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Sunday 16 August 2020

A New World


Today I offer you some music from the outskirts, from the fringes of the internet, musicians toiling away in bedrooms, backrooms and home studios. First up from Leicester- a city that hasn't been allowed out of lockdown yet- come The Smoke Test. Ambient, retro- futuristic, instrumentals music. Colours comes over like a 1970s Open University theme tune, starting at midnight on BBC 2 and running into the small hours....



The New World opens with long chords and sci- fi ambience but is soon joined by an electric guitar.



Clouds3 is a journey into inner space.



In Devon, land of coastal cliffs, overcrowded beaches and the English Riviera, Ray Parkes is creating guitar led instrumentals, in a similar field to Mark Peters and his 2017 Innerland album or some of Vini Reilly's guitar playing. Medina is melodic and inventive, growly in places, some tension underneath the surface.



Saints plays a pair of guitars off against each other, some Spanish sounding finger picking and washes of chords from a keyboard.





1 comment:

Nick L said...

The Smoke Test remind me of the type of thing you'd hear on "Programmes For Schools and Colleges" in the 70's as a kid. Memories of a teacher getting you to wait quietly until the programme started. That's how technical school got back then...