MFZ Ceefax Reviews - Scarred for Life - Volume 2

Castles in Space ride the misremembered nostalgia highway of dreams.

PICK YOUR 40 YEAR OLD SCABS WITH SCARRED FOR LIFE 122

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ON SFL2 THIS MORNING

1:00 POCKET PAVILIONS PRESENT THE HALCYON CLOCK (Episode 1) Three charming children fall into an old Grandfather Clock and find themselves drifting into the past towards better days that never existed.

2:15 THE TWELVE HOUSE FOUNDATION PRESENTS THE BRAIN CHILDREN (Episode 6) Will Jez and Polly solve the puzzle set by the nefarious Baron Cerebellum? They are lost in a maze but by god they’re happy. And so are you.

3.06 CORRELATIONS PRESENT RECALL (Drama) Will you regain the function of your limbs as the robot voodoo priestess presses another silicon needle into your plastic effigy?

4.56 HANDSPAN PRESENTS WHAT’S IN THE BOX? (Entertainment) It spins! It shines! It glints! It slowly opens! Who dares to put their hand inside today? (Presented by Peter Duncan)

5.00 CULT OF WEDGE PRESENTS THE DAY BEFORE DOOMSDAY (Afternoon Play) Stark warnings. Ominous marches. The end is near. Pull the eiderdown over your head and wait for oblivion.

6.22 OLIVER CHERER PRESENTS TENSION PIECE (Episode 241) Sit still and let their eyes burn into the back of your neck. Don’t move. They can hear you breathing.

Castles in Space weave another wonder.

ARE YOU SCARRED FOR LIFE? ASK THE HOODED PUPPET. 666

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ON SFL2 THIS MORNING

7.07 THE BRITISH STEREO COLLECTIVE PRESENTS IN THE TALL GRASS (Episode 7) As the Bucolic Plague sweeps the land only picnics and naming clouds can stave off the Wheat Ghost.

8:16 THE BENTLEY EMERALD LEARNING RESOURCE PRESENTS THE CITY OF GOLDEN LEAD (Episode 19) When the master blinks his enormous eye Wyndham placates him by taking him on a tour of the desolate metal city. 

9.25 THE SOULLESS PARTY PRESENTS A SCHOOL AT WAR (Episode 51) Rotters versus Riders. The houses rise up. This week as Form 7b mourn the loss of Jimmy, Fred Trotter finds the organ pump. All hell breaks loose.

10.32 QUIMPER PRESENTS HAPPY BORDERS (Situation Comedy) Richard  Briers sinks to his knees in East Berlin. A kindly soldier (Penelope Wilton) is trapped inside the sound of desolation whilst lost children sing over Carpenteresque loops.

11.22 KEITH SEATMAN PRESENTS ONE LOST WEEKEND (Episode 241) As waves break on an aluminium foil shore, Keith beats a charming rhythm with the dried bones of Midge Ure.

12.06 LISTENING CENTER PRESENTS INTERMISSION (Intermission) Flashes of colour, a girl with a doll, the drawings you sent in, an Atari spinning on a potters wheel. All this and more in the liminal space between programmes.

 Castles in Space find delicious aural treats.

SHOW ME ON THIS DOLL WHERE HE PLACED HIS HAT. 432

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ON SFL2 THIS AFTERNOON

13.07 PULSELOVERS PRESENT DOBBS AND CLOGG (Episode 4) The intrepid duo find 

themselves trapped in the backrooms of Woolworths. The creeping certainty that they will never find the answer becomes more concrete.

14:10 THE HEARTWOOD INSTITUTE PRESENTS YOU CANNOT WIN A NUCLEAR WAR 

(Documentary) Professor Jonathan Sharp presents a scintillating argument for digging a deep hole in the back garden using the force of his will, sweeping noise and crackling soundbites.

15.05 OLIVER CHERER PRESENTS DOWN WHITE CORRIDORS (Episode 75) Enjoy a ride 

on a gurney through what appears to be a hospital but soon transforms into an ancient abandoned nunnery.

16.33 THE METAMORPH PRESENTS STARDRIVE (Science Fiction) When Gavin wakes 

from his Tizer hangover he finds himself trapped inside a vast silver room with only a joystick for company.

17.00 VIC MARS PRESENTS THE TIME MENDERS RETURN (Episode 1) In this brand new 

repeated series from ABC Matt and Davy deftly run up and down the corridors of time chased by people in improbable wigs and suits no-one wears.

18.06 THE HOME CURRENT PRESENTS UNKNOWN SAMENESS (Dance) As the ice melts on the pylon, the grey shifts and wakes, and Legs and Co dance incorrectly on a giant motherboard.

Castles in Space are emptying my wallet.

RIP OFF YOUR MR BUMP PLASTER WITH SCARRED FOR LIFE. 43

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ON SFL2 THIS AFTERNOON

17.51 PANAMINT MANSE PRESENTS SUNSTROKE SCOUT (Episode 4) His bare knees brushing against the bracken, our intrepid adventurer finds hidden treasure in an old biscuit tin as celluloid scratches flicker on the glass.

18:10 SALVATORE MERCATANTE PRESENTS THE GARDEN (Documentary) Originally shown in darkened science classrooms on the school projector this unrestored piece of film showcases the decaying secrets hidden behind the wall.

19.25 THE HOME CURRENT PRESENTS LOBSTER BOY (Romance) When Martin wakes 

from restless dreams he finds himself transformed into a beautiful lobster. In this episode he pursues his modelling career and falls in love with a Hermit Crab.

20.33 APTA PRESENTS EQUINOX (Documentary) A detailed and beautiful exploration of the slowly melting skin of cryogenically frozen sunbeams.

21.00 THE CENTRAL OFFICE OF INFORMATION PRESENTS THROUGH THE ARCHED WINDOW (Episode 13) Hold on tight to Humpty’s arm as Alex and his minions joyfully pull you into the house via an inappropriate entrance towards a happy nightmare of electric brass and seaside memories.

MFZ CEEFAX REVIEW - MEADOWSILVER SINGLES

Stannard and Co. have made an ESOTERIC MUSICAL TREAT

MEADOWSILVER LEAD THE DANCE 122

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ON MEADOWSILVER TONIGHT

5:00   MIDSUMMERS QUEEN (Episode 1) The Midsummer Queen is coming and all will   bow before her. As she glides towards you a group of Futureworld   residents play for the Delos Medieval World banquet with their   charmingly anachronistic   instruments from the time to come.

6:15   FAIR SAPPHIRE (Episode 6) The haunting tones of Gayle Brogan weave a

  magical spell as the Meadowsilver Minstrels raise a lost spirit   forgotten for many millennia. Nothing is left unsaid.

7.00  THE CORONATION OF THE HERRING QUEEN (Special event) Families from   across this fair land, clad in their coronation masks, will be gathered   around their flickering sets tonight to celebrate the crowning of the   Herring   Queen. I am kneeling. Are you?

8.15  SHE CASTS HER SPELL (Education) With a whisper from the earth Grey   Malkin demonstrates how to use a Mellotron to cast a successful love   spell. Prepare your potions. (Recipe details on page 471.)

10.15  HUSHABYE MOUNTAIN (Film) Truly Scrumptious and Carratacus Potts eat the   fruit of the Mushroom Tree and, possessed by the spirits of   Meadowsilver, set light to the stars in an orgiastic lullaby of fractal   swirls.

Review - All Hold Hands and Off We Go - Keith Seatman

It is late.

I should have done this months ago. I am in a panic that not enough people will realise how important this is. I need to shout it from the highest peaks.

I search for a point to call from. I can see Keith Seatman in the distance. His shadow disappearing across the water. He is elusive, unknown and yet familiar.

I spy a flickering glow up ahead. A soaring echo matches the sweep of the beam as it dances across the waves. I would climb the lighthouse to the top and scream out my news to the world but, although a lighthouse might look long, it is not tall enough. So I run further inland to the abandoned school on the hill with its tall bell tower.

The school is alive with noise. My old teacher commands me to enter, her round red face shimmering and see-through. The spectres of my memory dance in the tired beige hall, its paint peeling. The tiny chairs are pushed to the side. The music begins, loud insistent, stamping a rhythm together, we all hold hands and off we go.

I am pushed outside by intangible tiny hands. A skipping rope flips and spirals in constant loops. A small child plays a tune. The nightmare recorder player is pumping out notes whilst others hit the side of an upturned bin, insisting on a rhythm. I try to keep time, the rope skimming the top of my head. I cannot keep time.

Everything slows to a crawl. Even gravity cannot pull me down as I leap between rope and air and tarmac. Mr Metronome is beating out a rhythm and we all follow. A sweet melancholy settles over me and the playground fades to white.

The children are running ahead through the white. I call for them. But to them I am left behind or lost and dropped. I cannot find them. I am one of them and I need to join their dance. I call out for them to come back. The white dissipates to grey, to blue, to grey, to black, to sepia, to the abandoned peeling beige of the old school hall. There is a rising electronic spike and they rise.

They surround me. Beckoning me forward and back. To join the dance. The rhythm is kinder now. Four steps at a time. Four steps at a time. Do not panic. All is well. Four steps at a time.

The chairs and table are swept into the room. The shutters rise. The see-through dinner-lady with her see-through ladle pours hot cocoa into a cup.
“Take this”, she says. “And get to bed.”
A nightcap is thrust on my head and I am pushed towards an ancient door. I look about. The mood is quieter. Children chatter behind their hands. They shouldn’t be here. They have got older. I have got older. I must look odd in a nightcap and cup in my hand.  An old Hammond organ plays an exit tune.

I’m still here. Chains rattle. There is an incessant tap tap on the door. The children are silent. Tap tap. I turn. They all point, as one, at the door. Tap tap. This is the stuff of nightmares. The door rattles and creaks. I cannot breathe. It opens. A staircase is revealed. Chains rattle. I step inside.

I walk up the stairs. A sound builds, grinding, rising. What is that noise? A powerful noise. The stairs end and a vast empty room sits before me. Filled with boxes. Each box humming and shaking and dancing. Boxes with rhythms in.

At the end of the room is another door, a staircase beyond that leads to the bell tower. I sip my cocoa and find my tongue coated with salt and candy. The stairs reach into darkness. I climb.

The shimmering reflection of the moon hangs over the distant sea. Somewhere a kettle whistles. A boat bobs on the line of the horizon. A black triangle against silver and grey. Please, is it you? I need them to know. They must know. The ritual has begun again and all must join the half-remembered dance.

When the music plays all hold hands and off we go. We cannot resist. Put the record on again, Miss. I want to dance. I have to.

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It's not too late. Buy it now from here.

Review - Concretism - For Concrete and Country

BUY THE ALBUM HERE

The tape distorts and I am on the Black Special, sweeping across the grey landscape towards my refuge. Calm voices of probable doom are buffeted by the rhythm of the turning steel on the tracks. And although the end is near I am smiling at these sweet sounds of grey horror. As visions of a melting landscape drift before me, the Radomes stand proud, incongruous and mighty. It is time to disembark.

I can hear the pulsing beats of the microwave relay echoing down the hundred metre blast tunnel. In the generator room a man wearing spectacles sits behind his desk, pressing buttons.  I start to tremble. My feet shift left to right and my head sways back and forth. Are my teeth loose or is it my imagination?

They are coming. They are clothed head to toe in white, breath echoing in their cylindrical masks, voices muffled.

“There has been an Unspecified Radiological Incident,” one of them shouts, but her voice is far away and distant. It seems like a memory of something I never knew. She takes off her helmet, asking me if I have come to join the ROC Trainee programme. The man behind the desk stands and flicks a switch. The beats go dark. A voice of an old recording sweeps across, the analogue invades the digital, a misremembered score for a public information film.

I bought this badge in an Antiques Shop in Sheringham, Norfolk.
Everything else in the shop was made of brass.

The woman leads me up a flight of stairs. We wind our way higher and higher breaking through the concrete, the granite and the sod into grey steel and air. Higher and higher. The view from Pye Green Tower is one of imagined devastation. I wish for an end, for emptiness, for the new start that I have seen rehearsed over and over. But I am left waiting, watching.

 

In the radar room the dot dances, blips and repeats, the man behind the desk stares at it. Scratching his bobbing head. Men and women are working at beige computers, clacking away at heavy keyboards. Waltzing from chair, to screen, to map, to dancing dot. The end of the world was never so romantic. If the tunnel protects us from the inevitable this will be the seat of power. We will need a system. We will need new governments for a new nation. Someone will need to guide us. I hear a voice of calm among the beats and pulses and steel hits, but it is not enough. The man behind the desk is still. Just for a moment.

 

In the quiet the click of the hardened telephone exchange sings out. Soft sweeping synth caresses the wires, buzzing pylon waves of electricity swim in steady strokes above our heads. The man behind the desk is poised. Alert. He takes off his glasses and gives them a wipe.

"The radiation from this dust is dangerous. It cannot be seen or felt."
Protect and Survive - Crown 1980

A mask and suit are thrust into my hands.

“Just in case,” someone mutters. “We must be ready for the dustfall. Have you built your inner refuge? Your fallout room? Maybe you should stay here. Maybe you should stay with us. Listen.”

The calm voice reassures and frightens in equal measure. Soft tones, rich electronic bass and mechanical clanks, but underneath are reassuring tones that carry sweet nightmare on their breath.

I will stay. The man behind the desk demands it. He draws me in. Commanding me to listen again. To Protect and Survive. To plan my survival kit. To know the warning sounds. To remember. To do this for memory. For past. For future. For concrete and country.

The man behind the desk bows. I will listen again.

The apocalypse is coming and it is a beautiful thing.

You can listen to the first track here: https://concretism-cis.bandcamp.com/track/black-special

BUY THE ALBUM HERE

Concretism

For Concrete and Country.

An Album of Grim British Cold War Electronica.

Vinyl LP and Digital Download.

Released by Castles in Space on 20th April, 2018.

Genre: Electronica, Hauntology.

Format: 12” vinyl LP (300 copies black vinyl. 200 copies Turquoise Vinyl.)

Also available as a digital download.

Release date: 20th April 2018

Available from: Norman Records, Castles in Space Bandcamp.

Following on from a series of EP downloads and 2016’s vinyl compilation album, ‘Electricity’, Concretism releases an all new album, “For Concrete and Country” via Castles in Space on 20th April 2018. Drawing on influences from the books ‘War Plan UK’ and ‘Beneath the City Streets’, this album features music inspired by Britain’s Cold War infrastructure and state continuity preparations for nuclear emergencies - both real and imagined. The album takes us on a sonically adventurous journey through microwave tower networks, hardened telephone exchanges and devolved regional governments.

The wonderful artwork is by Richard Littler (“Scarfolk”) and features an adapted image of a “radome” located at Field Station 8613, a secret base located about nine miles west of Harrogate in North Yorkshire. These massive white golf ball-like domes protrude from the earth, protected behind a perimeter fence topped with piercing razor wire. Here, in the heart of the tranquil English countryside, these sinister radomes were used to monitor Soviet communications throughout the height of the Cold War.

Chris Sharp, the talent behind the Concretism project, takes inspiration from this not too distant world of nuclear and cold war paranoia, resulting in an album of unsettling electronics which perfectly invokes the pervasive cultural disquiet of intrusive surveillance, the red menace and the bomb. Fears which the recent drift of events confirm are still very much with us, remaining part of our societal DNA.

BUY THE ALBUM HERE