THE STONE TAPE

Nigel Kneale's classic directed for BBC Radio 4 by Peter Strickland (Berberian Sound Studio, Duke of Burgundy) with music & sound by Broadcast's James Cargill.

BLACK AQUARIUS, RADIO 4

Happy Days: The Children of the Stones BBC R4

Having grumbled about the BBC in an earlier post I'd like to draw parishioners attention to what they do so well. This is Stewart Lee's fantastic documentary about Children of the Stones.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01n1rbx/Happy_Days_The_Children_of_the_Stones/
 

The Ghosts of Bush

Some of you may be familiar with Robin the Fog from Jonny Trunk's wonderful OST show on Resonance FM, but Robin (Warren)'s day or more usually night time job was as a studio manager at the BBC's World Service in Bush House, in London.

Before the BBC finally left Bush House in July, Robin put in some long and late hours haunting its massive Portland stone corridors to capture the sounds of the building and produced a Radiophonic sound collage of the results in one of the basement studios. I use the word "Radiophonic" in its strictest sense here, given that the album was produced entirely on tape using found sound sources and hand edited and produced in a BBC studio. Although not an official BBC recording, I think its fair to say that this may be the very last piece of true Radiophonics that will ever be produced. There's an interview with Robin at The Quietus here , and below is a clip from a World Service programme about the making of the album.


"The Ghosts of Bush" is a beautiful monument to the work of the World Service during its 70 year tenure here and more importantly perhaps to this awe inspiring building. Declared the most expensive building in the world when it was built in 1929 and said to be the inspiration for Orwell's Ministry of Truth.  The soundscape is more mournful than ghostly to my ears, really capturing a sense of loss - with beautiful moments when mechanical and ambient sounds swell out with an almost choral or orchestral feel. All the more impressive when you consider no artificial reverbs or other digital effects were used. I get the sense that this love letter to a building has been recorded and presented with great humility by Robin - light on concepts, ego,  mission statements and artifice (unlike a GB project )  and topped off with a pleasingly daft tip of the hat to Eno and Byrne in the title.



You can listen to the project below and also download here on Robin's blog where you can  pre-order a very limited edition vinyl copy of the album. Please pay generously for this as all proceeds will be donated to BBC Media Action (formerly The World Service Trust), helping  to 'harness the power of media and communication to help reduce poverty and assist women, children and men to claim their rights'.

Ghost Box on Resonance this Saturday

Julian House and I will be guests on Jonny Trunk's OST show on Resonance 104.4FM this Saturday, 7th May at 4:30pm. If you're outside London, you can stream it on the Resonance FM Player Widget  at the bottom of the right hand column of this blog. There'll be some new Ghost Box stuff, soundtrack and library music galore - and very probably a daft competition.

If you missed it Resonance have archived it as a podcast here.

Radio Belbury Programme No.4

Radio Belbury Programme 4: "Offerings,Themes & Circles"  

Radio Belbury Programme No. 3 "Spring Rites"



Radio Belbury Programme No.2 "Magpie and Crow"

Presenting programme No. 2, in what will hopefully be a monthly spot. This month features a sneak preview of the upcoming Advisory Circle album, As The Crow Flies.

If you want to get in touch about the programme the address is radiobelbury@ghostbox.co.uk , I'd love to hear from you. (The show is exclusively available through Mixcloud incidentally, because being a fully licensed service all the artists get payed for plays (not much mind...grumble)).

Talking of things Brooksian, you can now download both episodes of Resonance FM's Weird Tales for Winter recorded by The Advisory Circle and Moon Wiring Club for free right here. Its William Hope Hodgson's "The Gateway of The Monster" a tale featuring the redoubtable psychic sleuth Thomas Carnacki, music by Mr. Jonathan Brooks and read in the genial fireside tones of  Mr. Ian Hodgson . No relation, or is he ? Is he ?

And to accompany this Jon has released a download soundtrack album on his own Cafe Kaput label.

You can buy it here priced £6.99. Each copy comes with sleeve notes as a PDF and a hi-res graphic of the lovely Blank Workshop cover art. Anyway before you get too excited, don't forget you're supposed to be listening to my show first. The name again ?  It's...



His Name was Legion

His Name Was Legion, Andrew Caldecott's supernatural tale, adapted for radio by Lawrence Norfolk and Belbury Poly, will be aired on Resonance FM on 28th January at midnight.

The story is part of a radio event called Weird Tales for Winter organised by Jonny Mugwump to be broadcast over 8 days from 25th January 2010.

You can listen on 104.4FM if you're in London or otherwise you can stream Resonance live through their website or even easier, via the gizmo over on the right hand side of this very blog. If you miss this story or any of the others you can "listen again" at the Weird Tales for Winter microsite for a week or so after the broadcast. Also Resonance will be running repeats in weeks to come too. The site has only just been set up but we're told more details and info will appear soon. You can also follow events here:

http://twitter.com/weirdwinter
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=245883818964&ref=mf