The Outer Church

FRACTURED MIRROR

2012-02-01T16:10:00.000-08:00

When someone tweeted earlier today that Oren Ambarchi had covered Ace Frehley's instrumental 'Fractured Mirror' - the closing track from his magnificent 1978 debut solo album - I had to investigate. I'm happy to confirm that Ambarchi's version is every bit as good as I'd hoped, retaining the bittersweet beauty of the original while making a case for its validity as work of non-canonical minimalism. 'Fractured Mirror' is a special track for me, for reasons I find very interesting and rather unusual. Thing is, the track reminds me of a very specific time in my life - in fact a very specific moment. So far, so nostalgic. But what I find curious is that at that particular point in time, I had not heard this piece of music. It took about a decade for me to discover that Frehley had recorded a composition that reached forward in time to that moment, distilled its essence with pinpoint accuracy, then lay in wait for me to stumble across it and find myself involuntarily transported back to that moment. Suffice to say, this raises some interesting questions concerning the less-than-straightforward relationship between music and nostalgia.

THE LAW OF FIVES: OLD APPARATUS

2012-01-31T08:22:00.000-08:00

East London outfit Old Apparatus emerged last year with a self-titled 12" on dubstep label Deep Medi. The 12" consisted of two extended tracks which defied categorisation but seemed to suggest a form of piston-powered bass music, an impression reinforced by their astonishing, steampunk-ish artwork (see below). This was followed by the equally remarkable 'Zebulon'/'Hammerhand' 12" and a number of intriguing mixtapes which indicated a tremendously diverse set of influences. In the first of an irregular series for The Outer Church, Old Apparatus pick the five tracks that are currently grinding their gears...

1. Legowelt 'Sturmvogel'

"Taken from his first vinyl release 'Pimpshifter' in 1998. Legowelt's creations draw influence from the best of early techno and '80s electro. This is a great track for the dance floor."

2. Tim Hecker 'Hatred Of Music I-II'

"Fascinating how an age-old instrument like the church organ can sound so fresh and powerful. Love the wailing melodies. Ben Frost's engineering is instantly recognisable for his unique approach to sculpting noise in such a way that it sounds massive but not too harsh."

3. The Knife 'We Share Our Mother's Health'

"Just love it at the moment."

4. Wiley vs Lethal B 'Who Won?'

"Back when grime wasn't saturated with pop ballads (and money) it was a genuinely exciting time for followers of the UK underground. With lyrics like "Your mum's got Athletes Foot" and "Your mum's got Aids and she's skinny like a twig" you know you're in for a good listen.
Lethal won by the way."

5. The Haxan Cloak 'The Fall'

"Deepness."

Old Apparatus will be appearing at the February 17th edition of The Outer Church at Sticky Mike's Frog Bar, get tickets here.

THE OUTER CHURCH COMMUNITY BROADCAST #1

2012-01-30T12:36:00.000-08:00

The first edition of The Outer Church Community Broadcast

is now available to stream at Mixcloud.

Featuring special guests

Warren Ellis and Laurie Penny

plus a selection of the fine electronic oddities including

Kemper Norton, 10-20, Sone Institute and The House In The Woods.

WONDERS FROM THE HOUSE OF ALBION

2012-01-30T05:59:00.000-08:00

Earth's Dylan Carlson is currently gathering funds for a forthcoming solo project. Wonders has a projected release date of May 2013 and will be available in various formats. Some more details here:

"The recording will combine field recordings from various megalithic and other sites of human/fairy encounters across the UK, also the use of ritual and folkloric magical practices. The expedition will be filmed by Clyde Petersen. These recordings will be layered with Dylan's interpretations of classic Scots-English ballads about human/fairy encounters from early modern England and Scotland (15th-18th century). It will also feature guest vocalists to sing the songs. This is not being done through a label, as Earth's output has, but is a labor of love/obsession of Dylan's. Being primarily of Scots-English descent, this is an historical journey to his personal and cultural past, embracing music/folklore/the occult dimension and history."

Should you feel inclined to help out, visit the project page at Kickstarter!

ELLISOUNDS

2012-01-24T08:07:00.000-08:00

If you haven't been following Warren Ellis's terrific SPEKTRMODULE series of podcasts, what have you been doing with your time? Tsk. In any case, all is not lost as they are still available to collect and keep from the man's always informative and entertaining website:

There is also some very fine SPEKTRMODULE merchandise available at CafePress... right NOW.

ESCAPOLOGY

2012-01-23T08:27:00.000-08:00

John Ronson interviews Robbie Williams about UFOs for Radio 4, August 2008. The Outer Church has a certain affection for the charismatic ex-Take That entertainer: lest we forget, the sleeve of Williams's 2005 album Intensive Care was designed by writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely and incorporated a specially designed sigil. If this wasn't enough to demonstrate the singer's keen interest in the paranormal, photographs later emerged of a bearded, slightly portly Williams alongside reports that he had become obsessed with UFOs. Though his pop appeal had slackened slightly since his 90s peak, it looked like Williams was about to enter the most interesting phase of his career. Of course, he rejoined Take That shortly after, which dragged him away from ufology and back into the arenas. Nevertheless, we hold out hope for the double-disc alien abductee concept album Williams surely has in him. Note: there is a third part of this programme on YouTube here but for some reason it will not embed in this post. Coincidence... or something more sinister?

TAPES OF TOMORROW

2012-01-22T12:18:00.000-08:00

Two of early 2012's finest albums are released tomorrow, Pye Corner Audio's Black Mill Tapes Volume 3: All Pathways Open and 10-20's Magnet Marsh.

Now, we at The Outer Church understand that you probably blew a fairly hefty wad over the festive season and have been forced to collect all the shrapnel gathered in various musty drawers and cobwebbed jars just so you can attend Feb 17th's edition of the OC - at which Pye Corner Audio will be just one of the delights on offer - but both of these releases are worth going without food for. At least for a week or two. Maybe three.

Owning these outstanding examples of British electronic music will transform your life. Really. You want your life transformed, don't you? Of course you do! Let's think about logistics then. You've probably got quite a few shit CDs you could palm off onto Cash Converters. You'd only need about 45 of them to gather the funds necessary to make a dual purchase you'll never regret. So what's stopping you? If you don't sort this out, well... that would make you a lazy daisy! You're not a lazy daisy are you? Well then!

This has been a Public Service Announcement on behalf of The Outer Church. Thank you.

THE OUTER CHURCH #2

2012-01-21T08:39:00.000-08:00

Issue #2 of the all-new OC is designed to work as an all-out assault on the fabric of reality, paying tribute to those visionaries whose remarkable written work continues to offer inspiration while hailing the sinister sounds of elsewhere. Two films, three live acts... one Church.

WARREN ELLIS: CAPTURED GHOSTS + GRANT MORRISON: TALKING WITH GODS

Courtesy of Respect! Films, The Outer Church presents an unmissable double bill of acclaimed documentaries illuminating the lives and careers of two visionary British writers and countercultural icons. Directed by Patrick Meaney, 'Talking With Gods' and 'Captured Ghosts' were produced with the full cooperation of Morrison and Ellis and incorporate interviews with the artists alongside colleagues and contemporaries including Helen Mirren, Douglas Rushkoff, Joss Whedon, Mark Waid, Geoff Johns, Patton Oswalt, Stoya, Matt Fraction, Katelan Foisy and more. The influence of Morrison and Ellis on The Outer Church is immense; this double bill is intended as a tribute to their brilliance.

OLD APPARATUS

Since their OC debut last year mysterious London-based collective Old Apparatus have performed live alongside Philip Jeck and Fennesz, released their second 12" 'Zebulon/Hammerhand' for DEEP MEDi and assembled acclaimed mixtapes for Electronic Explorations and BigUp. In addition there's a cassette due on the Tapeworm label (Stephen O'Malley/Simon Fisher Turner/Philip Jeck) and the outfit are currently recording their full-length debut for DEEP MEDi. Unique and unbound by generic constraints, Old Apparatus loiter on the vanguard of contemporary bass music.

PYE CORNER AUDIO

With his 'Black Mill Tapes' series, Pye Corner Audio has administered a shot of ectoplasmic energy to the evanescent area of haunted audio, bringing elements of Carpenter soundtrack, glassy electronic drone and cosmic disco into the mix. 'Black Mill Tapes Vol.3' is PCA's current release and represents a further evolution of the outfit's unsettling sound ++STOP PRESS++ The Outer Church has just received the exciting news that the Head Technician is currently working on his debut PCA album for the esteemed Ghost Box label.

KEMPER NORTON

A longtime friend and associate of The Outer Church, Kemper Norton is the South Coast's finest - indeed only - proponent of slurrtronic folk sounds. Blending acoustic instrumentation with synthetic sonorities and his own spectral vocals, he conjures a sound suggestive of a rural Coil. Recently spotted wassailing on the allotment, he brings his finely-textured twisted roots music to The Outer Church for the third time.

Tickets £5 in advance from: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/152811

RHTLOML

2012-01-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

New video for 'RHTLOML' by 10-20 on Broken60

OCB20 TEASER

2012-01-17T03:04:00.000-08:00

Music: 'Broken 20' by TVO

Buy Tickets

THE OC REBOOT: A USER'S GUIDE

2012-01-16T09:28:00.000-08:00

Just days to go... the OC universe reboots in epic style 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. John Cohen is unfortunately not able to make the event. He will instead be represented by a screening of his film, Tar River, while the line-up is completed by London's Tengui (Colony/Broken20/PercTrax) who promises a set of deepest, darkest drone for your edification.

What else? Well, in their infinite kindness, Broken20 will be giving away a free 3" CD (see cover art above) featuring tracks from each artist to the first few down and a free download code for all. We will be irradiating Sticky Mike's Frog Bar from 7.30pm until late and you can buy your tickets on the door (subject to availability) or in advance from here.

While we're at it... you need to get your ears around what's happening at Broken20's cassette-based sister label, Broken60. The new release from 10-20, Magnet Marsh, is one of the finest new new new things we've heard in some time... let's just say the title is eerily appropriate.

Finally, The Outer Church visited London Fields Radio in Hackney last week to record the inaugural edition of The Outer Church Community Broadcast. Guesting were the wonderfully loquacious Warren Ellis and Laurie Penny and the show will soon be streaming from the LFR site. Stay tuned for further details.

2012-01-14T01:47:00.001-08:00

THE OC UNIVERSE...REBORN

2011-12-09T15:00:00.001-08:00

The Outer Church enters its newest phase at

Brighton venue

Sticky Mike's Frog Bar.

The reboot takes effect on January 20th 2012 with a very special event

produced in collaboration

with Glasgow's tremendous Broken20 label.

Art by the formidable James R Moore

THEM

2011-12-07T13:59:00.001-08:00

I'll probably play this odd bit of proto-Boards Of Canada electronica (by Python/Bonzo Dog/Rutles chap Neil Innes) at tomorrow night's OC.

WINTER UPDATE

2011-11-27T09:16:00.001-08:00

The Outer Church is seldom given to long-winded bloggery. Nevertheless, we're in the midst of what UFO experts would call a 'flap'... so here's an update on a whole mess of OC-relevant business.

Broken20, the label founded by The Village Orchestra's Ruaridh Law has been super busy with new and forthcoming releases from Nanorhythm, Erstlaub, John Cohen and Isodyne. Check here for details. The B20 site is also hosting the tremendous Broken Strategy podcast by writer Warren Ellis, which is available for download here.

Somehow Mr Ellis - currently nearing completion of his second novel Gun Machine - has found time to put together another excellent podcast entitled Spektrmodule 01: Fire Axes In Space which you can stream from his website here. Ellis and artist Molly Crabapple are selling a beautiful limited and signed print, which you can purchase here. In the world of comics, his Captain Swing And The Electrical Pirates Of Cindery Island TPB (Avatar) is previewed by Bleeding Cool here and you can catch a peek of Marvel's Secret Avengers #20 here.

The Outer Church travelled to London a couple of weeks ago to catch Warren in conversation with Lenny Henry (another OC hero) prior to a screening of excellent new documentary Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts. The film was made by the team behind Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods and is highly recommended. Check here.

Paper Dollhouse will be playing the December 8th edition of The Outer Church along with Sone Institute and Hobo Sonn. Her sparse, melancholic debut album is set for release three days prior on Bird/Finders Keepers.

OC faves Old Apparatus have been grafting away in the overheated engine room of their collective imagination, putting together the Chernobyl Mixtape for Big Up Magazine (DL here) plus a triffic mix for the Electronic Explorations site (DL here) groaning with new and unreleased material. There's even a new track entitled 'Hand To Mouth' to download here.

Raime's long-awaited new 12" Hennail is available now, details here.

Pye Corner Audio have one side of a Ghost Box Study Series 7" devoted to them, info here.

Embla Quickbeam has a marvellous new release on Chocolate Monk, entitled 'Seven Is The Rhinog's Crown' and limited to only 50 copies. Quick! Get one here.

The Outer Church will soon be sprouting an as-yet-unnamed extra wing in the form of a show on London Fields Radio. This will involve music but also interviews and deranged ramblings on a variety of subjects including film, books, comics, art and mental illness.

Finally... those blasphemous rumours are indeed true. Following December 8th's festive shenanigans The Outer Church will be vacating Komedia for good and relocating to new venue Sticky Mike's Frog Bar. The benefits? Well, extended opening hours and more volume (incl. subs) for starters.

The reboot takes place on January 20th... and will involve some of the folks I've mentioned above.

Stay tuned for more details...

...oh, and more power to the Occupy movement!

STEAMFUNK

2011-11-26T15:56:00.001-08:00

I've decided to dust down the headphones for the Dec 8th edition of The Outer Church. This is one of the tracks I intend to play, in all its 11min 36sec glory.

OC081211

2011-11-24T07:59:00.001-08:00

Buy Tickets

OC081211

2011-11-13T04:10:00.001-08:00

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OC101111

2011-11-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

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OC131011

2011-10-05T06:11:00.001-07:00

OC131011 TEASER

2011-09-23T13:53:00.001-07:00

OC131011

2011-09-09T07:11:00.000-07:00

OC080911 TEASER

2011-09-05T08:02:00.000-07:00

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OC080911

2011-09-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

(alternate poster design by James R Moore)

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HELLO

2011-08-27T14:15:00.001-07:00

OC080911

2011-08-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

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2011-07-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

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The Dark Earth Mixtape Vol. I

2011-07-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

The Outer Church

Presents

The Dark Earth Mixtape Vol. I

Velvet Cacoon Earth And Dark Petals

Idaho Forever

Coil Journey To Avebury

Current 93 & Thomas Ligotti Nobody Is Anybody

Buffy Sainte-Marie Dyed, Dead, Red

The Haxan Cloak Raven's Lament

The Contrarian Crimson Village

Demons Firewalk

Paavoharju Mistä Hän Oli Tullut

Kraken Duumvirate I Channel

Old Apparatus Zebulon

Hexentanz Profane The Twelve

Download

OC110811

2011-07-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

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(astonishing artwork by James R Moore)

2011-07-07T03:09:00.000-07:00

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The Sinneslöschen Xperiment

2011-06-30T04:35:00.000-07:00

As you may be aware, the musical component of July's The Outer Church will be provided by Sinneslöschen - an experimental collaboration between Bound Toy of Old Apparatus and Paper Dollhouse aka Astrud Steehouder, whose debut album is set for release later this year via Bird/Finders Keepers. For an introduction to Steehouder and her work, make your way to her blog and Soundcloud.

Those of you who attended May's edition of The Outer Church will already know that Old Apparatus are a formidable live proposition, so it's a privilege indeed to be working with one of their number on OC140711. While awaiting the second vinyl missive from these biomechanical rogues, why not invest in a limited edition screen printed poster featuring some of their unique artwork?

Prints Of Darkness

2011-06-30T04:01:00.000-07:00

James R Moore (aka Black Mountain Transmitter) designed the posters for the July edition of The Outer Church and is offering a limited number of prints for sale at his website. They're selling fast, so best scurry if you'd like a beautiful piece of art featuring a tall dark character I can barely bring myself to name...and while you're at it, you'd be well advised to purchase some of his music, which is uniformly excellent.

140711

2011-06-25T01:20:00.000-07:00

Get tickets here

140711

2011-06-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

SEE YOU SOON

2011-05-30T02:48:00.000-07:00

The Outer Church is on sabbatical in June.
It will return on July 14th.
Stay tuned for further announcements.

OC MAY 2011: STEAM FIST FUTURISTS

2011-04-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

AHEAD OF OURSELVES

2011-04-04T04:50:00.000-07:00

A couple of previews of Belbury Poly At The Outer Church have appeared. FACT have kindly acknowledged our very forthcomingness (see also their excellent interview with Moon Wiring Club), Jon Brooks (aka The Advisory Circle) at Cafe Kaput has doffed his cap, Not For Resale have expressed their enthusiasm and 20 JAZZ FUNK GREATS are hosting a collaborative guest post featuring NEW and EXCLUSIVE tracks from Moon Wiring Club and Pye Corner Audio. Some important news regarding the forthcoming release of the latter's excellent Black Mill Tapes Vol.2 here.

APRIL 14TH: BELBURY YOUTH CLUB AT THE OUTER CHURCH

2011-03-11T01:23:00.000-08:00

Belbury Youth Club At The Outer Church

An evening of anomalous audiovisual entertainment
With special live guests
Moon Wiring Club
Pye Corner Audio
Ghost Box DJs Jim Jupp & Julian House

Plus a selection of arcane televisual artefacts, vintage Public Information Films and a screening of

Julian House's short film Winter Sun Wavelength

Thursday 14th April

7.30pm - 12.00 midnight

Komedia
44-47 Gardner Street
Brighton
BN1 1UN

Tickets £7
Available from www.komedia.co.uk
Box Office: 0845 293 8480
Resident Records 01273 606312

OC MARCH 2011

2011-02-21T12:07:00.000-08:00

The March edition of The Outer Church promises to be an adventure in bass-heavy murk and eldritch folk. Signed to up-and-coming label Blackest Ever Black, London duo Raime have been hailed as the new dark princes of British electronic music, with the likes of The Wire, Resident Advisor and NME all clamouring for a piece of the black stuff. According to FACT, "the duo deploy a number of obscure samples from goth, industrial and post-punk records, but these are placed in unique, bass-heavy arrangements that gesture at dubstep and techno without really adhering to either genre’s conventions." New Mordant Music signing Ekoplekz produces what Boomkat have termed "gorgeously spooked analogue electronics" comparable to 80s industrialists Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle and Robert Rental after some low-end surgery and a crash course in Radiophonics. This set will feature a specially commissioned piece of video art by Jade Boyd. Alexander Tucker should require little introduction - rightly acclaimed for his expansive avant folk with electronic shadings, his forthcoming album Dorwytch (Thrill Jockey) is set to be one of 2011's must-haves. In addition, there will be haunted sounds courtesy of the OC DJs plus a selection of lurid visuals.

Thursday 10th March

7:30pm

Komedia Brighton

£5/4 on the door

ONE MORE VERY IMPORTANT THOUGHT...

2011-02-07T11:28:00.000-08:00

Further musing regarding Boards Of Canada... not long ago, I was surprised to come across a comment in the music press to the effect that BOC offer little more than aspirational, middle class muzak. This comment appeared, curiously enough, in a review of a film about the Scandinavian Black Metal scene, the soundtrack of which apparently features a couple of BOC tracks. This 'analysis' disregards - or displays an ignorance of - the multiple layers of information comprising the average Eoin/Sandison piece and the fact that many of these gesture at various levels of esoteric interest. Satanism, paganism, Christian apocalypse cults and mathematics are hardly the kind of references you'd find on a Groove Armada album, after all.

While the duo have never concealed their desire to make melodious, accessible music, to dismiss their body of work as mere chillout fodder would be a gross oversimplification. Furthermore, it seems to me that BOC, especially early on, mirrored the radical retreatism and environmental concerns of second-wave Black Metal, not to mention its emphasis on atmosphere. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the makers of said film used these pieces precisely because they perceived these commonalities - neither would it shock if many of the musicians who appear in the film happened to be fans of the Scottish duo. Especially Darkthrone's Fenriz, who has demonstrated his - for want of a better term - catholic tastes on many occasions.

What do we conclude from this? Simply that, as BOC might say, 'The Devil Is In The Details'...

"...she's a devoted Branch Davidian."

2011-02-03T07:50:00.000-08:00

Currently obsessed with this song. Is it leaking into my dreams... or out of them?

Some very important thoughts regarding '1969' here.

WEIRD TALES FOR WINTER: THE RETURN

2011-01-26T07:24:00.000-08:00

Following last year's words 'n' music creepfest Weird Tales For Winter Jonny Mugwump of Exotic Pylon infamy presents a brand new season of unsettling stories for 2011. As you can see, there are some rather exciting names attached to this project, which includes an exclusive collaboration between The Outer Church and Ensemble Economique alongside Vindicatrix, Jonny Trunk, The Advisory Circle and more.

Feeling the chill...? You will.

DEMDIKE STARE @ THE OUTER CHURCH

2011-01-24T07:38:00.000-08:00

For its February 2011 edition, The Outer Church is proud to present a live performance from Manchester's occult cratediggers Demdike Stare. Miles Whittaker (MLZ/Pendle Coven) and Sean Canty (Finders Keepers) alchemise elements of techno, dub, drone, early electronics, astral jazz and non-western musics into a haunting and elusive whole, shaded by the pair's profound appreciation of vintage horror cinema. In keeping with the air of supernatural intrigue surrounding the project, its name derives from the pseudonym of Elizabeth Southern, one of the individuals accused during the witch trials which took place at Pendle Hill, Lancashire in 1612.

Following their 2009 debut, Symbiosis, Demdike Stare's acclaimed 2010 trilogy of vinyl-only albums - Forest Of Evil, Liberation Through Hearing and Voices Of Dust - has recently been compiled by Modern Love Records into a covetable 3CD set with an extra 40 minutes of bonus material.

Supported by their own visuals, the duo are a formidable live proposition. As they told FACT magazine last year: “We like to incorporate all of our identity with the live set, so we have visuals that are chosen for each section of the show, and we use records to mix live over our own music to add another layer. We like to improvise as much as possible – this can also be dictated by the atmosphere of the venue and crowd too, which all becomes part of the show."

This edition of The Outer Church is dedicated to the memory of Trish Keenan, as are all future editions.

Trish

2011-01-20T14:17:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate enough to meet Trish Keenan in person on two occasions.

In 2008, I heard Broadcast were working on the follow up to 2005’s Tender Buttons. I’d wanted to interview them for ages, so I quickly fired off a pitch to The Wire, who responded with enthusiasm. I initiated contact with the group through their MySpace and exchanged a few emails with James, who advised me - very politely - that I had been somewhat premature. Months went by, no album materialised and the pitch looked destined for the bin marked ‘never mind’ until Warp Records announced the release of Broadcast & The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age in late 2009. The Wire dusted off my dormant pitch and I was commissioned to interview Trish Keenan and James Cargill for the cover feature of issue 308.

For some time, I was under the impression that Broadcast still lived in their hometown of Birmingham. It wasn’t until the eve of the interview that the PR told me they had moved to Berkshire. I was intrigued. When the PR added that the place was, in her words, “somewhere beginning with ‘H’” I started to feel a little strange. When it was confirmed that they had indeed relocated from Birmingham, not to London or Berlin, but to a place where I was fairly sure no professional musicians lived and where I had spent a great deal of my childhood, I was speechless. My grandma lived there! In fact, she had lived there for longer than I had been alive. After that revelation, the coincidences began to pile up. Names were duplicated, dates took on multiple significances, realities which seemed completely unconnected began to merge and overlap. It was at once eerie, amusing and appropriate, given that a big part of Broadcast’s appeal for me was their otherness. Their music - especially on Tender Buttons - always conjured visions of an electronic seance.

Sitting opposite Trish and James in the lounge of the Three Swans Hotel, I was struck by how forthcoming they were, how much they were willing to share. Not only about their music, but also about their lives, from mundane minutiae to candid reminiscence. James related how he had scarred his forehead falling off his bike along the canal while Trish told me about her family back in Birmingham. This wasn’t small talk, it was raw and honest in a way I don’t usually expect from people I hardly know. But I was genuinely interested, and I think she and James picked up on this. Not that the conversation was without its moments of levity. If Trish was an intense conversationalist, she was incredibly funny with it. This was unmistakably the same woman I had heard making what sounded like a lewd aside about playing the recorder at a festival in Birmingham three years earlier. Following the interview, I was asked to join them at a local cafe, where they bought me scampi and chips. It's impossible to forget kindness. Especially when it involves food.

I remained in contact with Trish and James via email. Trish's emails were always a delight, whether she was updating me on local affairs in Hungerford or telling me about some odd specimen of wildlife she had encountered. It was conversation with Trish that inspired me to start a monthly event. A phrase she used repeatedly - "magic hour" - rang, bell-like, in my head. Though I didn’t use the term as the name of my event, it accurately described the feel I was aiming for. In addition, I had been deeply impressed by the imagery the pair had put together for the short films accompanying the release of Witch Cults. I interpreted their use of macabre Berkshire landmark Combe Gibbet - gleefully pointed out by Trish in one of her emails - as confirmation that I should go ahead and put all the aforementioned synchronicities to good use, harness the energy that they had generated. Needless to say, I’ll always be grateful for Trish’s encouragement.

The second - and sadly, final - time I saw Trish was at the Unconscious England event in Bracknell last year, for which I had been asked to DJ. I sent an invitation to her and James on behalf of an uncharacteristically shy David Yates aka Dolly Dolly. On the night, nobody really believed she’d turn up. Then, just as David and I were strolling past the venue doors, Trish blew in wearing a nervous grin. I think she was worried that she was late. She was, a little, but it didn't matter. It was a mark of the respect and admiration she commanded that her presence seemed to somehow prove that the event was actually taking place. Dolly David, Chris Bailiff aka Position Normal and Ian Hodgson aka Moon Wiring Club met Trish for the first time and, with remarkable speed, a clutch of future collaborations were planned. I remember Chris telling me that Trish had said, "I'll collaborate with anyone!" Rather than signal a lack of discrimination - on the contrary, Trish and James had always displayed impeccable taste in their choice of collaborators - I believe it indicated her admirable curiosity and generosity of spirit. She was continually in search of new creative horizons, adventures in unfamiliar territory. This was obvious from the manner in which Broadcast’s music got stranger - and better - with each release. Before David, Chris, Ian and I departed for our B&B and Trish made her way back to Hungerford, we all stood together and babbled in the car park like overgrown, oddly-attired adolescents.

Just as Broadcast were preparing for their Australian tour, Trish and I exchanged emails about a possible appearance at The Outer Church. I was working at the January edition of the OC when I first heard she was unwell. I was concerned, of course, but I didn’t even consider the idea that this was something she wouldn’t recover from. The next morning I was told that she had gone. I’ve been utterly confused ever since.

The sensible thing to do at this point would be to discuss the music in greater depth. The thing is, Broadcast's luminosity can be best gleaned from listening to the records and reading the interviews. I’m not inclined to put them in context at this stage - it feels premature and in any case, we’re hardly talking about anything so simple and trivial as a much-loved band calling it a day. I will say that Trish's deceptively cool, precise voice, whose restraint makes its underlying passion all the more acutely felt, is an unrivalled balm for loneliness and one of the most beautiful and distinctive sounds in contemporary music. In truth, the term 'contemporary' seems a little reductive. That tone slices clean through time, hovers above it, slips alongside it, extends in all directions. It folds, unfolds and enfolds, the sonic equivalent of a magic mirror. And Trish’s talents were not limited to her voice. She was a terrific musician, an enviable songwriter and a bonafide sorceress of sound. Multidimensional.

2011-01-16T07:21:00.000-08:00

OC 13/01/11: PSYCHEDELIC CAMPFIRE TALES

2010-12-19T11:56:00.000-08:00

The Outer Church lurches into 2011 with what promises to be a truly immersive audiovisual experience.

The OC is proud to present two films by American director Graham Reznick in association with Aphasia Films/Glass Eye Pix. I Can See You (95 minutes) is a psychedelic campfire tale acclaimed by The New York Times as an “elusive, experimental scare flick [heralding] a splendid new filmmaker with one eye on genre mechanics, one eye on avant-garde conceits and a third eye for transcendental weirdness” while futuristic 3D short The Viewer (15 minutes) is “a telepathic interrogation experienced from the perspective of a suspected murderer.” Anaglyph glasses will be provided for the latter screening.

The uncanny atmosphere will be further compounded by live sets from The Haxan Cloak and The Larsen Effect. The Haxan Cloak is multi-instrumentalist Bobby Krlic, who employs a variety of textures to erect dense scuttling fields of sonic malevolence. The Larsen Effect is the solo project of guitarist Leee Nite, veteran of the psychick wars and such esteemed outfits as Skree, Thor’s Helmet, ManTouch and Morgen Und Nite. Visuals for The Larsen Effect will be provided by acclaimed videowitch Jade Boyd.

Turn up early or you WILL miss something!

Thursday 13th January
Komedia Brighton
7pm
£4 on the portal

THE OC @ SOUND & MUSIC

2010-12-11T09:48:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone who attended, performed or otherwise supported The Outer Church last week. It was a blast... on a par with Tunguska, I'd say.

In other news, I was recently interviewed by Frances Morgan of Sound & Music for a piece on Mordant Music's excellent MisinforMation DVD, which was screened with live mix interference from Baron Mordant at last month's OC.

You can read the interview here.

Stay tuned for news of January's OC line-up... expect some "psychedelic campfire tales"...

OC081210

2010-12-09T10:46:00.000-08:00

HMM...

2010-12-02T05:13:00.000-08:00

Proto-dubstep track which appeared on...

Originally appeared on...

The cover of which bears a resemblance to...

THE OUTER CHURCH: DEC 2010 EDITION

2010-11-18T04:40:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone who attended and performed at November 10th's relaunch edition of The Outer Church. Baron Mordant, Vindicatrix and DJ Kemper Norton all pulled blinders, and the term 'nematode feeding' is now firmly imprinted on my brain (to understand this you either had to be there, or alternatively you can purchase the Mordant Music MisinforMation DVD, available to pre-order from the MM site).

With barely a pause for breath, it's my pleasure to announce that the December 8th edition will witness the return of Position Normal (whose set a few months back at the Penthouse was so tremendous, I decided to invite him back for more) and the OC debut of London/Cambridge beauties and stars of the Ghost Box 7" Study Series, Hong Kong In The 60s (whose fantastic new EP you can download for free here). In addition, there will be filmic curiosities and perhaps the odd bit of spinning from myself and the marvellous Kemper Norton, whose DJ set last time was a thing of macabre beauty. Incidentally, you can download a brand new Kemper Norton EP, again for free, here.

JADE BOYD

2010-11-02T05:24:00.000-07:00

jade boyd .

I'll be covering my adventures at Krakow's Unsound Festival 2010 in the pages of The Wire, but just wanted to give a heads up regarding the video artist Jade Boyd, who accompanied the terrific live set from soundtrack maestro Alan Howarth. Although the performance was intriguing partly because it foregrounded Howarth's film music, the visuals were far from ignorable, working as a fitting tribute to the cinematic sources, primarily the films of John Carpenter, including Prince Of Darkness, They Live, Escape From New York and Halloween III: The Season Of The Witch (which I believe to have inspired Carpenter and Howarth's finest score). I found Howarth and Boyd's collaboration curiously moving; I was reminded just how significant a part of my own cultural life these films and this music are, the manner in which certain sounds and images have entered into a highly personal dream catalogue. Definitely a highlight of the festival. Above is a clip showing some of Boyd's live visuals for Kyle Hall's DJ set in the Fabrika venue, also at Unsound.

THE LARSEN EFFECT

2010-11-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

Leee Nite (Thor's Helmet, Morgen Und Nite, Skree) has some rather lovely new music up at his blog, which I recommend you put into your ears immediately. Lee's own reference points are entirely apposite, but these here lugs are picking up a hint of Neil Young at his most gloriously ragged (think Arc-Weld, Year Of The Horse etc, rather than ha-ha-ha-Harvest) although he'd be performing on his own at the bottom of the ocean surrounded by an audience of angler fish with those glowing head stalk things serving the same purpose as cigarette lighters at stadium gigs...

Look, just listen to it, okay?

ONE MORE STORY: THE OC HALLOWEEN MIXTAPE

2010-10-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

Seeing as how you'll have to wait until November 10th for the relaunch of The Outer Church... and the hour of darkness is almost upon us... here's a mixtape to see you through the Season Of The Witch... and by the way... do have nightmares...

DOWNLOAD

"One More Story..."

Graham Reznick Today In New York City

Forest Graveyard

Kultivator Smafolket

Fabio Frizzi Fatti Misteriosi

"As though I had no place in the world..."

Goblin Strive After Dark (Alternative Version)

DD Denham The Way The Vicar Smiles

Archaia La Roue

"I don't belong in the world..."

Fresh Maggots Who's To Die

John Carpenter Midnight

Pendle Coven Aged Drone

Melissa Nadler Bird On Your Grave

Mount Vernon Arts Lab Broadcasting

Mellow Candle The Poet And The Witch

Zombi Sequence 2

"Footprints... then nothing."

John Carpenter & Alan Howarth Halloween Montage

THE OUTER CHURCH REBORN

2010-10-07T04:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, tis true. The Outer Church has flown the old coop and settled at a new address, that of Komedia on Gardner Street, Brighton. The OC will take place monthly in the Studio and regularly feature live performances and films as well as the (very) odd disc spun by DJs Joseph Stannard and Kemper Norton.

In order to go some way towards covering costs for the night, we have found it necessary to ask a small admission fee. However, we fully intend to give every congregation their geld's worth and make good on our promise of spectral sounds, uncanny visions and electronic folklore, every month.

As you can see from the marvellous affiche above, the first edition of the relaunched Church commences on November 10th and is produced in association with Mordant Music, one of the finest outlets for bent sounds in our unfair land, having released music by Shackleton, Vindicatrix, Cosmic Dennis Greenridge and Mr Maxted among others. Top level spore Baron Mordant will be revolving specially selected platters and screening exclusive films from the MM editing suite while Vindicatrix will be playing a live set, giving an indication as to why he is being hailed as a startlingly original new voice - literally, as his inimitable vocals are a key element - in British electronic music.

And there's more where that came from...

LOVE UNDER WIL

2010-10-03T11:02:00.000-07:00

I first came across this song on a rather scrappy freak rock compilation bought in a sale at Rough Trade. Despite its shoddy sleeve graphics the CD was loaded with gems, and this song was the most lustrous of them all. 'House Of Many Windows' was incorrectly credited to Motherlight on the compilation, further research revealing that Motherlight was actually the title of a 1969 album, the work of a three-piece by the name of Bobak, Jons, Malone. Engineer Mike Bobak, producer Andy 'brother of Glyn' Johns (renamed Jons for the purposes of this release) and singer-songwriter Wil Malone were sessioneers working under the auspices of Monty Babson, owner of Morgan Studios and the similarly named record label. The project was instigated by Babson, who required a suitably 'progressive' album for his Morgan Blue Town offshoot.

On hearing the full album, I was gratified to find that the song I'd been so impressed by was not a fluke. Motherlight is a fantastic record, dominated by Malone's cool, airy vocals and churning post-psych organ, creating a style one might call 'progressive freakbeat' and allied to some highly memorable tunes, such as this one. It's a perfect autumn album, wistful yet biting, with an undercurrent of manic - and very English - surrealism.

Since then, Wil Malone has maintained something of a spectral presence in rock and pop. He immediately followed Motherlight with a self-titled solo album of pastoral psychedelia and an effort with short-lived Fickle Pickle. He composed the groundbreaking soundtrack to 1972 Brit horror film Death Line and has arranged strings for Black Sabbath ('Spiral Architect'), Massive Attack ('Unfinished Sympathy') and The Verve ('Bittersweet Symphony'). Prior to all of this he had been a member of the obscure but splendid psych outfit Orange Bicycle. Needless to say, given his services to supranatural sonics, Malone is guaranteed a place of honour in The Outer Church's pantheon of shady greats.

SLUMBERWICK DREAMS

2010-10-01T03:16:00.000-07:00

What's this? Brand new sounds from Moon Wiring Club, just as autumn emerges from the ashes of summer, shaking the leaves off its big brown overcoat? Apparently so. Clinkskell is a town built on tradition, so for the season to begin without a murmur from its most celebrated musical institution would be somewhat... unusual. Hark!

KEMPER'S LOWENDER

2010-09-30T08:23:00.000-07:00

Sussex slurtronicist Kemper Norton has a terrific new EP available from his splendid website. It's called Lowender, which sounds a bit suggestive (tee hee) but actually means 'happiness' in Cornish, so there. It's already gained the approval of comics writer and bon viveur Warren Ellis (who kindly plugged The OC not long ago) so you'd be best advised to run along and throw your ears around it forthwith, mmmkay?

AUTUMN BREAK

2010-09-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

The Outer Church is taking a break in October but rest assured, we will be back. Exciting changes are afoot and there will be some big news coming up over the next couple of weeks. Meantime, enjoy the leaves!

MORPHIC RESONANCE

2010-09-25T16:45:00.000-07:00

These three songs have been inextricably linked for me ever since I first heard the MBV song, which in spite of its brevity is probably my favourite piece on Loveless. The yawning arcs of processed guitar are unmistakably Shieldsian, but the track is more notable for its glorious layering of warped samples. I was very interested to find that the track wasn't credited to Kevin Shields or Bilinda Butcher, but drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig. I'm not sure what has been sampled here, but it sounds like a string section, and the warping, pitch-bending treatment, along with the looping, has the effect of making it sound like a distant echo from a halcyon age, a brighter version of the degraded romanticism essayed by James Kirby aka The Caretaker.

Kate Bush's song, whose narrative follows the nervous deliberations of a bankrobber, seems at first an unlikely twin to the MBV piece. Yet when the astonishing dream sequence of billowing synths is introduced at 0:55 (and repeated at 2:02) you might just see what I mean. Not only is there a sonic similarity but this section of the song also shares a sense of the faraway, a retreat into fond memory, with Ó Cíosóig's piece.

While the chorus of Talk Talk's 1984 single articulates a very 80s form of adolescent angst, the cloudlike synths on the verse transport the listener - or me anyway - to a similar space. It's almost a physical feeling, my consciousness moving back through time to an unspecified elsewhere. I'm not 100% certain but I think what links the Kate Bush and Talk Talk songs is the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 polyphonic synthesizer, known for it's rich, lush textural capabilities and also used by 80s Doctor Who composer Keff McCulloch and Roxy Music on Avalon... the title track of which could have been a fourth entry, thinking about it.

THE OUTER CHURCH: SEPT 2010 EDITION

2010-09-08T05:33:00.000-07:00

Come to The Penthouse (Upstairs @ The Freebutt) TONIGHT for your monthly dose of PSYCHPROGKRAUTCOSMICELECTRONIC fun...

Sounds from the outer reaches, new, old and in between, selected for your listening pleasure

by Joseph Stannard (The Wire, The Quietus, NME)

It's at 8pm and it's FREE

BY THE WAY... The Church is changing... stay tuned for exciting news COMING SOON

NOTGUILTYMIXTAPE AVAILABLE NOW

2010-08-10T07:27:00.000-07:00

Those lovely folks at Pontone asked The Outer Church to assemble a mixtape... and lo it came to pass. The OC's exclusive NotGuiltyMixtape is available for your wide open ears here.

KAPUT GOES THE CLASSROOM

2010-08-06T06:17:00.000-07:00

Jon Brooks, the man behind The Advisory Circle, has started a label. Cafe Kaput's debut release will be DD Denham's Electronic Music In The Classroom and you can read more about it here. Jon's a man of impeccable taste so you'd be well advised to give him your greenbacks and keep an eye on what the label does in future...!

CELEBRATE WEIRD THINGS...C'MON

2010-08-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

JOIN US.

POSITION NORMAL @ THE OUTER CHURCH

2010-07-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

A TASTE OF NORTON

2010-07-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a small sample of what Kemper Norton, guest DJ at next Wednesday's edition of The Outer Church, is capable of. Now run along to his website to check out some more, there's a good human.

INTO THE VORTEX

2010-07-08T04:15:00.000-07:00

Given the mutual stalking society formed between The Outer Church and Jonny Mugwump's magnificent Exotic Pylon radio show on Resonance FM, it's only right and proper that I should bring to your attention the fact that the Pylon is about to enter another dimension, that of live events.

August 13th will see the inaugural event in an Exotic Pylon residency at The Vortex in London's easterly end. The bill is truly mindwatering: Position Normal and Cindytalk with interventions from DJ Doug Shipton of Finders Keepers Records and the mysterious Exotic Pylon Radio Orchestra.

More details here.

KENRG

2010-07-04T05:36:00.000-07:00

A beautiful bit of space disco action from broadcasting genius Kenny Everett and ex-Manfred Mann bloke Mike Vickers, here. Lovely, isn't it?

GET 'STROKED BY MOON WIRING CLUB

2010-06-24T11:35:00.002-07:00

The star of this month's edition of The Outer Church, Ian Hodgson aka Moon Wiring Club, has another ludicrously brilliant mix available for download here. The guy's like a child prodigy, only grown up. "Skillz!" as the late Guru might have exclaimed.

UNKNOWN PLEASURE

2010-06-24T06:38:00.000-07:00

Another Vangelis classic, this time from 1977's Spiral. Like 'Suffocation', it's a long one, and the listener is really forced to wait until the emotional payload of the song's second section... but when it arrives, the effect is orgasmic and hyper-emotional, its gauzy drift sounding a little like something R&B producer The-Dream might come up with. I'm also curious as to whether Air are Vangelis fans... they must be, right?

DYING DOWN

2010-06-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

This outro to this song is one of the most gloriously despondent pieces of music I have ever heard. It sounds like all hope draining out of a soul, a slow deflation of the spirit, a slumping of the shoulders, a slow descent into merciful oblivion.

WORSHIP HIM

2010-06-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

If The Outer Church has a deity - which you would expect, what with it being a church 'n' all - Vangelis would be it. The great bearded Zeus of synthesized splendour, he never gets the props he deserves for the remarkable run of albums he produced between 1972 and 1985, nor his contribution to one of the world's greatest progressive rock outfits, Aphrodite's Child. A few plaudits for co-writing the deathlessly beautiful 'State Of Independence' with Jon Anderson wouldn't go amiss, either. In any case, he does get played rather a lot at The Outer Church.

COUPLE O' THINGS...

2010-06-19T07:15:00.000-07:00

First off, The Outer Church has a podcast mix available for download at the website for Jonny Mugwump's fantastic Resonance FM show, The Exotic Pylon. It's rather good, as are the other podcasts from Time Attendant and Dolly Dolly, the latter of which is available later today. Go get 'em all, y'hear?

Secondly, I'd like to plug a new label called Cults Of Brasilia, named after "the real ‘new-age’ cults of the Brazilian capital Brasilia; a provocative collision of superstition and utopian modernity set in a science-fiction landscape of ultra-modern architecture." Their first release is the debut offering from α60, Themes From Utopia, which is a fine exercise in streamlined synthetic sonics comparable to Correlations-era Ashra, the more discofied side of Goblin and Lindstrom & Prins Thomas. Well worth checking.

Finally, above is the artwork for the next OC flyer. Nice innit? Many thanks to the hugely talented Laura O'Callaghan-White, who really should get a website so I can link her!

This post has been brought to you by the albums Contamination OST by Goblin and See You Later by Vangelis.

SIMPLY SPIFFING

2010-06-16T05:10:00.000-07:00

Woooooah...! Thanks to everyone who attended The Outer Church last Wednesday. Thanks to Ian Hodgson's ludicrously exciting hi-impact collision of Italo, Witch House, 8-bit and whatever else he felt like hurling into our gaping earholes, it was one HECK of a PARTY. I'm still quite dazed, as you can see from the above photo. I'm the one in the middle, looking a tad worse for wear.

The next edition - to take place on July 14th - will feature a guest DJ spot from local purveyor of "coastal slurtronic folk" Kemper Norton, whose wares can be sampled HERE. Good, isn't he? Exactly! So come, come, come to the Church next month and lay yourself open to what is sure to be a masterful selection of haunting soundszzz.

MOON WIRING CLUB @ THE OUTER CHURCH

2010-05-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

When The Outer Church raises its multiple voices in unholy discord (a la the intro to Children Of The Stones) to proclaim that something a bit special is coming up, best believe it's the truth. For the June 2010 edition of t'Church will feature Special Guest DJ Ian Hodgson aka Moon Wiring Club conjuring - in his words - "AN ELECTRONIX FIZZPOP SLURRED ITALO SYNTHPOP SPACE EXPLOSION" ...with perhaps the odd chip from the chocolate fireball himself, Joseph Stannard. Um, that's me.

For a taste of Moon Wiring Club's eldritch steez, download Ian's superb Solid Steel Mix for Ninja Tune here.

Want more? Course you do. Ian's exclusive ASDA Mix for The Wire is available here.

Lawks! There's a free 4-track EP to download here.

And of course, you really should purchase all three Moon Wiring Club albums from here.

"Ooh, teacake time!"

LONDON TRANSMISSIONS

2010-05-09T12:12:00.000-07:00

When I first received my unsolicited copy of London Transmissions by Onethirtyeight, I eyed it with suspicion. Although the title and artwork piqued my curiosity (shades of Mordant Music's Dead Air) the logo led me to expect something along the lines of Entombed circa Wolverine Blues, The Misfits, perhaps even - shudder - The Meteors.

My first impressions were not c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y off the mark. For one thing, The Misfits have a song titled 'We Are 138'. For another, the reviews collected in the press section of Onethirtyeight's website are taken almost exclusively from metal, punk and industrial magazines and websites. However, their tone of perplexed approval offers an indication that the mysterious unit are peddling something other than standard mosh fodder.

Onethirtyeight's music isn't metallic, punkish or industrialised. It isn't even particularly aggressive. What it does sound like is a worthy sequel to Mount Vernon Arts Lab's magnificently creepy The Seance At Hob's Lane. Who'd have thought...?

STEVE REID HAS BEEN RELEASED

2010-04-13T12:47:00.000-07:00

The Outer Church wishes Steve Reid a safe journey to a better place.

I BELIEVE IT'S MAGIC (MAGIC)

2010-04-06T03:19:00.000-07:00

To my mind, one of the greatest moments in 80s cinema. It isn't surprising that Ghostbusters and its soundtrack are touchstones for the purveyors of Hypnagogic Pop. Check the juxtaposition of spectral technicolour with the concrete and steel of Manhattan in this scene, not to mention the eerie shudder of Mick Smiley's 'Magic'. We watch in awe as the supernatural floods into our world, leaving vapour trails which look like synaesthetic representations of a James Ferraro drone.

I'm continually struck by how effectively the populist cinema of the 80s brought dreams - and nightmares - to life. I'm talking Ghostbusters, Blade Runner, Aliens, A Nightmare On Elm Street, The Thing, Gremlins... highly successful films with a sense of otherness today's million dollar event movies for the most part completely fail to capture. And they're the bigger budget efforts - the independent genre film thrived in the 80s, making up for a lack of resources with imagination and visual flair. 1980's Without Warning may have been made for about $200, but its bloodsucking flying discs and cranially-enhanced alien hiding out in a cabin have haunted my imagination for years.

WHO DA MAN

2010-04-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

The Outer Church extends a warm welcome to Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, who acquitted themselves very well indeed in last night's opening episode of Doctor Who's 2010 season. David Tennant was always going to be a hard act to follow, but Smith pulled a blinder with his twitchy charisma and unusual, expressive looks. Meanwhile Gillan looks like she may prove the most interesting companion of the revived series, a psychologically damaged survivor of a troubled upbringing whose relationship with the Doctor goes back to her pre-teens... regardless of chief writer and executive producer Steven Moffat's protestations to the contrary, we're already in darker territory than that of preceding seasons. Anyone else feel distinctly uncomfortable with the idea that Prisoner Zero had been lurking on the periphary of Amy's vision for over a decade, looking on as she grew up? Shudder.

The locations of Amy's house and village were used to great effect. Blink indicated that Moffat may harbour a bit of an obsession with the (supposedly) inanimate - perhaps inspired by youthful exposure to the Autons - and here both a crack in a wall and a doorway became harbingers of doom. The use of the leafy village was reminiscent of 70s Who serials such as The Daemons, Terror Of The Autons, The Green Death, The Ambassadors Of Death and The Android Invasion, the subtly remarkable interval on the green boasting a sickly, dreary, dreamlike quality unlike anything we've seen in the series since its return, or at least since Blink. The Vogon-like announcements of imminent annihilation emanating from the ice cream van loudspeaker raised a grim smile too. Douglas Adams would have approved.

WEIR'S WAVE

2010-04-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

Fascinating interview with filmmaker Peter Weir on the subject of his overlooked 1977 picture The Last Wave. The film stars Richard Chamberlain as a lawyer called upon to represent a group of indigenous Australian men accused of murder. As he delves deeper into the case, Chamberlain's character finds himself beset by disturbing apocalyptic visions which cast doubt on the meaning of his existence. The film also stars the charismatic David Gulpilil of Walkabout fame, and comes highly recommended to fans of Weir's earlier film, the eerily beautiful Picnic At Hanging Rock.

Like Nicolas Roeg, Peter Weir is a prominent figure in the pantheon of The Outer Church. Two other films of his that have provided considerable inspiration are 1993's Fearless and 1998's The Truman Show.

JON BROOKS? PODCAST MENTALIST

2010-04-04T12:53:00.001-07:00

E's gorn an' dunnit again! Twice, actually. Pick up the second and third Cafe Kaput podcasts from Jon Brooks's lovely blog here and here. Another three to come, says Mr Brooks! Well, really...!

WRITE THAT IN YOUR NOTEBOOK

2010-04-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

Fans of the distinctly hauntologically inclined actor, comedian and writer Peter Serafinowicz may be interested to know that you can download the music he recorded or the first series of Look Around You (under the name Gelg) here.

Meanwhile, the pilot podcast for his and Robert Popper's supernaturally spectacular Radio Spiritworld can be found here.

In addition, those of you who feel their life is lacking spiritual nourishment may be interested in Tarvuism. I know I am!

REVENANT FORMS: FUTURE-PAST PREVIEW

2010-03-29T09:35:00.000-07:00

Ahead of Thursday's Revenant Forms event at London's Cafe Oto, I thought I'd post a couple of relevant pieces I've written on related artists. Inquisitive souls may also be interested to know that the transcript of my interview with Broadcast for The Wire last year is viewable here.

BELBURY POLY

Britain still has its surprises, its secrets. On a recent visit to Broadstairs in Kent, this writer stumbled across a book entitled Ghost Stations in a dusty old second-hand booksellers. The book comprises barely-credible 'true' stories of haunted British airfields written in a stilted, untutored style. Yet it's still a compellingly eerie read, the fact that it was discovered in a town which seems decidedly more Pagan than Christian, its charity shops full to bursting with occult tomes, only reinforcing its weird energy.

It is precisely this energy that Jim Jupp and Julian House, founders of Ghost Box, have been tapping into for the last five years. The pair cite "library music, folklore, programmes for school and colleges, British horror movies, lost soundtracks, haunted landscapes, defunct educational establishments and weird supernatural stories" as key influences, while the label's design aesthetic (credited to House, an in-demand graphic designer) adds a further dimension of authenticity to the project, evoking Op Art, 60s-style abstraction and the celebrated house style of Penguin Books.

The music itself often relies on a similar collage-based aesthetic. By turns the work of Belbury Poly, The Focus Group, The Advisory Circle and Eric Zann recalls the library cues of the KPM company, the pioneering experimentation of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the electro-nostalgia of Boards Of Canada and the sinister, site-specific ambience of Brian Eno's On Land... although the label's latest release, From An Ancient Star by Belbury Poly, incorporates elements of disco and dub, illustrating that the Ghost Box aesthetic is malleable, adaptable.

"Through each release we like to expand on the Ghost Box world and rediscovered films, TV, records and books constantly feed into this process," enthuses Jupp. "A book that Julian and I have both recently read which seems almost to have come from the Ghost Box world is Kingsley Amis' The Green Man, and personally I've been enjoying the soundtrack music of Richard Denton and Martin Cook [composers of the theme tune to cancelled BBC pop-science show Tomorrow's World] which has influenced the latest Belbury Poly release."

Jupp and House aren't simply indulging in nostalgia, however; their fascination for the hidden, lost and forgotten sheds a mysterious glow on Britain's past, present and future.

"Part of what we try to do with every Ghost Box release," explains Jupp, "is to recreate the feeling of stumbling across an intriguing and mysterious old book or record in a junk shop, giving that sense that these mysterious artifacts could somehow be windows into a whole hidden world."

Given Ghost Box's fascination for the hidden, haunted Britain (metaphorically and otherwise) have Jim or Julian ever been haunted, spooked, bedeviled, bewitched or otherwise supernaturally affected?

"Unfortunately not that I can remember," replies Jupp, "although if you ask any of the other Ghost Box artists I think they'll all agree that by working on the label and each release we're often surprised by bizarre coincidences and connections. I think my own interest in the supernatural goes right back to experiences of sleep paralysis, out of body experiences and waking as a child. All that strange stuff that happens between sleeping and waking has always made me suspect there is more to reality than ordinarily appears to us."

MORDANT MUSIC

Summer 2006. I stumble upon an intriguing, teardrop-shaped CD sleeve in one of London’s bespoke audio boutiques. On closer inspection, I note that the CD features the voice of Thames TV continuity announcer Philip Elsemore, whose rich, comforting tones and crumpled, friendly face I had forgotten until this very moment. Ghosted. I scan the sleevenotes, a mossy manifesto conjuring images of Britain succumbing to corvidae while ‘the amplified sound of dead air’ leaks from melted transistor radios. I purchase the CD, but I’m discombobulated by its hyper-sampleadelic plundering of Britains past and present, its salty evocation of early ‘90s UK techno (Stakker, FSOL, Bandulu, et al) and crafty nods toward dubstep. I return it to the shop, mildly aggrieved.

But something isn’t right. In spite of myself, I’m still breathing Dead Air. I buy it again, and spend the rest of the summer, autumn and winter travelling up and down the Silverlink, binding the sound in my headphones to the concrete and pebbledash and undead, dreamless sky.

Admiral Greyscale and Baron Mordant are the shadow-hosts to Mordant Music, a constantly sporing subcultural entity which, as well as releasing the insidiously essential Dead Air, has spat out collaborative emissions with dubstep artist Shackleton (notably 2004’s now-classic ‘Stalker’ 7”) and comedian Simon Munnery (the pornographic View Mastur toy). I contacted the pair for a furtive electronic interview...

Why 'Mordant'? Does the aesthetic dictate the music or vice versa?

Admiral Greyscale: “I think the deathly aesthetic unquestionably fuels the art... it’s a beast that feeds on itself in perpetuity.”

Why is now the right time for a soft explosion of British Weird?

Baron Mordant: “We're right down to the marrow now in terms of yield and an exciting final finality is being viscerally heralded from all quarters, whether it be doom, dubstep, noise, folk or our own brand of death-throw archiving. It is certainly an overall period of mourning and a vast shedding of sonic skin. The glee club has finally departed and a realistic social interaction, imbued with a stark musical framework, has begun to infiltrate everyday lives... '1984' with a better soundtrack. Pound for pound the overall salvation factor is actually in rude health.”

Is Philip Elsemore pleased with the results of his participation?

BM: “A wonderful combination of ecstacy and reticence...'ecstaticence'.”

Is MM part of a British musical lineage?

BM: “MMore an overall cultural lineage that music is the host to... Chris Morris and Leerdammer are as influential as Aphex Twin. The lineage is cosmic and not confined to Broadstairs.”

AG: “We’re pretty keen on Tulse Luper (a fictional British raconteur invented by filmmaker Peter Greenaway). Leonard Rossiter is also a talisman.”

So how would you describe your relationship with good old Blighty? Is there a kind of patriotic pride to MM?

BM: “Blighted by shortsightedness more like. As cultures clash and dovetail, with only a handful of mavericks to applaud, I'm firmly opposed to patriotism. It's the vast unknown that I pledge allegiance to... I'm fed up of the forecourts.”

What influenced your decision to make each MM release a covetable 'item'?

AG: “We fumble in the wake of Mo Wax, 4AD, Factory and all those labels/artists for whom a visual identity is as fundamental as the sonic output. We’re also both collectors by nature to differing degrees. We approach the making of everything with an eye on whether or not we’d treasure the item ourselves.”

Given the amount of samples used on Dead Air, how did you decide what went in and what stayed out? Was there a particular 'feel' you were looking/listening for?

BM: “It distilled itself from a lifetime of influences somehow... the BM/AG 'Grey Library'. There were several phases of aligned creativity and it was certainly not just tossed off, however despite the convoluted processes both creatively and socially Dead Air can be looked upon as a veritable 'chicken in a bastard'... only the listener can decide to delve deeper or treat it as scree.”

AG: “We generally aim for a nuance, a vague notion of something... anything overly familiar tends to get lobbed overboard.”

How did the relationship between MM and dubstep come about?

BM: “Dubstep is somewhere in the MM tea-leaves albeit a peripheral cuppa. Sam Shackleton is a friend who happened to be making music in that vein. MM released 'Stalker' which defies the dubstep tag in my book. It's more John Carpenter to my ears. The recent 'I Want To Eat You' (available on double a-sided 10” with MM’s ‘Hummdrumm’) is certainly in dubstep's six-yard box. Sam's totally 'Mordant' and will breach our defences at some point again in the future.”

What do you feel MM's music shares with dubstep?

BM: “The burden! Note for note, not much, although I am into the tempo and convex production. I think it's suffocating itself and maybe that's the point. We certainly inhabit the same bitumen lined vacuum.”

First published in Plan B Magazine, 2007

THE 1ST HYPNAGOGIC HOLLYWOOD MOVIE???

2010-03-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Tintinabulum. I probably shouldn't like this... but I have a feeling that somehow I will.

JON BROOKS CAFE KAPUT PODCAST OH YEAH!

2010-03-27T08:53:00.000-07:00

Jon Brooks (of Ghost Box's The Advisory Circle) has a blog. And now, he has a podcast! Download it here. While you're at it, why not pop along to the Ghost Box site and purchase the rather splendid expanded vinyl edition of The Advisory Circle's Mind How You Go? It'll help you make the right decisions...!

RANGERS 'OUT PAST CURFEW' VIDEO

2010-03-27T07:17:00.000-07:00

New on Olde English Spelling Bee, Rangers is the alter ego of San Francisco's Joe Knight whose new album Suburban Tours is very possibly the best example of post-noise aerobics workout naughtiness I've heard to date. Get on it.

THE WIRE SALON: REVENANT FORMS: THE MEANING OF HAUNTOLOGY

2010-03-27T07:14:00.000-07:00

[still from Phenomena And Occurrences (Julian House, 2008)]

THURSDAY 1st April 2010
Location: Cafe Oto, 18 - 22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London E8 3DL
Time : 8pm
Tickets : £4 Ticket on the door only

A new series of monthly salon-type events, hosted by The Wire magazine, and dedicated to the fine art and practice of thinking and talking about music. The evenings, which will take place on the first Thursday of each month, will consist of readings, discussions, panel debates, film screenings, DJ sets and even the occasional live performance.

For the first event in the series, Revenant Forms: The Meaning of Hauntology, Mark Fisher (K-Punk), Adam Harper (Rouge’s Foam) and Joseph Stannard (The Outer Church) will discuss the essence of the spectral, uncanny qualities of much contemporary audio, from dubstep to hypnagogic pop and beyond. The night will also include screenings of a number of short films by Julian House (Ghost Box, The Focus Group), which feature soundtracks by Broadcast, Belbury Poly and others; a live set by Moon Wiring Club; and eldritch vinyl interludes courtesy of Mordant Music.

Can You Feel It? Well, CAN YOU???

2010-03-27T07:03:00.000-07:00

Project Bluebeam. In December 2012 the Illuminati will project a giant hologram of Michael Jackson over all major cities. The effect will be not unlike the video embedded above, which is rumoured to be the work of fifth columnists attempting to warn of the impending New World Order. You heard it here first, sheeple.

This has been a public disinformation announcement from The Outer Church. Keep your eye on the lie when it lights up the sky.

2 MOREAU'S DREAM

2010-02-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the second Wednesday of the month... which means it's time for Church, O ye faithful!

"He will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldrini, the traveler came as a large and moving Torg! Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the McKetrick supplicants, they chose a new form for him: that of a giant Slor! Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!"

- Louis Tulley, 1984

Thanks to Laura O'Callaghan-White for the eye-scaldingly brilliant artwork above!

Thhhanks...

2010-01-19T10:39:00.000-08:00

...to all attendees of The Outer Church's January 2010 edition!

Dates For Your Dairy

2009-12-21T07:34:00.001-08:00

The Outer Church 2009 schedule, Part One:

January 13th
February 10th
March 10th
April 14th
May 12th
June 9th

A big thank ee to all who attended the Christmas 2009 edition. See you in the new year!

Festive Approach...

2009-12-08T10:09:00.000-08:00

A little over 24 hours until the Christmas 2009 Edition of The Outer Church, and I can't fucking wait! Got some fantastic music lined up and a whole bunch of festive/cosmic good cheer to impart. Ho ho ho! etc.

The Outer Church: Christmas 2009 Edition

2009-12-02T06:27:00.000-08:00

Come one, come all! The Outer Church presents its second shimmering on December 9th 2009... healthy dollops of delicious psych, full-fat prog, spicy krautrock and perhaps some cosmic pudding for afters - but watch your teeth on them Venusian doubloons!

Oh, and contrary to what Brighton free mag The Source might tell you, I won't just be spinning "wigged out old tunes" - I'll be spinning wigged out new tunes too! Lovely!

Winter Is Most Definitely Here...

2009-11-22T11:50:00.001-08:00

...and to celebrate, the rather marvellous Moon Wiring Club have a new album out entitled Striped Paint For The Last Post. It's an exceptional piece of work, the kind of thing that might result from an impossible collaboration between Vernon Elliott and J Dilla. There's a twist of British comics magickkkkk in there too, a la Leah Moore and John Reppion's underrated Albion mini-series - in which long-forgotten, supposedly fictional characters return from oblivion.

It's the ideal Christmas present for oneself or that significant other! Why not purchase one - or several - here...?

Edward Woodward 1930-2009

2009-11-16T04:27:00.001-08:00

The Outer Church would like to extend its condolences to the family and friends of the fine British actor Edward Woodward, who passed away today aged 79.

Rest in peace, Edward. We will always love you.

Thanks...

2009-11-13T10:15:00.000-08:00

...to all who attended the opening of The Outer Church! It went rather well, I'd say. For those interested, the playlist included Ashra, Sun Ra, Yes, Mordant Music, Goblin, Mercury Rev (circa See You On The Other Side, their best album), Pocahaunted, Van Der Graaf Generator, Belbury Poly, Egg and many, many more!

I'm already hugely excited about the second edition, which lands rather wonkily on December 9 - details to follow...!

Open For Worship

2009-11-09T16:13:00.000-08:00

Quietus article and Spotify playlist here