Institute of Contemporary Arts

The Experiment: October 2008

First up on this month's podcast we tread the experimental boardwalk of rare and obscure, outsider music and examine the true recordings of various 1920s roots and blues artists. These selections have been lovingly complied by the expert ears of this month's fellow co-presenter Ken Hughes.

We have the bizarre sound of gospel genius Washington Philips playing a 'don't know what' instrument - see if you can work out what it is. We also have a few tracks from the first wave of West African settlers performing and living in London in the 1920s: lush timeless pieces with a true unique energy. The tracks are taken from the album Living is Hard: West African Music in Britain 1927-1929 (out on Honest Jon's Records). We round off this complication of obscureness with a track from the married couple Blind Maime and A.C. Forehand.

Next we have tracks from our very own fellow podcast master - Jim Hammond's his first solo project and releases as Calisthenics. Here he cleverly brings together a spellbinding mix of Black Dice and Brian Eno's ambient period. A beautifully crafted journey in music both intense and searching.

The aptly-named-for-Halloween Blood Moon hail from Manchester and operate as a forceful duo, offering a blend of Slitbreeze records, black metal, black angel and beyond: great stuff.

Finally we have the seductive callings of 353 Records. This London-based label are making absolute heavenly music with the likes of Soviet Light and Rainy Anderson: fresh, exciting new music. Their sound combines blues, minimalism, drone, folk and modern psychedelia.

Keep Listening!

The Experiment is a monthly podcast commissioned by the ICA and presented and produced by Kevin Quigley. This month's guest presenter is Ken Hughes.

www.honestjons.com
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Phillips
www.myspace.com/bloodmoonmusic
www.353records.co.uk
www.myspace.com/sovietlight
www.myspace.com/rainyandersonmusic