Luckily for 'Robin The Fog' he worked as a studio manager at Bush House in London, which until very recently was home to the BBC's World Service. I say lucky because it gave him the perfect excuse to reference My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts - handy, eh? More than that, this is no cheap sampling of building sounds put to snazzy breakbeats in a lazy hauntological fashion, but instead pays homage to the great musique concrète pioneers such as Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry. Also in the historical mix is the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, of course, with Robin going to great lengths in a reel-to-reel style to create the truly beautiful sounds on this album. Can't blame him for not being able to resist a sample of Big Ben, which adds to the English flavour and maintains the lineage that includes the UK's favourite bespectacled grande dame of tape manipulation, Daphne Oram. Wonderful album. Dodgy cover, though.
Buy it here.
Robin The Fog's blog is here.
And here is an interview with him.
Note: more musique concrète poured into the Include Me Out mixer coming soon, Through The Keyhole at a house in Paris. Keep 'em peeled.
I just saw the Quietus piece today and am intrigued, too. I'm quite liking the video and sound sample and may very likely place an order, though I am, I must regret, in agreement with you with regard to the cover.
ReplyDelete"Last hurrah" or not, some of us will always be haunted.
Thankfully the cover in no way reflects the content, otherwise it would sound like cheesy Rave knocked up by a teenager in his bedroom (not that I'm against the bedroom as studio, of course).
DeleteWith regards to the cover, it was only used for a very brief period on the first edition of the digital album. All subsequent editions, including the vinyl LP used the very fine photography of Lisa Hack and Hannah Brown. And for the record, I'd give my eye teeth to be able to make a passable attempt at cheesy Rave! Sadly, some things are not meant to be...
DeleteA Hauntology obituary, on the same day that Jim Jupp releases a new Radio Belbury mix on Mixcloud (with a track from a forthcoming Ghost Box release)?
ReplyDeleteMy response to the suggestion is purely tongue-in-cheek, as you'll have noticed, Burl. I'm sure there's plenty of life left in Ghost Box yet, although the taste displayed by Jim on that selection is a long way from mine on the whole.
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