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JOHN DORAN ON NEW WEIRD BRITAIN - LATE JUNCTION 30.05.19 (320kbs-m4a/206mb/1hr30mins)
BBC Radio 3 broadcast: 30th May 2019
Co-founder of The Quietus magazine John Doran has been travelling the length and breadth of the country in search of the musicians of New Weird Britain, an underground movement of music in the margins that favours one-off art happenings that are improvised, shocking and surreal. Artists of all stripes in Britain have been driven out of city centres by soaring rent prices, hit hard by cuts in arts funding and dwindling revenues from the digital economy. But untethered from the prospect of making any money and fueled by the current political crisis, a band of musicians are splintering away from convention to stage unrepeatable performances that stand in diametric opposition to austerity.
Ahead of his four-part Radio 4 series on the subject, John talks Max Reinhardt through the bands he discovered on his trip and the heritage of British esoteric music made in times of unrest.
Elsewhere Max plays music by CukoO, a musician based in the west country who makes organic dance music for school children, and languid psychedelia from Vanishing Twin’s latest album.
Produced by Alannah Chance.
A Reduced Listening Production for BBC Radio 3.
Max Bacon - Beigels [JWM]
Vanishing Twin - Backstroke [Fire]
The Galilee Singers - Didn't It Rain, Little Children? [Document]
Jiha Park - On Water [Glitterbeat]
George Cromarty - Flight [Numero Group]
Sunburned Hand Of The Man - The Parakeet Beat [Smalltown Supersound]
Simon & Garfunkel - Wednesday Morning, 3am
Natalie Sharp - BodyVice
Hawthonn - Eden
Coil - Ether [Chalice]
Beluga Stone - Master Stone Runs The Voodoo Down [U Know Me]
Franck Biyong - Voodoo Pulses [Afrolectric Music Ltd.]
CukoO - Rain [Patterned Air Recordings]
Mirela Ivičević - Baby Magnify/Lilith's New Toy [Huddersfield Contemporary]
Brian Harnetty - Lucy [Karl]
NEW WEIRD BRITAIN - 4. COASTAL UNDERGROUND (320kbs-m4a/64mb/28mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 24th June 2019
Music journalist John Doran travels the country in search of the musicians of New Weird Britain, an underground movement which is blossoming in the margins of Britain.
Artists of all stripes have been driven out of the city centres by soaring rent prices and hit hard by the dwindling revenues of the digital economy. A new wave of musicians are splintering away from convention to stage bizarre one-off performances that fly in the face of austerity. They live off-grid, building their own instruments out of electronic junk, staging strange rituals with priests smeared in clay or performing with a team of dancers dressed as anatomically correct vaginas which squirt cream over the audience.
In this episode, John Doran heads to the ultimate edgelands of Britain, to hear from the musicians who have sought out refuge in the broad horizons of the coast. In Kings Lynn we hear from the transgressive performance artist Cosey Fanni Tutti, one of the founding members of the radical group Throbbing Gristle from the late 1970s, to understand how New Weird Britain can also be seen as a response to the current political turmoil. We also interrogate what the idea of Britain means to this community of artists in 2019.
Other contributors include Rhodri Davies, Kemper Norton, Jennifer Lucy Allen, Hannah Catherine Jones, Jennifer Walshe and Lee Patterson.
Produced by Alannah Chance
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4
Photo: Rhodri Davies
Image credit: Kuba Ryniewicz
NEW WEIRD BRITAIN - 3. RADICAL RURAL (320kbs-m4a/64mb/28mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 17th June 2019
Music journalist John Doran travels across the country in search of an underground movement of musicians, blossoming in the margins of Britain.
Artists of all stripes have been driven out of the city centres by soaring rent prices and hit hard by the dwindling revenues of the digital economy. But untethered from the prospect of making any money and fueled by the current political turmoil, a new wave of musicians is splintering away from convention to stage bizarre one-off performances that fly in the face of austerity.
They are living off-grid in the countryside, building their own instruments out of electronic junk, staging strange rituals with priests smeared in clay or even performing with a team of dancers dressed as anatomically correct vaginas which squirt cream over the audience.
Rather than moving to the capital to seek out the crumbling infrastructure of the music industry, these musicians are self-releasing straight to the internet, teaching themselves how to edit via youtube or abandoning recording entirely.
Now that all you need to be a musician is a bit of spare time and reliable broadband, some musicians have sought out the space and isolation of the countryside for their creative practice. In this episode, John Doran heads to the rural areas of Britain to discover what musicians actually find when they go in search of England’s green and pleasant lands.
Contributors include Elizabeth Bernholz, aka Gazelle Twin, David Chatton Barker, Layla and Phil Legard from Hawthonn, Saxon Roach, Farmer Glitch and Richard Skelton.
Produced by Alannah Chance.
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4
NEW WEIRD BRITAIN - 2. POST-INDUSTRIAL TOWNS (320kbs-m4a/64mb/28mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 10th June 2019
Music journalist John Doran travels across the country in search of an underground movement of musicians, blossoming in the margins of Britain.
Artists of all stripes have been driven out of the city centres by soaring rent prices and hit hard by the dwindling revenues of the digital economy. But, untethered from the prospect of making any money and fuelled by the current political turmoil, a new wave of musicians is splintering away from convention to stage bizarre one-off performances that fly in the face of austerity.
They are living off-grid in the countryside, building their own instruments out of electronic junk, staging strange rituals with priests smeared in clay or even performing with a team of dancers dressed as anatomically correct vaginas which squirt cream over the audience.
Rather than moving to the capital to seek out the crumbling infrastructure of the music industry, they are self-releasing straight to the internet, teaching themselves how to edit via YouTube or avoiding recording entirely to put on unrepeatable live shows.
In this episode, John Doran heads to the East Midlands and Northern England where a musical underground is flourishing in the back rooms of Newcastle, the bedrooms of Nottingham and the phone boxes of Todmorden.
Contributors include Sophie Cooper, Nwando Ebizie, AJA, Richard Dawson and Urocerus Gigas from Guttersnipe.
Produced by Alannah Chance
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4
Image credit: Laura Kate Bemrose
NEW WEIRD BRITAIN - 1. URBAN HINTERLANDS (320kbs-m4a/64mb/27mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 3rd June 2019
Music journalist John Doran travels across the country in search of an underground movement of musicians, blossoming in the margins of Britain.
Artists of all stripes have been driven out of the city centres by soaring rent prices and hit hard by the dwindling revenues of the digital economy. But untethered from the prospect of making any money and fueled by the current political turmoil, a new wave of musicians is splintering away from convention to stage bizarre one-off performances that fly in the face of austerity.
They are living off-grid in the countryside, building their own instruments out of electronic junk, staging strange rituals with priests smeared in clay, or even performing with a team of dancers dressed as anatomically correct vaginas which squirt cream over the audience.
In this episode, John Doran seeks out the musicians who are managing to cling on to the edgelands of the big cities to find out whether, away from the expensive artisanal coffee outlets of the urban centres, a new musical underground can still survive in the major cities of Britain.
Contributors include Natalie Sharp, aka Lone Taxidermist, Dan Jones and Charlotte Blackburn from UKAEA, Marion Andrau, Kelly Jayne Jones, Emma Thompson, LOFT, Gordon Bruce and Joel White from GLARC.
Produced by Alannah Chance
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4
Image credit: Luis Kramer
