Hyperloop

A piece of music from the 'techno thriller' radio drama series Blood Culture, which topped the iTunes podcast charts in its opening weekend, knocking stalwarts The Archers off the top spot.  (update - and is now nominated for a Radio Academy Award)

This particular piece of music underscores a scene from episode 5, and so I can't say too much about what is going on for risk of spoilers, but I can say that it involves violence, a cattle prod and emotional revelations. 

Episode 2 of Blood Culture will be available in two parts soon. As well as music throughout, I also sound designed and mixed this episode. 

Find out more about the series, including how to subscribe, here. 

Love Bite - UK Television Premiere

Love Bite: Laurie Lipton and her disturbing black and white drawings gets its television premiere tonight on Sky Arts at 10.45 (repeated May 1st at 1.15am). A great opportunity to watch this very personal portrait of a brilliant creative being, and to discover what drives her to make her extremely detailed art. 

Blood Culture Trailer

A new online radio drama that I've worked on with a lovely team of talented people, is being released on April 20th. Here is the trailer. 

More information here.  

Love Bite: Laurie Lipton and Her Disturbing Black & White Drawings

I just heard that Jim Scott's fantastic film is picking up awards at film festivals. Well deserved as Jim has created a dark, touching beautiful film. Proud to have played a small part, providing music for a scene at the end of the film. I'm looking forward to attending the Brighton screening on the 14th of November. 

Akiha Den Den trailers

I've been making these trailer videos for Akiha Den Den. You can find more at the Akiha Den Den website. A huge amount of sound design and foley went in to this series, so much that I sometimes forget little bits and then I'm pleasantly surprised. This episode uses a recording of Brighton's Palace Pier Ghost Train that I made for this.

Akiha Den Den Bonus OST

As the Akiha Den Den series unravels I've been sharing tracks from the soundtrack in between episodes. I'm also busy putting the finishing touches to the soundtrack album which will be released on vinyl in the new year. Here is a piece of music used to introduce Silph, the thought mining cockroach. It is pure EMS Synthi A magic. 

Video feedback is by Ian Helliwell.

Akiha Den Den website and trailer

Myself and writer/director Neil Cargill are very busy producing 6 episodes of this adventurous radio drama. It won't sound like anything on Radio 4. Find out more at our website www.akihadenden.com and sign up to our mailing list for updates and extra story material straight to your mailbox. 

In the meantime here is a trailer featuring two of the main characters played by Ian McDiarmid and Joy McAvoy. 

There will also be a very limited edition lathe cut 7" vinyl featuring the Akiha Den Den opening music, available around the launch of the series mid September. 

Cosmic Surgery Cassette

Sadly not for sale. Made exclusively for limited edition packages as part of Alma Haser's Kickstarter campaign. There are two tracks up on my Soundcloud though. Buchla Electric Music Box and Oberheim 4Voice (serial No.1 owned by Stevie Wonder according to the A-Z of Analogue Synthesiser book) used throughout. 

Cosmic Surgery is a photo book, set in the not too distant future where the world of cosmetic surgery is about to be transformed. Find out more about Alma Haser's Cosmic Surgery project at www.haser.org

Oberheim 4voice

Laurie Lipton - Love Bite

Jim Scott's short film about artist Laurie Lipton is being premiered at SXSW this year and I'm proud that a black channels track is used in a very moving moment towards the end of the film. 

No one on the planet has drawn more than Laurie Lipton. LOVE BITE chronicles her life and prolific body of black & white work spanning over fifty years. Largely ignored by the mainstream art world, her haunting creations are made up of hundreds of thousands of tiny strokes of the humble pencil. Laurie and her work seek answers to some of the most uncomfortable themes in our culture - fear, politics, sexuality, murder, mayhem, greed, and indifference - answers that will likely never be black or white. What compels a bright and outspoken woman to live a life of isolation drawing is as disquieting as the images themselves.

Find out more and keep up to date here.

Two Knocks For Yes - Live

As well as the limited cassette release of Two Knocks For Yes on Castles in Space, I'll also be performing the piece live (as black channels) in a pre-Halloween event (also called Two Knocks For Yes) in Brighton on the 23rd October at Saint Andrews Church, Waterloo Street. Get tickets here.

Shrouded in secrecy, Two Knocks For Yes will incorporate talks, music, theatre and photography.

"In every story of things that go bump in the night, there are two possibilities. One, that it's a hoax. Two, that there is something going on beyond the grasp of the human mind".

And so begins black channels' radiophonic exploration in to the poltergeist phenomenon that forms part of this evenings immersive entertainment, alongside a talk on the folklore of death and water by James Burt, ghost stories and archive video footage, all hosted by paranormal enthusiast, Curtis James.

Real life reports of paranormal activity, otherworldly vibrations and oscillations, chilling accounts of nocturnal visitations and strange activity in the most mundane of suburban surroundings will echo around the 19th Century stone walls of Saint Andrews Church, Brighton. There are tales of hauntings in the venue itself (no longer used for worship), and it is certainly true that the burial vaults beneath the pews have yet to be removed.

 

The School is Full of Noises

An interesting (if slightly limited) exploration of experimental music in the classroom. Back in the '60s kids got the opportunity to experiment with tape machines and play with bringing stories to life using sound and what some call 'challenging' composition. I hope this still goes on in classrooms today, but I have a funny feeling it probably doesn't. I was lucky enough to have a music teacher that had some synthesizers and who also invited a group of musicians in to show off their samplers and drum machines - I was pretty much hooked instantly by this exciting world of playing with sound and music that didn't involve playing the guitar or violin. Thanks Mr.Hayter.

How did tape loops, recycled everyday sounds and countless other weapons of the avant-garde find their way into school music lessons during the 1960s? That's the challenge for Ian McMillan as he sets out on the trail of one of music education's more unexpected byways.

Listen here - link will probably die at some point.....

black channels Solid Steel Radio Mix

A mix of music for travel aboard Spaceship Earth. Available at Solid Steel Radio Friday 14th August. Also features a brand new black channels track.

black channels Mojo rising

black channels Oracles at No. 11 in this month's Mojo Playlist.

Explore the Family Vault: The Musical Catacombs of black channels

Light your torch and tread carefully. Click on the image to begin your adventure. Thanks again Q.

Thanks Q

Depth of Field (from my black channels project)got Q Magazine track of the day yesterday.

black channels 10" on Death Waltz Originals

I'm pleased to be able to announce that my project with Becky Randall is getting its first physical release on Death Waltz Originals (Death Waltz is the soundtrack re-issue label which has previously released records by John Carpenter, Ennio Morricone and Clint Mansell). The 10" vinyl will feature 3 tracks and will be available in a limited edition and standard edition on the 17th of July 2015.

Here is the sleeve artwork by Luke Insect.

Music For a Flat Landscape The Goob OST - Luke Abbott - 2015

I haven't seen the film yet but I'm thoroughly enjoying the soundtrack on composer Luke Abbott's own Buffalo Temple Records.

Rich harmonics recorded to tape always sound just right to my ears.

Experimental Music on Children's TV

Great Tumblr featuring the interesting moments when children's TV and experimental music meet. Thanks to Dom at Ark Music for bringing this to my attention.

One of my favorites is Thames TV's 1970s series The Tomorrow People which used music by a group of BBC Radiophonic Workshop composers moonlighting under pseudonyms. 

My favorite soundtracks - Utopia (2014)

I just picked up the Utopia series 2 soundtrack album on Record Store Day. I have to admit that I don't like all of the music from the brilliant Channel 4 TV series. Some of the more uptempo cues veer on the wrong side of cheese for me and those off beat chords always make me think of bad reggae, BUT all of that can be forgiven due to the absolutely astonishing amount of programming and sound design that really makes this soundtrack shine. There are so many off the wall and unexpected sounds that creep in to every cue, twisting and mutating like the story it underscores  - a truly original piece of work. Fragments of voices (sampled voice is used heavily throughout the work), manipulated choir, squelchy bass lines, found percussion and loads of distortion feature throughout, but it is the more subtle cues that really standout for me.

Vinyl copies are pretty scarce (It was released as a limited edition issued for Record Store Day), but if you search hard enough I'm sure you'll uncover a copy.

My favorite soundtracks - Assault on Precinct 13 (1978)

The first in a regular look at some of my favorite soundtracks. With so many to choose from its a tricky task, but here goes.

First up is John Carpenter's stark electronic score for his first feature film Assault on Precinct 13. The film itself is a pretty straight forward 'police under siege' story and is a great example of how a soundtrack can lift an otherwise unspectacular movie. Simple DIY electronics created using borrowed equipment, provide wavering synthesizer tones and repetitive primary drum machine rhythms, more noise than definable as actual drums, which lift the film and give it the cult status it rightly deserves. Its a powerfully evocative score that hints at later work to come in Escape From New York.

Recently re-issued by Death Waltz Records in a stunning package.