the mix.

So without further waffling on my part I invite you to sit back with a glass of something tasty and enjoy this wonderful and eclectic mix.

Wyrd Britain Mix 9

It's been a few months since we did one of these mixes so I thought it was high time for a new one.

This time we've included a couple of our favourites from last year, some old favourites and some highlights from the first few months of 2016, a year that seems determined to wipe out as many musicians and actors as it possibly can.  As I type this news has broke of the passing of Gareth Thomas who, as Roj Blake (in 'Blake's 7') and as Adam Brake (in 'Children of the Stones') amongst many other roles, is an icon of Wyrd Britain.  This one is for you sir.  We thank you for your work.

The player is, as ever, at the bottom of this post.

I hope you enjoy

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Opening this here cavalcade of sinewy, sonic shapeliness is the bone aching loveliness of The Dandelion Set whose gobsmackingly good new album we reviewed in these here pages a short while ago.  This track, 'Tone Garden', is an itty bitty ditty that seemed like too good an opener to not use especially as it begins with such cool opening dialogue.
https://buriedtreasure.bandcamp.com/album/a-thousand-strands-1975-2015

The horticultural theme is continued with one of my own tunes, 'The Synaesthetic Garden' by The British Space Group which is part of my 'Phantasms' trilogy of radiophonic miniatures newly collected together and released on disc and digitally as 'The Phanstasmagoria'.  You'll excuse the shameless self promotion but needs must and all that.
https://ian-quietworld.bandcamp.com/album/the-phantasmagoria-the-collected-phantasms-eps

Jon Brooks' 'Walberswick'was a real highlight of last year and here but one that was fairly difficult to get hold of and so here we present a track to help tide you over until a reissue appears.

Another one of last years gems was the debut EP from Reading's tongue mangling folktronica collective Revbjelde.  This years new album is a slightly more angular affair but one that is filled with delights such as this fun ditty that feels like it's been lifted from the opening credits of a 1970s kids TV show which is something Wyrd Britain heartily approves of.
https://buriedtreasure.bandcamp.com/album/the-weeping-tree

King Crimson are a band that never managed to grab me,  prog was never my thing, but I stumbled across this the other day and was a little bit blown away.  Prog tropes are noticeable by their absence and in their place is a rather lovely, floaty Krautrock-like guitar and electronica tune.

We gave an early shout out the Matt Saunders' Assembled Minds album in our best of 2015 list but as we had an early copy and it wasn't actually out until a few weeks into this year he's not actually featured in one of these mixes and it's something anyone with an interest in electronic music will thoroughly dig.
https://patternedair.bandcamp.com/releases

Orbital are one of those bands that always seem to have been there.  I still maintain that their version of the Doctor Who theme should have been used for the revised series but you can't have it all so here's a tune about, I presume, underwear.

I do like to include a Trunk Records release in these mixes and so this month it's the turn of the unusually named Cults Percussion Ensemble,  this is an album made by young (female) musicians living in and around the Aberdeen suburb of Cults - and you all thought it was something creepy - and features a young Evelyn Glennie as part of the group and it's an album I really can't recommend highly enough.
http://www.trunkrecords.com/turntable/cults.shtml

Drew Mulholland's Mount Vernon Arts Lab investigate the ghosts of martians past on a track from the Ghost Box reissue of the fabulous 'The Séance at Hobs Lane' before the Mix ends with a beautifully calm piece from Godflesh's Justin Broadrick's dark ambient project Final.

Wyrd Britain mix 8

As Autumn progresses and Winter looms I thought I’d make a, mostly, mellow and late night sounding mix to ease us all into November but then I flipped that on its head by putting a Syd Dale classic in the middle, oh well.

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Opening the mix is some glorious hauntological folk-tronica by Revbjelde, with guest vocals from Emma Churchley, taken from their fabulous 'The Weeping Tree' EP which has been one of a few things clamouring for space on my player of late.
https://buriedtreasure.bandcamp.com/album/the-weeping-tree

Next up is some very late era BBC Radiophonic Workshop with a track from Mark Ayres’ terrific soundtrack to the Sylvester McCoy Doctor Who serial ‘The Curse of Fenric’. Mark is also the curator of the workshop and one of the current touring line-up.

Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore released his second solo album this year made using his enviable collection of modular synths. The album, ‘MG’, is a sumptuous and rolling set of electronic burbles and bloops that manages to create a real period vibe whilst remaining utterly contemporary.

Someone else who manages this temporal juggling act, and does so perhaps better than anyone else, is Boards of Canada and their ‘Kid For Today’ is evidence of this with its textured washes , clattering rhythms and xylophone-esque melodies swirling through the fog of childhood half-memories.

Neil Fellows’ ‘Encounter’ is a tune I discovered on a very good Close Encounters of the Third Kind tribute album, 'Electronic Encounters'. Its hauntological reminiscence of both the film and the iconic melody made it for me the stand out track on what is a very fine collection.
https://electronicencounters.bandcamp.com/album/electronic-encounters-music-inspired-by-close-encounters-of-the-third-kind

John Keating’s ‘Space Experience’ is one I originally found in a box of LPs in a remote antique centre in mid Wales. The title and the words ‘featuring E.M.S. Synth VCS3’ were always going to be enough to get me to part with my money. The album is an odd mix of original tunes (like the one featured), show tunes (‘Jesus Christ Superstar’), cheesy pop classics (‘I Feel the Earth Move’) and theme tunes (‘Star Trek’).

Jon Baker is a name I’m sure is familiar to many of you. One of the classic triumvirate of Radiophonic Workshoppers Baker’s re-purposed and re-configured twangs, clangs, toots and boops are here melded with his keen Jazz sensibilities to soundtrack a 1960s crime show. Taken from the album ‘John Baker – The Vendetta Tapes’, out now on Buried Treasure.
https://buriedtreasure.bandcamp.com/album/the-vendetta-tapes

And so we arrive at an all time classic Syd Dale’s ‘Marching There and Back’ or more commonly known to entire generations of Brits as the theme tune from ‘Screen Test’. A more triumphant and exuberant piece of music you’d be hard pressed to find; just try and listen without singing along.

Keith Seatman is someone whose music I first heard in the context of my old experimental music zine, ‘WonderfulWooden Reasons’ and who’s album left me craving more. His latest, ‘A Rest Before the Walk’, is an utterly glorious selection of filmic folk and ghostly electronica that is utterly mesmerising from first to last.
https://keithseatman.bandcamp.com/album/a-rest-before-the-walk

Closing the mix is Howlround and abandoned playground’s collaborative track ‘OH’ made using micro-cassette field recordings, chimes and distant trains. This version is taken from the Xpylon charity comp but a different extended mix opens the fabulous new Howlround album, ‘Tales from the Black Tangle’.
http://thefogsignals.com/track/oh

Hope you enjoy.

Wyrd Britain 8 by Quiet World on Mixcloud

Wyrd Britain mix 7: Grey Malkin guest mix

Today Wyrd Britain is happy to present the first in an occasional series of guest mixes for our monthly mixcloud music session.  First up is Scottish musician Grey Malkin.

Grey Malkin is the brains behind 'The Hare and the Moon' whose music melds the dark majesty of Coil with the rural psychedelia of the British Acid Folk scene.  He is also a regular contributor to The Active Listener blogzine.  Below are his thoughts on the music that makes up his mix.

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Stone Angel – Stone Angel
I am a huge fan and an avid collector of the period of folk music in the late 60s/early 70s where something a bit darker and ‘out there’ permeated, creating what is now often labelled acid, wyrd or psych folk. Albums such as ‘Swaddling Songs’ by Mellow Candle, Caedmon’s self-titled debut album and those by Mr Fox, Sourdeline, Forest and Stone Angel are all exceptionally inspired and truly creative. Over the last few years their influence is really starting to be acknowledged which is gratifying and some of these recordings (which were often private pressings or sold very few copies at the time) have become easier to get hold of. Stone Angel’s debut is one such album and comes highly recommended; its gothic folk and chilling skeletal sparseness has been a huge influence on my own music.

Coil – Backwards
If I had to choose a band that has meant the most to me throughout the years Coil is the one that springs immediately to mind. I always return to them, they describe the world as I know it to be and how I perceive it. Liminal, lunar and lysergic their likes will never be seen of again. But the legacy they have left is some of the most emotive, transportive and pleasingly disturbed music that has ever and will ever exist. Everything is indeed backwards.

Human Greed – World Fair Theme
Human Greed (or Michael Begg) is, for me, one of the foremost composers or musicians working today. His music is just immense, the emotional impact of it and the ease with which it soaks into the air and the atmosphere. It doesn’t feel right at all to describe his music as ambient as it is not background in any sense, it is intensely affecting and demands full attention and care. I would recommend any of their work to a newcomer but ‘World Fair’ is a personal favourite, the attention to detail and the sheer beauty and melancholy of it is astounding. Michael was a first choice for me to master ‘Wood Witch’, the last The Hare And The Moon album, as I wanted something of that sense of size and space in how it sounded. He did a fantastic job.

Julie Covington – My Silks And Fine Arrays
This is more of a choice based on something I am listening to a great deal of just now rather than enduring fandom. I am not a massive aficionado of all of Julie’s material although I am a fan of her voice even on the songs which are not to my taste. It’s just a very pure, affecting and storytelling vocal performance; quite a folk singer’s voice in fact. I’m not one for warbling or showing off in music (except for prog rock in which the more absurd the better) and there is a simplicity that is powerful in how she expresses herself. It’s also a cracking song.

Caedmon – Aslan
Caedmon are one of my all-time favourite bands and their debut album is quite rightly viewed as an essential (acid) folk release. It pleases me that they formed in Edinburgh where I now reside and that I got to see them perform here a few years back when they reformed. It delights me even more that I have been able to work with Ken Patterson from the band on previous and forthcoming The Hare And The Moon material. It’s just such a magical album; the songs are otherworldly, exciting and unpredictable. Seek it out!

Nurse With Wound – Two Shaves And A Shine
Steven Stapleton has also been a constant inspiration to me, the notion that you can be a non-musician and it doesn’t matter – you can still create swathes of mood and sound that disturb, intrigue and have an impact upon the listener. He is also unconstrained by genre and you never quite know what you are getting with each new release, only that it won’t sound like anything else on this earth. His music is also exceptionally useful for annoying the neighbours, clearing out unwelcome guests and scaring small children. ‘Two Shaves And A Shine’, with its demented performance by Nurse collaborator and Current 93 frontman David Tibet alongside frantic mandolin solos, distorted guitar and a truly funky bassline is for me one of their classic ‘hits’.

United Bible Studies –The Lowlands Of Holland
This track features two singers which I could listen to all day, every day; Alison O’Donnell (from the afore mentioned Mellow Candle) and David Colohan. I especially like the way that, for the most part, this is straight folk however there are a few details and shadows in there that just twist the track slightly off kilter. It’s very subtle but powerfully done and there is a tangible darkness as a result. United Bible Studies just seem to be a bottomless well of inventive and unique recordings, they are hugely prolific yet everything they release has such a high quality control. That may be about to end as I’ve been recording with them! I’ve also recorded a track with Alison for the forthcoming ‘Songs From The Black Meadow’ compilation based on Chris Lambert’s superb book ‘Tales From The Black Meadow’.

Strawbs – Witchwood 
Simply here because it is a beautiful, eerie and timeless song that is perfectly formed, it is not extravagant or overdone in any way but is just as it should be. I do like the Strawbs and the album ‘From The Witchwood’ is probably the one I reach for the most. Is ‘prog folk’ a genre? If not it should be. Perfect for listening to sitting in the heart of a wood whilst growing a beard.

Wyrd Britain 7: Grey Malkin guest mix by Quiet World on Mixcloud

Wyrd Britain mix 6

It's a beautiful, sunny, late summer, Sunday afternoon here so I thought I'd share with you the latest Wyrd Britain mix.  This time out I've put together a summery soundtrack special.

Opening proceedings is Basil Kirchin's soundtrack to 1960s swinging London before Albert Elms clocks in with two minutes of The Prisoners time.  George Chisholm's trombone provides one of the most recognisable of cartoon themes and the legendary Barry Gray provides another.

Moving into the 21st century we find Broadcast running the 'Berberian Sound Studio' and then into a 1980s version of the far flung future with Ken  Freeman's synthtastic theme to The Tripods.

Two of my favourites next with Alan Tew's brilliant, and much used, theme for 'The Hanged Man' and then Geoff Love and his very busy orchestra provide their version of the sound of The Saints return.

Roy Budd stops trying to get Carter and instead goes after a funky 'Foxbat'. Edwin Astley is incidentally soundtracking Patrick McGoohan's second appearance in this mix and The BBC Radiophonic Workshop's Roger Limb looks for an aquatic spectre.

Finally, Mike Wilkinson conjures up a nude angel whilst trying not to get too much blood on one of Satan's toenails and Cat's Eyes open a very specific door for The Duke of Burgundy.

Enjoy.

Wyrd Britain 6 by Quiet World on Mixcloud

Wyd Britain Mix 5

After a short absence the Wyrd Britain mix makes a, hopefully, welcome return.

For your delight and delectation this time we are heading in a slightly more laid back and groovily spacey direction.

Opening proceedings is a pre Advisory Circle Jon Brooks lording it over both Woolworths and Bakerloo before we head back to the late 1960s to watch future BBC Radiophonic Workshop alumni Peter Howell along with musical partner John Ferdinando watch verbose flowers get their groove on.  Dub Syndicate serenade our favourite time traveller and The British Space Group travel to other world whilst Brian Bennett remains Earthborn.
Derek Scott treats us to some seriously groovy unusual sounds and BBC Radiophonic Workshop legend Dick Mills takes things slowly before turntablist Philip Jeck cleans up and the Penguin Cafe Orchestra explore the local fauna.

Hope you enjoy.

Wyrd Britain 5 by Quiet World on Mixcloud

Wyrd Britain Mix 4

Summer officially begins today which is just as well as this months Wyrd Britain mix has, I think, a distinctly lazy, hazy, summery feel to it.

Making up the mix this month is a collision of laid back library pieces, some acid-folk wistfulness, two glorious TV themes, some proto post rock and some actual and a little bit of (ch)easy listening to round things off in suitably groovy fashion.


Opening proceedings is the god like genius that is Basil Kirchin who is followed by Reg Wale's 'Fruity Flutes' used as the theme to Farmhouse Kitchen (got to be one of the greatest theme tunes ever).
Anne Briggs is Standing on the Shore before Wayne Hill's absolute classic 'Left Bank Two' the Vision On Gallery theme.
Talk Talk tell of the 'Myrrhman' and the massively under-rated Scottish bass wranglers Ganger make a regular appearance in one of my mixes.
Paul Giovanni documents 'Sunset' over Summerisle (and Sergeant Howie), Sounds Orchestral indulge in some not entirely orchestral sounding 'Soul Coaxing' and finally Tony Hatch is 'Herbin'.' about which we'll say no more.

Hope you enjoy.

Wyrd Britain 4 by Quiet World on Mixcloud

Wyrd Britain Mix 3

A new mix for a new month.

A mix of  acid folk, neo-krautrock, classic indie, wannabe trailer trash and soundtracking.

Hope you enjoy.

Freddie Phillips - Trumpton theme [00:00]
Half Man Half Biscuit - Time Flies By (when you're a driver of a train) [00:53]
Ten Benson - The Claw [03:30]
Magnet - Gently Johnny [06:24]
Appliance - Number Three Channel Is Clear [09:36]
Wolf People - Village Strollin' [13:51]
Julian Cope - They Were On Hard Drugs [16:23]
Queen - In The Death Cell [23:28]
Third Ear Band - Fleance [25:49]

Wyrd Britain 3 by Quiet World on Mixcloud

Wyrd Britain Mix 2

The second Wyrd Britain mix and one that launches us into a slightly more psychedelic and experimental direction than the first. 

hope you enjoy.

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - You Done My Brain In - 00:00
Syd Barrett - Dark Globe - 01:39
John Cale - Thoughtless Kind - 03:36
Hawkwind - The Forge of Vulkan - 06:02
The British Space Group - The Last of Time - 08:52
Adrian Corker - Springtide V2 - 16:15
Kemper Norton - 821.914 - 18:54
Peter Christopherson - In My Head a Crystal Sphere of Heavy Fluid - 25:14
Fresh Maggots - Rosemary Hill - 30:50
Michael Cashmore - Snow No Longer - 34:21

Wyrd Britain 2 by Quiet World on Mixcloud