| Author | Music inspired by or featuring prehistoric sites |
Andy B
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|  Posted 21-07-2017 at 23:23
A random charity shop find, bought on the strength of the track titles. If you know the record label ECM you'll have a rough idea - it's contemporary jazz - John Surman creating layers of sax, recorded in 1990.
Road To Saint Ives - John Surman
Tracklist
1 Polperro
2 Tintagel
3 Tethevy Quoit
4 Rame Head
5 Mevagissey
6 Lostwithiel
7 Perranporth
8 Bodmin Moor
9 Kelly Bray
10 Piperspool
11 Marazion
12 Bedruthan Steps
John writes: Most of the music on this recording has been inspired by the landscape and history of the county of Cornwall. I am not Cornish. My birthplace lies just to the east of the river Tamar, which forms the border between Devon and Cornwall. However, even since my first visit to Land's End, the county has held a special fascination for me. Its early inhabitants are traceable back to Paleolithic man. It has a language of its own, which remained in use up until the nineteenth century. With a rich fund folklore and legend in addition, I've found much to inspire me. The pieces are not intended to be musical portraits of particular places or events, the titles being simply a collection of some of the intriguing place-names found on and around the road to St. Ives. [Oh that's rather done for the 'inspired by prehistoric site bit' - oh well never mind - AB]
https://soundcloud.com/john-surman-official/trethevy-quoit "Not available in UK" - you may have more luck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zkZr4ocYKU
[ This message was edited by: Andy B on 2017-07-22 11:27 ]
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Andy B
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| Posted 22-07-2017 at 20:01
Random Flickr Find - 2005, Supporting Snowblood
Circle of Stones - 'Rare show from mysterious Swansea crew who promise a wall of electronically treated sludgecore' (!)
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Andy B
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| Posted 22-07-2017 at 22:01
Neanderthal Man by Hotlegs (1970) who were to become 10cc
Already suggested by FrothNinja on page 5 but not linked or listened to until now - totally bizarre drum-heavy mix which kind of gets to you after a while
Terrible video with desperate dancing by furry bikini clad girls in a Dr Who style quarry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0zVs_7PzDQ
Found because I bought a Godley and Creme album for £1 and discovered from the credits that it had been recorded just down the road, and that Lol Creme still seems to live nearby. That led on to researching Strawberry Sound South (Dorking) and North (Stockport) studios late 70s/early 80s which were part-owned by 10cc.
If you're interested in 70's studio kit I discovered a complete run of Studio Sound online - now that's what I call archiving:
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Studio-Sound.htm
Initially named Tape Recorder in 1959. it changed name in February, 1970. It was published through Novmeber of 2001 as Studio Sound.
eg 1978 Sound on stage -Pink Floyd (p.34)
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Studio-Sound/70s/Studio-Sound-1978-08.pdf
But I digress...
[ This message was edited by: Andy B on 2017-07-22 22:05 ]
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Andy B
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| Posted 01-08-2017 at 22:07
Back up to date - Peasant by Richard Dawson is his sixth solo album, a song cycle based on the lives of inhabitants of Bryneich - a kingdom in Yr Hen Ogledd, or the Old North - in the early middle ages...
Videos: Ogre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfaW-yD7DoA
Soldier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7iW5OEeCUw
Weaver
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G54_PYN1Sp4
Interview with Richard:
http://thequietus.com/articles/22157-richard-dawson-peasant-interview-michael-hann
Review
http://thequietus.com/articles/22535-richard-dawson-peasant-album-review-avant-folk-folklore
[ This message was edited by: Andy B on 2017-08-01 22:07 ]
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Andy B
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| Posted 04-08-2017 at 00:23
They run on Ley Lines and return from the Dark Ages...
https://www.bidolito.co.uk/feature-welcome-to-the-dark-ages-jams-klf-2023/
https://www.bidolito.co.uk/jams/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jkv47xwkgg
[ This message was edited by: Andy B on 2017-08-04 00:33 ]
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anneharper76
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| Posted 03-09-2017 at 18:42
Some music, written and performed by me (on clarinet/ bass clarinet), which has been inspired by two special ancient sites in Ulster which occupy very special places in my heart. I hope you enjoy!
https://soundcloud.com/anneclarinet/iveagh-machas-homecoming
[ This message was edited by: Andy B on 2019-05-25 14:03 ]
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Andy B
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| Posted 08-09-2017 at 20:54
That's beautiful Anne, thanks so much for posting.
Now, any excuse for a plug for Stephen McCauley's Soundscapes. A couple of weeks ago a Wooden Horse of Troy, evoking both the sieges of Troy and Derry, was unveiled in Derry’s city centre as part of a unique cross-border project during Frielfest 2017.
The interview/soundscape about the horse is from 27 munutes in and the music selection is excellent as ever.
Listen here (14 days left currently)
Soundscapes with Stephen McCauley
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b091vsp8
More about the wooden horse:
http://www.derryjournal.com/news/the-wooden-horse-of-troy-other-epic-tales-in-derry-and-donegal-1-8114822
[ This message was edited by: Andy B on 2017-09-28 22:27 ]
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clara-nuts
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| Posted 09-09-2017 at 01:42
Very nice! Well done slightly melancholy music and lyrics, well performed, sounded good on my laptop. Good selection of photos.
Applause. 
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Andy B
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| Posted 28-09-2017 at 21:47
Fascinating fact: According to Lyrics.com - who seem pretty comprehensive - the only song with 'megalithic' in the lyrics is Lately by British Sea Power
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmRSuTjLKaU
Live version (complete with two bears!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDfdJ0O10dg
How did I come to such a revelation? Listening to the peerless Steven McCauley on Radio Foyle again, enjoying the tune from John Deery and the Heads and wondering whether there are any other songs with Stromatolite in the lyrics
It turns out there aren't
Anyway enjoy this lovely song from John Deery and the Heads
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U7s73PFqb0
There's an interview with John here, about 40 mins in
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b094p1l2
and listen on for the Megalithic Portal namecheck... Hee Hee
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Andy B
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| Posted 14-10-2017 at 22:40
Win one of a very limited edition of the geo-questing new album Skylark by Jonathon Heron, each with different custom artwork and booklets. Jonathon's music is deeply rooted in the landscape and appreciation of ancient places, I've reviewed the album track by track, tied in with links to some of the key locations
Competition and review here
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146414303
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Andy B
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| Posted 19-10-2017 at 12:40
Mak Wilson writes: I think my interest in the Iron Age (c.800BC to the AD100) started when we moved to Shropshire in the mid-1980s, as it has the largest concentration of hillforts of anywhere in the UK, and we had moved to a house just over a mile from one of its more well known forts: The Berth - the Megalithic Portal has more of our virtual reconstructions of the site at http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=7668
It’s not a time that I have written music about, but I hope, one day, to do so.
‘THE DARK AGES’
Leap-frogging the Romans, my interest in the so called ‘Dark Ages’ (Post Roman and Early Medieval – c.410 to 1066), probably started – along with my interest in King Arthur.
Arthur o Brynaich (Arthur of Brynaich) started life as Arthur o Wynedd (Arthur of Gwynedd) in 2005, when I first composed it for the Arthurian author, Steve Blake, whose theory it was that a historical Arthur may have been from what is now the Gwynedd region of North Wales. Since then my views on Arthur have changed and I’ve now placed him in Brynaich or Bryneich (Anglo-Saxon Bernicia), which was roughly what is now the modern English county of Northumberland.
https://soundcloud.com/mak-wilson-658304636/arthur-o-brynaich
Arthur’s Battles Song is based on the twelve battles of Arthur found in the Historia Brittonum, which some think (not all) originated from an ancient battle poem or poems. In the Early Medieval and Medieval periods ‘poems’ were actually sung by the bards.
https://soundcloud.com/mak-wilson-658304636/arthurs-battles-song
Read more at
https://makmusic.blog/2017/10/17/blog-no-12-from-the-iron-age-to-the-age-of-iron-my-other-historical-interests/comment-page-1/#comment-88
and more music at
https://soundcloud.com/mak-wilson-658304636
Mak is best known as a puppeteer and physical performer who worked for many years with Jim Henson and co, including operating the character Hoggle in the film Labyrinth with four other puppeteers. Read about his experiences of working with David Bowie here
https://makmusic.blog/2017/10/12/my-close-encounters-with-music-legends-part-3-david-bowie/
[ This message was edited by: Andy B on 2017-10-19 12:42 ]
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Andy B
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| Posted 25-10-2017 at 23:22
I will spare you Sly & the Family Drone + Dead Neanderthals on Hominid Sounds records...(look them up!)
Next see what you make of Darkness prevails yet light begins its ascent by Matthew Shaw - a collection made for the Winter Solstice 2013.
Track 2 features the incomparable Michael Dames talking about the Avebury Cycle - it sounds like it was recorded outdoors, so presumably at Avebury itself.
https://texlahoma.bandcamp.com/album/darkness-prevails-yet-light-begins-its-ascent
You can read more about Matthew Shaw here when he performed with the extraordinary strange English Heretic
https://texlahoma.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/concert-at-brugata-oslo/
and his music is at
https://texlahoma.bandcamp.com/music
and
http://www.texlahoma.com
another summer solstice one here
https://texlahoma.bandcamp.com/album/alchemical-figure-summer
also Walking in Circles
https://vimeo.com/104141551
[ This message was edited by: Andy B on 2017-10-25 23:23 ]
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Andy B
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| Posted 04-11-2017 at 11:16
Sidh by Cromleck, a band from Quebec.
Several stones inspired covers, rather doom laden but atmospheric music.
https://cromleck.bandcamp.com/album/sidh-full-album-2016
[ This message was edited by: Andy B on 2017-11-04 15:48 ]
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TheCaptain
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| Posted 04-11-2017 at 13:05
Cuckoo Stone. By The Dials
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9nyvubrBTA
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Andy B
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| Posted 04-11-2017 at 19:16
Excellent one, I didn't know them, thanks.
Next: The Solid Steel radio show started in 1988 on London's pirate KISS FM radio station. Matt Black and Jonathan More (later to become Coldcut and set up Ninja Tune) joined forces to present Solid Steel a few years before the station finally went legal.
So far so 'where's the ancient site angle'. OK:
Periodically in the early to mid-nineties Solid Steel would give up it’s traditional mix / talk / ad break / mix... format and morph into a Sphinx for two hours. ’That’ meant minimum chat and no ads, just two hours of straight mixing, usually erring on the ambient and electronic side of things.
Ranging in title from Alien Sphinx, Return of Alien Sphinx and More Than An Alien Sphinx (and probably a whole host of others besides) they were sprawling soundscapes inhabiting similar territory to the Orb and FSOL at the time, the name came from the supposed Sphinx face that had been ’discovered’ on Mars
Matt Black: "I was turned onto it by Fortean Times. Just thought it was a wicked concept, though the images of it never convinced me...humans see faces everywhere, we are optimised for it. But it gave me the idea for an inscrutable ancient mystery sound trip."
Unfortunately I can't find an example of one of these Alien Sphinx shows from the 90s, but you can catch up with the latest ones at http://solidsteel.net and http://www.mixcloud.com/Solid_Steel/
Source: http://ireallylovemusic.co.uk/blog/?p=1069 (DVD sleeve notes) and http://www.factmag.com/2013/12/06/25-years-of-solid-steel-inside-the-worlds-longest-running-mix-series/
Update: found one! (mind the large popup ad)
https://zippyaudio2.co/download/1994-solid-steel_coldcut-return-of-the-alien-sphinx-special-pt-1-2/-101010_LGcagB
[ This message was edited by: Andy B on 2017-11-04 19:32 ]
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SteveMars
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| Posted 09-11-2017 at 22:40
My book 'Exploring Avebury: The Essential Guide' was published by The History Press in 2016. Living very close to Avebury, I had spent seven years researching and photographing the monuments and landscape. The book has been extremely successful and has just gone to its fourth printing.
I have just produced a sequel, but it is not a book – it is an album of music: 'Avebury Soundscapes'. For most of my life I was a professional musician and composer, mainly producing music for TV documentaries. This album gave me the opportunity to express ideas and emotional responses to Avebury and its landscape, in a way that I could not with words alone.
For instance, one track 'Bone Ceremony' is a piece of magic realism – an imagined Neolithic ceremony inside the West Kennet long barrow. Partly recorded inside the actual monument, it features an incantation in Proto-Indo-European… Another track explores the geometry of The Sanctuary using musical rhythms. Mixed with the music are special recordings of nature made in the Avebury area; ‘audio holograms’, they appear in 3-D surround sound for listeners using headphones. An uncannily realistic thunderstorm booms overhead; birds fly out of trees; rivers gurgle beneath one’s feet, etc. Have a listen!
CDs on sale in & around Avebury, or listen & download from Bandcamp.
Link and a new video here:
http://www.exploringavebury.com/music
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drolaf
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| Posted 10-11-2017 at 02:59
ah i have your book, it's excellent. i'm guessing you have a few bullroarers on the cd.
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SteveMars
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| Posted 10-11-2017 at 13:35
Thanks Drolaf!
Yes, one track starts with a bull roarer. It's binaurally recorded and whirls above your head when you listen with headphones.
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drolaf
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| Posted 10-11-2017 at 22:47
had a listen on line-interesting mix of ancient, nature and modern. think you've got a sale.
I spend my summers doing festival workshops on ancient music, and made a few bullroarers. was surprised how easy it was with an electric plane. people are really interested in it all.
mm like the binaural- i have a binaural beats/light gismo somewhere.
have you heard max brumberg's pileta cave recordings?
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drolaf
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| Posted 12-11-2017 at 02:27
Driving on the A303 Greg Hancock released 2017
I’ve not heard of this fella, but it’s a bit of a different slant to hippy stuff. The first line’s funny.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBOItXlXQoc
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