File under: Artifacts / Preserved For Posterity
Well, here’s a nice thing…
There are physical copies of all the A Year In The Country audiological artifacts now present and correct at The British Library’s Sound Archive.
(You see that modernist building? Well, if you look really closely you may just be able to see a Night, Dawn etc Edition or two peaking out…)
If you should not know, The British Library is a nationally owned building/institution in the centre of London (next door to St Pancras railway station to be precise), that is visitable by the public, wherein can be found copies of all books and periodicals published in the UK.
(For those times when you just can’t find anything to read / Tomorrow’s World looks at the latest in home storage systems.)
Alongside that, they also selectively archive music, field recordings, film etc, which is where the A Year In The Country artifacts come in…
Over the years they have amassed a couple or more records etc or to quote the British Library:
“Over 1 million discs, 185,000 tapes, and many other sound and video recordings.”
A crate diggers delight indeed.
At the time of writing there are over 625 kilometres of shelves in the British Library and that’s apparently growing by 12 kilometres each year (that would be 388 / 7.5 miles in old money then).
Blimey.
(Rumours of DJ Shadow trying to “accidentally” get locked in here over night have been widely exagerated.)
There’s a lovely video of the sound archive by Wire magazine, where Nathan Budzinski interviews Popular Music Curator Andy Linehan, Audio Engineer/Conservation specialist Will Prentice, and Wildlife Sounds Curator Cheryl Tipp. Visit that here.
(As an aside, the Wire footage of the sound archive shelves makes me think of the classic Twilight Zone episode where a chap who loves just being left to read find himself all alone amongst the bounties of a library in a post-apocalyptic world – well, it reminds me of that until the twist at the end of the episode.)
You can search the Sound And Moving Image Catalogue here.
If you should find yourself around central London, you can visit the Sound Archive in person and listen to items; details here. The British Library’s main home in the ether is here, the Sound Archive here.
If it should be of interest to you, below is a list of all the A Year In The Country released items and editions in the archive:
Immersion by Grey Frequency: Audiological Case Study #1 (Dawn Edition)
Black-Veined White by Hand of Stabs: Audiological Case Study #2 (Dawn Edition)
Nine Of Swords by Michael Tanner: Audiological Case Study #3 (Dusk Edition)
Burn The Witch / Molly Leigh Of The Mother Town by She Rocola: Audiological Case Study #5 (Owl Light Edition)
Torridon Gate by Howlround: Audiological Case Study #6 (Dusk Edition)
Twalif X by Racker&Orphan: Audiological Case Study #7 (Day Edition)
In Every Mind by A Year In The Country: Transmission Resonances: Volume 1 (Dawn Edition)
Airwaves: Songs From The Sentinels by A Year In The Country: Audiological Transmission Artifact #1 (Dawn Edition)
Airwaves: Songs From The Sentinels by A Year In The Country: Audiological Transmission Artifact #1(Midnight Archaic Encasements Edition)
The Quietened Village: Audiological Transmissions Artifact #2 (Night Edition)
Audiological explorations by Howlround, Time Attendant, The Straw Bear Band, Polypores, Rowan Amber Mill, Cosmic Neigbourhood, The Soulless Party, A Year In The Country, Sproatly Smith and David Colohan.
The Quietened Village: Audiological Transmissions Artifact #2 (Duskfall Edition)
Fractures: Audiological Transmissions Artifact #3 (Night Edition)
Audiological explorations by Circle/Temple, Sproatly Smith, Keith Seatman, Polypores, The Listening Center, The British Space Group, The Hare And The Moon ft Alaska/Michael Begg, Time Attendant, The Rowan Amber Mill, A Year In The Country and David Colohan.
The Quietened Bunker: Audiological Transmissions Artifact #4 / ATA004N (Night Edition) Audiological explorations by Keith Seatman, Grey Frequency, A Year In The Country, Panabrite, Polypores, Listening Center, Time Attendant, Unknown Heretic and David Colohan.
No More Unto The Dance by A Year In The Country: Audiological Transmissions Artifact #5 / ATA005D (Dawn Edition)
The Forest / The Wald: Audiological Transmissions Artifact #6 / ATA006D (Dawn Edition)
Audiological explorations by Bare Bones, Magpahi, Polypores, Time Attendant, David Colohan, Sproatly Smith, The Hare And The Moon ft Alaska, The Rowan Amber Mill, The Séance with Lutine, Cosmic Neighbourhood and A Year In The Country.
Phew…
A tip of the hat to James Tugwell of the British Library. Much appreciated.
