Clocks & Watches

Eric Bruton, Clocks & Watches (Paul Hamlyn, 1968). Some interesting words and phrases in the index: souscription, verge escapement, Oignon, Lancet clock, Shortt, 'Kew A' Certificate, Huygen's rope drive, Sidereal time, etc. Good section on magic lanterns and sun and moon dials.

Small, relaxed, innovative

Simon's Rock Early College, for precocious tenth and eleventh graders. Pictures from Mosaic magazine, circa 1976.

Zenith

Resistance through Rituals

Tumble

Cool event happening tomorrow (Tues) in New York. The Milan-based duo Tumble is playing at Fotofono in Brooklyn. I saw them last week and was blown away. Fractured percussion and electronics, straight out of The Feed-back. When I saw them they would occasionally take the speakers out of their cabinets and let them vibrate on the snare drum (!) Super nice guys too. More info on the drummer's blog.

Galy Tots

Ken Garland's Galt Toys catalogue from 1969/1970, now available in an exclusive reprint from Trunk Records. Thanks Jonny! And thanks Ken Garland! Check out more of Garland's design work here. Er, you may see something familiar.

Přijela k nám pouť

Czech sunshine pop musical from 1973, directed by Věra Plívová-Šimková. Watch here. Some naff tunes but also some good ones -- I put the opening credits in a mix a while ago. Here's another catchy one.

Forest of Evil

These records -- it's almost as if someone went into my mind and figured out exactly what I'm interested in and then committed it to vinyl. Uncanny. Frank Reidy and Eric Allen take the British modern/ancient paradox and realize it at the level of the instruments sitting around in the studio: John Carpenter-style synths/machines on the one hand and ethereal winds and straight-laced classical percussion on the other. A very strange combination. Puts me in mind of neolithic round mounds and crop circles and that sort of thing. I really like the clunky DIY sleeves too. The gray one above is basically a xerox pasted onto a record sleeve. Here's a clip from Vol. 2 (you can find rips of both albums pretty easily if you do a google search.)

Children Make Music

Richard Addison, Children Make Music (Holmes-McDougall, 1967) Another one for the school music curriculum. Includes a supplementary 7" with sketches and spells from Pendower Infants' School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (40 children aged 7) and Heslerton C.E. School, E. Yorks (16 children aged 7-11). All music composed and performed by the children using chime bars, home-made instruments, recorders, rhythm sticks and body sounds. Design by Gillian Humphrys.

Out 1

Juliet Berto in Jacques Rivette's Out 1. Thank god it's Friday. Happy weekend!

Beth Sholom U.S.Y.

Here's a fun one. Sort of a Jewish version of The Langley Schools Music Project. This album makes me think of the tone deaf stoner preparing for his bar mitzvah in the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man. It's actually not bad though -- check out the farfisa and fuzz guitar action. And some of the singing reminds me of the Peanuts gang crooning away for Vince Guaraldi. At the very end of the clip there is a spoken word bit that instantly reduces me to a giggling third grader. "The messiah will not come..."

Amos Poe, Unmade Beds