Soft Confusion 33/11/1903

Recordings Recovered

Found footage horror on the radio anybody? You bet! Mike Walker's Recordings Recovered from the House of Leaves, is an adaptation of Mark Z Danielewsky's House Of Leaves, though I was unaware of this at the time of first listening. Maybe it does pale in comparison to the book - still on my 'to read' list - but, just like Orson Welles' War Of The Worlds (75 years young this year), I think this audio drama stands on it's own two feet apart from the source material. This is atmospheric, bizarre, creepy, and all that good stuff. Goodnight. If you can!

dl

Hauntology for Halloween

The Shadow of Aethereus by Soulless Central Radio on Mixcloud

Recommended further listening: The Soulless Party - Tales From The Black Meadow



"If you were born between the late 60's and mid 70's then this is for you...don't blame me if you have nightmares...you have been warned!! - markmorb

The War Of The Worlds

I'm quite blown away by how well this mix works as an unofficial alternative soundtrack to Richard Burton's captivating narration. Do not miss.

"When I was 8 or 9 years old I heard Jeff Wayne's musical version of H.G.Wells' 'War Of the Worlds' for the first time. It scared the pants off me. For years afterwards I listened to the record over and over. It is certainly one of the things from my childhood that cemented my interest in film scores. Though not a film score per se. Its marriage of rock music with orchestral arrangements to tell a story, had me transfixed. The combination of funky rock with sinister string parts would heavily influence and partially shape the sounds that, years later Jake Wherry and I would be making in The Herbaliser. 

A few years back I was given, as a Christmas gift, the 'Collectors Edition box set of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds'. As well as tons of interesting facts about the creation of the original recordings it had several CD's of alternate takes, remixes etc. On one CD, I excitedly discovered that they had included all of Richard Burton's dialogue parts, without music. Having already created and performed an alternate live DJ score to silent film 'The Lost World' from 1927, this seemed like a great opportunity to do a similar project with one of my favourite childhood stories.

Using records from my own collection of movie soundtracks and other suitable material, I created the original version. This was given to some close friends as a christmas present in 2010. The version you are now hearing is a somewhat revised and extended version, created specifically for the 25 years of Solid Steel. Also, it is the 75th anniversary of Orson Welles' infamous radio play, that when broadcast on Halloween 1938, had many Americans convinced that they were listening to a genuine attack from outer space. This is by no means intended as an improvement to Mr Wayne's recording but a tribute to H.G Wells, Jeff Wayne, Richard Burton, Orson Welles and of course Solid Steel.

DJ Ollie Teeba of The Herbaliser and Soundsci'

Programme 11

Programme 11 by Radio Belbury on Mixcloud

The Bear's Speech

...in search of the perfect mixtape

I think this one comes pretty darn close:

ps. This blog ain't dead yet and I intend to get back to ripping more yarns when I'm back off me hols!

Reach For the Dead

Oh yes indeed:

"Inside Star Trek"

Boldly going forward 'cause we can't find reverse.

The Lions and the Cucumber

Jess Franco 1930-2013

Also recommended (ahem) viewing:
Vampyros Lesbos Dance Scene (Los Mac's - El Evangelio De La Gente Sola) from muddyGarage on Vimeo.

Electronic Music For Schools

Electronic Music For Schools by Pattern & Shape on Mixcloud

London Below

At last Auntie's epic radio dramatisation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere is almost upon us and what a fantastic cast Dirk Maggs has assembled for the retelling. You can read all about it from the Beeb here and there's an write up of the press launch last week over there. Happily in addition the production will also be a podcast from the 22nd of this month to boot. Whiz for atoms!

OST: Paddy Kingsland

Mr. Kingsland, earlier.

Paddy Kingsland was a guest on Jonny Trunk's OST show on Resonance FM recently. You can listen/download/subscribe here.

Also while we're at it, here's a recent interview courtesy of Astronauta Pinguim.

Great

Bob Godfrey 1921 - 2013

"An Expotition to the North Pole"

E.H. Shepard

Unfortunately I'm missing the second of Humphrey Carpenter's Secret Gardens Radio plays. I recall it was about Beatrix Potter in later life and she was played by the late, great Mary Wimbush. 

However I'm happy to be able to share the third of the trilogy which is all about the true life characters that inspired A.A.Milne to create the unforgettable inhabitants of The Hundred Acre Wood, and loads of fun to boot.

dl

"In A Hole In The Ground There Lived A Tolkien"

BBC Secret Gardens: In A Hole In The Ground There Lived A Tolkien (1992). Back into the T_ape archive for this charming and (to the best of my knowledge) never repeated radio drama imagining the creation process of The Hobbit as it percolates through the young Tolkien's mind. The play was written by Humphrey Carpenter (1946-2005) who also included the 1977 Tolkien biography amongst his many literary achievements.

dl