Extinctions - X-Ray Audio feature in BBC's The Echo Chamber

The Echo Chamber is a beautiful, evocative BBC Radio Four program made by producer Tim Dee and presenter Paul Farley.  Each episode features poetry and music around a particular theme.  The first episode of the new series is 'Extinctions' and features sounds from the X-Ray Audio Project:

"Paul Farley listens to old and new poetry of extinction one hundred years after the death of Martha, the last ever passenger pigeon. With poems from Fleur Adcock, Sean O'Brien, W.S. Merwin and David Harsent and the sounds of X-ray audio, the samizdat music of the Soviet Union that used black-market plates of skulls and ribcages to capture the beginnings of rock and roll."

You can listen again HERE on I player until the end of December

X-Ray Audio - The Real Tuesday Weld on X-Ray

The Skeletons in Waiting X-Ray Record

The Skeletons in Waiting X-Ray Record

At the amazing launch of the X-Ray Audio Project at The Horse Hospital last week, we carried out a crazy experiment. Egged on by a very enthusiastic audience, Alex Kolkowski cut a new X-Ray bone record live from 'Skeletons in Waiting' a specially written song by The Real Tuesday Weld recorded onto a dub plate.  (For more info on the process go here).

Buoyed by the success of the experiment,  will be repeating the process for a radio documentary and, as a world first, making a special limited edition release on X-Ray for Rough Trade's independent Record Store day.  

X-Ray Audio at The Horse Hospital

Courtesy Gregory

Courtesy Gregory

We will be at London's The Horse Hospital on October 8th, talking launching the project and showing images and films from our latest trip to Russia. 

We will be joined by composer, sound artist and researcher Aleks Kolkowski.  He will be providing a live demonstration of recording onto X-Ray plates using a vintage analogue record-cutting lathe and talking about the recording techniques used to make Bones records.  Stephen has written a special piece of music for the experiment.

Tickets and info are available here

X-RAY AUDIO - Interviews

Photo:Paul Heartfield

Photo:Paul Heartfield

Photographer Paul Heartfield and I have just returned from Russia.  In St Petersburg and Moscow we filmed and interviewed several more people about the making, selling and culture of listening to X-Ray records.  It was fascinating and at times, quite moving.  As well as discovering more about a particular culture at a particular time, we learned much more about Russian music and the indomitability of spirit of music fans who at times risked their liberty to enjoy and share the songs they loved.  

We will be showing clips of filmed interviews in upcoming events - including that with the delightful Nick Markovitch (pictured)  who provided us with some hair-raising tales of the danger of trading with the illegal X-Ray bootlegs.

X-RAY AUDIO - at London's GRAD Gallery

X-Ray Audio at London's GRAD Gallery

X-Ray Audio at London's GRAD Gallery

A selection of the authors' X-ray recordings are currently showing at London's contemporary Russian GRAD GALLERY in the"Work-and-play-behind-the-iron-curtain" exhibition.

They are exhibited above a 'Jubileyniy RG -3'  portable record player made in the Zhdanov factory, Leningrad c 1957 - 1960.  This would have been a typical machine to play such recordings at the time.

X-RAY AUDIO - now funded by Arts Council England

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The X Ray Audio Project has received ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND funding.

We are currently researching toward exhibiting and publication in 2015 and will be presenting a series of public events in the meantime.