Tag: Interview

Monolithic Undertow – Interview with author Harry Sword

We’ll be talking to author Harry Sword this Sunday, the 30th May 2021 as part of our Edition #14 of the Chill Out Tent. Harry Sword is a Cambridge based writer. He is a contributor to The Quietus, Vice, Record Collector, Munchies and the Guardian. We’re discussing his recent book ‘Monolithic Undertow – In Search of Sonic Oblivion‘ described by Beck as

‘An inspired and intuitive navigation of the drone continuum . . . with a compass firmly set to new and enlightening psychedelic truths’

His publishers summarize this superb book thus ‘Monolithic Undertow alights a crooked path across musical, religious and subcultural frontiers. It traces the line from ancient traditions to the modern underground, navigating archaeoacoustics, ringing feedback, chest plate sub-bass, avant-garde eccentricity, sound weaponry and fervent spiritualism. From Neolithic beginnings to bawdy medieval troubadours, Sufi mystics to Indian raga masters, cone shattering dubwise bass, Hawkwind’s Ladbroke Grove to the outer reaches of Faust and Ash Ra Temple; the hash-fueled fug of The Theatre of Eternal Music to the cough syrup reverse hardcore of Melvins, seedy VHS hinterland of Electric Wizard, ritual amp worship of Earth and Sunn O))) and the many touch points in between, Monolithic Undertow explores the power of the drone – an audio carrier vessel capable of evoking womb like warmth or cavernous dread alike.‘

Some or even many of these artists may be unfamiliar to our audience, but his sonic explorations also touch on Brian Eno, the Orb, ambient and chill out too and the transcendental ambition of so much of this material shares much with the world of electronic music that may be more familiar. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear Harry discuss the origins of the book, some of the amazing moments he experienced in it’s research and also his recommendations for those new to the world of drone.

Harry gives us a primer, ‘a Beginner’s Guide to Drone’ that we mixed into a 30 minute taster for the uninitiated, that we’ll play after the interview. Considering that many drone pieces will play out at 20 or more minutes per track, often considerably longer, our mini mix can only be a ‘teaser’ for the full immersive drone experience, but we hope it opens some ears to this new sonic landscape.

Here’s an extract of the book from the lovely people at the Heavenly Social to whet your appetite…

Harry Sword

Buy Monolithic Undertow direct from the publishers White Rabbit books here.

Join us on Mixcloud Live at 18:45 BST

0

Soulwax – Close to Paradise

Reminded of this 2017 release from Soulwax recently, a typically classy production with some fascinating interviews with veteran Ibiza residents, the film below made in collaboration with fashion house Loewe is a joyful reminder of the beauty of the white island. The limited edition vinyl is long gone but the tracks & the interviews are available from the Soulwax Bandcamp, see link below.

0

Christian Len – Balearic Historian

We’ll be talking to Christian Len this Sunday as part of our Edition #12 of the Chill Out Tent, Christian is a DJ, producer, broadcaster and most recently author. With his colleague Luis Costa he has written ‘Balearic – an oral history of Ibiza’s club culture‘ a critically acclaimed title, telling the story of Ibiza from the 1950’s to the contemporary club scene. Don’t miss this insiders stories of Ibizan music and culture. For now have a listen to his Balearic Beats mixtape below…

Balearic Book on Instagram – Facebook

0

Amy Douglas & Tim Wagner @ Chill Out Tent #7

Here’s a ten minute sampler of Amy and Tim’s ‘Golden Sphere’ mini documentary from our last event, our Brooklyn brethren talk music and much more…

1

Moments in Love – A History of Chillout Music

‘Moments in Love – The History of Chillout Music’ was first broadcast in 2004, written and produced by Chris Coco of this parish for the BBC, it’s a documentary that tells the history of the music we now know as ‘Chillout’. Tracing its origins back in the experimental work of classical musicians like Erik Satie and Claude Debussy.

For veteran listeners & fans it provides a seminal playlist of evergreen classics, while for newcomers to the world of downtempo music it’ll provide an invaluable primer to the world of chill out and balearic.

Chris talks to many innovators and pioneers of the chillout scene and some of its fans who explain what the music means to them. He chats with: Mixmaster Morris, Paul Morely, Laura B, Brian Eno, Dr Alex Paterson, Edgar Froese, George Evelyn of Nightmares on Wax, Rob da Bank, Jon Sa Trinxa, Jose Padilla, Sally Rogers, Phil Mison, Pete Lawrence, DJ Ravin and Sam (Zero 7) Hardaker.

With a rare and exclusive interview with Jose Padilla, the man widely regarded as the spiritual father of chillout whose legendary session tapes soundtracking the setting sun over Café del Mar turned into the hugely successful compilation series, the programme traces the path of this music through the electronic experiments and dub reggae of the 1970s, the beach bars and Balearic sound of Ibiza, up to the eclectic sounds of today.

‘What has now become known as chillout music is really music for listeners and lovers of music. This music seems very much about something you really listen to and enjoy, and I do feel that people who dismiss it as bland have really not listened to it properly.’ Paul Morley former member of Art of Noise

‘It is perfect for home listening, as background music, as lifestyle music, as driving music and it sounds totally right in beautiful settings. The best of its kind is often music that is heartfelt and isn’t fashion led, and it is often driven by melody and harmony. It can slow us down to the speed of life and send shivers of pleasure down the spine too. If that doesn’t have a positive message, what does?” Pete Lawrence, Founder of The Big Chill

‘You have the best screen on the planet…you have the sea, the sunset, the people. At Café del Mar the people are relaxed and chilled, you can play with their emotions. You just flow with the energy and you can take them to a point emotionally where you actually make them cry’. Jose Padilla, former resident DJ, Café del Mar – the spiritual father of Chillout.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Tracklist

AT THE RIVER – Groove Armada
PORCELAIN – Moby
RED DUST – Zero 7
ALBATROSS – Chris Coco
SOFT – Lemon Jelly
A SPECIAL MORNING – Ralph Myerz and the Jack Herren Band
ALPHA BETA GAGA – Air
GYMNOPEDIE NO. 1 – Erik Satie
FALLING – Chris Coco
MUSIC FOR AIRPORTS – Brian Eno
DISCREET MUSIC – Brian Eno
PHAEDRA – Tangerine Dream
SCIENTIST DOCTOR DUB – King Tubby/Scientist
WORKING GIRL – Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry
MOMENTS IN LOVE – Art of Noise
IL PLEURE – Art of Noise
ENTRE DOS AGUAS – Paco de Lucia
VANGELIS – Love Theme from Bladerunner
ADIOS AYER – Jose Padilla
BAREFOOT IN THE HEAD – A Man Called Adam
CONCIERTO DE ARANJUEZ – (Adagio) Joaquin Rodrigo
PACIFIC STATE – 808 State
A HUGE EVER GROWING PULSATING BRAIN THAT RULES FROM THE CENTRE OF THE ULTRAWORLD – The Orb
LITTLE FLUFFY CLOUDS – The Orb
ELVIS ON THE RADIO: STEEL GUITAR IN MY SOUL – KLF
NIGHTS INTERLUDE – Nightmares on Wax
PIPES & HONOUR – Nightmares on Wax
UP WITH PEOPLE – Lambchop (Zero 7 mix)
LOVELY DAY – Bill Withers
MAKING MUSIC – Chungking
YACHTS – A Man Called Adam
THE GLASS BEAD GAME – Thievery Corporation
IN THIS WORLD – Moby
I HAVE SEEN – Zero 7
UNIVERSAL TRAVELER – Air


0

Pete Fowler – The Chill Out Tent Interview

Pete Fowler’s afterparty is the final section of our line up for this weekend’s Edition 5 of the Chill Out Tent, coming live from 18:00 BST on Sunday, 30 August 2020. We’re super happy to have Pete; artist, DJ, bon viveur, one half of ambient legends Seahawks and all round gent closing out our festival, you know it’ll be an awesome send off. We interrupted Pete’s busy schedule to have a chat about what he’s been up to lately, and to find out what we can expect from his set at the weekend.

Pete has been working from his London home studio during lock-down, busy with commissions for his paintings, drawings and commercial illustration projects like the KPM – Island Visions cover above and similar work for music biz clients like Marius Circus.

On the music front Pete’s been continuing his Seahawks project with Jon Tye of Lo Recordings fame, collaborating remotely on new material like the remix for Andy Pye’s Balearic Social (see link above) and releasing Star Seeds through Bandcamp as a fund raiser for Red Cross Lebanon to directly help people after the disaster in Beirut. Seahawks will also be releasing a very special vinyl print of their super rare ‘Secrets of the Deep’ album from 2010 on Diggers Factory, as they say ‘Deep trench, marina drone, deck shoegaze, cosmic yacht rock at it’s finest’ and who are we to argue?

If you’re wondering what to expect from Pete’s set for the Chill Out Tent on Sunday, here’s a mix from earlier in the year…

If that’s not enough to keep him busy Pete’s continued to broadcast his weekly live show ‘Open’ on London’s Soho Radio, which is always worth a listen for it’s mix of music ‘veering from 70’s smooth rock, to discoid balearic debris’, sounds right up our street! He’s also continued to man the virtual decks every Friday for the Heavenly Social crew, providing the playlist, commentary and beverage recommendations.

We also discussed a few of the other projects Pete’s been involved in including the image above that he produced in response to the removal of the Colston statue in Bristol, that went on to sell out a 900 print run via legendary bootlegger Johnny Banger, raising £9000 for a primary school food bank in Bristol. Another unexpected success was his run of colouring sheets that went viral, ended up on the school curriculum and saved many stressed lock-down families from those ‘I’m bored’ moments of anxiety and angst. Pete’s drawing skills and lifelong fandom of culinary legend Keith Floyd came together in this unexpected merch opportunity to support a well loved record shop.

We sprung a ‘Desert Island Discs’ moment on Pete to conclude our chat, asking where he’d like to be if he could be free of Covid restrictions for a weekend. He decided that an escape to the lovely Port Eliot Festival to DJ and celebrate with friends old and new would be his choice, and what would his last track of the night be? The glorious ‘Silly Love Songs’ by Wings was his choice, and as Alan Partridge put it ‘Wings; the band the Beetles could have been…’ One last recommendation for anyone who over indulges over the weekend Pete suggests we refer to Mr Floyd in how to alleviate our hangovers.

Many thanks to Pete for taking time to talk to us, and of course for playing at our event this weekend, it’s going to be fab right?

1

Norman Jay at the Chill Out Tent

What’s on our minds? Norman Jay MBE is on our minds! This Sunday the our roving reporter Chris from VI4YL has a chat with the Good Times legend, Norman Jay. The interview premiere’s on The Chill Out Tent Edition #5 just after 6pm UK time. Get involved and see what went down. We’re all super excited to share another huge interview with you, props and thanks to Ashley from Norman’s management and The Ministry for the brilliant venue.

Here’s one of Norman’s recent radio shows to get you in the Carnival mood…

1

Chill Out Tent Guest Mix & Interview On Music for Beaches Sydney

Chill Out Tent crew member Matt Nearest Faraway-Place did a guest mix and interview with the lovely Dave Howell from the Music for Beaches radio show in Sydney, he had a chat about the Chill Out Tent and shared some fab music. Do check out the archive of shows, always a great selection of chilled sounds from Dave.

1. Greg Foat – Island Life
2. Joan Bibiloni – Sa Fosca
3. Pink Floyd – San Tropez
4. Robson Jorge & Lincoln Olivetti – EVA
5. Luca Averna, Chris Coco, Micko Roche – Mare
6. John Beltran – Entardecer (Motor City Wine – Peter Croce’s label!)
7. Roisin Murphy – Something More
8. Steely Dan – Jack of Speed (Air Zaire Edit)
9. Mild Life – Rare Air
10. Steve & Theresa – Catching a Wave
11. Wilson Tanner – Sun Room

0

Inside The Chill Out Tent

We did an interview with the Nearest Faraway Place blog about the Chill Out Tent, our inspiration and some plans for the future. Worth a look if you’d like to know where we’re coming from and where we’re going…

This radio interview that Chris did with Dave Howell on Music for Beaches is another chance to hear the Chill Out Tent story...

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
1

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑