Petter & Dairmount - Subakuatik Blues EP

I grabbed this earlier in the year, but it's now available at a bargain price over at Boomkat. That's a shame, as it indicates that this hasn't shifted the units too well, which is a surprise, cos this is sounding great to me.

The Underwater Dance mix is a great, bouncy, accessible house track. I had it on in the room today while I was playing with my kids and they said they liked it a lot. They may have just been humouring me though. Try it out on your children and report back.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Gatekeeper - Optimus Maximus

I'm super-stoked that there seems to be a slight resurgence of the bombastic fat analogue soundtrack type of stuff so brilliantly typified by the works of John Carpenter et al.

Inspired by the ghoulish soundtracks of Goblin and the synthetic drama of John Carpenter, Kompakt's new offshoot, Fright records, delivers a disco shocker from Gatekeeper. 'Optimus Maximus' comes on collectors edition granite vinyl and is limited to only 300 copies. These tracks brew a potent blend of darkside Italo with a demonic suspense made to fully grip the floor. While the arpeggiated basslines and drum machines are purely retro vintage, the dynamic synthlines and hi-end processing give this away as a modern production, but that's a large part of its spellbinding charm and should be considered a stone-cold essential for all darkside disco fiends.

This four tracker is consistently great, but my favourite two tracks are "Forgotten" and "Obsidian", both of which are to be found on the second side. This really is a massively clever repositioning of that clunky Carpenter-esque sound to something blisteringly NOW. Enjoy.

For those of you who want more of this stuff (and let's face it, who wouldn't), can I respectfully point you in the direction of a revitalised Illegal Smoking Robot (Welcome back, Tone. You still rule the school), where The Emperor Machine's very good "Space Beyond The Egg" has just been posted. Not exactly coming from the same place, but shall we say, going on the same journey.

Can I also hereby give you notice that another recent classic of the genre will be arriving here at Castles In Space very shortly.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

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Tim Hart & Maddy Prior - Summer Solstice

I've frequently skirted around the edges of folk music looking for "the good stuff", but have been bitten a few times buying into highly acclaimed music which ultimately left me totally cold. To complicate things further, there are deep issues of identity relating to this traditional music for me. I'm Scottish in lineage, but coming from parents who were both born and bred in the North of England (as was I), I feel slightly fraudulent enjoying Scottish and Irish folk music, which is unfortunate for me, as the Celtic stuff is generally much, much better than the swathes of hey-nonny-nonny English music which proliferates. How typically English that seems to me - unbearably parochial, but envious of the perceived shared history and instant comradeship so apparently prevalent in the communities to which I can never be a part of.

One of the routes into the truly good traditional English based folk music that I have managed to stumble upon, was the early music of Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. These names may well be familiar to any Brit growing up in the seventies, due to the work of Steelye Span, who, almost unbelievably at this distance, regularly used to hit the upper echelons of the chart with their folk-rock singles back when I were a lad. "All Around My Hat" anyone?

I was also familiar with the stunning voice of Maddy Prior due to her appearances on several Mike Oldfield albums, who was a big favourite of mine before the punk wars hit and I had to pretend I didn't like fantastic albums such as "Hergest Ridge" and "Incantations" anymore, at least for a few years. Prior's vocal work on the latter album in particular is utterly great and hearing that album now, I am always transported back to my Mum and Dad's front room, where the stereo sat next to the Christmas tree. I used to sit in the dark with nothing but the fairy lights on and listen to the album that the NME had called "The most boring piece of music ever made" and while my horizons were quietly expanded (I don't think there were any other kids at Barrow Technical College For Boys asking the English master for a copy of Longfellow's "Hiawatha"), I learned that it was important to make your own mind up about some things, and that sometimes, people who should know better were plain wrong.

Anyway, obsessed as I am and always have been, I am always on the look out for new thrilz, wherever they may lay. Which brings us to this gem.

Wikipedia:

From 1970 to 1982, Hart and Prior were the backbone of Steeleye Span. In 1971, as well as recording two albums as part of Steeleye Span, they recorded Summer Solstice - a much more professional recording than their first two albums, including a string arrangement by Robert Kirby, better known for his work with Nick Drake. Almost every song that Hart sang was traditional. Steeleye Span's commercial success peaked in 1975. They toured in the United States and Australia and used electric instruments more frequently. However, further hits eluded them. They announced that their 1978 tour of the United Kingdom would be their farewell.

Those two early albums, "Folk Songs of Olde England" (Volumes One and Two), are pretty special, but this takes the prize for hitting the target exactly for fusing the right amounts of the traditional with some more contemporary touches.

The more broad minded among you should get a kick out of this great record (sounding good on a 1996 Mooncrest reissue) and the highlights are legion. Try the irresistible version of "The False Knight On The Road" or the wonderful, wonderful "Sorry The Day I was Married". And no sniggering at the back for "Fly Up My Cock", OK? They are singing about a bird, OK?

Or ARE they? I've seen a documentary about the period called "Carry On Don't Lose Your Head", and it transpires that those hey-nonny-nonny dudes were pretty bawdy.

320 Kbps.

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Five Weeks Left...

There's a five week countdown. A personal milestone will be reached. There will be a celebration. A secret will be revealed. A story will be told. There are five weeks to go.

Exotic Pylon - Quiet Village/De Wolfe/Mordant Music

Pretty awesome Exotic Pylon Halloween special radio broadcast featuring Quiet Village discussing and playing library classics from the De Wolfe stable, followed in the second half by a session from Castles In Space favourites, Mordant Music, is now available here.

Only 128 Kbps, but still totally worth it.

Audible Visions

I promised you some more cosmic space disco, so here we fucking go.

Audible Visions is a collaboration between Alexis Le-Tan (Space Oddities, les edits du Golem) and the design collective Ill-Studio: a spaced-out musical ceremony in which sounds from the past meet ideas from the future. This mixtape from another dimension blends electro, new beat, space disco, minimal-synth, afro and new-wave grooves in a concoction which after one listen, is bound to give you sonic hallucinations.



Beautifully packaged in a hand numbered Warhol Factory silver pillow with beautiful poster. There are but a few of these of these still available here.

Go and get one. This download will only be available for a few days.

320 Kbps.

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Sylvain Chauveau - The Black Book Of Capitalism

French composer Sylvain Chauveau has released several records of minimal compositions for piano, strings, wind instruments and electronics, "with silence as an important musical element". Two of his tracks were chosen this year for Kompakt's annual "Pop Ambient" compilation.

This debut album is ageless and timeless. Full of otherness, like smoke billowing around the corners of a darkened room. Music like this doesn't age. It's lovely, inventive stuff. Rooted in European soundtrack work, but with enough dark twists to keep the interest levels super-high. Gallic voices appear and then fade to black. There are pianos, guitars, brass, bells, crackle, sweet female voices and strings. It's a bit Badalamenti/Lynch and it's a little bit Yann Tiersen, but both lighter and darker than either.

His later work is equally beautiful, but perhaps less edgy, sometimes drifting into a string drenched, drone-y minimalism. Check out the website for more details. It all comes with a massive recommendation. There's even a fantastic album of chamber music versions of Depeche Mode songs.

For research purposes, and because I'm a totally hopeless case, I've tested this music both at home and outside, as a soundtrack to the London commute. It's perfect at home, especially for very late at night (I'm listening to it now) but it works terrifically well on the iPod, where it has the effect of adding a stillness and welcome back step from the in-your-face rigours of London tube journeys. I'm playing myself in a film about my life, basically. But that might just be me.

You'll like it, I promise.

320 Kbps.

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