TYNEHAM HOUSE 'TYNEHAM HOUSE' AVAILABLE NOW (31/1/12)
The small village of Tyneham, on the beautiful Isle of Purbeck, in Dorset, was once a thriving little community – that is until the British Government requisitioned it for training manoeuvres and other ‘strategic purposes’ in the run up to WWII. This was supposed to be a temporary measure, but the area remained in military possession long after hostilities had ceased, causing distress among former inhabitants, many of whom were farmed out to prefabs in nearby Wareham and Swanage.
Tyneham was characterised by its red telephone box, a tiny parade of shops – Post Office Row – and a grand country pile which stood about half a mile away from the village: Tyneham House. The army removed the building’s oak panelling and ornate decorative details and promptly set about using it for target practice. So great was the shame expressed locally about the damage inflicted upon one of Dorset’s grandest houses that the powers that be decided to grow a copse around the remains of the structure to give the impression that it was no longer there. Despite this, a substantial part of the structure remains intact, including its Saxon hall.
Land access around Tyneham was opened up in the 1970s, but admission to the house remains strictly verboten. Those who’ve been found around the premises, especially anyone wielding a camera, have felt the full weight of military trespass law. Tyneham today is regarded as a nature reserve by some – as a national embarrassment by others. It’s still a political hot potato, in Dorset at least.
The pastoral, wistful yet ineffably disquieting music of Tyneham House is made by artists who have previously graced Second Language releases, but who wish to remain anonymous here, save for their eponymous title. The musicians are happy, however, to let it be known that these recordings have been around for some years (many of them compiled from old cassettes) and that they take inspiration from the 1960s/’70s/’80s work of the Children’s Film Foundation – a body who really ought to have made a film about this mysterious West Country curio. At least now we have its endlessly poignant soundtrack.
'Tyneham House' is a joint release between the London-based independent labels, Second Language and Clay Pipe Music. This 14 track CD album comes packaged in a Gocco-printed card box with booklet and cassette tape of bonus material (18+ minutes) - all beautifully illustrated throughout by award winning artist Frances Castle of Clay Pipe Music.
This is SL015/Pipe003. Limited to 300 copies only.
Tracklisting (CD) :
• A Chalk Horse
• Rookery Wood
• Coppice Walk
• Binoculars
• Bletchingley
• Post Office Row
• The Crows Circle
• Winter Carriage
• The Ragged Cat
• I Shall Not Cross The Sleeping Hill
• The Porch Room
• Saxon Chapel
• Last Village Before The Sea
• Lit Room At Midnight
Tracklisting (Cassette) :
A: A School Holiday, 1977
B: May Day, 1981
Find out more about Tyneham House (the village) here: http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/85/tyneham_village_of_the_vanished.html
Order the album now from Second Language. ALL PRICES INCLUDE POST AND PACKAGING.
END OF YEAR ALBUM LISTS (23/12/11)
DAVID SHEPPARD
1. PJ Harvey: Let England Shake (Island)
2. The Caretaker: An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (History Always Favours The Winners)
3. Hauschka - Salon Des Amateurs (Fatcat)
4. Dustin O’Halloran and Adam Wiltzie: A Winged Victory For The Sullen (Erased Tapes)
5. Meg Baird: Seasons On Earth (Drag City)
6. Baba Ndongo: l'Album Acoustique Pulaar (Awesome African Tapes)
7. Esmerine - La Lechuza (Constellation)
8. Bill Wells - Lemondale (Double Six)
9. Vinicius Cantuaria & Bill Frisell: Lagrimas Mexicanas (Naive)
10.Orchestra Poly-Rythmo: Cotonou Club (Strut)
MARTIN HOLM
1. Julia Holter: Tragedy (Leaving Records)
2. P. J. Harvey: Let England Shake (Island)
3. Peaking Lights: 936 (Not Not Fun)
4. Dustin O'Halloran: Lumiere (130701/Fat Cat)
5. Tiago Sousa: Walden Pond's Mark (Immune)
6. Nâ Hawa Doumbia: La Grande Cantratrice Malienne Vol 3 (Awesome Tapes From Africa)
7. The Boats: The Ballad Of The Eagle (Our Small Ideas)
8. Ghédalia Tazartès: Rapas Froid (Pan)
9. The Hardy Tree: The Fields Lie Sleeping Underneath (Clay Pipe Music)
10. Googoosh: S/T (Finders Keepers)
11. Meg Baird: Seasons On Earth (Drag City)
12. Nils Frahm: Felt (Erased Tapes)
13. Moritz Von Oswald Trio: Horizontal Structures (Honest Jon's)
14. Julianna Barwick: The Magic Place (Asthmatic Kitty)
15. Erik Enocksson: Apan (Release The Bats Records)
16. Ezikiel Honig: Folding In On Itself (Type)
17. Lanterns On The Lake: Gracious tide, Take Me Home (Bella Union)
18. Weyes Blood & The Dark Juices: The Outside Room (Not Not Fun)
19. Atlas Sound: Parallax (4AD)
20. Sleep ∞ Over: Forever (Hippos In Tanks)
IAN MACKINNON
1. Camille: ilo veyou (Virgin France)
2. Nicolas Jaar: Space Is Only Noise (Circus Company)
3. M83: Hurry Up We're Dreaming (Naive)
4. PatrickWolf: Lupercalia (Hideout)
5. Zola Jesus: Conatus (Souterrain Transmissions)
6. Gui Boratto: III (Kompakt)
7. Yonderboi: Passive Control (Mole Listening Pearls)
8. Toshimaru Nakamura: Egrets (Samadhi Sound)
9. Mara Carlyle: Floreat (Ancient & Modern)
10. Akira rabelais: Caduceus
(Samadhi Sound)
VARIOUS ARTISTS 'MUSIC & MIGRATION II' AVAILABLE NOW (14/11/11)
In early 2010, Second Language released a compilation album called Music and Migration which proffered exclusive new songs by an eclectic retinue of left-of-centre artists including Vashti Bunyan, Peter Broderick, Hauschka, Leyland Kirby and Darren Hayman. Themed around issues of avian migration, and the many man-made threats to international ‘flyways’ as highlighted by the wildlife conservation charity BirdLife International’s Born to Travel campaign, the album proved to be both an artistic and public awareness ‘hit’, selling out its limited edition almost immediately but not before the migratory awareness ‘message’ had been widely propagated courtesy of healthy media coverage and supporting concert performances.
True to its name, Music and Migration II is that album’s sequel. Sadly, despite BirdLife’s International’s Herculean efforts, avian migratory routes continue to be threatened by the wilfulness and thoughtlessness of mankind. One particular hotbed of human migratory interference is the Maltese archipelago, located on one of the three main routes used by Europe’s breeding birds in their migrations to and from their African wintering grounds. The islands are particularly important as way stations in the middle of the Mediterranean and the spring and autumnal influxes offer spectacular sights; yet, rather than a haven for birds, Malta is a killing ground which can ‘boast’ the highest density of hunters and trappers in Europe, and probably the world.
Several of Malta’s breeding birds were wiped out by hunting: the Jackdaw in the ’50s, the Barn Owl and Peregrine Falcon in the ‘80s. Illegal hunters now target migratory birds, and an analysis of international ring recoveries reveals that birds of at least 75 species from 35 countries have been killed in Malta. While common birds such as Barn Swallows are often shot down for ‘sport’, rarer birds such as Black Storks are chased by vehicle around the islands and shot down for inclusion in private taxidermy collections — a practice facilitated by a local culture of ‘looking the other way’, an under-resourced police force and a lack of punitive anti-hunter legislation, as generally enforced in the remainder of the EC.
BirdLife Malta has been campaigning against the illegalities for close to 50 years now. There are signs of change: the courts have started issuing more serious sentences and law-abiding hunters and trappers are taking the first tentative steps to exposing law breakers within their ranks. Members of the public are becoming increasingly outspoken, and even active, against the illegal killing.
Music & Migration II aims to help support BirdLife Malta’s campaign against illegal hunting and raise awareness of the issues by once again inviting an international coterie of gifted musicians from across a panorama of styles and genres to contribute new, especially recorded songs. Migratory birds recognise no national boundaries, and nor does Second Language; so, here you’ll find music from Great Britain, Japan, Denmark, France, Germany, Australia and the USA, all of it united (even the instrumental tracks) by a respect and fascination with the avian world and a more than passing acquaintance with the resonances contained in the metaphor ‘free as a bird’.
International support is key to ensuring that the Malta chapter is just one of a volume, and not the final chapter, in the lives of many birds, so please lend your support to this noble cause. Find out more here: www.birdlifemalta.org or www.birdlife.org
'Music & Migration II' comes packaged in a fold-out 496mm x 744mm poster designed by Good Pilot and Jeff Teader. Limited edition of 500 copies.
This is SL014.
MUSIC & MIGRATION II :
1. Rowan and John Aitchison: Passing Through
2. Dollboy: Birds in My Mouth
3. Ellis Island Sound: Snowdon Aviary
4. The Hardy Tree: The Cutty Wren
5. Haruko: We'll Be Birds
6. James Brewster: Dissent En Route
7. Piano Magic: The Way of the Birds
8. The Home Current: Theme from Mizieb
9. Marissa Nadler: Dead Birds in Arkansaw
10. Sophie Hutchings: Between Two Hills
11. July Skies: Birds Fly South for the Winter (II)
12. Chronomad: Bolbol
13. Padang Food Tigers: Honey Stole the Crown
14. F.S. Blumm: Wandervogel
Order the album now from Second Language. ALL PRICES INCLUDE POST AND PACKAGING.
© 2011 Second Language Music
The content of this website, including all text and imagery, is copyrighted by Second Language Music. The use of any material contained herein without permission constitutes copyright infringement. Please ask first!