Yet more exciting news on the reception of the new Howlround LP A Creak In Time, as The Wire magazine have very kindly hosted an exclusive clip from the film on their website to go with their extremely flattering review of last month. It joins last week’s equally glowing reviews in Electronic Sound and Wallpaper* Magazine, so the album appears to be gaining quite a bit of traction. Which is just as well, because we’ll be screening it (ahead of a bespoke live performance) at Deliaphonic, Coventry Cathedral on May 5th, in the company of Peter Zinovieff, Pete Kemper of Sonic Boom, Jerry Dammers and more. This promises to be quite a remarkable evening, so do come along if you can. Click on the image below for details:
…And then on the following evening, back in London, we’ll be performing the film with a live soundtrack at the inaugural Further, a new series of immersive audio-visual evenings curated by DJ Food & Pete Williams at the Portico Gallery in West Norwood. It’s the first time we’ll ever have played the film live and even I’m not entirely sure how that’s going to pan out, but I’m very much looking forward to finding out! Plus the Ghost Box chaps are headlining and I’m told there will be oil projections. What’s not to like?
In other news, this week’s Near Mint was the last in the current series as the show takes a well-earned break after a solid year of broadcasting. I realise this sudden absence from he airwaves will have left several people inconsolable, but rest assured that the show will be back for a new series in the not too distant future. In the meantime, I’m leaving you with a triple bill of the last three episodes, although admittedly this is partly due to the fact that a hectic couple of weeks have meant that I haven’t been keeping this site up quite as diligently as I should have. Plus I’m just about to head off for a couple of weeks’ much needed holiday, so am hoping that this little lot will tide you over until I return:
We’ll start with the most recent, a trip into the world of London-based artist Larry Achiampong, whose work examines the interplay between the modern world and his traditional Ghanian heritage through field recordings, hip hop and video game soundtracks. Listen in for some extracts from his remarkable and imminent new album Untitled, as well as tracks from his back-catalogue which blend vintage high life recordings with the influences of contemporary beat-makers such as J Dilla, Flying Lotus and Madlib. Very strong stuff!
The previous week’s show welcomed back our friends Luka and Vanja from Belgrade’s Discom label, with another exciting new release to show off – Sidarta the only album to date from prog-fusion-electronic rockers 37°C. Recorded in 1979 (apparently in the same studio as Gary Numan’s Are Friends Electric?), it’s another gloriously psychedelic excursion into the far-out sounds of the former Yugoslavia from the label that bought you last year’s excellent Yugoslavian Space Programme LP. Can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of this one!
And lastly, some hardcore hothouse action, as we head up the garden path for a quick frolic with the flowers. Anne Chase dreams of getting herself covered in sap, while the unlucky Mrs. Briers comes to a sticky end in front of a giant orchid patch (that is, a patch of giant orchids). This programme was primariyl designed to be consumed amongst nature, be that in the woods, down the park or up against a window box, and went down exceptionally well here at Fog Towers where my houseplants haven’t stopped smiling since.
Right, that’s probably enough to be getting on with. Meet you back here in a fortnight. Until then, keep your ears to the wind and noses to the skyline…
Robin The Fog 