Found Objects

Satyricon

2012-01-27T13:13:00.002Z

'Everything seems to be aimed at making the viewer feel ill at ease, at giving him the impression that he is watching for the first time scenes from a life he never dreamed could have existed. Fellini has described his film as "science fiction of the past," as though the Romans of that decadent age were being observed by the astounded inhabitants of a flying saucer." Tullio Kezich

Jack of All Trades

2012-01-25T14:50:00.001Z

OC#2

2012-01-24T17:57:00.002Z

The Outer Church invokes the gnostic bomb on February 17th at Sticky Mike's Frog Bar in Brighton with a back-to-back screening of Patrick Meaney's documentary films Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts and Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods plus live actions from Old Apparatus, Pye Corner Audio (Black Mill Tapes Vol 3 out now) and Kemper Norton. Tickets are £5 in advance, get them here.

End Of The Line 2001

2012-01-24T15:45:00.000Z

Found VHS tape commemorating the televisual Outside Broadcast Units of BBC Manchester.

Race into Space. Mars 1982

2012-01-23T09:10:00.000Z

I recently strolled into an antique shop for a bit of a browes. Whilst strolling around and trying not to bump into and break anything, I found on a book shelve a large pile of Brooke Bond Picture card albums, all with full sets of picture cards stuck in them. Now for some time I have been after the Race into Space picture card album. The simple reason for this is because The Race into Space was my favorite Brooke Bond picture card album. When I was about 7 years old, I became quite obsessed about space flight and was convinced that by the 21st Century myself and my 21st Century future family would be able to pop into a travel agents and book a holiday on the moon or Mars. So on finding the Race into Space picture card album I new I had to buy it (despite the cost) Once back home coffee made, I flicked through my prize find. The card album was perfect, dating from 1971 it had a full set of 50 cards. Some stuck in upside down, most of them a little bit wonky. What really struck me was the pure optimism and enthusiasm about the future of Space travel in the card album and at the time. Outlined were the NASA plans for Space Stations and Moon Bases by the late 70s and the 1st Manned trip to Mars in 1981, to return to earth triumphant in 1983. The Satellites and probes all had exciting and thrilling names like Explorer, Transit, Cosmos, Zond and The Grand Tour. With ideas and names like this being banded about back then, I realise now that my younger selfs ideas of holidays on the moon and Mars in the 21st Century, were not without at least some day dreamed substance. It is briefly mentioned in the card album that the Mars Mission and Moon Bases would be very expensive. Perhaps a slight understatement there. Anyway back home Coffee made I decided to have a read of The Race into Space book, I also decided to catch up with Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone from the previous Sunday. The featured album was The Mighty Sun Ra's Space is the place. Maybe it still is.

I See Sixties People

2012-01-19T22:43:00.000Z

People watching - as fascinating in the sixties as it is now (although slightly more prejudiced to our tastes).

How many points did you score? More of lifes rich tapestry at between channels.

Marked card

2012-01-19T17:54:00.000Z

The Rebirth Of The Outer Church

2012-01-18T16:48:00.003Z

In case you happen to be in the vicinity, Brighton's The Outer Church reboots on Friday January 20th with rising Glasgow label Broken20. TVO and Erstlaub will be performing live, both in solo and collaborative configurations, with Production Unit (and also TVO) manning the decks. Despite the legend on James Moore's gloriously rendered poster above, John Cohen will not be performing live. He will instead be represented by a screening of his film Tar River while London's Tengui (Colony/Broken20/PercTrax) steps up with a set of deepest, darkest drone for your edification. In their infinite kindness, Broken20 will be giving away a free 3" CD to the first few down and a special download code for all. OCB20 will be irradiating Sticky Mike's Frog Bar (nicely Lovecraftian resonances there) from 7.30pm until late and you can buy your tickets either on the door (subject to availability) or in advance from here.

Time is Out of Joint

2012-01-16T17:13:00.004Z

FOREST SWORDS, THE CARETAKER & PYE CORNER AUDIO at The STAR & SHADOW Cinema, Newcastle 24/03/2012

"Three live performances embrace the concept of Hauntology at the moment we skip an hour to mark the beginning of British Summertime. Based on the idea that there are numerous unrealized futures deriving from past points in history, Hauntology makes us nostalgic for a future that never was.

Working from recordings of demolished North East buildings, Ground Rhythms by Forest Swords is performed only once before being destroyed.

Inspired by Kubrick’s The Shining, 1920s ballroom dance, and human memory creation, The Caretaker creates dream-like music that slows down time.

Pye Corner Audio is influenced by nostalgia for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop of the 1970s. "

Part of the AV Festival 2012

Electronics Without Tears

2012-01-13T00:00:00.000Z

I bring good news for devotees of the previously unsung British Electronics genius, F.C Judd. Public Information have put together the first official compilation of Fred's groundbreaking work and you can get it here along with all the details you need (I found out more about Judd's work on my first visit than I'd learned over the last ten years on my own).

This is apparently the first instalment of a major retrospective, which is excellent news.

Something of Alice

2012-01-07T21:16:00.002Z

Jonathan Miller's version of Alice in Wonderland may be difficult to top, but I recently watched Czech filmaker Jan Švankmajer's Alice (Something of Alice in the Czech) (1988) and would really recommend it. It's a subversive and surreal take on the story which only loosely follows the book rather than being a strict adaptation. That said, the surreal and creepy, though also playful nature of the film seems close to the book in spirit. As the essay in the DVD package says - Švankmajer really captures the idea of adolescence as a time of trauma in this hallucinatory film.

Alice is played by a real girl in the film most of the time, except when she shrinks into a Vicorian bisque doll. The white rabbit is a taxidermied animal come to life in stop motion animation - complete with leaking sawdust stuffing. There is also a creepy selection of animals created from skeletons, a pack of animated cards and some very uncanny sock puppets.The narrator says "it's a story for children, maybe" at the beginning and this is quite correct.

Patons Bazaar

2012-01-03T21:05:00.000Z

Welcome to the wonderful world of Patons Bazaar. With Patons you can just about knit and crochet anything. I wish I had found this copy before Christmas. Think of all the presents I could have made for friends.

2011-12-25T14:25:00.001Z

Smoke Ghosts & Dark Mimics

2011-12-24T08:52:00.000Z

Happy Solstmas. A little mix can be found here. Tracklist in comments.

Mix for children vol.2

2011-12-23T21:39:00.002Z

Hey all !

Here is the following episode of the mix-tape I've post last spring here.
The tracklisting will come soon, it's too cold at the moment
Wish you a merry christmas !
Mix for children vol.2

Merry Christmas from between channels

2011-12-20T02:40:00.000Z

At between channels we don't believe in seasonally affective disorder. No sir,
we actually like to get even more Instamatic and gloomy as the winter months draw on so here is one of the official festive images hand-picked for your delectation. More, festively, here.

A Childrens Guide

2011-12-18T09:41:00.002Z

A very lovely book 1st published in 1971 by Pearson. This edition dates from 1976. It seems to have been 110 in the Discovering series. Sorry but I can't really include any other images, because if I open the book it would probably fall apart.

I am of now for a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop with my friend Mr Cratchit. A very Merry Christmas to you all at Found Objects.

Phantom Circuit #88 featuring Spacedog

2011-12-14T09:04:00.001Z

Phantom Circuit #88 features an interview with Spacedog on the occasion of the release of their long-awaited debut album, Juice for the Baby. Step into a world of illusionists, owls, robots, spooky folk and electric lullabies.

Phantom Circuit #88 (14th Dec. 2011) by Phantom Circuit on Mixcloud

More about the show and the music featured can be found at phantomcircuit.com, which also offers various ways to let you know when new editions can be heard.

FLEXI-TIME cancelled.

2011-12-12T18:40:00.005Z

Creative Masks for Stage and School

2011-12-11T20:40:00.000Z

You've worn the article for disguise / protection / entertainment / performance - now buy the book! $8.95 to you. More, unusually, at between channels.

By Joan Peters & Anna Sutcliffe, Plays Inc. Boston 1976.

Do it the Safety Way

2011-12-11T19:34:00.000Z

No vinyl rip I'm afraid - at between channels we still use a candle-powered phonograph with a cat's claw as a stylus - although I believe Mr. Jon Brooks took this to the excellent OST on Resonance FM so you can hear it there.

Another Book about Jesus

2011-12-07T16:40:00.003Z

Complete with sexy young sheperds...

Its Basic!

2011-12-07T15:58:00.000Z

I can now sort out all my electrical problems. Its Project Technology for Schools. I have a feeling I did this as a CSE?

An Easy-Reading Nativity

2011-12-07T11:59:00.001Z

An advertisement in greeting card form, delivered by a local church.

Ruins of Detroit

2011-12-04T11:11:00.001Z

"Up and down Detroit’s streets, buildings stand abandoned and in ruin"...

New Soulless Central mix: Time-Slips

2011-12-04T01:16:00.001Z

Time-Slips by Soulless Central Radio on Mixcloud

Andrzejki

2011-11-30T23:42:00.003Z

MELT THAT WAX

Mind Alive Electronics and Music

2011-11-30T19:06:00.000Z

Back at the end of October I posted some covers of the Mind Alive Magazine. In one of the magazines was an article on Electronics and Music. I did have every intention of posting the article a while ago but I forgot. I have finally got round to scanning this article and posting it. Spot the picture of John Baker at work in The Radiophonic Workshop Maida Vale. Sorry about the delay Dispo. : )

Bye Bye Ken

2011-11-28T19:22:00.001Z

1927-2011

Dream Recall Exercise with Coil

2011-11-28T13:17:00.001Z

From 'A Coil Magazine', 1987

Testis.

2011-11-27T00:00:00.001Z

Plymouth's Leading Night Spots 1970s

2011-11-22T21:00:00.001Z

Found this wonderful old Cinema ad for Plymouth's Leading Night Spots, The Commodore, The Cascade and The Bird Cage. Plymouth must have had some top night spots back then because 28 seconds into the ad Boris Johnson turns up with glass in hand. Classy.

Tim is a full-time professional monster hunter don't cha know.

2011-11-20T15:25:00.001Z

Hart

2011-11-20T00:00:00.001Z

Beast of Jersey Update

2011-11-19T18:19:00.001Z

The New English Library edition of Joan Paisnel's book The Beast of Jersey has been previously mentioned in FO, and I commented that the case had nothing to do with Jersey's later-to-become-notorious Haut de la Garenne orphange. Yet it has been reported that the "Beast", Edward Paisnel, did visit the place, where he was known as "Uncle Ted" as he interacted with the unsuspecting residents there. This is further backed up by the hardback first edition of The Beast of Jersey published by Robert Hale in 1972, that (unlike the later NEL paperback) contains rare photos connected to the case. The two incredibly creepy ones reproduced below show the "Beast" dressed as Santa (Satan?) at the Haut de la Garenne festivities:

The Shining in Dubai

2011-11-18T18:34:00.005Z

"...we imagined a remake of Stephen King/Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining set in a luxury hotel in Dubai, U.A.E." - DJ/Rupture

Pumpkin Faces & Mask Teeth

2011-11-18T14:23:00.001Z

Don't know where these came from but they seem to go together nicely:

Fish can read our minds. This book says so.

2011-11-18T00:00:00.001Z

Mmm....

2011-11-15T12:56:00.000Z

'Men, Missiles and Machines', 1957

2011-11-12T12:33:00.000Z

I found this picture a while ago. Its my bedroom floor from about late 1977. At the time I was going through my year zero punk phase. So all of this was going to be packed away.
I remember taking the photo with our families trusted old Kodak Instamatic 25. On the bottom left are my sensible School Shoes and Sports bag, both of which lived in that spot for years.
By mid 78 all these comics and books came back out of the cupboard and sat quite happy on the bedroom shelfs with the Sex Pistols, Clash and early Ultravox albums. Out of shot on the right is the Aurora model of the Pan Am Orion Space Shuttle from 2001. What is obviously noticeable is that I went to the trouble of laying all this out on the floor and then not getting half of it in the picture. Note the electric blanket cable poking out from under the bed.

Expanding

2011-11-12T00:00:00.004Z

New blog sighting: 'Children's Bizarre'

2011-11-11T00:28:00.012Z

A new blog, 'Children's Bizarre', offers such fun as Squiffy the Skunk (left) and The Wonder Book of Clowns (behind you).

Ghost Tower

2011-11-09T23:10:00.001Z

Found this photo shoved in a bible at my father-in-law's house a few weeks ago. It shows my lovely wife in the back garden of her family's bungalow in Farnborough, back in 1963 or 4.

See that pylon there in the corner? It's not there any more. And my wife, who lived there till she was 18-ish, has no recollection of it *ever* being there.

Where did it go? Was it ever really there?

SOMETHING HAS DRAWN A BLIND ON TIME...

2011-11-08T18:00:00.003Z

1969

Crooked House

2011-11-08T16:47:00.000Z

The Station That Was

2011-11-08T10:56:00.011Z

What you are about to see are some stirring images of Grangetown Railway station in Teesside.
Once a bustling station, it is now reduced to nothing but decay and rusting bridges...

First we will see how it once was with its roof on in 1972..

And here it is in the early 80's with no roof carrying passengers to and from the ICI/British Steel works..

And here is how it was abandoned in the early 90's...

Blackgang Chine

2011-11-07T14:37:00.000Z

Radical, man.

2011-11-05T16:25:00.000Z

Trinity Square Car Park- In Memoriam

2011-11-03T16:01:00.008Z

I took these in Gateshead on a last minute work trip up north in August 2010. I'd understood that the car park was supposed to have been gone by July, so was delighted to find it was (mostly) still standing. I was transfixed by the demolition work; a giant pair of mechanical jaws taking huge bites out of the concrete, whole floors occasionally crashing through to the ground. There were three other guys with various tripods and video camera equipment nearby, intently taping every single moment of its final days.

The Dalek of Suburbia

2011-11-02T13:53:00.000Z

Gas

2011-11-01T17:32:00.000Z

More Nairn, woo hoo! This one published in 1967, reproducing articles written for The Listener magazine.

From the Preface:

"These sixteen articles were written for The Listener in two batches; eleven in 1960-1 and five in 1964. So I am not the same person who plunged into Birmingham, bustling with adjective, seven years ago: older, fatter, and very much sadder about the prospect of a proper modern architecture, even more so about capabilities of modern architects. The postscripts reflect this."

Halloween in the 1920s

2011-10-31T20:56:00.002Z

For more images see the tagged photographs at the F*ckYeah! 1920s tumblog.

1993/1980

2011-10-31T15:08:00.002Z

English Scheme Revisited

2011-10-31T14:58:00.001Z

Ian Nairn was an ex RAF pilot, architectural writer & topographer who came to fame in 1955 with "Outrage", a special edition of the Architectural Review in which he waxed angrily about the state of the built environment. He believed that Britain was well on the way to becoming a homogenous sprawl, with city, town, village and countryside all but indistinguishable from one another. He called this state Subtopia.

"Outrage" was followed by "Counter Attack" (1957), which restated the problems and proposed ways of tackling them (which amounted to a call for greater vigilance and a refusal to put up with things as they were).

"Your England Revisited" (1964) was his third stab at subtopia, and while not exactly a weary sigh of resignation, it does have an air of "Okay, let's go over this one more time, shall we?" to it.

All three books are heavily illustrated with photographic examples of what Nairn considered good and bad practice (mostly bad).

What makes them especially GRATE is Nairn's concern for details, which means lots of straightforward photos of ordinary things: lamp posts, fences, paths, roundabouts, hedges, pylons etc.

Nice wee biog by Jonathan Glancey here: Ian Nairn

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

2011-10-30T01:04:00.001+01:00

Mind Alive

2011-10-29T15:52:00.000+01:00

Mind Alive is a new kind of encyclopedia that is published in 120 weekly Parts and builds week by week into a complete eight-volume work of reference.
Text in italics taken from the inside sleeve of the 1968 Marshall Cavendish Publication Mind Alive. A friend of mine recently came across a large number of these and very kindly passed a few of them on to me. 3'6 which if I remember right is seventeen and a half pence. Bargain!

A to Z

2011-10-27T17:23:00.000+01:00

Introducing Finger Painting

2011-10-27T16:54:00.001+01:00

Boys Fighting and Girls Cheering

2011-10-26T13:12:00.001+01:00

More Colin Ward.

Workers' Control

2011-10-25T13:14:00.001+01:00

I wonder how often they get prominent anarchist writers in to do books for schools these days?

Personal Attention

2011-10-24T10:18:00.001+01:00

Way Of The Morris

2011-10-23T17:00:00.000+01:00

More here.

It's all true - Doreen said so.

2011-10-22T00:00:00.002+01:00

The Kramford Look

2011-10-16T20:51:00.002+01:00

The Kramford Look have, apparently, released an album which sounds like a 'score to an unreleased late 60s / early 70s avant garde European movie, directed by Tim Burton'. Wow. Tim Burton. How weird is that?

Perhaps its the relative poverty of the contemporary music scene, or perhaps just poor journalism, but every new group these days seems to be defined not by the sounds they make, but the sounds they listen to. So forget all that, it's irrelevant.
The Kramford Look have released an LP which, yes, is infused with the best sort of library and soundtrack music, but goes way beyond mindless pastiche to present an unironic set of intriguing and brilliantly played instrumental music. Some of it's creepy, some of it's jazzy, it even goes a bit fusion-y at one stage but all of it is interesting and superbly realised. That professional pet weirdo Tim Burton would shit himself to have a soundtrack this good.

You can get it here, so get it there.

Books for your Children.

2011-10-16T19:39:00.007+01:00

Here are some books (and a periodical) that I rescued last week from a skip outside a university Educational Studies department. There were a lot more old textbooks, teaching manuals and the like too - I just grabbed the ones with eye-catching cover art. I would have made an effort to alert enthusiasts of vintage educational literature to this haul, but by the following afternoon it was all buried under smashed up plywood and paint tins, and a day later it was all gone. Quite a shame.

Sadly ‘Marianne Dreams’ and ‘The Owl Service’ (the two of these I’d actually have most liked to read) are all torn up with lots of missing pages, but I like the artwork enough to want to keep them around. I also saved a few other curious volumes that I might do individual posts on in future.

Marianne Dreams

2011-10-15T18:01:00.001+01:00

Escape into Night was a 6 part adaption of the wonderful Catherine Storr story Marianne Dreams. It was produced by ATV in

1972. The story is basically this. A Girl (Marianne) discovers and old pencil in a workbox. When Marianne draws a house with

this pencil, the house appears in her dreams. She then draws a boy (Mark) in the house and he to appears in her dreams. In a

rage one day Marianne draws some strange rocks with eyes

outside the house, but then these rocks also start to appear in her dreams. As the line between the dreams and reality get

blurred Marianne and Mark realise that the rocks are moving

closer to the house and they decide it is time to leave/escape

from the house. A film version of Marianne Dreams was made

in 1988. The film was called Paperhouse. The basic storyline of the book was used, but there where quite a few plot changes in the film. The moving Spooky Stones are replaced by an angry

blind Ogre who is the Girls Father, Not so spooky.

Please wait

2011-10-15T11:32:00.000+01:00

Watching Us, Watching You

2011-10-15T00:00:00.003+01:00

ATV, 1963

Ways of Seeing

2011-10-14T15:34:00.001+01:00

Scan from a 2005 copy of Modern Painters.

Extra No Sense?

2011-10-14T00:00:00.002+01:00

No Sense?

2011-10-09T09:30:00.000+01:00

The Empty Office

2011-10-05T17:45:00.001+01:00

I found myself in an abandoned building today. The previous occupants moved out in April, leaving some interesting and occasionally poignant artefacts behind.

The Hanging Gardens of Redditch

2011-10-04T14:54:00.000+01:00

Alright, I know what you're saying.

'What Hanging Gardens? This is just Block A of the first phase of the East Mall in Redditch Town Centre.' Well do you see that tube thing? Oh, just come to between channels and have a look.

Naughty Wee Scamp

2011-10-02T21:39:00.001+01:00

Scottish Aviation Scamp, 1965.

Spotted in a shopping mall near Loch Lomond with unidentified frightening mannequin at the wheel.

Only 12 of these gorgeous little electric cars were produced before the design was tested and found to by unroadworthy. What did they expect from a scamp?

Amateur Cine World part 3 The Innocents

2011-10-01T14:12:00.001+01:00

Following on from my previous posts on the wonderful Amateur Cine World Magazine. I now bring you Amateur Cine World part 3 The Innocents. I recently went into Brighton with my friend Mr Stevens who was playing at Splitting the Atom IV. In between the acts we had a stroll down to Snoopers Paradise. I was very surprised to see that they still had a few copies of Amateur Cine World Magazine floating about. So I decided to purchase a couple more of these fantastic magazines, and was very pleased to see in the December 1961 copy there was an article on the making of director Jack Claytons film The Innocents which I have posted here. Def worth a read. Both copies of Amateur Cine World have some lovely adverts in them which I am sure I will post at a later date.

Specters of Spectacle

2011-09-27T12:56:00.005+01:00

Apols for solid self-plugging but thought I'd redress the North/South split by promoting the launch of Abandon Normal Devices happening on Thursday at the Static Gallery in Liverpool.

It's described as an attempt to 'reappropriate hauntology from its use by musicologist Simon Reynolds to describe dubstep and its cousins in music - and see how it manifests itself in the best avant garde practice across poetry, performance and music. '

The gig will feature a range of music, art and spoken word. Performers include the Foundobjects friendly Maria Minerva and Forest Swords

I'll be providing accidental poetics over the top.

Let's have a good look...

2011-09-25T22:40:00.003+01:00

Come, join me...

2011-09-24T12:34:00.001+01:00

A feast of Dick: HERE

Disco Obelisk

2011-09-23T11:11:00.002+01:00

...during solar eclipse.

Following on from the Disco Doctor.

Fading Spirits

2011-09-23T09:31:00.002+01:00

A Close Encounter.

2011-09-19T20:44:00.001+01:00

Fiftieth Anniversary of the Betty & Barney Hill UFO abduction in New Hampshire, September 19-20th 1961.

Creepy Dolls

2011-09-19T19:15:00.000+01:00

There really is not a lot I can say about these adverts. I think they speak for themselves. The words Freaky and Creepy spring to mind. But the big question has to be........what was going through the advertisers minds??

Fancy walking with the Gods? Why not read this book?

2011-09-19T00:00:00.003+01:00

Ghost Of A Child

2011-09-18T15:28:00.003+01:00

The Smallest Show On Earth

2011-09-13T17:51:00.000+01:00

Model World

2011-09-12T13:44:00.000+01:00

Model World was a programme first aired on BBC2 in 1975, and presented by Bob Symes. Personally I was very fond of this program, and have very good memories associated with it. I will now explain why. Over a number of weeks Bob Symes Smith would introduce us to different aspects of The Modellers World. One week it would be Model Trains the next Model Aircraft and Gliders or Radio controlled boats, and so on. I remember at the time being very impressed with the intro titles, thinking they were quite futuristic. Model World was a very gentle and quiet program. Just a lot of odd looking blokes in tweed jackets, shirts and ties making and talking models. There was a BBC publication to accompany the series. The Model World book came with plans showing you how to make a Model Yacht, Glider and a radio Controlled frigate. I loved the show so much my Father went out and got me the Model World book. I then ventured down to the shed to build a 30in Frigate. A month or so later the Frigate was finished, but on my Frigates 1st and only sailing, it got attacked by a swan, and the superstructure sustained quite a bit of damage. With every intention of repairing the Frigate I went home and placed it into my bedroom cupboard.
A couple of years later my Sister and I welcomed Punk into our home, and for a while I embraced Punk with a vengeance. As far as I was concerned it was year zero in my bedroom. So books toys and Airfix models got put into the cupboard and out of sight. With that the now badly neglected Model World Frigate got pushed back into the cupboard even more. Sometime later realising that my year zero attitude was a tad foolish, all my old books and models slowly reappeared. But for some reason the Frigate stayed in the cupboard and The Model World Book was no where to be seen. To this day I do not know what happened to it.
A few years ago my Father died and my Sister and I were clearing out his house. I was in my old bedroom clearing out the cupboard when I came across my Model World Frigate. I am afraid to say it was in a worse state than ever. Years of being pushed back further and further into the cupboard had damaged my Frigate beyond repair. So I reluctantly placed it into a bin bag and dropped it into a skip.
I recently discovered a pile of photos of myself from the 1970s. As I was flicking through them I found a photo of a sulky looking me holding my Model World Frigate.

A nicely shaved Brazilian

2011-09-12T00:00:00.004+01:00

The Free Design

2011-09-11T16:32:00.000+01:00

Hey, put aside The Monkees, Bubblegum and other joker-band gimmicks, there was a serious tradition of mellow West Coast sunshine pop, easy listening with an intelligent edge. Yeah, there was the upbeat contrived sound of The Mamas and the Papas, The Carpenters and all that lot, but they're weighed down by cursed moneybags, trapped in some horned-acid otherdimensional obscurity over the hill behind Satan's Sunset Stripe, where a black mirror awaits through the bloodstained looking glass and Scary Mary gave birth to a monster magnet. Where it's at is THE FREE DESIGN! The crème de la crème of fantastickness.

Birthed at the end of 1966 in New York City, they soon became in vogue amongst the Greenwich Village coffeehouse folk circuit, signed to the Project 3 Enoch Light label, then put out an album a year between 1967-1972 (and also another one in 1970, Songs For Very Important People, that compiles their previously-released child-friendly songs with new ones on this theme).

Not one track of their entire output is duff or filler (well, the later stuff could be a bit frumpy-dunk: jury's out), and it's a baffling mystery why they never hit it big. Elegant is the word, and "the kindly ones": beautiful male-female voices of celestial harmony, very fine production and irresistibly catchy arrangements brew a sure cure for depression; taste the warm golden syrup of their own material and flipping killer cover versions of The Doors' 'Light My Fire', etc.

Love is the drug here, a cuddly sherbet high, the bubbles in your nose are strange balloons of fun and everything's groovy-cool and zonky, where the fresh smell of summer washing caresses the green shoots of recovery, Robin Hood lives happily ever after with Florence Nightingale, and the Smarties tube never runs out. A joy-bell Utopia, like, with no dust or insects, and all wankers automatically lose the right to gravity so are pulled off into space, or are fused together and thrown down a disused well by purple ravens, never to return. Too right.

The Free Design Vinyl LP Discography:

Kites Are Fun (1967)

You Could Be Born Again (1968)

Heaven/Earth (1969)

Stars/Time/Bubbles/Love (1970)

Sing For Very Important People (1970)

One By One (1971)

There Is A Song (1972)

The Free Design split in 1975, alas, but we danced like Mad March Hares when, happily, this glorious band made a spiffing 2001 reunion comeback with their Cosmic Peekaboo CD. Seek and ye shall find.

Horrorshow

2011-09-09T09:45:00.000+01:00

Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction
Mike Ashley
Elm Tree Books, London, 1977
Withdrawn from Islington Libraries 2009

The Forty-five Year Mission.

2011-09-09T06:42:00.001+01:00

"You're all astronauts, on some kinda star trek!"

Part cosmic drone machine! Part divination ritual! Part flea circus!

2011-09-06T23:33:00.000+01:00

Hairy Giants from Outer Space

2011-09-05T00:00:00.004+01:00

Solid Space.

2011-09-04T21:31:00.005+01:00

Ever wondered what The Chills might have sounded like if they'd grown up locked in a windowless bedroom in a London suburb with only fuzzy videos of Gerry Anderson shows and old Dr. Who episodes to keep them company?

Me neither, but I'm delighted to have an answer all the same.

Their website is reassuringly uninformative. In fact I don't even know whether this is a new record recorded in period style, or a 'rediscovered' old one. Either way, it's great.

I've seen it popping up on a few blogs recently, so seek and ye shall find.

Zariku

2011-09-04T10:51:00.000+01:00

Last day for you to enter your Zarikus (Haikus about Zardoz) over at the Mounds and Circles blog

Get 'em in double quick! The winner will be picked this evening. What will you win? Good question - some fantastic tat from the Unmann-Wittering archive! Hooray!

Enter HERE

Unmade Hammer Film

2011-09-03T11:12:00.001+01:00

Found this poster here. It seems this was a genuine Hammer film that just never got made.

The poster was put together to interest potential investors. The story was to have been similar to The Land That Time Forgot (but this time with a Zeppelin) A Zeppelin on a bombing raid over England is blown of course and winds up at some sort of Lost Continent. More chit chat about this film here. Of on a tangent here but did not realise that Michael Moorcock was one of the Screen Writers for The Land That Time Forgot.

Cat On A Hot OO Gauge

2011-09-01T22:20:00.006+01:00

Found picture of unknown cat and miniature railway

OrnaMental

2011-09-01T00:44:00.006+01:00

I found these in a gift shop a couple of months ago.

And left them there.

Exposing the Filmic Fronds

2011-08-31T21:09:00.012+01:00

There has been much talk lately in hauntological circles concerning the hidden emanatory power of the classic 1970 British horror film Blood On Satan's Claw (aka Satan's Skin). Linda Hayden, who plays coven mistress Angel Blake, is obviously the 'Key to Claw', as she directs the unfolding events under the Devil's Command, and in this context it is interesting to note that she starred in a later, lesser known British horror effort entitled Exposé (aka Trauma aka The House On Straw Hill) made in 1975. In this film too, she acts as a sort of psychic catalyst who attracts a lot of exoteric/esoteric weirdness into her immediate environment.

Previously relegated to the original 1984 DPP "Video Nasties" list, Exposé is much more than a mere Straw Dogs clone, and certainly deserves the "cult classic" label. It features some great players, has British porno connections, and was shot in Norfolk - the most haunted county in England. The (apparently uncut) version can be seen here.

(Linda made her feature film début in the notorious but flawed 1968 sexploitation flick Baby Love, in which she plays the hellcat Luci [the fallen half of Lucifer?]. This moving picture also features that other blonde-haired woman of mystery, Diana Dors, known in some circles as the "Doorways to Goddess Diana".)

Disco Doctor

2011-08-31T21:08:00.004+01:00

When Disco was a virus...

Found (and blogged about) here, where you can hear it too...

A Peculiar Atmosphere Of Cranky Scholarship

2011-08-31T12:58:00.001+01:00

I took great exception to the review of Final Destination 5 that was recently posted on NME.com. It wasn't the notion that a film so banal and meaningless as to qualify as pornography should be so lauded which got to me (“five headsplats out of five”, no less). Rather, it was this unforgivably assumptive summation:

“If you like watching blandly attractive people getting burned, maimed, twisted into anatomically unlikely heaps of quivering flesh, well, then you're a horror fan.”

I'm a horror fan, and yet I find the idea of anyone, be they “blandly attractive” or not, being so dispensed with for the sake of entertainment to be exactly the opposite of my idea of fun. In fact, a few years back I found myself sadly declaring that I just don't like horror. I just found the notion of getting your kicks from such gratuitous slaughtering as passes for "horror" these days most upsetting.

Turns out, though, that it wasn't horror per se I found (and find) so abhorrent. Rather, it's modern horror. Put simply: I'm convinced that, by-and-large, people have forgotten how to make a good horror film.

I was reminded of just how beautiful and chilling the genre could be yesterday afternoon when, whilst passing a very agreeable afternoon in the BFI Mediateque at the Derby Quad, I was given the opportunity to watch the original 1968 Omnibus version of Whistle & I'll Come To You for the very first time.

That, friends, is how you do horror. It's not about the headsplats or the flayed corpses. It's about spookiness, creepiness, atmosphere and the undying power of suggestion. The ghost in Whistle... is little more than a sheet blowing in the wind (or, later, lifted slowly from a bed). However, I found such images – when taken in the context of the rest of the film – to be of the most genuinely unnerving I've ever seen.

And I have seen a lot.

What really struck me, though, was the film's minimal approach to storytelling. There's no music and very little dialogue – and much of what dialogue there is forms a similar role to that which is found in such quasi-silent affairs as the first half of Holy Mountain and even Mr. Bean. It's mumbled, subdued and clipped: It serves to move the story forward whilst creating a vaguely-otherworldly feel. In this case it also functions to make our hero – played impeccably by Michael Hordern – come across as eccentric, bumbling and completely adorable. His final fate, then, is rendered all the more affecting because we simply cannot help but love him.

This is a far-cry indeed from the disposable ciphers found in much modern horror who only seem to exist in order that they may be maimed in increasingly appalling ways. Whistle... relies upon solitude, eerie winds, wide-open spaces, overcast skies, fears of the dark, bumps in the night and outstanding performances in order to deliver its thrills. It's anti-spectacle, but for me it's 42 minutes contain more substance than the combined running times of all five Final Destination films (or all 724 Saw films, for that matter).

I'm not calling for a blanket ban on blood and gore in cinema. Far from it. Let the gorehounds have their bloodbaths. So long as I don't have to watch, everybody's happy.

What I can't stand, though, is the idea that films are being constructed around these scenarios rather than the other way around. It cheapens the genre, gives it a very bad name (as if it wasn't unfairly maligned anyway) and leads to horribly cynical fare such as The Human Centipede II, the Guinea Pig series and, yes, every single Saw sequel that ever has and ever will be released. These films have been specially made to court controversy and, in some cases, to be banned. I struggle to think of anything more tedious than contrived controversy. It's of no benefit for anyone, and any film-maker who rubs their hands in glee at the notion that they've achieved notoriety deserves to be subjected to exactly the tortures which they take such delight in dreaming-up.

Well, that's a little extreme. Perhaps instead these tedious twats should be invited to a viewing of Whistle... in order that they can be reminded of just how marvellous, dignified and timeless the form can be.

Though, so wired, jaded and desensitised are they that I imagine that they'd squirm through such a viewing and consider it as torture.

Shame. On my part, though, next time I find myself depressed by yet another pornographic remake of a classic (“Now in 3D with extra-eye gouging!”), rather than declaring my dislike of horror, I'm instead going to remind myself of how beautiful the medium can be when it's not trying to cater for such erections as are induced by slit-throats and Rube Goldberg implements of death.