Orcadia. Chapter One - Megalithic Tapes & Neolithic Soundscapes

by Rural District Lo-Fi Recording Project

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1.	Catching Oysters On Skail Beach 00:37	buy track
2.	Skara Brae 05:29	buy track
3.	Wideford Hill Chamber Cairn 02:51	buy track
4.	Salt Knowe 03:04	buy track
5.	The Ring Of Brodgar 02:23	buy track
6.	The Comet Stone 02:28	buy track
7.	Barnhouse Village 03:16	buy track
8.	Roasting Chilblains Over An Open Fire 01:31	buy track

about

Orcadia

Chapter One. Megalithic Tapes and Neolithic Soundscapes

Armed with an OS map, Julian Cope’s legendary “The Modern Antiquarian,” Andy Burnham’s (The Megalithic Portal) essential “The Old Stones” and Janet and Colin Bord’s “A Guide To Ancient Sites In Britain” (maybe not quite as useful a field guide, but I've had the book so long and felt it deserved a special place on the adventure) a bobble hat and, most importantly, for this Bandcamp forward, my microphone.

We leapt into the Fiat 500 and travelled from Sussex-by-the-sea the length of the UK to the Scottish port of Scrabster. A short and decidedly choppy ferry crossing later we landed in the Mecca of Megalithic Britain, The Orkney Islands.

Our short stay, in early October, was confined to the main Island, exploring World Heritage sites, amazing Cairns, mysterious earth works, ancient dwellings, enormous standings stones, monstrous stone circles, stunning Lochs, epic cliffs, beautiful windswept beaches and endless awe-inspiring views, where I proceeded to annoy anyone around me by insisting on setting up my microphone and making field recordings.

This is the first instalment, chapter one, made chiefly from various field recordings, which have been looped, cut to pieces, kneaded, distorted, steered and orchestrated or left exactly as they were recorded. There are electronic sounds, drums, bleeps and beeps, swirls and swishes all played badly on my old Behringer UMX25 and a few samples deformed and distorted from old vinyl records. Amelie and Ava told their own version of the folk story about the Orcadian Giants and The Ring of Brodgar. All the tracks were made on an older version of Ableton. Hopefully they capture some of the wyrd mystical energies of the various ancient locations.

All photographs are my own

Salt Knowe contains a sample from Music of the Himalayas, on Argo, 1967

Ring Of Brodgar contains a sample from The Medieval Sound, David Munrow, on Oryx, 1970

Barnhouse Village contains a sample from Folk Music Of India on Lyrichord, unknown year

Orkney is a magical place of myths, legends and extraordinary beauty. The Orcadians and their constant irresistible “welcome stranger” attitude are as charming, as their island is bewitching. We hope to return to the main island and for an Island hop and more Neolithic sites sometime in the not-too-distant future.

For anyone interested in Orkney's astonishing Neolithic sites, or thousands of other megalithic and neolithic locations www.megalithic.co.uk

It is a fantastic, informative site to get your adventure started.

The Arch Druide, Julian Cope, has a couple of sites headheritage.co.uk & www.themodernantiquarian.com/home/

If you live in the UK or France or Ireland, the list is nearly endless in Europe, there will be something Megalithic near you.

Happy Hunting

Megalithic Tapes and Neolithic Soundscapes is best listened to on a pair of decent headphones

The kindest of regards David Soulscorch

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released February 21, 2024

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Rural District Lo-Fi Recording Project Mid Sussex District, UK

David Soulscorch's Rural District Lo-Fi Recording Project.
DIY, Lo-Fi sounds of Sussex's chalk downlands and clay flatlands. The lanes, bridleways, paths villages, hamlets, woods, fields and hedgerows. Attempting to capture the well being and mindfulness of the countryside, nature and the magic of psychogeograpy ... more

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