Mordant Music 'Dead Air'

Castles in Space presents the first ever vinyl release for Mordant Music’s landmark 2006 release “Dead Air”. Remastered for vinyl with all new artwork from Admiral Greyscale.

“Dead air” is what broadcasters are supposed to avoid at all costs, what continuity personnel are employed to plug up with pleasantries. Mordant’s fascination with that lost figure, the TV announcer, led them to track down Philip Elsmore, whose warm, soothing tones will be recognizable to anyone who grew up in the UK in the 1970s from his work for ITV regional franchises like Tyne Tees and Thames. The duo persuaded Elsmore to come out of retirement and provided continuity for Dead Air, his reassuring voice applied to an increasingly bizarre series of utterances, from "apologies for the sundry glitches… in the meantime, keep your nerve" to “the following contains graphic scenes of a strobing magpie's wing" to “keep sporing in the nessst”. Near the end, Elsmore declares that "Mordant Music will be back once the dust has settled with more vague unpleasantness.”

“A mild sense of apprehension is actually far more acute than out-and-out drama,” says Greyscale. “It’s everyday, what the Mordant virus feeds on.”

“Musty” is a big Mordant buzzword. Dead Air sounds like... more
credits

Originally released December 3, 2021

All concept & execution by Baron Mordant & Admiral Greyscale.
Special thanks to Jaye Ho, Becky Mills & Shue Tosaki
Recorded in Judd Street, London, 2004-2006
Philip Elsmore interviewed at the Royal Festival Hall, October 2004
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Tracklisting:
1. Transmission Start Up
2. Post-Apocalypse Listings
3. Plant Room
4. Interdependent Authority
5. Thames Over Nijmegen
6. Malcolm's Driven Me Wild
7. We Are The Mean
8. Man on a Spool
9. Expendable Productions
10. The Black Crush
11. No Harvest
12. Read Between the Raster
13. Obituaries
14. Cirrhosis of the Booth
15. Survival Ltd.
16. Winding Ourselves Into the Ground
17. Proof-Read By Spores
18. Germoir
19. Fallen Faces
20. Tosaki Closedown
21. Dead Air: Side One (Remastered)
22. Dead Air: Side Two (Remastered)
23. Dead Air: Side Three (Remastered)
24. Dead Air: Side Four (Remastered)