John Baker

John Baker, who died 28 years ago today at the far too young an age of 59, was a musician and composer most readily known for his 11 year stint (1963 - 1974) at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.  His work, with it's combination of traditional instrumentation with more unusual musique concrète techniques and sound sources -twanged rulers, pouring liquid, etc - is amongst the most easily identifiable of all the Workshop composers as, with Baker's jazz sensibilities never far from the surface, his compositions are often significantly lighter, catchier and more playful than those of his colleagues.

After leaving the Workshop in 1974 Baker never composed again and lived quietly until his death from liver cancer in 1998 which makes the body of work made in those 11 short years all the more remarkable. 

The album below - along with Volume 2 which featured his soundtrack, library and advertising work - was released by Trunk Records in July and August of 2008 having been compiled by Alan Gubby of the great Revbjelde, head honcho of Buried Treasure where he released another album of Baker's music, 'The Vendetta Tapes' which I heartily recommend tracking down.

For those that would like to learn more about this fascinating composer the release page for the two Trunk albums features a lovely little biography written by Baker's brother, Richard that shines an illuminating light on the man behind and beyond the music.

..........................................................................................

If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain

Affiliate links are provided for your convenience and to help mitigate running costs.

Zyklus - Gumbo Gulag

Zyklus is one of a number of nom de plumes adopted by Buried Treasure's head honcho Alan Gubby perhaps better known to Wyrd Britain readers as the person behind one of our favourites, Revbjelde.

This newest release is a lockdown compilation of some of Alan's older recordings, a collection of various tunes and tinkerings from the early 1980s through to the early 2000s.  The music here is considerably more synth led (dominated) than his more recent projects with a more overtly industrial vibe of the Cabaret Voltaire, early Coil and the harder edged synth pop varieties rather than the Throbbing Gristle soundscapes or Einsturzende Neubauten scrap iron clattery.  Equally I picked up a library music vibe and at various points of listening I could imagine this gracing the soundtrack of a dystopian early 90s cyberpunk movie and at others you can hear the influence of Alan's beloved BBC Radiophonic Workshop as the music offers a hazy glimpse of a futuristic technopolis of neon signs and milk bars.

I've a fair bit of Alan's music in my collection both from his Buried Treasure label and his previous Nanny Tango label and this one came as a real - and very pleasant - surprise.  My listening tastes are pretty eclectic now but I grew up listening to grindcore, anarcho punk and industrial so a darker edge is always welcome and it's definitely here. With the exception of Coil, who are never far from my CD player, I haven't really taken a stroll down these particular streets for a good long while and it was great fun to do so.



..........................................................................................

If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain

Buried Treasure - Rare Psych, Moogs & Brass - Remixed

Over the past few years Wyrd Britain's good friend Alan Gubby has been responsible for unearthing and releasing some stunning artefacts from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop archives both in conjunction with Jonny Trunk over at Trunk Records (Alan was instrumental in their two John Baker releases and the more recent Delia Derbyshire 'Circle of Light') and on his own Buried Treasure label where he's released another John Baker collection - the astonishing 'Vendetta Tapes' - and various other neglected gems such as electronic music pioneer Alan Sutcliffe's EMS Synthi explorations.

One of the first things we bought from Buried Treasure was another of their archive digs of electronic music of a slightly different form in the shape of 'Rare Psych, Moogs & Brass' a collection of undeniably funky and downright groovy 'big band grooves, moog synths, psychedelic funk, dub disco & more produced between 1969 & 1981' collected from the Sonoton Music Library.  We're suckers for library music here at Wyrd Britain and this collection of rarities became a fast favourite.

Now we are very pleased to tell you that Buried Treasure has released a companion volume to that album of remixes featuring tunes by the amazing folktronic ensemble Revbjelde, Jung Collective, Zyklus, Monoslapper, Buff Plaza & the frankly gloriously named Jazz Spanky (most - if not all - of which involve Alan in some form or other).  Just like it's parent volume this set is a toe tapping, bum wiggling, head noodling assemblage of tumescent delights that twist and turn the originals into various flavoured cocktails of sleazy, loungey, dancey, acidy, groovy, psychy gold.

If that's got your tastebuds tingling then hit the player below to have a listen or click through to the bandcamp page where you can download the remixes for a paltry £3 or the original CD with the remixes download thrown in for the bargain price of £8 - be quick though at the time of writing there were only 6 left.



..........................................................................................

If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain

Wyrd Britain Mix 10: Alan Gubby guest mix - Buried Treasures Albion

I'm very pleased to be able to bring to you the next in our series of guest mixes with this frankly stunning set of the Wyrdest of British musical delights compiled by Alan Gubby.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Alan he is a musician, with the band Revbjelde, and head honcho of the really very wonderful Buried Treasure label which over the last few years has released a string of fabulous records both new and old.  Indeed, if memory serves, last years Wyrd Britain's 'Best of 2015' list featured 3 of their releases and the 'Best of 2016' one already has one of theirs on it, the phenomenal 'A Thousand Strands' album by The Dandelion Set.

Alan is also a Radiophonic Workshop fanatic and so far has been responsible for the three compilations of Workshopper John Baker's music - the two volumes of the 'John Baker Tapes' on Trunk Records and 'The Vendetta Tapes' on Buried Treasure - all of which are utterly essential purchases for any fan of the BBCRW.

To give you some idea of just how diverse Alan's label is the most recent release is of a warehouse find of original copies of Konstantin Raudive's 7" of his experiments with communicating with the dead via 'electronic voice phenomena' - 'Breakthrough' - which older readers may remember was also issued as a flexidisc with copies of 'The Unexplained' and a sample of which can be heard in the mix.

So without further waffling on my part I invite you to sit back with a glass of something tasty and enjoy this wonderful and eclectic mix.