I've very much been enjoying Friend of The Island Ivan Kirby's new blog, TV minus 50. Brilliantly, Ivan is looking at what was on telly in 1963 and blogging about it. It sounds very simple, and it is, which makes it incredibly addictive. It's also superbly executed and very well written, and you need to go there now.
Two of my proudest posessions are two little 7" ep's on the Castle label, released in the early 1960's. Marked 'copyright free to amateur users only' they both contain fascinating electronic tracks put together by currently unsung British wireless and sound recording genius F.C Judd.
'Electronic Themes and Music Concrete' (there's a little accent over the first 'e' in concrete that I can't type) is the second of the little records and is 'mainly intended for effects purposes in stage drama, recording and film soundtracks'. The rest of the sleevenotes are equally informative: 'nothing pertaining to electronic music and musique concrete is analogous to conventional music performed with traditional musical instruments. Electronic music and musique concrete may therefore seem extremely complex and without recognizable order, for instrumental forms are eliminated; timbre, functional harmony and symmetrical rhythms are suspended'. So now you know.
Here's a sub ten minute mix of the four tracks: 'Delta F', 'Study In Sinetones', 'Sound Object' and 'Montage'. The quality of the recording is 'much loved', because it is.
If you like what you hear, please let production company Recorded Tuition Limited know. They can be contacted, according to the sleeve, by telephoning Buckhurst 9315. Good luck.
