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Get that bleedin' kettle on

Back to the future - Sir Basil Spence exhibition

We can fully recommend the current exhibition at the Herbert in Coventry, celebrating the career of the prolific architect Sir Basil Spence. The Herbert is a perfect setting for the exhibition, walk out of the doors and along the building and you can see what is arguably Sir Baz's masterwork, Coventry Cathedral. Makes me feel better about the place every time I see it.

I'll be going again before it closes at the end of August so I can write something better up. 

The exhibition mentions that Spence designed three other churches in Coventry, but didn't seem to name them. Doing a quick search on Flickr brings them up, all rather more brutalist and economically built than the humanistic modernism of the Cathedral - St. Oswald in Tile Hill, St. John in Willenhall, and St. Chad in Wood End.

Filed under  //   art   coventry   design   exhibition   herbert  
Posted August 3, 2008
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Super spooky Polivoks in the kitchen

Could be straight off "The Dignity of Labour" or "Reproduction", I love it... (via MatrixSynth)

Filed under  //   synth   video   youtube  
Posted July 31, 2008
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Delia Derbyshire's dance track: "Dance from Noah" clip

David Butler comments on Create Digital Music with some more info on the mysterious Aphex-style dance track that's been dug out of the Delia Derbyshire archives. Rooting around my collection of stuff I found something which claims to be the track David mentions, seemingly off a demo record of the EMS VCS3.

 
It's a sweet little thing, only 54 seconds long. The driving, analogue drum machine-style beat is quickly drowned out by the piccolo-style synth line, it seems easily possible it's the same beat, or at least from the same session. I did a rough check on the tempo of each, and they're roughly in line at about 155bpm or so.
 
Now it ain't mine to go slinging round on the Internet, but I'm hoping it's OK to quote a tiny clip of the pertinent section, about ten seconds of the start of it.
 
 

Dance From Noah by Delia Derbyshire  
(download)

Update: Just for interest only, here's an interview with Delia by Radio Scotland in 1997. Let me assure you, we all speak like that in Coventry.

Filed under  //   bbc   deliaderbyshire   download   mp3   radiophonicworkshop  
Posted July 29, 2008
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My new bike, please don't steal it

Just been to Warwick and back to Coventry on my new bike on the hottest day of the year, which isn't especially clever.

I thought it was about 11 miles, but doing it a quick route check on Google Maps it seems to be about 8.5 miles, which isn't so bad after all. Worst thing (apart from the heat) was the hills, god - the hills.

Filed under  //   commuting   cycling  
Posted July 27, 2008
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MP3 grab-bag 14tracks sort out pricing, I say good

Run by Boomkat, 14tracks is a brilliant idea, maybe inspired by muxtape, of selling a curated mixtape made out of MP3s centred on a particular style or feeling.

And this time round they've sorted out the price, so you can buy all the tracks in the list for £6.86, which is pretty bleedin' reasonable. Odd number though...

Filed under  //   boomkat   download   mp3  
Posted July 23, 2008
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Last.fm redesign: feh

I mean, it's ok but it ain't nothing special, like. It looks a bit lost, something isn't quite right. "Recently listened tracks" looks too wide - what's with the massive white space inbetween the track title and the time played? I think they could easily rearrange that to fit more content in higher up without making it look too hectic. I'd probably make the selected tab on the left a bit more prominent, it's a bit weak at the minute.

New Ladytron album is really really dull, by the way, I really don't get the universal critical love for it. I had to stop listening to the last track "Versus", it was horrendous...

Filed under  //   design   lastfm   web  
Posted July 22, 2008
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Forget about this, it's for interest only: The Delia tapes

Great piece on the BBC website on the attic Delia tapes, including some fantastic Aphex-style beats, only 20 years or so before RDJ got going. Everyone'll be sampling Delia saying "forget about this, it's for interest only" at the start...
 
Just as interesting for me are her early recordings for "Blue Veils and Golden Sands", which demonstrate her working process. The demo includes some cut-ups of her voice which sound like nothing much, then replayed at different pitches, where the ghost of a tune appears, which is then put through some sort of reverb device for atmosphere, and then it's incorporated into the whole.
 
There's the usual speak-your-branes style comments from the Great British Public on the PM blog to wonder at as well ("No more music than fly in the air").
 
We want more.... (via Helen, ta)

Filed under  //   bbc   deliaderbyshire   music   radiophonicworkshop  
Posted July 19, 2008
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Delphine - Le Fermeture Éclair

 
Bit of Franco-psychpop drama, via the Archives Listening Project's Broadcast Origins series
 
Edit: Whups, Delphine is Belgian, a thousand apologies. Also it turns out that the track is a French version of the We the People's "In the past", which you can hear on iTunes. Although it's not as good.

Filed under  //   music   video   youtube  
Posted July 18, 2008
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MPC for your iPhone?

Impressive looking beat making app for the iPhone/iPod Touch right out of the blocks from Intua. There's a video review over here. 

I'd buy it but I've acquired enough gear this month already (*cough* SH-5...), might wait for some more reviews...

Filed under  //   application   ipodtouch   music   production  
Posted July 16, 2008
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Litmus test: Acid Muxtape

My acid Muxtape...
 
Track list:
1. Phuture - Your Only Friend
2. Adonis - No Way Back
3. Armando - Land of Confusion
4. Bam Bam - Where's Your Child
5. DHS - This Is Acid
6. 808 State - Box Energy (AFX mix)
7. Underground Resistance - The Final Frontier
8. Chris Moss Acid - E1 (303 mix)
9. Impakt - Emotional Acid
10. Ceephax Acid Crew - Acid on Sea
11. AFX - Steppingfilter 101

 

Filed under  //   mp3   music   muxtape  
Posted July 16, 2008
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