Regenerations

I must truly have been spending my time living under a rock* recently because I almost missed out on this. See you in Brum? I'll be the one in the top hat and simian demeanour, trying to get Paddy Kingsland to sign his copy of Fourth Dimension.

And you'll probably want to check out Into The Music: That Doctor Who Sound courtesy of ABC Radio National.

Not to mention Radio Clash #173: Radiophonic At 50.

Also whilst we're at it, you'll be wanting a copy of the Wed, 5th March edition of the Radio on Music podcast download. It was "Sculptress of Sound: The Lost Works of Delia Derbyshire", a cracking Archive Hour I did intend to post on this blog, but now you can get it direct from the horse's mouth.

Coming up, I'm pleased to announce that I've just got my paws on a copy of Listen Move & Dance No.4. Ripping times ahead!

Oh, and this this is rather lovely too.

*Such a lovely rock though...

A Sound British Adventure

This week's listening recommendations are twofold:

1:A Sound British Adventure.

"Comedian Stewart Lee is passionate about electronic music and he takes us on a remarkable musical journey. We discover how, after the Second World War, a small group of electronic pioneers began tinkering with their army surplus kit to create new sounds and music.

Tristram Cary started the first electronic music studio in Britain but, while France, Germany, Italy and the USA had lavishly funded research centres, British electronic music remained the preserve of boffins on a budget.

As the programme reveals, this make do and mend approach prevailed long after austerity Britain had given way to the swinging 60s, with Peter Zinovieff developing EMS synthesizers from a shed at the bottom of his garden in Putney. (Paul McCartney put on his wellies and took a look). Zinovieff is interviewed about his experiments in sound.

Unsurprisingly, the electronic community in Britain was a small, intimate group and joining Cary and Zinovieff was Daphne Oram, who devoted decades to developing a 'drawn sound' electronic composition system that never really quite worked.

Brian Hodgson tells us about 1960s experimental and electronic festivals, including The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave (1967) at which The Beatles' electronic piece Carnival Of Light had its only public airing. We shall also hear how the radiophonic workshop broke new musical ground with Dr. Who.

Experts in the history of electronic music, including author and musician Mark Ayres and Goldsmith College lecturer in computer studies Dr. Michael Grierson give the boffins' view and Portishead's Adrian Utley explains why the early forays in electronics are still relevant today.

2:Book at Bedtime: The Greatcoat.

"A new ghost story from Helen Dunmore set during and after the Second World War, about the power of the past to imprint itself on the present, and possess it.