Ghost Box Subforum

Never heard any Ghost Box until I came across The Young People by Belbury Poly courtesy of Bleep 100. Superb track and really addictive.

i know a few other people who became aware of them the same way.

Def worthy of more investigation.

my personal favourite ghost box artist is the focus group, followed by belbury poly, but they're all great. also worthy of investigation is the eric zann album (another jim jupp alias, along with belbury).

jim has quite a lovely synth collection/archive

  On 2/8/2011 at 4:27 PM, kaini said:

  Quote

This month we're pleased to announce that by popular demand we've finally re-issued the very first albums on Ghost Box. The Focus Group's Sketches and Spells and Belbury Poly's The Willows. They're available right now in our shop on Vinyl and CD with special bundle offer for both albums. Vinyl only customers can get a free download version too.

 

Next releases on Ghost Box will be numbers 5 and 6 in our Study Series of 7" singles. One is by special Ghost Box guest Jonny Trunk and the other by a teaming of The Advisory Circle's Jon Brooks with Seeland's Tim Felton working under the name Hintermass. Both very exciting additions to the series, they should be available this March, like all the Study Series these are limited and will not be repressed so make sure you watch out for our next newsletter to pre-order yours.

 

In May(-ish) we'll have the new album from The Advisory Circle - As The Crow Flies, we've heard Jon's final mixes and we really think its his most breathtakingly beautiful work to date. Then in late summer we'll be presenting the new album from Belbury Poly. You'll hear previews of these and other forthcoming Ghost Box releases on the monthly Radio Belbury stream show over at our sister site, The Belbury Parish Magazine.

 

And finally some confusing news just in from The Moon Wiring Club. The first pressing of the vinyl and CD versions of A Spare Tabby at the Cat's Wedding is sold out pretty much everywhere. There may still be a handful of copies in our shop by the time you read this, but the CD (not the vinyl alas) is being repressed right now. As you may know the LP was very different from the CD and this being the bewildering world of Gecophonic Records this second edition of the CD will have the same contents but a new cover (do try to keep up at the back there). So look out for this in our shop later this month.

 

NEW ALBUM FROM THE ADVISORY CIRCLE!!

NEW ALBUM FROM BELBURY POLY!!

Just ejaculated over this newsletter myself. Looks like a solid year coming up for GB.

Without wishing to piss on any fires though, I never got any gratis downloads when I ordered the vinyl bundle. I already have the orinal CDs, but still... Really with Ghost Box would see to this, especially as I've had to pay twice for all of the Study Series to get digital copies.

Anyway, enough moaning, ace news. And very much agreed with kaini on The Focus Group and Eric Zann, not that GB have ever put out a single weak release IMO.

  On 2/8/2011 at 10:03 PM, Caretstik said:

Without wishing to piss on any fires though, I never got any gratis downloads when I ordered the vinyl bundle. I already have the orinal CDs, but still... Really with Ghost Box would see to this, especially as I've had to pay twice for all of the Study Series to get digital copies.

contact jim, they deal with all email themselves.

jim at ghostbox dot co dot uk

  On 2/8/2011 at 10:59 PM, kaini said:

  On 2/8/2011 at 10:03 PM, Caretstik said:

Without wishing to piss on any fires though, I never got any gratis downloads when I ordered the vinyl bundle. I already have the orinal CDs, but still... Really with Ghost Box would see to this, especially as I've had to pay twice for all of the Study Series to get digital copies.

 

contact jim, they deal with all email themselves.

 

jim at ghostbox dot co dot uk

Cheers kaini. Actually got a nice reply from the great man himself this morning. Be nice to replace my original crappy iTunes AACs with better quality while my GB CDrs languish in storage. Then again, maybe 96kbps might be a bit more in keeping with the H-word?

Just pulled the trigger on the Willows vinyl reissue (with free FLAC download) after listening to the samples and I have to say it's probably the best Ghost Box full-length that I've heard. I was hesitant to buy because From an Ancient Star was a bit too busy and whimsical for my tastes but this is just amazing; deep, spacious and hugely evocative. Totally need to get that new Jon Brooks album too.

Been looking to check out this label and have never had the time. I am an ambient fiend, so I am delving into their website as we speak. Recs?

it's not really ambient with the exception of the eric zann record

  On 2/9/2011 at 9:15 PM, Lucy Faringold said:

Just pulled the trigger on the Willows vinyl reissue (with free FLAC download) after listening to the samples and I have to say it's probably the best Ghost Box full-length that I've heard.

But have you heard Other Channels, The Owl's map and Hey Let Loose Your Love?

Yes! I have those on cd but something about The Willows is just clicking with me in a wonderful way. Now I think about it I think Seance at Hobs Lane, Sketches and Spells and Ouroborindra are the only ones I haven't heard.

New Jon Brooks album is very, very nice.

  On 2/13/2011 at 4:41 PM, fox said:

New Jon Brooks album is very, very nice.

It is indeed. I plan to play it out while reading the stories themselves, never tried reading with a musical theme before.

With regards to GB, one release I always end up coming back to more than any other is 'Sketches and Spells'. It just defines the label for me and the reason that I first took an interest.

Finally checked out this label a few days ago. The Advisory Circle's Other Channels is blowing my mind, as well as The first two Belbury Poly albums. Not super into The Focus Group yet, though the album with Broadcast was excellent. Looking forward to the new Advisory Circle album this spring/summer.

  On 2/13/2011 at 10:41 PM, Caretstik said:

  On 2/13/2011 at 4:41 PM, fox said:

New Jon Brooks album is very, very nice.

It is indeed. I plan to play it out while reading the stories themselves, never tried reading with a musical theme before.

i'd recommend the original reading + plus music then. quite nice; and read by moon wiring club! not sure i'm that into William Hope Hodgson's stuff, but the album and audiobook (for lack of a better term) are excellent. i read the next tale from the carnacki book and it was okay - not as good as algernon blackwood's stuff but decent - must read more before making final assessment.

Thing and Question:

Thing: Decent label into courtesy of Boomkat

Question: Is the Mount Vernon Arts Lab cd worth looking into? I've always been hesitant about that one.

  On 2/16/2011 at 1:02 AM, fox said:

Question: Is the Mount Vernon Arts Lab cd worth looking into? I've always been hesitant about that one.

very yes. think somewhere between eric zann and demdike stare, with a hint of bbc radiophonic magic and a sprinkling of the quatermass experiment. edit: it's a reissue, and it's the only reissue on ghost box. messrs house/jupp don't just rerelease any old shit!

I cannot wait to recieve my 2 new vinyl re-issues. I've bought every fucking wax ghostbox has produced and will continue.

gotta love all of that music !

Heard a new track from Belbury Poly yesterday, whilst listening to Jim and Julian being interviewed on BBC radio 6's Freak Zone (a total misnomer btw - I almost turned off after having to sit through what felt like the entireity of Keith Jarrett's Koln concert - what the hell?). Think they said the album is out in August. Sounded like a departure to me: acid-fried guitars, lots of jazzy fills, strange ghostly vocals - a very zonked-out '60s dance party vibe. Oh, and a flute solo too! I managed to record it into my shonky dictaphone, which was the only thing I had to hand. Listening to it back through a sea of tape hiss, wobble and flutter feels like an authentically Ghost Box experience. I have half a mind to dub the rest of my Ghost Box cds in the same manner but I'd probably feel like too much of a twat.

thanks for the description, I was bummed about missing that.

  On 2/16/2011 at 1:04 AM, kaini said:

  On 2/16/2011 at 1:02 AM, fox said:

Question: Is the Mount Vernon Arts Lab cd worth looking into? I've always been hesitant about that one.

 

very yes. think somewhere between eric zann and demdike stare, with a hint of bbc radiophonic magic and a sprinkling of the quatermass experiment. edit: it's a reissue, and it's the only reissue on ghost box. messrs house/jupp don't just rerelease any old shit!

I've sometimes wondered what the other Mount Vernon stuff sounds like.

Also, a bit more info on the next Study Series singles, released 1st April, here.

  On 2/28/2011 at 8:51 PM, Caretstik said:

I've sometimes wondered what the other Mount Vernon stuff sounds like.

I've got most of the Mount Vernon releases. E for Experimental is a compilation of lots of shorter, radiophonic-esque tracks. Gummy Twinkle is a noisier album, sounds like pulsing electricity..lots of feedback loops. His other stuff is mostly 20 minute + pieces... Warminster is a much longer version of the Warminster 4 track on 'Seance..' It's a collaboration with Adrian Utely, so it's got quite a Portishead feel to it, unsurprisingly. One Minute Blasts Rising To Three Then Diminishing and Musick That Destroys Itself (the latter released under his Mount Vernon Astral Temple moniker) are droney, noisy pieces, similar in style to the tracks on Gummy Twinkle. They make me think of primitive experiments with electricity being conducted in a dark cellar.

Overall, 'Seance' is probably my favourite album of his, as it's a mixture of the droney noise found on his longer pieces and the bubbly, fizzy radiophonic style of E for Experimental. But all of the releases are interesting, and worth a listen.

  On 3/1/2011 at 12:07 AM, Stoppit said:

  On 2/28/2011 at 8:51 PM, Caretstik said:

I've sometimes wondered what the other Mount Vernon stuff sounds like.

I've got most of the Mount Vernon releases. E for Experimental is a compilation of lots of shorter, radiophonic-esque tracks. Gummy Twinkle is a noisier album, sounds like pulsing electricity..lots of feedback loops. His other stuff is mostly 20 minute + pieces... Warminster is a much longer version of the Warminster 4 track on 'Seance..' It's a collaboration with Adrian Utely, so it's got quite a Portishead feel to it, unsurprisingly. One Minute Blasts Rising To Three Then Diminishing and Musick That Destroys Itself (the latter released under his Mount Vernon Astral Temple moniker) are droney, noisy pieces, similar in style to the tracks on Gummy Twinkle. They make me think of primitive experiments with electricity being conducted in a dark cellar.

Right then, I'm off to pillage the discogs marketplace...

wow, according to wiki they've remixed coil. that could be interesting.