Uncanny Landscapes

Laura Cannell is a musician based in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. Her work combines experimental, folk, early and medieval music, as well as a number of unique and rare techniques. Her website is https://lauracannell.com/ where you can find out about recordings and gigs, or you can visit her Brawl Records bandcamp site to check out music and buy recordings. The music in this episode is from Laura's recent 'Lore' series, available through the bandcamp site.   Host Justin Hopper has an Uncanny Landscapes substack. The Substack is free, and includes the podcast + more. JH can be found via LinkTree or on Instagram.   Title sounds by The Belbury Poly, courtesy Ghost Box Records.   The Uncanny Landscapes icon is by Stefan Musgrove.

An interview by Justin Hopper with Jez riley French.   Jez riley French is a sound artist and field recordist, who also makes photographs and builds microphones, from Hull, England.   His website is https://jezrileyfrench.co.uk/ where you can find out about activities including the upcoming Murmuration retreat in Scotland (highly recommended), many of his recordings, projects and lectures, or check out his unique microphones for sale.   The recordings on this episode are from Jez's album Returning | Reeds made with Pheobe riley Law, available from the Engraved Glass bandcamp page.   Host Justin Hopper has an Uncanny Landscapes substack. The Substack is free, and includes the podcast + more. JH can be found via LinkTree or on Instagram.   Title sounds by The Belbury Poly, courtesy Ghost Box Records.   The Uncanny Landscapes icon is by Stefan Musgrove.

An interview by Justin Hopper with James Canton. James Canton is a writer and educator; the author of books including Ancient Wonderings, The Oak Papers, and Grounded: A Journey into the Landscapes of our Ancestors. His website is https://jamescanton.co.uk/ He is also active on Instagram. The music in this episode is Leaves Rustle and the Wind in my Hair by Pefkin, from the album Observations on Land and Sea, available from Pefkin's bandcamp page. Host Justin Hopper has an Uncanny Landscapes substack - which includes a new essay this time 'round, from Camilla Nelson, about her current work (which you can also find out about here). The Substack is free, and includes the podcast + more. JH can be found via LinkTree or on Instagram.   Title sounds by The Belbury Poly, courtesy Ghost Box Records.   The Uncanny Landscapes icon is by Stefan Musgrove.

An interview by Justin Hopper with Cheryl E. Leonard. Cheryl E. Leonard is a musician, sound artist and composer who lives in Northern California and works there - or in Antarctice, or Scotland, or Scandinavia... Her practice of making compositions 'of' and 'with' place combines field recordings with music made from original instruments built from natural objects. Her website is https://allwaysnorth.com/ and she's also on Instagram. Her album Antarctica: Music from the Ice is available from Bandcamp: https://othermindsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/antarctica-music-from-the-ice A new release just out is Littoral: https://ruralsituationism.bandcamp.com/album/littoral Host Justin Hopper has an Uncanny Landscapes substack - it's free, and includes the podcast + more. JH can be found via LinkTree or on Instagram.   Title sounds by The Belbury Poly, courtesy Ghost Box Records.   The Uncanny Landscapes icon is by Stefan Musgrove.

For this special episode, I walked on the South Downs with Jim Jupp of Belbury Poly and Ghost Box Records, discussing the latest BP album The Path. Good friend of the podcast Jim Jupp recently released a new album under his Belbury Poly name, and through Ghost Box, the record label he co-founded with artist/designer Julian House. Rather than a solo piece, however, this one involves a 'band' setting augmenting his synths and obsessions with library-music inspired claustrophobic soundtrack-funk, plus my own contribution as narrator, telling a vague tale of a walker descending into madness on the uncanny paths of England. We walked and talked at the end of the summer, and here 'tis... Check out Belbury Poly's The Path through all the normal record-shopping and streaming spots, and Ghost Box Records' own shoppe. The music is, obviously, also from that album. BP did the Uncanny Landscapes title theme, too... Host Justin Hopper has an Uncanny Landscapes substack - it's free, and includes the podcast + more. JH can be found via LinkTree or on Instagram. The Uncanny Landscapes icon is by Stefan Musgrove. Coming up very soon: new episodes featuring landscape artist and composer Cheryl E. Leonard and writer James Canton, and more! [[Caveat: there were technical issues with this episode; I think I've solved most of them, but apologies for weird stuff that may haunt the ep!]]

An interview by Justin Hopper with artist Kirsty Badenoch and writer Tom Jeffreys. Kirsty and Tom have an exhibition 9-12 November at Staffordshire Street Gallery in Peckham, London, UK, featuring new work made in the remaining patches of boreal forest in northern Scotland. For information on the exhibition, visit Staffordshire St's website.  Kirsty Badenoch and Tom Jeffreys each have a site, too, which will help you find out more about the artists book that accompanies the exhibition. The music in this episode is the track Unnamed Unseen from Memory Islands, a highly recommended new album by violinist Ellie Wilson. Host Justin Hopper has an Uncanny Landscapes substack - it's free, and includes the podcast + more. JH can be found via LinkTree or on Instagram. Title sounds by The Belbury Poly, courtesy Ghost Box Records.   The Uncanny Landscapes icon is by Stefan Musgrove.

An interview by Justin Hopper with Frances Castle of Clay Pipe Music. Frances Castle is a London-based artist, illustrator and musician who operates Clay Pipe Music, a record label producing beautiful landscape-inspired LPs and CDs of music combining folk, electronica and hauntological themes. Clay Pipe's website is http://www.claypipemusic.co.uk/ Frances's own site is https://www.francescastle.com/ This episode includes partial and full tracks from a number of Clay Pipe artists including Frances's own The Hardy Tree. They are all available here from Clay Pipe's Greedbag page. In order of appearance: A Confluence by Andrew Wasylyk Walter R Stokes by The Hardy Tree Saxon Chapel by Tyneham House Broken Circle by Zyggurat Adlestrop by Gilroy Mere Sun Caught Cloud like the Belly of a Cat by Andrew Wasylyk The Spire of St Mary's by The Hardy tree Face in the Window, Seaforth Crescent by The Hardy Tree Stagdale in the Snow by The Hardy Tree Holloways by Vic Mars   Host Justin Hopper has an Uncanny Landscapes substack - it's free, and includes the podcast + more. JH can be found via LinkTree or on Instagram.   Title sounds by The Belbury Poly, courtesy Ghost Box Records.   The Uncanny Landscapes icon is by Stefan Musgrove.

An interview by Justin Hopper with Lally MacBeth and Matthew Shaw, founders of Stone Club. Stone Club is an online and in-person affiliation of people in love with ancient landscapes, founded two years ago by artists MacBeth and Shaw. They'll talk about the background on 'why stone club', the importance of mystical landscape and the work influenced and inspired by the places they inhabit. Stone Club's website is stoneclub.rocks where you can find out about membership, events and ways to join in. The music in this episode is by Stone Club's Matthew Shaw, who has his own website. Lally MacBeth also operates the Folk Archive, and other projects, available at this site o'er here. Host Justin Hopper has an Uncanny Landscapes substack - it's free, and includes the podcast + more. JH can be found via LinkTree or on Instagram; there is an Uncanny Landscapes twitter feed.   Title sounds by The Belbury Poly, courtesy Ghost Box Records.   The Uncanny Landscapes icon is by Stefan Musgrove.

An interview by Justin Hopper with artist and writer Camilla Nelson. Camilla Nelson is an artist whose work explores the materiality of language, particularly in regards to the other-than-human. Her workshop BECOMING begins soon and is an exploration of ways to engage with fungus, birds, animals, plants and more through language and art. She'll discuss this online workshop as well as her own work as an artist, writer, performer and educator. For more on her work and courses, Camilla's Singing Apple Press has a website. The music in this episode is by Kyron from the album Dreaming Eden, available on LP or as a Download. Dan Fox's substack is here. Host Justin Hopper has an Uncanny Landscapes substack - it's free, and includes the podcast + more. JH can be found via LinkTree or on Instagram; there is an Uncanny Landscapes twitter feed.   Title sounds by The Belbury Poly, courtesy Ghost Box Records.   The Uncanny Landscapes icon is by Stefan Musgrove.

An interview by Justin Hopper with artist and musician Jem Finer. Jem Finer is an artist and musician whose work spans the musical gamut from co-founding The Pogues to creating Longplayer, a 1,000-year-long composition that has been performing itself, so far, for 23 years. On Mayday, Finer and co-conspirator Jimmy Cauty (of the KLF) release the first record as Local Psycho - a hurdy-gurdy led acid-barn-dance band - and will infuse a newly erected standing stone with its sounds. Jem talks about Local Psycho and Longplayer, as well as other projects of his, archaeo-astronomy and 'psychocosmology', and more. Jem's got a website, as does Local Psycho and their label, Heavenly Recordings. The music in this episode is also by Jem, from his album Hrdy-Grdy on Thanet Tape Centre.   Caught by the River's event on 29 April includes the new Hurdy-Gurdy standing stone. Separately, Jem is playing Norwich on 5 May.   Host Justin Hopper has an Uncanny Landscapes substack - it's free, and has the first post of the podcast + more. JH can be found via LinkTree or on Instagram; there is an Uncanny Landscapes twitter feed.   Title sounds by The Belbury Poly, courtesy Ghost Box Records.   The Uncanny Landscapes icon is by Stefan Musgrove.

An interview by Justin Hopper with artist and roboticist Ian Ingram. Ian Ingram is an artist and roboticist based in California. His practice is concerned with building robots - kinetic sculptures - that attempt to communicate with animals in their own languages.   So, for example, you'll hear him discuss a 'lizard' robot that does push-ups the way some lizards do, to mark territory - yet through a robot inspired by Brancusi. Or a 'squirrel' robot that uses its tails to signal danger to its wanna-be species.   Besides his website, Ian has a TIkTok with loads of videos, and Instagram, too. It's well worth looking at these to see the robots while you listen.   The music in this episode is by the great guitarist Nick Jonah Davis, from his album When the Sun Came - appropriately spring-like and acoustic for Ian's playful, joyful robots.   Host Justin Hopper has an Uncanny Landscapes substack - it's free, and has the first post of the podcast + more. JH can be found via LinkTree or on Instagram; there is an Uncanny Landscapes twitter feed.   Title sounds by The Belbury Poly, courtesy Ghost Box Records.   The Uncanny Landscapes icon is by Stefan Musgrove.

Uncanny Landscapes #12 -Michael Pawlyn   An interview by Justin Hopper with architect, writer and systems thinker Michael Pawlyn.   Michael Pawlyn is a pioneer in the field of biomimicry - drawing inspiration from mechanisms found in the nonhuman world to inspire architecture and design - and a leading name in regenerative thinking. Michael was one of the key figures in designing the Eden Project, and the Sahara Forest Project and he's co-founder of Architects Declare a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency. He operates his own practice, Exploration Architecture.   His latest book, Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency, is available here.   Flourish's co-author is Sarah Ichioka - she has her own site, as well as one for her practice, Desire Lines.   I encountered Michael and his work at Flipside Festival 2021: Searching for Albion - a festival of the literature of place held annually in rural Suffolk. Join the Flipside mailing list here.   The music is by Woodchester Piano Company, from the album Persevera, available from their bandcamp page.   Special thanks to Gareth Evans.   Host Justin Hopper can be found via Twitter and Link Tree. There is also an Uncanny Landscapes twitter account.   Title sounds by The Belbury Poly courtesy Ghost Box Records   Icons by Stefan Musgrove

Uncanny Landscapes #11 - Richard Skelton   An interview by Justin Hopper with writer, artist and musician Richard Skelton.    Richard Skelton is a writer, artist and musician whose work explores the human relationship to landscape; along with the poet Autumn Richardson, he is co-founder of Corbel Stone Press, a preeminent venue for contemporary and historical writing about place and nature from around the world.   Links:   Corbel Stone Press's website and the bandcamp site for their Aeolian music imprint are the places to start exploring Richard and Autumn's work. This includes Richard's latest book, Stranger in the Mask of a Deer, the album Four Workings and their journal, Reliquiae, which are featured in this interview, as well as just-released new publications, recordings and artworks.   Host Justin Hopper can be found via Twitter and Link Tree.   Title sounds by The Belbury Poly courtesy Ghost Box Records   Icons by Stefan Musgrove / Firebrand Creative

An interview by Justin Hopper with writer, academic and psychogeographer Sonia Overall.   Sonia Overall is a writer, academic and avid psychogeographer based in southeast England. She is the founder of Women Who Walk, a network for creatives and academics, as well as the creator of many walking-based projects including Distance Drift, a lockdown-inspired weekly psychogeographic prompt. Her recent book Heavy Time follows a 'pilgrimage' walk through the east of England, exploring the idea of 'thin places' and walking with intent. She speaks to us about psychogeography, hauntings, the dissolving lines between her field and 'new nature writing', women in psychogeography and more.   Links: Sonia has a website here. Her latest book Heavy Time is available from Penned in the Margins, and her Twitter account is the source for Distance Drift on many Sundays. Women Who Walk also has a dedicated site.   The music in this episode is by Oddfellow's Casino, the recording project of writer and producer Dr. David Bramwell, and includes work from both the instrumental and with-words versions of their album, The Cult of Water. It's available from the Oddfellow's Casino Bandcamp page. Used by permission of the artists, with great thanks.   Host Justin Hopper is on twitter, and has a Link Tree.   Title sounds by The Belbury Poly courtesy Ghost Box Records   Icons by Stefan Musgrove / Firebrand Creative

Uncanny Landscapes #8 - Gary Budden   An interview by Justin Hopper with writer Gary Budden   Gary Budden is a Kent-born, London-based, writer of weird fiction and also-weird non-fiction. His latest collection of short stories, London Incognita, explores the realities of a fractured capital through tales of the otherwise. His non-fiction collaborations with the artist Maxim Griffin explore his uncanny home on the Kentish shoreline. He speaks with us about Landscape Punk, underground music, birdwatching, Arthur Machen and more.   Links: Gary has a website here; his latest book is available from Dead Ink Books, and his collaborative works are available from the author.   The music is by Swedish band Seeds in Barren Fields, from their project, Sånger som rämnar - available via their Bandcamp. Used by permission of the artists, and with great thanks.   Host Justin Hopper is on twitter, and has a Link Tree.   Title sounds by The Belbury Poly courtesy Ghost Box Records   Icons by Stefan Musgrove / Firebrand Creative

Uncanny Landscapes #8 - Rich Pell, the Center for PostNatural History   An interview by Justin Hopper with artist Rich Pell of the Center for PostNatural History.    Rich Pell is an artist and art professor based in Pittsburgh who founded and operates the Center for PostNatural History - a permanent museum dedicated to the cultural influence on evolution.   Links: The Center has a website, and is also on Twitter. The film Pell made with filmmaker Penny Lane, about the history of Sea Monkeys, is available from her website. And Ian Nagoski's record label, Canary Records, has a Bandcamp including archival birdsong material.   The music was (Wo)MenHir, from Building the Goddess Temple, and The Orbenfolk, from Suppertime Seance, by Orbury Common - available from their Bandcamp.    You can support this podcast by purchasing the books we mention from the Uncanny Landscapes Bookshop mini-shop.    Host Justin Hopper is on twitter, and has a Link Tree.   Title sounds by The Belbury Poly courtesy Ghost Box Records   Icons by Stefan Musgrove / Firebrand Creative

[NOTE to subscribers: Due to a technical glitch this episode was briefly removed, edited, and is now uploaded a second time - which is why you may have two notifications, etc.] Uncanny Landscapes #7 - Kate Davis   An interview by Justin Hopper with poet Kate Davis.    Kate Davis is a poet, performer, artist, swimmer, taxidermist and more based in the Furness peninsula of northwestern England. Her book The Girl Who Forgets How To Walk (Penned in the Margins) examines a lifelong relationship to that landscape as affected by childhood polio.    Links: Kate Davis is on Twitter; her book is available from Penned in the Margins. The film of The Girl Who Forgets How To Walk, made with Julia Parks, is available online via the Zebra Poetry Film Festival from 13-22 November, and afterwards via Julia Parks’ website. The music was Undertow by Richard Skelton, on the album The Complete Landings, available from Bandcamp. You can support this podcast and its interviewees by purchasing Kate’s book and many others mentioned from the Uncanny Landscapes Bookshop mini-shop. Host Justin Hopper is on twitter, and has a Link Tree here. Title sounds by The Belbury Poly courtesy Ghost Box RecordsIcons by Stefan Musgrove / Firebrand Creative

Uncanny Landscapes #6 - Gareth E. Rees   An interview by Justin Hopper with writer Gareth E. Rees.    Gareth Rees is an author whose books explore modern myths and folklore of place. He has previously published 2013’s Marshland, about Hackney, and 2018’s The Stone Tide, before becoming nationally known for 2019’s Car Park Life. His new book is Unofficial Britain, about the 'first shoots of future folklore emerging from an urban Britain that ... remains very strange indeed'.   Links: Gareth Rees runs the Unofficial Britain website, and can be found on Twitter many days.    Music included ‘Save My Soul’ by Rees’ band The Dirty Contacts, and Church of Ferles by musician, writer and artist Matthew Shaw - available from his Bandcamp. All music courtesy the artists.   Host Justin Hopper has a website, too; twitter, even.   Title sounds by The Belbury Poly courtesy Ghost Box Records   Icons by Stefan Musgrave / Firebrand Creative

Uncanny Landscapes #5 - The Belbury Poly   An interview by Justin Hopper with musician and record-label head Jim Jupp.    Jim Jupp records music as The Belbury Poly, and releases his own music as well as that of many others via the Ghost Box Records label he operates with designer Julian House. His latest record, The Gone Away, is a concept album based on fairy lore and touching on ideas of ephemerality and memory in landscape and life.    Links: The Ghost Box website and twitter feed provide info on Jupp and the label.    Host Justin Hopper has a website, too; twitter, even.   Music and title sounds all by The Belbury Poly courtesy Ghost Box Records   Icons by Stefan Musgrave / Firebrand Creative

Uncanny Landscapes #4 - Stein Farstadvoll   An interview by Justin Hopper with archaeologist Stein Farstadvoll.    Stein Farstadvoll is an archaeologist of the contemporary world working in arctic Norway and based at the University of Tromso. His work images vestigial and out-of-place objects that contribute to uncanny places: from an abandoned landscape garden to the military ruins of the area’s World War 2 German fortifications.    Links: Stein’s instagram and twitter feeds are full of images and information.   You can read about the Boxgrove, West Sussex, horse butchery archaeological site on the BBC News site, here.   Host Justin Hopper has a website, too; twitter, even.   The music is Behind the Spiderweb Gate by Alison Cotton, from her new album Only Darkness Now, available from bandcamp.   Title sounds by The Belbury Poly courtesy Ghost Box Records   Icons by Stefan Musgrave / Firebrand Creative

An interview by Justin Hopper with photographer Roei Greenberg   Roei Greenberg is an London-based Israeli artist whose photographs explore borders and boundaries, whether they are the ‘hot’ political borders of his home on the Israel-Lebanon border, or the subtle, implicit boundaries of the English picturesque. We spoke about his projects English Encounters and Along the Break; about contested landscapes; and about the ghosts that haunt our places, fighting for the chance to be seen.    Links:   Roei Greenberg’s website - and, in particular, the projects English Encounters and Along the Break His photographs ‘Grazing Area, the Ruins of the Arab Village of Kedes’, ‘Syrian Tank’ and 'Hinterland' are discussed in detail. His RCA thesis exhibition is available online until 31 July.    (Host Justin Hopper has a website, too; twitter, even.)   Music by Russell McAlpine Title sounds by The Belbury Poly courtesy Ghost Box Records Icons by Stefan Musgrave / Firebrand Creative

An interview by Justin Hopper with writer and artist JR Carpenter. We spoke about her project This Is a Picture of Wind - a digital exploration of wind and language, now in book form from Longbarrow Press; about weather, climate change and imperialism; about mapping invisible systems, and about Vahni Capildeo's poetic response to Picture of Wind. Links: JR Carpenter's This Is a Picture of Wind (digital version) This is a Picture of Wind from Longbarrow Press JR's website (Host Justin Hopper has a website, too; twitter, even.) Music by Chris Cannon Title sounds by The Belbury Poly courtesy Ghost Box Records Icons by Stefan Musgrove / Firebrand Creative

An interview by Justin Hopper with author and artist Angus Carlyle. We spoke about his books of let’s-call-them-air-quotes-Nature-Writing that both reflect his lifelong love of the genre and some of the conflicts at its heart. About running through the downs at night. About nature writing and indices, and mental health, and hangovers, and about the dadaist bureaucracy through which he approaches the natural world. There are a few technical glitches in these recordings. Please take these as they are - cracks, through which the light gets in. Links:Angus Carlyle's Night Blooms from Makina Books Angus's website and his Twitter and, why not?, his Instagram (Host Justin Hopper has a website, too) Music by Teleplasmiste Title sounds by The Belbury Poly courtesy Ghost Box Records Icons by Stefan Musgrove / Firebrand Creative