Session by Cousin Silas – free download

A voice from beyond the grave…

The set that Cousin Silas recorded for show #17 (first broadcast 6th April 2009) has now been released by Earthrid and is available on mini-CD and as a free MP3 download.

It’s good to see one of the highlights of the now defunct Phantom Circuit preserved: enjoy it.

Audio no longer available

Phantom Circuit ended with show 30 at the end of August. It seems that the audio for all shows is no longer available. So the “listen now” links will not work.

Phantom Circuit #30 – Bye!

The Final Edition (available from 31st August 2009)

Yes, it’s farewell. This is the last Phantom Circuit for the foreseeable future. Please stay subscribed to the RSS feed: one day there may be a Son of Phantom Circuit! Meanwhile, we’re throwing our weight behind revitalising Earthrid and hope you’ll follow its activities too.

But for now, enjoy this double-length final edition, which features the recent live performance, at an event organised by Radio Black Forest, of improvised electronic music by Fonik (see the photos here). As always, the flow of the edition dictated what was included and what had to be left out, and there was so much great music that we would have loved to have included in the shows. That’s a good thought to end on.

The first hour

Listen now!

Artist	Track	Source
Martin Dupont	Just Because	Lost and Late
Martin Dupont	Hidden Inside	Essai
Exit to Exist	Wrecked in Autumn	Harbours
T.Power	Lost in Japan	Mutant Jazz
Stress Pill	Harder Ground	[iTunes store]
Soft Verdict	Struggle for Pleasure	Bel80
Halo XVI	Soft G-Skin	The Sixteenth Hour
Insides	Skin Divers	Euphoria
Księżyc	Lalka	Księżyc
Gate Zero	Autumn Walk	Black Dust
Kemialliset Ystävät	Tervehdys, Roskasakki!	Harmaa Laguuni
Moral	Slottet I Luften	And Life Is…

The second hour

Listen afterwards!

Artist	Track	Source
Karikas	Átokdal	A Breeze Bearing Sorrow
Katia Guerreiro	Canto Da Fantasia	Tudo Ou Nada
Fonik	[live in Birmingham 22nd August 2009]	[live in Birmingham 22nd August 2009]
Kenny Rogers	She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye	Collection
Yulia Savicheva (Юля Савичева)	Зима	Оригами (Origami)
t.A.T.u.	Chelovechki	Veselye Ulybki (Happy Smiles)
Michael Nyman (voice: Lucie Skeaping)	Bird List Song	Michael Nyman
Annette Hanshaw	That’s Just My Way of Forgetting You	Volume 5

Phantom Circuit #29

Show #29 features the entire live set by Clutter, recorded at the Wagon and Horses pub in Digbeth, Birmingham, in a night of music organised by Radio Black Forest.

Clutter is a solo project by Shaun Blezard, whom we interviewed in Phantom Circuit #18, which was our Earth Monkey Productions special.

Listen now!

Playlist for Phantom Circuit #29

First broadcast 25th August 2009

Artist	Track	Source
Ya Ya Choral	God’s Buzzsaw	Such a Dutchman
Minimal States	Lake Effect	City of Buffalo
Killer Watts	A Walk in the Black Forest	The Many Moogs of Killer Watts
Ariel Kalma	Forest Ballad	Osmose
[uncredited performer]	Ondai Bondai	Music from the Forests of Riau and Mentawai
Clutter	[live in Birmingham 22nd August 2009]	[live in Birmingham 22nd August 2009]
N.R.Y.Y.	Good Violin	Doesn’t Finish Ringing

Music festival last Saturday in Birmingham

So, as was recently mentioned in the last blog post, last Saturday (22nd August) saw a festival of “Electroacoustic/psych/drone/folk” music in Digbeth, Birmingham, organised by Radio Black Forest. Colin Potter was unable to attend and his place in the line-up was taken by Z’ev. There were some other adjustments and alterations but the music kept on coming, on both stages.

The sets by most performers were freeform, improvisational and far from traditional music technique in approach. Sometimes that resulted in a shambling racket; sometimes it permitted fresh approaches and unrestrained experimentation. Everyone one would have had their own favourites but there were some particularly shining examples of original approaches to music and some of these we were able to record for broadcast. There will be news on that here soon.

The Wagon and Horses pub proved to be a relaxed and friendly venue, well suited to the positive, enthusiastic mood of the evening. We look forward to more events organised by Radio Black Forest.

Music festival this Saturday in Birmingham

This coming Saturday (22nd August) in Birmingham sees a festival of “Electroacoustic/psych/drone/folk” music in Digbeth, Birmingham. See the Myspace page for Radio Black Forest for more details. The line-up (subject to change) is in their Myspace blog, and includes Colin Potter, Tusk and Colossloth just for starters.

A late addition to the bill is Clutter, the project by Shaun Blezard, whom we interviewed in show 18 (still available for on-demand listening).

One not to be missed.

Phantom Circuit #28

The selection of music this time made this edition particularly fun to put together and it shows. We continue to feature some of the excellent new releases from netlabels and reveal some demos you probably haven’t heard before but also cast our ears back to a variety of old tracks and mark the passing of Les Paul. Listen now!

Playlist for Phantom Circuit #28

First broadcast 18th August 2009

Artist	Track	Source
The Phantom	Love Me	Love Me (7″)
Les Paul and Mary Ford	Jealous	Jealous (7″)
Bertrand Burgalat	Jalousies et Tomettes	OK Bertrand
Mathis	Neighbour Forgotten Like a Silent Ray	[MP3]
Cousin Silas	A Moment of Reflection	Uncertainty
Gregory Conte	Deep Blue	No-R-Mal
Gurdonark	Rough Green Snake	No-R-Mal
Pandacetamol	Snake Eyes	The Mystery of Spyglass Hill
Section 25	View from a Hilltop (Restructure)	From the Hip
Josef Nadek	Hymn	Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque
Paul Horn	Fulfillment: Psalm 8	Inside the Great Pyramid
Lightwave	Hymn for the Guild of Astronomers	Tycho Brahe
Dee D. Jackon	Meteor Man	Cosmic Curves
Kraftwerk	Kometenmelodie 2	Autobahn
Aleatorix	Microbit	Synclayer
John Callaghan	I Respond to You like I Respond to Music	[demo]

Phantom Circuit #27

In this edition we lurk in the shadows a bit, the better to shine the spotlight on some new and forthcoming music releases. We also sneak some old tracks in, since variety is the spice of life, isn’t it? Included are demos of tracks by Mr Underwood (aka Glatze), Button Moon (from their forthcoming CD) and the radio debut of Spill Twins. Listen now!

Playlist for Phantom Circuit #27

First broadcast 11th August 2009

Artist	Track	Source
A.T.R.O.X.	New York Race Track	The Night’s Remains
N.R.Y.Y.	Doesn’t Finish Ringing	Doesn’t Finish Ringing
Cyberaktif	House of Pain	Tenebrae Vision
Fabio Frizzi	Tenebre Viventi	Lucio Fulci’s Requiem in Blood
Simonetti, Morante, Pignatelli [Goblin]	Tenebre Remix	Tenebre
Mr. Underwood	Oh8	[demo]
Button Moon	[untitled track 2]	In Orbit
Raymond Scott	Super Cheer	Manhatten Research, Inc.
Raymond Scott	Hostess Twinkies	Manhatten Research, Inc.
Spill Twins	Ant Mansion	[demo]
Spill Twins	Banjax	[demo]
A Certain Ratio	Knife Slits Water	Knife Slits Water (7″)
Pighood	Kapumpkin	To Patch a Creditor
Halo XVI	The Voice of the Angel	The Sixteenth Hour
Annette Hanshaw	My Sin	Volume 6 – 1929

Flightpath

The mirroring effects in Ian Emes’s short film Flightpath Tegel, accompanied by music by John Foxx, make Birmingham’s Spaghetti Junction look a lot more futuristic and exciting than it really is. Why it’s called Flightpath Tegel is not obvious…

Radio 4 to channel Radio Spiritworld

Peter Serafinowicz has announced Radio Spiritworld, a new comedy series which he is writing with Robert Popper and which is to be broadcast by BBC Radio 4. A pilot edition in podcast format has already been produced and you can enjoy that on the RSW Web site. It’s very nicely done.

Although they are different kinds of shows, Phantom Circuit and Radio Spiritworld share certain trappings and interests (is it just down to the polter-zeitgeist?) such as short-wave radio, ghostly voices and haunted technology. Considering the far wider exposure that RSW will receive, we might need to give some thought about the future style of Phantom Circuit. We don’t want to come across as (at best) a poor relation!

Nevertheless, since going on air in October of last year, Phantom Circuit has always been primarily about exotic and neglected music, so we don’t want to get too worried about the window-dressing. To be realistic, many of the themes to which the style of the show alludes will be lost on listeners anyway? Still, it would seem a shame to stop mining an interesting set of subjects which so far we have barely scratched. These fields are perhaps big enough for a multitude of approaches: for other examples, you might try Strange Frequencies Radio and Anomaly Radio, although they are more serious in their endeavours!

As for Phantom Circuit, well, as always, we shall have to see…