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Chanctonbury Rings
Out Now

Chanctonbuy Rings is available now on LP , CD, Download and streaming services.
The heavyweight vinyl version comes with a free download card.

“So much of what we love about Ghost Box is encapsulated here, on this supremely evocative piece of psychogeographic storytelling” Electronic Sound

“…induces a kind of sacred tipsiness.” Caught by The River

“If only the children of today and tomorrow could be encouraged to express themselves through movement and dance to Ghost Box number 33. For Chanctonbury Rings encourages magic to occur.” Concrete Islands

A spoken word and music project by writer Justin Hopper and folk musician Sharron Kraus. It also features Ghost Box’s own Belbury Poly. Based on live performances of Hopper’s 2017 book The Old Weird Albion.

The album is a blend of folk, electronic music, poetry, prose and environmental sound. Kraus’s electro-acoustic soundscapes and songs interweave with Hopper’s rich, intimate narration. Belbury Poly provide production touches throughout and book-end the work with a memorable theme tune.

Beautiful design throughout by Julian House with sleeve notes by Justin Hopper.

 

A Midsummer Night’s Update

Preparations are in full swing for The Midsummer Night’s Happening and state51 are working flat out on set dressing and installation. There’s a few exciting additions to the line up too…

Steve Beresford will now be performing on upright piano with the Kirchin Tape Lab. Jonny Trunk and Robin the Fog will be playing out reels created by Basil Kirchin for improvisational performances just like this.

João Branco Kyron of Beautify Junkyards will be coming over from Lisbon to give us one or two Tropicalia flavoured DJ sets in Pan’s Garden.

Barrie Cadogan of Little Barrie (and pretty much everyone else) will be joining Soundcarriers to provide some extra guitar and voice to their improvised set accompanying Julian House’s psychedelic film.

And Jonny Trunk and Wisbey are promising some kind of Wheel-of-Fortune device.

Chanctonbury Rings
Pre-ordering Now

Pre-order now in the Ghost Box Shop, on LP or CD. The heavyweight vinyl version comes with a free download card.

A spoken word and music project by writer Justin Hopper and folk musician Sharron Kraus. It also features Ghost Box’s own Belbury Poly. Based on live performances of Hopper’s 2017 book The Old Weird Albion.

The album is a blend of folk, electronic music, poetry, prose and environmental sound. Kraus’s electro-acoustic soundscapes and songs interweave with Hopper’s rich, intimate narration. Belbury Poly provide production touches throughout and book-end the work with a memorable theme tune.

Beautiful design throughout by Julian House with sleeve notes by Justin Hopper.

The Old Weird Albion is now back in print and available from Penned in the Margins and gradually returning to most good book shops.

A Midsummer Night’s Happening

SOLD OUT

A solstice celebration hosted by state51, Ghost Box and Trunk Records. Both record labels have invited a variety of artists and friends to perform at this very special party. There’ll be live music, artwork, film and merchandise spread across three specially designed and themed interiors: Pan’s Garden, The Youth Club and The TV Chamber.

The Midsummer Night’s Happening is a private party open to a limited number of invited guests and friends. To receive your exclusive invitation, pre-order the limited edition print of Julian House’s event poster from either the Ghost Box or the Trunk Records shops.

The evening will start in with a live performance of Justin Hopper and Sharron Kraus’s  Chanctonbury Rings, accompanied by visuals by photographer Wendy Pye. The evening also marks the release of the album.

Then Wisbey will take the stage, he of Dirty Fanmail fame and, who could forget, The Ladies Bras. He’ll be asking the audience to request their favourite soundtracks, which he’ll perform on the home organ in his own inimitable style.

Another Trunk Records performance follows next, The Kirchin Tape Lab with Jonny Trunk and his OST co-host (and member of radiophonics outfit Howlround), Robin “The Fog” Warren. They’ll be playing out live tape reels from the as yet, unheard archives of Basil Kirchin.

Next is a very rare chance to see the Soundcarriers. They’ll be in instrumental mode to perform a live soundtrack to a film by Ghost Box co-manager and graphic designer Julian House.

Pye Corner Audio will headline the evening with a live set of Martin Jenkin’s unique haunted dance music and submerged sci-fi epics.

There’ll also be…

An exhibition of Frances Castle’s Clay Pipe Music artwork,
DJ sets from Ghost Box, Trunk & Clay Pipe Music throughout the evening and later,
Join The Mangle to screenprint your own Julian House designed Midsummer Night’s Happening T Shirt.
A state51 shop with merchandise and records from all those taking part.

All this and fresh cooked food!

It’s All Happening at The state51 Factory, 8-10 Rhoda St., London, 21st June 2019, 6:30 until late.

Prints and invitations will be sent before the event.

One invitation admits one person, please bring it with you on the night.

For more info and updates follow: facebook.com/thestate51conspiracy

 

Chanctonbury Rings
coming 21st June

 

A new album of poetry, prose, music and song from:
Justin Hopper & Sharron Kraus with Belbury Poly

A spoken word and music project by writer Justin Hopper and folk musician Sharron Kraus. It also features Ghost Box’s own Belbury Poly. Based on live performances of Hopper’s 2017 book The Old Weird Albion , it’s a poetical, autobiographical and psychogeographical account of his experiences at Chanctonbury Ring on the West Sussex Downs.

The album is a blend of folk, electronic music, poetry, prose and environmental sound. Kraus’s electro-acoustic soundscapes and songs interweave with Hopper’s rich, intimate narration. Belbury Poly provide production touches throughout and book-end the work with a memorable theme tune.

On LP, CD & Digital. Pre-orders available in the Ghost Box Shop from 17th May. 

An earlier collaboration from 2014 between Justin Hopper and Belbury Poly,  Ley Line, which featured Shirley Collins among others , is available in its entirety here…

 

Other Voices 10 by Sharron Kraus
Out Now

The final single in our Other Voices series is by Sharron Kraus with a remix by Belbury Poly on the B side.
It’s available now on download or heavyweight 7” vinyl, with sleeve design by Julian House.

Something Out of Nothing is a beautifully simple yet profound baroque pop folk song. Kraus sings, plays guitar and synth and is ably assisted by a studio band comprising:
Jenny Bliss Bennett on Viola de Gamba & Fiddle, Nick Jonah Davis on Slide Guitar, Neal Heppleston on Bass, Oliver Parfitt on Synths, Nancy Wallace on Backing Vocals and Guy Whittaker on Drums.

Sharron will be supporting Beautify Junkyards on…

26th October at Cafe Oto (Baba Yaga’s Hut), London
(now sold out, but a matinee performance has been added)

28th october at Shakespeare’s (Heretics’ Folk Club), Sheffield

Her recent album, Joy’s Reflection is Sorrow is available now on LP from Sunstone Records and on CD from Bandcamp.

 

 

Other Voices 10 by Sharron Kraus
Pre-orders open now

The final single in a series featuring regular Ghost Box artists, special guests and one-off projects. This time our guest artist is folk singer, Sharron Kraus with a remix by Belbury Poly on the B side. Pre-order at the Ghost Box shop now and due for on 21st September on download or heavyweight 7”, with sleeve design by Julian House.

Something Out of Nothing is a beautifully simple yet profound baroque pop folk song. Kraus sings, plays guitar and synth and is ably assisted by a studio band comprising:
Jenny Bliss Bennett on Viola de Gamba & Fiddle, Nick Jonah Davis on Slide Guitar, Neal Heppleston on Bass, Oliver Parfitt on Synths, Nancy Wallace on Backing Vocals and Guy Whittaker on Drums.

Also in the shop we’ve unearthed a tiny handful of some earlier titles in the singles series which are now on sale, most for under a fiver…

New Ways Out, Other Voices 08
and Belbury Poly T-Shirt

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The new album from Belbury Poly, New Ways Out is available today, on LP and Download in all its eerie, daft, glam, faux-folk, motorik, library-ish eerie glory. 

“…the new LP by Jupp’s Belbury Poly succeeds purely as a listening experience. Lighter than most Ghost Box fare, Jupp and a small gang of session musicians explore space-age glam (“Hey Now Here He Comes”), fingerpicked folk (“Water Wheel”) and a sort of English pastoral take on Michael Rother-style Krautrock. The sepia edges and occult undercurrents are mostly absent, but New Ways Out ploughs a satisfying new furrow.” UNCUT

“…transporting you to those especially daft places only BP can – Tizer-fuelled 70s youth club discos with side-rooms for Ouija boards” Electronic Sound

“…there’s an added bounce and groove that makes New Ways Out Belbury Poly’s most immediate and accessible release to date.” Shindig

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The next in our Other Voices series of singles is available to pre-order today. This time it’s two beautiful songs from Portuguese group Beautify Junkyards. It’s released on 10th June and follows on from their remarkable album of last year The Beast Shouted Love. 




If you place a pre-order for this in our shop alongside something else, the good people at Greedbag will dispatch the available items now and the single when its released.

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Also today to, coincide with the release of New Ways Out  there’s a new Belbury Poly T-shirt. It’s a pale pink  screen print on a black premium soft cotton T shirt.

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With thanks to DJ Food for album pack shots.

New Ways Out by The Belbury Poly
pre-ordering now

Due on 27th May and available to pre-order in the Ghost Box shop now. The new album from Belbury Poly melds krautrock, glam, faux folk and ancient TV soundtracks across eleven joyous, slightly camp and oddly unsettling instrumentals. Moving away somewhat from the haunted electronics and occult signifiers of his earlier albums, Jim Jupp convenes his floating ensemble of session musicians to continue the exploration and illustration of their parallel world landscape. Including a guest appearance from The Advisory Circle’s Jon Brooks on piano on The Green Scene.

…transporting you to those especially daft places only BP can – Tizer-fuelled 70s youth club discos with side-rooms for Ouija boards
Carl Griffin,
Electronic Sound


Pre-order now for 27th May.  CD and LP packaging designed by Julian House with additional artwork by Jim Jupp. The 180gm LP includes a free download card.