Annie Mole's, webmaster of Going Underground, daily web log (blog).
If you like this you'll LURVE One Stop Short of Barking, THE fun and informative BOOK about travelling on the London Underground.
It's a free performance piece by Fitzrovia Noir running from Wednesday
24 July to Saturday 27 July, from 10am-11.30pm and 12.30pm-2pm, with 4pm
matinees on Wednesday and Friday.
"By ‘picking up’ passengers on this people-powered train along the way, the artist-driver will establish imaginary overground routes through public spaces with an innovation that responds to 150 years of underground travel in the capital." says the blurb for the event.
No booking is required, so if the weather's dry (cardboard trains don't run well in downpours) it should be an interesting experience.
Ben Langham is a London Underground engineer by day and a station music master by night. He collects recordings behind the scenes of the Tube – sometimes from hidden tunnels and disused – and transforms them into songs for his Tunnel Sounds project. I blogged about his unique concept some while back but it also caught the attention of BBC Breakfast and CBS News.
For the 150th anniversary of the London Underground Ben felt this called for something very special. A-Z Of The Underground is a hypnotic one-off piece interchanging hip-hop and electronica featuring Kate Mullins (Puppini Sisters), Jaggi and AFS.
Real sounds recorded on the Tube have been edited and layered together with guitars, bass and punctual production based around the Central Line of rhythmic vocals acknowledging all 270 stations. The song can be downloaded for free, or however much people want to pay for a limited time only
So next time you take the Tube, listen to this audio tour of the tunnels and you might end up with plenty of extra spring in your Stepney.
"The magic, mystery & sometimes maddening shortcomings of London's Tube are documented with love, enthusiasm & sometimes despair by its unofficial social historian." The Guardian
