solidsilence

It’s been a long while…….. glad to see there’s loads of people still visiting and enjoying the site. If you have commented then please forgive me but all comments for the past few months have been binned, i did try to moderate them but seeing as most were spam it just became too difficult with over 3000 to look through… i gave it a good effort, but I don’t know about you but all the negative words in spam really gets me down!! Anyway a new spam filter will help so please do comment where and when you feel moved to, it won’t go astray now!

Here’s a polyphonic soulo track, it’s not even that new, just hasn’t been posted up anywhere yet… not binaural, but my musical outlet at present…. more binaurals to follow………………….

brother111

…made at the time I interviewed Brian Barritt and Flinton Chalk about the acoustic quality of ancient cairns, and the resonant frequencies of many of the cairns being 111hz, ..see previous post..

The song’s main resonant frequency is 222hz (approx), I can’t sing at 111hz so double, or first harmonic, was a good second best. It took me a few days to make, the oboe and flute and all the singing is myself…… it was a trip… imagining those ancient peoples ….try singing and editing these tones for a few days in a row without spinning out a bit….?! 111 truly is a magical number.
You might recognize a timeless French ’round’ in the second half.

Pinknruby feature in the last of the podcasts from the May Small World festival 2007, with guests; Andy Shades on drums and Matt Kelly on violin…. what can I say, i truly love the songs they make, and here, embellished with remarkable impromptu solos on the violin….

… sorry i had to move around a bit so there’s a little stereo oddness…. but the crowd are so quiet seeing as they are crammed in the tent!!

Thanks go to Pinknruby for letting us all hear this lovely moment for free…!!! )

The podcast (5 mins)
Pinknruby

Pinknruby’s upcoming gigs:

Saturday 22nd Sept 7pm - Wupadupa String Thing, Kingston
All Saints Church, Market Place, Kingston, Surrey.
an evening of singersongwriters and story telling and film accompanied by a string orchestra all in a big old and beautiful church to raise money for amnesty international. Voluntary donation (suggested £7).

Saturday 29th Sept - La Nuit de Fees, Clisson, France
Market Square, Clisson, France 44192,

Friday 5th Oct 8pm- Wupadupa Cinema Night, Kingston
At the Ram Jam Inn behind the Grey Horse Pub, Richmond Road, Big choral numbers and spectacular cinematic visuals to accompany them - and vice versa!. Part of the Wupadupa Amnesty Festival. £6

Sunday 14th Oct - Dragon Hall, Norwich
115-123 King Street, Norwich, NR1 1QE. Pinknruby plus deifenbaker. A night of music in a wondrous medieval hall.

Thursday 22nd Nov 8pm - Portland Arms, Cambridge
Chesterton Road, Cambridge.

more about Pinknruby?

www.pinknruby.com

Andy Shades with Three Wise Men feature in this episode, there are two songs in the same mp3 the first is “Whatever” and the second is “Let’s get Refined”, the second song was originally by “Country Joe and the Fish” - its original name was ‘Fixing to Die Rag’, before Andy changed all the lyrics…….

I first met Andy Shades at the Small World Solar Stage Festival several years ago now, it was possibly the Tuesday night after the festival and most people had gone home, he entertained us for most of the night around the fire….. it was a magic moment….

Some things that have been said about Andy Shades:

“ANDYSHADES IS PERHAPS THE MOST INTERESTING UNSIGNED ACT I’VE EVER REVIEWED”-powpowpow

“ANDYSHADES IS A GREAT MUSICIAN WHO CAN ACTUALLY LIGHTEN THE HUMOUR OF A VERY DEEP TOPIC.” - Barnsleysoundbites
The Podcast (8mins)

Three Wise Men - “Whatever” and “Let’s Get Refined”

Three Wise Men upcoming gigs:

If you want to know more about Andy Shades and Three Wise Men, then visit:

www.myspace.com/andyshades

www.us-and-beyond.com

This podcast features “Undercover Hippy” aka Billy Salisbury his style encompasses folk, hip-hop, reggae, jazz…..

A fun, upbeat song with powerful rapping, inspired lyrics and beatboxing.

The podcast (5mins)

Undercover Hippy - I don’t want nobody

Undercover Hippy, upcoming gigs:
26/07/07 - 29/07/07
Secret Garden Party Festival
East Anglia
www.secretgardenparty.com

12/08/07
Gocstock Festival
Kent
www.myspace.com/gocstock

24/08/07 - 26/08/07
Shambala Festival (Bedouin Tent/Sat/23:30)
Northamptonshire
www.shambalafestival.org

for more info on Undercoverhippy

www.undercoverhippy.com

Sugardrum aka Nigel Bunner sings the most beautiful, heartfelt songs and is one of the core members of Wupadupa, a collective of: inspired, talented and genuine musicians based in Kingston, London… So do check them out for gigs www.wupadupa.com
This recording was taken at the traveling Wupadupa stage at the Small World Solar Stage festival, it was an afternoon gig, and a lovely moment.
Sugardrum features again at the August bank holiday Smallworldsolarstage festival :

Thu 23rd Aug 2007 to Mon 27th Aug 2007
Small World Festival Summer Gathering, Headcorn Kent
Friday eve and Sunday afternoon on the wupadupa stage.

The Podcast (4mins)

no more said- sugardrum

For more info on sugardrum visit www.sugardrum.co.uk

The Ballinsky project feature in this podcast. The Ballinsky Project is singer/songwriter Nathan Ball and Cellist Adrianne Wininsky.It was a a sunny afternoon and I was struck by Nathan’s most beautiful voice, his thoughtful lyrics and the intricate interplay between the cello and guitar melody and harmonies.
The Podcast (6mins)

rhetoricism-The Ballinskyproject

________________________________________

The Ballinsky Project upcoming gigs:

24 Jul 2007 20:00 Fiddlers Green Festival Ireland

12 Aug 2007 12:00 Broadstairs Folk Week England

20 Nov 2007 20:00 Edge of the Wedge Southsea

_______________________________________

They have a CD available

The Ballinsky project - Ctrl-Z Session CD

9 tracks, 45 minutes. Beautifully presented, limited edition, individually numbered CD, £7 inc P+P

For more information

www.myspace.com/theballinskyproject

Smallworldsolarstage festival in Kent was almost not to be this May as there was some debate over the license, all this has been resolved since, but on the Friday night, Pony (owner of small world solar stage), gave a general announcement that this would be a “low volume” festival, this “could” have been a great disappointment to all, but due to the artists and festival goers positive attitude this really was almost a blessing in disguise, there was more poetry and low volume campside singing and guitar playing, and an intimacy which perhaps wouldnt have been there if the event had been louder.

King Porter Stomp, a full power dub/ska/funk band were happy with this recording as they liked the energy of being held back by the volume restriction!!!.

The 8 dedicated members of King Porter Stomp first skanked together in Brighton in Autumn 2006.

The Podcast (6mins)

Kingporterstomp-countrygirl.mp3

For more information on King Porter Stomp go to

http://www.myspace.com/kingporterstomp

King Porter Stomp’s upcoming gigs………

A beautiful way to start the Summer Festival Season, Smallworldsolarstage offers such a diversity of acts a warm, friendly platform and is always seeking out new talent, there was much space for performance poetry, and room for singer songwriters to find a spot and showcase their work.
We begin these podcasts with a live performance from a seriously inspiring singer songwriter, who is rapidly gaining the recognition she deserves, a veteran of the Small World Stage, Martha Tilston. The song is from her second album, “Of Milkmaids and Architects” called “Winter Flowers”.

The Podcast (6mins)

Marthatilston - winterflowers.mp3

For more information visit: www.marthatilston.co.uk

and if you want to see her live, here’s a list of gig dates:

Fri 22nd Jun 2007
Martha and Woods :GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL. Opening the Acoustic stage. CHANGE OF TIME - 12:30 sharp !!!! on Friday in the afternoon with a few of the woods. .

Sat 23rd Jun 2007
Martha and Woods:GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL the Tadpole Stage - Green Future fields at about 3pm ish.

Sun 24th Jun 2007
Martha and Woods:GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL. ah, home sweet home - rounding off the festival at the Small World Stage - green futures field - midnight show!!! - mmmmm.

Sat 14th Jul 2007
Martha and Woods:Chagstock Day Festival, Chagford, on beautiful Dartmoor, . www.chagstock.info

Fri 20th Jul 2007
Martha and Woods: Trowbridge Festival - whole band/woods . Friday evening gig www.trowbridgefestival.co.uk/

Sat 21st Jul 2007
Martha and Woods: Trowbridge Festival - whole band/Woods . Saturday afternoon gig
http://www.trowbridgefestival.co.uk/

Sat 28th Jul 2007
Martha and Woods:Cambridge Folk Festival -playing the 2nd stage Saturday with woods in the afternoon and solo in the evening on the club stage. . http://www.cambridgefolkfestival.co.uk/

Sat 4th Aug 2007
Martha and Woods + many many more:BIg Green Gathering - imagine the best bits of glastonbury festival, pulled together in beautiful west country pastures.. Not sure when we’re playing but keep an eye on http://www.big-green-gathering.com/

Wed 8th Aug 2007
Martha + dad- Steve Tilston: Sidmouth folk festival . father/daughter gig in the afternoon
more info http://www.sidmouthfolkweek.co.uk/index.html

Wed 8th Aug 2007
Martha and Woods:Playing in the evening with band at Sidmouth Festival. http://www.sidmouthfolkweek.co.uk/index.html

Fri 10th Aug 2007
Martha and some Woods:Rebellion Punk Festival …… Blackpool. http://www.rebellionfestivals.com/rebellion-blackpool.html
come with attitude….

Sat 11th Aug 2007
Martha and Woods:BELLADRUM Tartan Heart Festival. Beauly nr Inverness. www.tartanheartfestival.co.uk. Martha and some Woods on the Garden Stage 4:40pm

Sun 12th Aug 2007
Martha and some Woods:The Barrels Alehouse 59-61 Bridge Street Berwick Upon Tweed. http://www.thebarrels.co.uk

Sat 1st Sep 2007
Martha and some Woods:Moseley Festival - near Birmingham - some serious folk legends playing this one… . http://moseleyfolk.co.uk/

The Bindoo Babas live at Buddhafield in this recording, there’s an explanation of a poem by Prana, (the singer) then the poem and then most of the song “The Dark Night of the Soul”. The Bindoo Babas were a big feature of the festival last year, sadly they are not in the country this season, hopefully they’ll reform in the near future….

The Podcast (8mins)

Bindoo Babas live at Buddhafield

More information about the Bindoo Babas find them at www.sangitasounds.co.uk

The children at the Buddhafield festival make a play for the adults with help of the patient and inspiring carers in the kids area. Here they round up an audience and perform a show in which the perils of watching too much TV are told in a delightful story.

The Podcast
play for the day (45mins)

This talk concerns the social aspect of the “Section of a thousands” the famous passage from the Dharmapada “Better than a thousand useless words is one single beneficial word”………..

…..the recording goes on to a question and answer session.

The Podcast (34mins)

Talkdharmadome2.mp3
The Buddhafield festival is a truly remarkable gathering of beautiful people. see podcast 3 for detail of the event.
www.buddhafield.com

At the Buddhafield festival, the Dharma dome hosted numerous speakers on Buddhist life. Here is one of these talks, about the relation of humans to nature and “emergence”, and the idea of “The Great Turning”.

Podcast 3 (49 mins)

Talkdharmadome.mp3

This year’s festival details :

Buddhafield Festival 2007 - July 11^th - 15^th

A LIVING MANDALA - the magic of community

Each individual brings their particular gifts, skills and heart wishes.

Mixed together in the cauldron of community, they can create a magical brew, with great power to transform.

Buddhism - Rital - Meditation - Yoga - Tai Chi - Healing Area - Kids Area - Cafes - Workshops - Debates - Music - Dance - Crafts

www.buddhafield.com

This Audio excerpt is of the chanting during one of the ceremonies at the Buddhafield Festival, Devon, UK, the largest Buddhist gathering outside of Asia.

The chant is to Padmasambhava: tantric magician of radical transformation; tamer of demons..

The Podcast

“Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum”

For more information on the Buddhafield festival

www.buddhafield.com

Synergy, at the 5 dancefloor super SE1 club venue under London Bridge, is one of the largest clubs in London.

I toured in a circuit around the club, recording using binaural microphone headphones…

…In this recording, you hear the full-on pumping dancefloor and then into the loos– this is the beginning and end of “the circuit”, i follow the same circuit round all 5 dance floors and back to the main dance floor 4 or 5 times with the last section just playing with the main dance floor bass traps.

… listen on headphones for the full effect as the binaural microphones do give the listener a feeling of being there in the crowd.

…this is a document of the sound of the club, snipits of conversations, the fade-in-and-out of the sound systems, the difference between hearing the track at the front and the back of each room etc etc..THERE ARE NO MIXES AND NO EDITS!! showing the diversity of what’s going on, all over the club, at any one time.

Sadly the recording doesnt show you the man dressed up as the tinman from The Wizard of Oz, the countless fairies or the very decorative and friendly signs saying no smoking on the dancefloor…
…the largest and most happening eco-concious/alternative/hippy/festival/club night in London.
The Podcast (40mins)

synergy300307.mp3

For more information on Synergy visit www.thesynergyproject.org

This is a recording of Dan, the last of several performers at this no electricity venue at the Islington Arts Factory in Holloway, it was totally heaving with music enthusiasts, the performers were not too hampered by having no amplication, as the audience was totally quiet, except a few whisperers at the back, by the solar lamp powered bar.

The Podcast (20mins)

Powerdown.mp3

www.myspace.com/powerdownordie

Using our binaural headphones, solidsilence attempts to bring you delicious tastes of festival life, here is the first of many from Buddhafield, if you have been to the festival in the last few years, you would know where i was, lying (in the sun) under the pyramid of bells and wind chimes… there’s an exercise lesson going on quite close and the wind blows the flags gently…ahh, can’t wait for the Summer time…

The Podcast (10mins)

pyramidofbells.mp3

More fun from the Big Green. The band featured is the marvellous, the fantastic, the most wacky Don Bradmans:::
Big Green Gathering podcast 2
This work is protected by Creative Commons, as all media on this site is….
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Prana is a songwriter, and is best known as the front man of the Bindoo Babas. Here is some of his poetry..
The Chocolate Alien by Prana Das

Prana’s work is protected by Creative Commons, as all media on this site is….

So download for your own pleasure, no public broadcasts, no mass copying, no commercial use and no money should be made from sale, use of etc…. If you love his work and want to find out more do let us or ‘Sangita Sounds’ know.
For more information on Creative commons please follow-

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Here’s the first of a series of poetry by Paradox…
I think he’s up to over 200 poems in the last 4 years, and they all have something great to ponder over….
Podcast 1

Paradox - Wonderful Being

Paradox - Everything’s Always Changing

PLEASE EXCUSE PIPS AND GLITCHES IN THE MP3’s MY UPLOAD SOFTWARE/mp3 encoding/service provider or one of SEEMS TO BE MISBEHAVING AGAIN!!

Paradox’s work is protected by Creative Commons, as all media on this site is….

So download for your own pleasure, no public broadcasts, no mass copying, no commercial use and no money should be made from sale, use of etc…. If you love his work and want to find out more do let us know.
For more information on Creative commons please follow-

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 License.

‘The Big Green Gathering’ this Summer was held a few miles from the beautiful Cheddar Gorge. The festival brings together a whole host of not only campaigners, musicians, green activists, artists and craftsmen, but business men and women who are making a living from putting into action extremely varied and inspirational ideas of how to live in this day and age, causing a reduced a carbon footprint and hence caring for the Earth.

This Summer, Solidsilence hosted a daily radioshow which was broadcast in a small radius round the Big Green Gathering festival, it took an FM frequency next to Radio 2 on the dial. Sometimes the show extended for more than 4 hours continuously, from an extremely hot control room in the centre of the largest Green Event in Europe,
What struck me most about this festival was the (almost) complete reasonableness of the festival go-ers. The radical/loony/hippy reputation of these events is almost totally fictional these days - of course there are a few who harbour extreme ideology… and some very strange ‘healing-jumbo’ … but these are few and far between, at a festival full of all sorts of lovely good hearted, kind, friendly, passionate people. fyi. i don’t have a problem with the loony left… it has a place in society just as much as the loony right… as long as there’s no fists involved.

The one great sadness i feel about the treatment of these people, is that politicians have taken the limelight when it comes to ’saving the world’ and these longterm dedicated eco-carers are having their ideas taken directly from them, by politicians, journalists, and-the-like, who turn up as festival-goers and leave with some brilliant ideas which they then brandish as their own. I do hope at least some of these brilliant and good people get credit/reward for their good ideas and hard work, otherwise, what hope is there for the spirit of healthy reform for our society?
So in usual Solidsilence — no chronological order, just podcast what seems good/fun/interesting for the day, we start with a ridiculous satirical interview with … Dr Hofflish.

The recording begins and ends with a song from The Fridge Magnets … who can be found from the link on the side bar of this site … more solidsilence info on The Fridge Magnets … as usual … use the search function … that’s what it is for …
The Podcast (11.47 mins)

Big Green Gathering podcast 1

Most of the photos below were taken a few days before the festival, while everyone was busy setting up …. The horsedrawn carts ferried bands and their equipment to and fro around the site …. the band is the lovely ‘Pinknruby’…

Thanks go to Green Radio and www.willowsound.co.uk for hosting the radio station at the gathering.

Here’s the third and final podcast from the Brazilian culture festival which took place on the South Bank during the World cup this Summer. Boiling hot day, cheerful crowd despite Brazil having just been knocked out of the football, and three great bands. I found the photos so here they are….

The Podcast (77 mins)

Brazilian To Doro Festival 3

The photos

So, here is the second of three podcasts covering the Brazilian To Doro Festival on the South Bank this Summer. Sadly all the photographs of the event were wiped clean when
the server was rerouted. so, sorry no photos, however here is the second audio clip.

The Podcast (60mins)

Brazilian To Doro Festival 2

For more information see previous podcast.

Lovely relaxed event on the banks of the Thames, organised and hosted by Jungle Drums the Brazilian music magazine, this is great place for music events in London, the open air and the grassy banks make this feel like the country, but with the back drop of the beautiful buildings of our most loved city of London. The weather was very hot the music was great. I walked around all the stalls, watched the capoeira dancing, caught most of the music acts ( including Alua Nascimento featured on this first recording) and walking with the Samba band which processed round the back of the festival and through the crowd, people on stills dressed as birds, lovely ladies in their sparkly dresses…… the music was great. Here is the first binaural recording of the event, there are three more in the series to be posted up during the next few weeks.

The Podcast (65mins)
Brazilian To Doro Festival 1
as usual ALL solidsilence podcasts are protected by creative commons licencing laws which allows the listener to listen for thier own pleasure but not to exploit the works for public performance, or any commercial activity.

More information on the festival? …or future events like this please contact-

Jungle Drums Magazine

For more information on Creative commons please follow-

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 License.

After a long Summer of festivals where we have been recording live binaural footage, performing (yes, polyphonic soulo did perform a live show!, the first live show at the BGG festival) and hosting live radio broadcasts, it’s now onwards to an Autumn of London activities.

The next post will summerise proposed events for this season but to start off the solidsilence autumn program of podcasts we have a recording from a performance back in July by the Madrigirls @ the famous St. Martin in the Fields Church, Trafalgar Sq.

This was a breath-of-fresh-air, as you can hear from the recording. The performers really can sing unaccompanied, in tune and together, and with a beauty so rare these days. Do listen to the end for the encore, which is a bit of barber shop fun. The program features a very short composition, Agnus Dei by John Taverner, the most remarkable composition in this recital, it truely is astonishing in it’s beauty, modernity and reverence.
The podcast-

Madrigirls1.mp3

The Programme-

Thomas Morley Though Philomela lost her love 1 1/4 mins

Clement Janequin Ce Moys de Mai 2 mins

Thomas Weelkes Those sweet delightful Lilies 2 1/2 mins

Giaches de Wert Un Jour 2 mins

Monteverdi Occhi Miei 3 mins

William Byrd Benedictus 2 mins

John Taverner Agnus Dei 3 mins

William Holbourne Gush forth my Tears 3 Mins

Orlando Gibbons The Silver Swan 1 1/4 mins

Irish Trad. She moves through the fair 2mins

Thomas Morley Now is the Month of Maying 2 mins

John Hilton If it be Love 3 mins

Micheal East How Merrily We Live 2 1/2 mins

Thomas Morley It was a Lover and his Lass

Lennon& MacCartney Honey Pie 3 mins

For further info and bookings please contact the madrigirls @
www.madrigirls.com

as usual ALL solidsilence podcasts are protected by creative commons licensing laws which allows the listener to listen for thier own pleasure but not to exploit the works for public performance, or any commercial activity.

For more information on Creative commons please follow

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 License.

Loads of people are shouting about Hush the Many at present, and yes, having seen them live 5 or 6 times now i know why, originality and magic. All the other requisites as well, or course. Anyway, Ed Harcourt hosts an afternoon/evening of music at the Nektar Bar, Latimer Rd. Cool venue, (trust me you need to be wearing a scowl if you expect to be served…), the band were on great form, although their late night sets at festivals are quite extraordinary and need to be experienced to become a serious Hush the Many groupie. I like the more up beat stuff though, it’s got balls… So here is 3 songs live from the front of the pub, listen for the sizzle of the bbq in the road behind me……

Hushthemanyatnektarbar080706.mp3 23 mins

Hush the Many feature on the Small World Solar Stage CD Volume II available here or from Rough Trade records, Covent Garden

…big thanks to Ed Harcourt for hosting a quality event in West London. and for letting us record the gig.

Sound Tank is a fortnightly event in Brighton @ The Sanctuary, Brunswick Street East.
Quality musicians in a comfortable, friendly, central Brighton venue.

The evening we recorded featured the Wupadupa String Thing….

Music from Pinknruby, Martin Messent, Paradox, Dan from Birdbones, Cate Ferris, Beth from Semble, Martha Tilston and Sugardrum….

Really AMAZING to hear a full-on small ORCHESTRA on stage…… vaguely comprised of violins, double bass, clarinet, flute, drums etc, playing music they had arranged of their friends music and their friends, friends music. Rehearsing, musicality and dedication of a type rarely seen in popular music these days. This little orchestra is not afraid of hard work and all for virtually no payment……except that this type of venture usually turns out to be the most rewarding thing to do as a musician…. this live recording captures a little of the magic that evening…. always better to be there though…!
Sound Tank Wupadupa night June 2006 (80 minutes)

Thanks go to all the artists, most of whom can be found in the Solidsilence sidebar menu, if you would like to check out their websites. Otherwise contact www.wupadupa.com, or www.the-hat.co.uk for more information.

“Wyrdwalks” - is a series of walks to see the other side of London, it’s Pagan and magical heritage. See London in a new light, and explore an alternative view of England’s capital city.

The Journey

1. Chancery Lane underground station, buskers etc

2. Outside tube station - Staples Yard Met Steve who is going to take me on a Wyrdwalk.

3. In Gray’s Inn outside the chapel, under statue of Francis Bacon.

4. In Gray’s Inn around the chapel, in the inner garden looking at the central sculpture.

5. Looking at the Griffin which is carved over the exit arch of Gray’s Inn.

6. Gresham College. Out of Gray’s Inn, left, passed Chancery Lane Tube station cross the road, on the right.

7. 66-69 Chancery Lane, orginal site of Knight’s Templar, masonic activity later and later home of Alistair Crowley 1903, Golden Dawn

8. Corner of Regent’s Park, Current site of the Royal College of Physicians. Connection with Robert Flood.

9. Secret Garden within Regent’s Park. Just off the central circle, find it using the park maps.

Wyrdwalks.mp3 (50.48mins)

Keywords of talk:-

History of Rosicrucianism especially in London, it’s precursors and anticedents.
St Paul’s Cathedral, Amen Corner, Corneilius Agrippa, Abbott Trithemius, John Collet, John Dee, Holy Grail tradition, Meister Eckhart, Inner Light Sect, Gnostic enlightenment, spiritualism, Sufism, Kabbalah, Shakespeare, Knight’s Templar, Holy Grail, Gray’s Inn, English Rosencrusianism, Francis Bacon, Reformation/Counter Reformation, The symbol of the Rose, The Red Cross, The Rose Cross, Order of Athena, esoteric magical traditions combined with science, Royal Society, Freemasonry, hemeticism, Robert Fludd, Alistair Crowley, Knights Templars, Fountains, Regent’s Park, Freemasonry, John Nash, Theosophy, Steiner House, Madame Blavatsky, Lady Marie Caithness, Roslin Chapel, Scottish Freemasonry, Order of the Golden Dawn, St John’s Lodge.

Check out Wyrdwalks:

http://www.blackcatpress.co.uk/WYRDWALKS.htm

wyrd_walks-owner@yahoogroups.com

Rough Trade, the coolest, most avant-garde record shop in the world are now holding stock of Small World Solar Stage II CD, and will be selling them online and from the Neal’s Yard, Covent Garden shop , so if you live/work/shop/party in the West End check it out… Click here

….caught site of a 45″ EP called Normal Teenager in the racks, it’s by Loaded Knife AKA DJ Wrongspeed AKA Red Zero Radio,
and talking of off the beaten track stuff, the following was emailed by mister Loaded Knife yesterday…..

____

….. FLYER:
Kick Up The Riddim - Benefit for ResonanceFM’s Aerial Fund On June 30th 2006 Resonance FM, Adverse Camber and Torment present Kick Up The Riddim: two rooms of music and noise.Includes DJ C- Mashit Records , Ripley and Kid Kameleon(riddim method) as well as Mathhead
(NYC) The first room will also feature AdCam favourites Scheme Boy, El Kano and Magimix. The Resonance FM room will include DJ Spazmo vs Randomoidz, DJs Tendraw and Bodydamage of The Gluerooms show, Sculpture (tape loop improv noise madness), Jamka (crazed synth noise workout), Hot Roddy (sitar melodies and laptop breaks), Mental Arithmetic -Life4Land? Ed Cox? Mully from Wrong Music performing a live set of Dupstep and Acid, the legendary Binray of Zod Records and more… For more info email max@resonancefm.com 0207 836 3664

believe me this is gonna be speshwal….
The Rhythm Factory 16-18 Whitechapel Road, E1 10pm-5am £7 on the door all night (nearest tube Aldgate East)

____

The next hefty 60 minute Solidsilence podcast gets uploaded in the next few days. It is a binaural tour of some exceptional sites of Hemetic and Rosencrusian interest in London, truly fascinating for anyone remotely interested in the latest type of Holy Blood Holy Grail / Da Vinci Code…..

The first 100 hand screen printed, collectors edition Small World Volume II CD’s will be released at the Small World Solar Stage Festival 25th -29th May, seems it’s a sell out but there could be returns…
It’s been a Winter of over 30 Hours of music and sound to choose from. I had great trouble locating a lovely moment with three little girls who were playing an imaginary game to do with saving fairies, I was just there with the recorder on, and they trundled by on a little wagon thing, it took alot of finding, I only located it two weeks ago.

Communicating with the artists initially seems a mountain to climb, but they have all been lovely, they are all so…..lovely.

As always with the Solidsilence festival CD’s we include some big names,

[namely Nizlopi, big thanks to them, we have the most lovely moment with them teaching the audience a song…:)]
alongside some other big names

relatively unknowns and collected sounds of the festival….the honest approach to authentic festival-ling, and due to Small World’s ecofriendly policy there’s no generator noises,

you could almost have gone back in time.
The line up for the CD is complete today, (thanks to the last artist answering her emails from Australia!!!).

What with his play, performed on Resonance104.4FM last week, his ebook

‘Megatripolis Forever’,
the Caravanserai club which departs tomorrow for Morocco,

and this short story,

Fraser Clark (Zippy, Evolution, Megatripolis, The Warp, Parallel Youniversity) has been rather busy……
…and then there’s the UP! of which I enjoy greatly, his talent for sniffing out news relevent to his readers is pretty on the mark i’d say, i love the outrageousness of some of it, ok so we might take it with a pinch of salt, but don’t we do this with most of the mainstream media news sources? I think perhaps we don’t believe anything anyone tells us these days…….salt poisoning here we come.

Anyway here’s another theory on the progress of evolution from ape to human and it’s consequences, if you want to comment here please do, more info on the world of Fraser Clark? www.parallel-youniversity.com

The full title of this podcast’s story is ‘Monkey’s Trip from the Jungle to Inner and Outer Space’ Solidsilence recorded and edited this reading….

Monkeystrip.mp3 (60mins)

Fraser takes all responsibility for music used as background, although the last section is by Solidsilence’s alter ego, Polyphonic Soulo (we said we wouldn’t use it otherwise!)

My Name is Rachel Corrie, a one woman theatre show running for the next 7 weeks at The Playhouse West End Theatre - Northumberland Avenue

Directed by Alan Rickman. Megan Dodds plays Rachel Corrie

Rachel Corrie was an American peace worker operating in Palestine when she was run down and killed by an Israeli tank in 2003.

Most activists and a great deal of the British public might already imagine the issues thrown up by this controversial play, and yes it does all of what you would imagine and more, with originality, beauty, and drama of a very high order indeed. The acting is superb. The set is brilliant in it’s 3 dimensional usefulness, and works well with the minimal lighting to create clear representation of the time of day and situation. With such minimalism there is no distractions from the story of this young girl. Megan Dodds really does manage to portray this slightly gawky energetic teenager, and moves through to the final climactic speech which is no less than completely focused and heartfelt, you really do feel Rachel Corrie, a frightened, strong, moral, despairing-of-the world young lady who went out on her last day to protect people as she would normally do, by putting herself in front of a tank.

For me the most striking thing was during the final hard hitting speech. We all expect, when we go to the cinema/theatre that we will be persuaded into an emotion to move us, either fear, exhilaration, love, pity, sadness etc. usually this is greatly helped by the use of well placed, well designed, easily forgotten music. Here there is no music, the emotions you experience are a direct result of the acting, the set and the script. Most surprising, shockingly complex feelings of sadness, frustration, exasperation, empowerment and helplessness emerge, not just about Rachel Corrie’s story and the Israeli/Palestinian situation but at the whole gamut of global injustices.

Most of the way through the speech I watched two seperate middle-aged ladies quietly wipe tears from their eyes as I wiped tears from my own and I can only imagine they were experiencing a similar reaction.

I honestly can’t remember feeling such a rich and complicated emotion whilst watching a play or film.
If you get the chance to go, this really is an experience not to miss.Reviewed by The Guardian

This post is about the great and lovely people of Lea Bridge Road Project 142, or perhaps more aptly named, the Urban Nomads. Hanging out there and being part of it has been nothing but a pleasure. Every week there were new developments in the decor and choices for the program, sometimes it was bands and music in one room and cinema in another, other times it was full-on dance through the night, there were fire-breathing mechanical horses, art galleries, belly dancers and delicious cakes. The care and energy that went into creating something from nothing shone through all the work there.
Here’s three audio clips from project 142 over the years
BEGINNING From October 2004 lots of Shiv geeing the crowd, with a rare appearance from Davide on the Sitar
MIDDLE January 2005 - with the Bindoo Babas singing ‘Psychedelic Surfer’, here i walk around the club so we catch the song and then move around…
END - from last weekend’s final party 18th March 2006 (sorry, only made it to the Satuday night so no laXula or Bellagios) Includes one song by both Bresha and Gravy Train.

and some pictures from last w/e….

Please visit their website to see what happens next…..

www.project142.org

In this podcast, the fourth and last episode, Lewis Gibson of Soundpostings (a ResonanceFM weekly show) interviews Georgina Brett of Solidsilence about the origins of the label idea, the techniques needed to record binaurally etc… The interview was spread over four seperate 15 minute shows broadcast on ResonanceFM on the Soundpostings slot. The broadcast includes misc. binaural sound, recorded by Georgina over the last few years.

Lewis Gibson interviews Georgina Brett 4 (15mins)

In this podcast, the third episode, Lewis Gibson of Soundpostings (a ResonanceFM weekly show) interviews Georgina Brett of Solidsilence about the origins of the label idea, the techniques needed to record binaurally etc… The interview was spread over four seperate 15 minute shows broadcast on ResonanceFM on the Soundpostings slot. The broadcast includes misc. binaural sound, recorded by Georgina over the last few years.
Lewis Gibson interviews Georgina Brett 3 (15mins)

In this podcast, the second episode, Lewis Gibson of Soundpostings (a ResonanceFM weekly show) interviews Georgina Brett of Solidsilence about the origins of the label idea, the techniques needed to record binaurally etc… The interview was spread over four seperate 15 minute shows broadcast on ResonanceFM on the Soundpostings slot. The broadcast includes misc. binaural sound, recorded by Georgina over the last few years.
Lewis Gibson interviews Georgina Brett 2 (15mins)

In this podcast, the first of four, Lewis Gibson of Soundpostings (a ResonanceFM weekly show) interviews Georgina Brett of Solidsilence about the origins of the label idea, the techniques needed to record binaurally etc… The interview was spread over four seperate 15 minute shows broadcast on ResonanceFM on the Soundpostings slot. The broadcast includes misc. binaural sound, recorded by Georgina over the last few years.

Lewis Gibson interviews Georgina Brett 1 (15mins)

Can’t believe it has taken so long to post up this podcast, it was finished in December… How time flies.

Wupadupa are a collective of musicians who get together and host music evenings and a festival stage, they also have a growing CD catalogue, available from their website’s online shop.
www.wupadupa.com

So here is a taster of how gorgeous and lovely these events at the Kingston Grey Horse really are, with live performances (recorded in binaural stereo) from Semble, the Big Hairy Band, The Hat and Carrie Tree. There’s even mention of ‘The Chocolate Tiffin Cake’…….

wupadupaamnesty.mp3 (63mins)

Together with Darren from Sangita Sounds, Solidsilence will be hosting an octophonic sound system room, a long-term dream to bring more challenging, seriously mash-up ambient tunes to add to the cocktail of great music and sound systems which is Mindscapes and friends. Georgina plays an eclectic mix of hardcore-ambient, chillout, and festival tunes.

Click flyer image for full details.

After the success of the New Years Party this is REALLY set to rock……

feels like the old days are back….:))

Imbolc – The stone age/age old/pagan etc… festival which marks half way between the Winter Solstice (Yule) and the Spring Equinox (Ostara).

Beltane - The stone age/age old/pagan etc… festival which marks half way between the Spring equinox and the Summer Solstice.

Lugnassadh - The stone age/age old/pagan etc… festival which marks half way between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox. (Harvist festival)

Samhain - The stone age/age old/pagan etc… festival which marks half way between the Autumn Equinox (Mabon) and the Winter Solstice.

Today is Imbolc and the idea is you get your seed in the ground today, the returning of the light.…..

Brian Barritt Interview (60 mins)

This podcast contains an interview with Brian Barritt (author of ‘The Road to Tiarnan Og’ the journal of a psychedelic archaeologist) and Flinton Chalk.

‘Cairn L is unique at Loughcrew in having an asymmetrical chamber with a single recess. According to Brennan, at the Winter festival of Samhain (8^th November) and the Spring festival of Imbolc (4^th of February) the light beam enters the cairn and strikes the top of a tall white standing stone. The stone is four sided,6 feet high and 15 inches wide. It stands alone, isolated from the rest of the usual slow progressive entry, the light beam pierces the darkness of cairn L with a flash . As the sun looks in the door the lower edge of the beam of light is formed by the shadow of cairn M, a subsiduary mound on a nearby hill, other stones inside cairn L further model the light beam so that only the standing stone is illuminated. As the sun rises higher in the sky the beam of light extends further down the white standing stone until the reflected light illuminates a stone basin.’
The Road to Tiarnan Og- Brian Barritt (p35)

Cairn L the sun shone down the shaft into this cairn today.

Collated here in the hour long program is also;
Audio excerpts from speeches by Flinton Chalk, Paul Devereux and Brian Barritt taken from footage of an event at the British Institute.
The sound of 111Hertz, (the frequency of sound that the cairns have been tuned to be most sympathetic to, their resonant frequency which also happens to be the well known frequency of cell regeneration)
A piece of music containing mainly the sound of voices singing ‘Aum’ at the frequency of 111hz, (the music was recorded at Tinpan Alley Studios, Denmark St, London - produced and engineered by Flinton Chalk and Steve Kent)
Audio taken from the video recordings of Brian’s biofeedback brianwave experiment,
Audio from an experiment in the cairn playing 111 hertz.
Finally several excerpts of the book, read by Brian Barritt.

In Late December Solidsilence released a limited edition ‘collage’ of sound from many projects undertaken in the last year, interviews, sounds recorded, polyphonic soulo music and more. Here is a downloadable version.
Solidsilence Solstice Mix (60 mins)

0.00 Headcorn Airoplane Acrobatics, Corneilius talks, I Fly banter, Kids shout, Carrie raises money for street kids in Nepal 4.30 Aum at Buddhafield 5.35 Etusta - Polyphonic Soulo 7.25 Les Denis interview 8.10 Waltzing Denis 11.30 Pony interview, a storm 12.40 Buddhafield Om Varum chant with rotating flies 14.27 Interview with Brian Barritt 17.00 Bread oven 18.53 Millenium Wheel Fairtrade event 24.26 Polyphonic soulo - Leanabte 25.30 Chips? 26.09 Rosencrusian Walk 31.08 Modtome polyphonic soulo 31.43 Round the fire 33.13 the original Cosmic Jam - improv 35.00 Croatian fishing boats at Dawn 37.38 Magnetic Air by Polyphonic Soulo 43.03 Les Denis - Dixie Can 45.00 Les Denis - work4me

25th November 2005 -Live Clearspot Hosted by Georgina from Solidsilence for Resonance 104.4FM

November 25th Solidsilence enters new world of the live broadcast on radio, Resonance104.4FM talking between tracks about the music, armed with Prana from the Bindoo Babas who played a song and recited a poem, it all went ok, some nice feedback to Resonance and to Solidsilence, encouraging news, hooked now want to do more.

Radioshow.mp3 (60 minutes)

TRACK LISTING

Track 1. Smerins Anti Social Club – ‘Dr Who’
Live recording by smerins antisocial club at the larma tree festival www.antisocialclub.com
Track 2. I Fly – ‘Dude’
Live binaural recording by solidsilence www.iflyaway.net
Track 3. Semble – ‘This Child’
Track taken from their album www.semble.co.uk
The next Wupadupa gig, featuring Semble is on friday 16th December at the Grey Horse in Kingston.
Track 4. The Hat - ‘Bitter and Posted’
Live binaural recording taken at Wupadupa www.wupadupa.com Amnesty international gig Oct. this year by solidsilence www.the-hat.co.uk
Track 5. Martha Tilston - ‘Tribal Kidz’
Track taken from her album www.marthatilston.co.uk
Track 6. The Dandylions – ‘Gypsy Soldier’
Track taken from their album www.thedandylions.com
Track 7. Hush the Many– ‘I wish I wish for a happy end’ Live binaural recording by solidsilence www.hushthemany.com
Track 8. Tragic Roundabout – ‘Georgia’ Live binaural recording by solidsilence www.tragicroundabout.info
Track 9&10. Live in the studio Prana From The Bindoo Babas – ‘Why Can’t we live together’ They are in the process of recording their first album with Sangita Sounds and you can see them live on 16^th December The Small World Solar Stage Christmas Bash at the Synergy Centre.
Prana From The Bindoo Babas – ‘The Chocolate Alien’ Poetry
www.sangitasounds.co.uk
Track 11. I Fly – ‘Has Our Drummer Left Us Yet’
Live binaural recording by solidsilence www.iflyaway.net
All copyright on these tracks is owned by the artists themselves.

Tony&Freda-Urgh!! audio
Tony&Freda movie

What with all the catchy songs advertising an endless monotony of rather poorly animated, low interest kids shows, how refreshing it is to present an act like Tony and Freda, there’s something fantastic about a father and daughter singing their own songs and loving it, especially if they are about such fun subjects as these:

‘kitekat felix whiskers’ - pet food stores which are built on playgrounds so you can eat all day but you can’t go for a walk, ‘lazy sunday afternoon’, ‘My Mate Dave loves to play computer games, sits on his own for 12 hours in a day but he’s happy, bless him he is’.
No cheesy patronising voices and they definitely are not trying to sell you anything.

Here’s Urgh! for your enjoyment and a short little movie too.

This was the highlight of the Summer festivals for me, it was the longest time spent in the same field, (over a week), the weather was fantastically warm, after a torrential downpour on the Wednesday before the festival (had great fun recording squelching wellies in the mud on the Thursday). Lovely people, relaxed end of Summer tiredness, beautiful. The recordings reflect this, Small World Volume II will rock.

Binaural is a term used for a type of recording. First coined in the 1950’s when it was invented, the first Binaural recordings were done using a dummyhead and were called dummy head recordings. The idea is to get the relationship between the two stereo microphone fields as close as possible to the relationship of our own ears to each other, so by using a dummy head the microphones were placed where a persons ears would normally be, thus mimiking the exact distance between the head, each microphone faces outwards and records simultaneously.

Playing back on headphones, or speakers, but especially headphones, the sounds are extremely stereo, you can sometimes feel me turn my head as a sound attracts my attention and I walk towards it, creating a fade-up of the sound I am focusing on.

Nowadays with modern technology, we can actually insert microphones into our ears and walk around recording binaurally. This poses all kinds of problems involving the recording persons noise, breathing, rustling when walking. When talking, on playback the voice of the person wearing the microphones at the time is quite disturbing as it seems to appear in the middle of your head. But with all these things in mind this is the most effective way of capturing some of the richness and beauty of a good wholesome outdoor festival, not just the music, but all the sounds of living outdoors without fridges, heating, computers etc all things which create noise pollution. Some of the only mechanical noises on any of the three CD’s released are noises of Airoplanes, either small stunt planes entertaining us with their death defying feats, or large jumbo jets, which happen to be noisy in the same musical key as the Buddhist chant ‘Aum Vajra Akshobia Om’ that several hundred people are gathered together singing in a field at the Buddhafield festival.

Binaural recording allows me to represent the feeling of the festivals, the non-obtrusive style of recording means there is no microphone fright, and the conversations are authentic, strikingly warm and friendly. Let’s face it, there are so many people out there who are interested in what happens at a festival, and perhaps for one reason or another they can’t get to one, financial, locational, ill-health so for those that love going to festivals and for those who would if they could, here is a taster in these binaural festival recordings CD’s.