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Fortean-Themed Albums, Songs & Music

linesmachine said:
pwned!

Man, Whistling Jack just knocks em on the head doesn't he. What a pro of a mod.

Anyone who posts "pwned" is an idiot.

See my reply to WJ. The Fortean link to this song is that the album artwork is "23" whereas the actual album is called "My Bloody Underground."
 
danny_cogdon said:
WhistlingJack said:
The simple answer is that you can't.

I don't think there's anything especially Fortean about that particular song so I'm moving the thread to 'Chat'.
Robert Anton Wilson would probably disagree with you if he was alive, considering the album artwork.

"23"

Ah, right - I wasn't aware of that.

We have a 'Fortean Music' thread (I think) - would you be happy for this discussion to be merged with it?
 
gncxx said:
danny_cogdon said:
gncxx said:
A sec-cod glass tick-ed to Doddinghab, please.

Oops! Almost forgot to call you an idiot too.

Merry Christmas to you, too.

Oh, I do apologise!

I made a post in a Fortean thread which was moved by a Mod who didn't realise there actually was a Fortean link and which has, subsequently, been moved back to the same Fortean thread it was removed from by the same Mod.

Yet you feel justified in poking fun at me.

Nice one, pal!
 
Calm down, everyone...

(To clarify: the 'Tunes' thread was started in 'Fortean Culture' and I moved it to 'Chat' - when the Fortean nature of the tune was pointed out to me, it was agreed that the thread be merged with the pre-existing 'Fortean Music' thread back in 'Fortean Culture'.)

Let's carry on with the Fortean tunes, shall we?
 
I DL'd a large folderful of great ambient electronica and discovered some very dark stuff on it. There's a track by Lustmord called Heresy, which samples what sounds like infants being tortured and children shrieking. The slowing of the speed of human shouting reveals the beast we are. Anyway, the file's called Heaven space and Whitelights. 3 folders full of trax at over 3gig in size, but I can't find it on any of my torrent sites. Sorry.


Plenty of folks have cited Dead Can Dance, but Lisa Gerrard's solo works are well-haunting. The perfect audio compliment to the novels of Cormac McCarthy. She sings lyrics which are a kind of glossolalia or a language of her own invention. There's a doco called Sanctuary, but I've not found it yet. Links would be appreciated if anybody knows of a torrent.

Her album covers are outstanding. Maybe we should do a thread on Fortean album art.

Black Opal (2010)
black-opal.jpg

Silver Tree (2006)
SilverTreeCover.jpg
 
skinny said:
There's a track by Lustmord called Heresy, which samples what sounds like infants being tortured and children shrieking.

That should have been the B side to St. Winifred's School Choir's 'There's No-one Quite Like Grandma'.
 
Currently listening to Stuart Maconie on The Freak Zone on BBC 6 Music, and they're doing a vinyl day, so his featured album is the never re-released 1970s weirdness Distance Between Us by Don Bradshaw-Leather. It's extremely creepy, and he's playing three sides of a double LP which are basically long instrumental pieces which sound like the soundtrack to some long forgotten horror movie, though what the horror could be is hard to work out.

Anyway, here's a page of info:
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/07/d ... awlea.html

Which comes up with a few ideas about who this person was (check out the scary album cover! There's a naked woman screaming on the back if you Google for it), but nobody knows for sure, possibly some rich hippy with money to spend on a vanity project. One of the comments says that the naked woman was in fact "Leather".

The show will be on iPlayer for a week if you want to hear what this sounds like, but it really is unsettlingly unfathomable. If you're out there, Don, some people would like to know who you are!
 
gncxx said:
The show will be on iPlayer for a week if you want to hear what this sounds like, but it really is unsettlingly unfathomable. If you're out there, Don, some people would like to know who you are!

Thanks for bringing this one up :)

Certainly is a weird one!

Very mysterious, but now apparently less so. Don's sister posted an open letter to a web site about him in 2007. It read as follows (capitals and all):

"DON BRADSHAW LEATHER WAS BORN IN 1948 AND RAISED WITHIN A RESPECTABLE JEWISH FAMILY – HE GREW WITH AND INTO MUSIC MORE BY GENETIC DESTINY THAN ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCE. HE BECAME A CLASSICALLY TRAINED MUSICIAN OF THE HIGHEST LEVEL. HIS UNDERSTANDING OF MUSIC AS A LANGUAGE – A MEANS OF ADVANCED COMMUNICATION BEYOND WORDS AND COMPREHENSION WAS AT A DEPTH AND COMPLEXITY UNKNOWN TO MOST. WITH REGARDS THE COMPOSITION OF INTEREST: “DISTANCE BETWEEN US”… MR BRADSHAW APPROACHED A MAJOR RECORD LABEL (CBS) CIRCA 1970 WITH BASIC RECORDINGS OF HIS OWN PLAYING AND WAS AWARDED THE FINANCIAL MEANS TO DEVELOP AN ALBUM – AT THIS POINT HE WAS STAYING IN ESSEX (HIS HOMETOWN) BUT SOON USED THE FUNDS TO CREATE A LARGE STUDIO IN SUSSEX WITH MANY INSTRUMENTS INCLUDING AN ACTUAL CHURCH ORGAN. HERE, ON HIS OWN WITHOUT THE USE OF ANY ELECTRONIC SEQUENCING EQUIPMENT HE RECORDED “DISTANCE BETWEEN US” USING SIMPLE MULTITRACK TAPE BY LAYERING EACH PART OF THE COMPOSITION TO FORM THE COMPLETED PIECE.Mr Bradshaws Sister (musically talented also) describes her brother’s work: “A COMPOSITION WHICH COMMUNICATES JUDGMENT AND MERCY IN EQUAL PROPORTION – A BALANCE OF MERCY AND JUDGEMENT, TRANSMITTED IN HARMONY”. MR BRADSHAWS SISTER IS SURE THAT THE WORK OF HER BROTHER IS AN ADVANCED LANGUAGE WHICH IS INSUMISABLE BY CURRENT METHODS OF NOTATION. ODEN BRADSHAW DIED AND LEFT THIS WORLD 12 YEARS AGO. It has been expressed by his sister that her brother’s work is respected and credited accurately."

http://avalh.blogspot.com/search?q=bradshaw

Although unconfirmed information, David Tibet of Current 93 fame is planning to re-release this on his Coptic Cat record label and claims to be working with said sister on the project, so the story would seem to check out, for the time being anyway. This update was posted on the record company website in February 2011:

"Don Bradshaw-Leather CD reissue

David is meeting Don Bradshaw-Leather’s sister once again when she returns to England in March/April to discuss the Coptic Cat reissue of her brother’s masterpiece Distance Between Us. This project is taking longer than we had both envisioned due to her recent relocation outside of the UK. She is very keen (as I am) to find extra material for the issue—photos, texts and perhaps even music. The release is still absolutely on and we are planning for it to be out later this year."


Still no sign of it though...
 
Excellent, thanks! I think the story about his sister trying to get the album rereleased came up on last Sunday's programme, but so far it's a case of "we'll believe it when we see it". Interesting that it was supposed to be impenetrable music, if that's an accurate letter, it certainly sounded it.

No mention whether Leather really was someone else, like the screaming woman on the back cover, though. Maybe she could come forward if she's still with us?
 
gncxx said:
No mention whether Leather really was someone else, like the screaming woman on the back cover, though. Maybe she could come forward if she's still with us?

Well, to be honest, the whole name thing seems clear as mud.

The name on the cover is quite clearly "Bradsham-Leather" with and "M" but apparently the name on the label is "Bradshaw-Leather" with a "W". Under normal circumstances, you'd have to assume that if it were two people it would have said "Bradshaw & Leather", but since they couldn't even spell the name the same way twice, who knows.

His supposed sister calls him both Don Bradshaw-Leather and Oden Bradshaw. I'm presuming the latter was his real name and the former his stage name. Maybe it's double barel because he/they were married? I've never come across anyone with the surname "Leather" before, and just assumed it was a quirky stage name. (Also I have to say, the name Oden doesn't sound particularly English or Jewish either. Can't say I'm an expert in such matters though.)

It's indeed interesting to think that this record was purposfully made to be incomprehensible. True or not, I think most people would classify it as outider art. What's also interesting is the fact that a lot of bloggers and collectors refer to it as an occult album. Is there any reason for this? Sure, the music's creepy and the artwork is just bizarre in a gothic kind of way, but I seriously can't see anything to justify or suggest an occult connection.

I'm sure all the facts will be included in the CD if it ever sees the light of day, but to be honest, there's a little part of me that would prefer it to remain a mystery. ;)
 
One of the track titles mentions goblins, but Don could have simply been a Tolkien buff, there was a lot of that about at the time. Is that even him posing scarily on the cover? You would have thought he'd be recognised by someone even with his face painted silver. And who played on it? Did he do all the instruments himself or were Leather the band?

So many questions, which makes it so interesting, of course.
 
gncxx said:
One of the track titles mentions goblins, but Don could have simply been a Tolkien buff, there was a lot of that about at the time. Is that even him posing scarily on the cover? You would have thought he'd be recognised by someone even with his face painted silver. And who played on it? Did he do all the instruments himself or were Leather the band?

So many questions, which makes it so interesting, of course.

Actually, a thread's appeared on the BBC 6 Music site discussing this very topic, which makes for very interesting reading.

I won't copy and paste the whole thread, but you can read it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mb6music/NF146 ... ad=8312336

In a nutshell though, the points are as follows:

Ever since people have been speculating about this, the prime candidate has been a guy called Robert John Godfrey, who played with Barcley James Harvest briefly and formed another prog outfit called The Enid, which is still going. The evidence is all circumstancial but the following points are usually cited:

1) The photo on the cover looks very like him, even taking face paint and manic expression into account (Just google some old pics. It's certainly more than a passing resemblance!)

2) It sounds like him. He released a solo album a couple of years later and some of the playing on it sounds pretty similar (Handily, someone's put it on Youtube. I've given it a listen, and yes, I see what they mean.)

3) Although he's never claimed to have been involved, in 40 years of speculation linking him to the record, he's never ever denied it either. Draw you own conclusions!

Furthermore, one of the posters on the thread met him and specifically asked him the question. He didn't answer but apparently gave him "a wry smile."

Make of all that what you will.

There have also been lots of other claims e.g. the woman was called Leather, it was music written for occult rituals etc. None of which seem to have any "facts" or even any evidence to back them up. All sounds like urban myth to me, but who knows.

Apart from the "sister" mentioned up the thread, there's a Myspace page in DBL's name, seemingly promoting a 2007 re-release which doesn't actually exist (I think we can write that off as unconnected.) Plus some guy also claims to be him on Facebook (although I don't think anyone's buying that either.)

All in all, there would seem to be two possibilities here. Either:

(a) The 'sister' is genuine, and this was just a one-off recording by a maverick musical outsider (and that David Tibet is telling the truth too!) or

(b) It's Robert John Godfrey under a pseudonym, and that he's keeping it a secret for fun or out of embarrassment (and that David Tibet's in on the joke!)

Take your pick. Do you think that CD will ever see the light of day? ;)
 
It's looking doubtful, but if this counts as publicity you never know, sufficient interest may have been generated. I had heard the RJG explanation before, but equally had read why it could be dismissed, and if he's not saying then it might be a dead end until he can be persuaded to state his case one way or the other.
 
A brief update on The Freak Zone tonight that said someone who e-mailed in knew DBL and he was a taxi driver who was best described as "meshuganah" among those who knew him. Which doesn't clear anything up either.
 
gncxx said:
A brief update on The Freak Zone tonight that said someone who e-mailed in knew DBL and he was a taxi driver who was best described as "meshuganah" among those who knew him. Which doesn't clear anything up either.

Thanks for the update. Just noticed it! :)
 
Here's one I've just stumbled upon. I suppose it could've been posted on the ouija board thread, but I suppose that it'll be more appropriate here. (Apologies in advance if it's already been discussed further back on the thread.)

Apparently, the album "The Bedlam in Goliath" by American prog rock band The Mars Volta was inspired by ouija board sessions. Needless to say, a lot of bad vibes, tragedies and spooky happenings went down and they ended up breaking and burying the board.

All in all, "Fortean music" indeed.

From Wikipedia:

On a trip in Jerusalem, Rodriguez-Lopez purchased an archaic ouija-type talking board at a curio shop as a gift for Bixler-Zavala. They would return to their tour bus after shows to play with it during their 2006 tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, as it quickly became the band's post-show ritual. Dubbed "The Soothsayer", the board revealed stories, gave names and made demands, as the band was contacted by three different people who appeared in the form of one, who was then referred to as "Goliath". The more the band interacted with "The Soothsayer", otherworldly coincidences began plaguing the band's experience writing and recording The Bedlam in Goliath: Blake Fleming—their current drummer at the time — quit mid-tour and left the band with financial troubles; Bixler-Zavala wound up needing surgery performed on his foot due to the shoes he had been wearing, forcing him to relearn how to walk post-surgery; audio tracks sporadically and literally disappeared from the studio's harddrives; Rodriguez-Lopez's home studio flooded and was subject to multiple power outages; and the album's original engineer went through a nervous breakdown, leaving behind all previous work with no notes as to where anything was. The engineer who quit stated to Rodriguez-Lopez: "I'm not going to help you make this record. You're trying to do something very bad with this record, you're trying to make me crazy and you're trying to make people crazy."

Rodriguez-Lopez was on the brink of starting the recording from scratch, but eventually kept on after recruiting Robert Carranza as a replacement engineer, along with assistance from Lars Stalfors and Isaiah Abolin. Midway through the recording sessions, Rodriguez-Lopez broke "The Soothsayer" in half and buried it in an undisclosed location as an attempt to undo the curse and halt the unforeseen tragedies. Rodriguez-Lopez swore never to give away the location of the burial, and also asked the band not to speak of it again during the remainder of the album's production.

The song "Soothsayer" contains field recordings that Omar recorded in Jerusalem. The recordings are a mixture from the Jewish quarter, the Muslim Quarter and the Christian Quarter.


More here: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/157342 ... born.jhtml

...and here: http://marqueemag.com/2008/01/10/mars-v ... n-goliath/


To be honest, I can take or leave The Mars Volta, but I might just give this a listen :)
 
I wanted to note another song that has a similar mysterious narrative that has been entranced fans over the years - Helen Reddy's Angie Baby:

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Electric Wizard are an awesome 70s style doom metal band, Lyrics about the occult, drugs, HP Lovecraft, horror films and the like.
 
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/st-peter-s-chu ... ence-.html


St Peter's Church records CD of 'the sound of silence'

By Chris Parsons | Yahoo! News – Thu, Oct 18, 2012

A church desperate to raise funds has recorded 'the sound of silence' on to a CD which has become a surprise hit with its congregation.

Members of St Peter's Church in East Blatchington, Sussex, recorded 'a little bit of the silence' of the building's atmosphere.

The unusual audio has been a surprise hit with churchgoers, with St Peter's selling their first copies at an open day and taking more orders since.

The recording of St Peter's atmosphere features the ambient sound of footsteps, voices, background traffic noise - but mostly nothing at all.

Robin Yarnton, a church technician at St Peter's, said: "It does what it says on the tin. Silence is all you get.

"Mostly people have said it's nice and they like it, and that it's quiet and peaceful."

Mr Yarnton admitted to having mixed feelings about the idea suggested by churchgoer Roger Bing, but released the recording after inviting church members to 'tune out and tune in'.

The full CD features a 30-minute track, with a spoken introduction from the Reverend Canon Dr Andrew Mayes, closing words, and 28 minutes of silence.

It has been described as a 'meditation aid, with a spiritual or faith element' but churchgoers have been urged to use it 'in any way they like'.

The recording does not have a set price, with buyers able to decide how much they think it is worth and make an appropriate donation to the church.

Mr Bing said the first batch of CDs were a sell-out, with more copies now on the way.

He said: "The point was to have silence but not total silence. You need the occasional background noise such as a footfall or the sound of someone squeaking in a pew."
 
Monstrosa said:
They'd better be prepared for a lawsuit from Philip Glass.

John Cage surely! :lol:

Actually, I'd forgotten about that!

If I remember rightly, the problem with the copyright case was that they'd actually said it was a version of 4' 33" by Cage, which actually has a written score and a publisher. If they'd given it any other name, they would've been OK by simply producing another scored silence with a different 'arrangement' :D

To be fair, I don't think the church is actually trying to pass this off a 'music' as such, but I wonder if the footstep or squeaky pew player will claim for royalties...
 
Beef Terminal

is actually a solo artist DJ out of Toronto Canada. I couldn't find a single torrent anywhere for his albums, but lo and behold here's every album on his own website free to play. It's apt sonic resonance for reading FT.

I'd heard him first on a 4GB compilation I downloaded called Heaven Space and White Lights. The track that I heard was called The Grey Knowledge. Trambient.
 
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