"If everything's ready here on the Dark Side of the Moon... play the five tones"

Electronic Encounters - Music Inspired By Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Featuring lovely new music from Pye Corner Audio, Dolly Dolly, The Soulless Party, Monroeville Music Center and many more. Available gratis right here and best listened to whilst sculpting mash potato with a fork.

Electronic Encounters blog

Also worth your time:

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind Mixtape by Soulless Central Radio on Mixcloud

Space Invaded

A sort of sister lp to BBC Records and Tapes' Space Themes, sharing a couple of tracks and  more sleeve notes from Mat Irvine. This album features one of the all time greatest sig tunes of all time - Tomorrow's World by Richard Denton and Martin Cook. Plenty of other good stuff too.

mmmm... brain planet

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Jules Verne's Volcano

"12 months after Iceland's ash cloud grounded global air transport, leading sound recordist Chris Watson reveals the secrets of one of Iceland's more literary but no less famous volcanoes.

A boyhood Jules Verne fan, Chris will retrace the steps of Professor and Axel Lidenbrock from Reykjavik to his favourite place in the world - Snaefellsjokull - the glacier that contains the passage to the Centre of the Earth in Verne's 1864 seminal work of Science Fiction. Along the way he'll encounter communities affected by the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajokull, talking to people who live within this geologically charged environment and meeting artists and musicians who have been inspired by their volcanic landscape.

Tying in with Verne's theme of geographical exploration, to reach Snaefellsjokull - known to locals simply as Jules Verne's Volcano - Chris will travel through one of Iceland's most beautiful National Parks and will use his extraordinary recording techniques to reveal the natural sounds of this unique environment. The sounds of bubbling mud pools and sulphurous springs mirroring Jules Verne's deep connection to the physical world.

Revealing interviews with leading figures from Iceland's vibrant arts scene: including the keyboardist of Sigur Ros and best-selling Icelandic author Andri Snaer Magnason will combine with Chris's recordings as he creates his own sonic adventure in the shadow of Jules Verne's novel and Iceland's volcanoes.

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Jingle Machine [KPM 1301]

Side A: A varied collection of light-hearted cues recorded to jingle specifications.
Side B: Programme cues, logos and electronic sound effects.

A 1983 KPM library lp from Paddy Kingsland.  I feel the cues on side B compliment Kingsland's work on the second Hitch Hikers radio series. Others are very much in keeping with Radiophonic Workshop signature tune work of the period. A couple of tracks do sound rather cheesy, but you have to take the rough with the smooth with these library recordings.

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...and a extra point for being so clever!

Robert Robinson 1927-2011

Make Do And Mend

photoshoplooter

In the wake of the PIAS warehouse fire at the hands of the yahoos this week, there has never been a better time to support your favourite independent record labels. 

A full list of record labels affected is available here.

As a direct result of this tragedy within a far greater tragedy, the folks at Finders Keepers have announced Make Do And Mend, a series of 10 rather tasty compilations, curated by friends including Demdike Stare, David Holmes, Gruff Rhys and Jarvis Cocker.

Further reading:

Ninja Tune Statement on PIAS Warehouse Fire

[PIAS] & AIM Establish Fund for Labels Adversely Affected By The Sony DADC Fire

"Let's go exploring!"

"Phill Jupitus celebrates Calvin and Hobbes, the comic strip about the little boy and his stuffed tiger named after eminent philosphers.

Over the course of ten years, the strip became an international phenomenon, being syndicated in 2,500 newspapers worldwide. It tells the tale of a young boy whose stuffed tiger is as real to him as the people around him, and deals in the process with philosophical issues about free will and the meaning of life, via the perspective of a child with an extraordinary imagination. Its creator, the reclusive Bill Watterson, could have become a multi-millionaire through merchandising deals and film offers, but turned them all down without hesitation.

Phill sets out to discover more about the characters and the man behind them. In Watterson's absence, Jupitus heads to Oxford to speak with artists, merchandisers, booksellers and philosophers to find out what makes the strip so popular, over a decade after Watterson drew the final frame.

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Happy Birthday Batman

Great Big British Castle documentary from 1999, celebrating 60 years of The Batman.

"Comedian Phill Jupitus celebrates the 60th anniversary of the American comic book character. He speaks to actor Adam West, who portrayed him on television in the 60s, and to cult comic authors Frank Miller and Grant Morrison, as well as looking at the fans, films, music and bizarre world of American superheroes.

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Fourth Dimension

The first solo album from The Workshop features a collection of "Music heard on radio and Television (including Test Card Transmissions)" by Paddy Kingsland. Track 04 - 'Reg' is the B-side to the Dr. Who theme 1973 release.

Track 03 - 'Vespucci' is a gem of a break highly sought after by beat hunter types.

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Through A Glass Darkly

Peter Howell's 1978 solo album of original compositions. File under prog suitable for test card transmissions. The title track is a 20 minute electronic fantasy epic right in keeping with Howell's incidental music for Dr Who at the time.

Recommended further listening: H & F Recordings for Howell's psych-folk albums, recorded prior to working with the Beeb. Well worth investigating.

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