May 28: Other music and geography blogs

This is a fairly niche area, but there are some other existing blogs which have been around a while.

I've already mentioned the blog of John Medd, who has kindly got involved with the blog since it started adding comments and thoughts.

Next up is the excellent Musical Geography Project blog.

This has a variety of posts linked to music...

Apr 13: Elfstedentocht

Public Service Broadcasting have appeared elsewhere on the blog as they have a range of songs with a geographical angle to them.

The Elfstedentocht is an ice-skating race which takes place in the Netherlands.

It is only possible in the harshest of winters, and cannot take place every year. This is similar to the Fenland skating which can only take place on flooded fields in the Fens when conditions permit, and has become less common as winters are warming.

This race is fairly brutal and a long distance classic - comparable to some of the one day classics in road race cycling such as Paris-Roubaix.

Here's a map of the route - joining up eleven towns.

And here's a video of the two parts of the track by Public Service Broadcasting.

Part 1

Part 2

Contains footage (C) Fries Film Archief. Used with kind permission. 

Written and produced by Public Service Broadcasting. 

Drums recorded by Gregor Reid at Fonica Studios, Glasgow.

And the translation of the voice over on the track.

Newspaper: 

Eleven Cities Tour on Friday 

Newspaper: 

Eleven Cities Tour to be a superhuman effort 

January 18th, 1963 

An ice-skating marathon that is unparalleled 

5.30 in the morning 300km through a Friesland only the strongest can cope with 

Newspaper: 

Elfstedentocht: Tough, Tough, Tough 

The starting signal is given for the Eleven Cities Tour 

But what everyone is preparing themselves for.

That is the Elfstedentocht 

The twelfth Eleven Cities Tour 

Temperature: 16 degrees Celsius below zero 

A brutal tour of more than 200km 

But what everyone is preparing themselves for... 

550 professional skaters 

Around 9,500 leisure skaters 

Skaters from Sweden, Canada, Switzerland and Belgium 

But what everyone is preparing themselves for... 

Sneek. IJlst. Sloten. Stavoren. Hindeloopen. Workum. Bolsward. Harlingen. Franeker. Dokkum. Leeuwarden. 

But what everyone is preparing themselves for... That is the Elfstedentocht." 

J. Willgoose, Esq. and Wrigglesworth sample old public information films and archive material and set them to new music. Live, the films are screened simultaneously as laptops are fiddled with, drums are pounded, theremins are wafted at, guitars are bashed and banjos furiously plucked. 

Teaching the lessons of the past through the music of the future.

Mar 12: Trivia Quiz Question #6

Which rock band, still going after over 50 years, recorded their first album here, on Denmark Street, near Tottenham Court Road?

Answers in the comments...

If it helps with a clue, here's what Rough Trade Records said when they opened their store opposite in October 2024...

Denmark Street is often described as the birthplace of the British music industry where iconic artists such as Elton John, Sex Pistols and David Bowie hung out, made music and lived. 

I've missed out the answer from the text above.

As part of the wider immersive arts and culture district Outernet London, Denmark St has been preserved and enhanced with new music businesses continuing to open. 

Close by is the 2,000-capacity live venue HERE at Outernet, the largest venue in central London since the 1940s, as well two smaller venues aimed at emerging artists including The Lower Third, named in honour of David Bowie’s early band.

Arriving in January 2026 - a World of Music

I've been working on preparations for a new 365 project blog: a post a day for a year, which will appear here from the 1st of January 2026, and its time to get more people involved if you have a few moments.

I've completed several of these 365 projects before, including my GeoLibrary blog, Geography on/in Film and Fieldnotes from Iceland.

This blog is going to be on the theme of music and its geographical connections in the broadest sense, including how it connects us to specific places or moments in time, captures landscapes and emotions or forms part of our cultural geography. 

Most people have some personal connections to particular musical genres or musicians.  

Few people go through life without music in it... we pick music for giving birth and saying goodbye for the final time; the 'first dance'; 'our song'... travelling music... music to get us to sleep or get us going in the morning.

Music provides comfort, enjoyment even personal moments of ecstasy. It can lead to obsession and collections and also provoke anger. It can be political and radical or anodyne and mainstream and called "elevator music" for its blandness.

The creation and consumption of music has an environmental, economic and social impact on the planet: From Taylor Swift's billion dollar plus ERAS tour, to a folk performer in an upstairs room in a pub.

Every generation has its opinions on the music of the past, and the new music that is emerging and becoming popular. Music or noise? "What's that you're listening to?".

We've also seen other changes to music over the decades.

• Different formats - the decline and rebirth of vinyl (and even the cassette tape)
• The rising price of concert tickets and the replacement of cardboard tickets with stubs to print your own or show me them on a phone screen... complete with animations in the case of AXS.

• The hybridisation of music to create new genres.
• Our consumption of music from the physical product in our hands to streaming and skipping from track to track - not the ritual of playing all of Side One then all of Side Two.

I've created a Google Form which I hope you'll help me with by completing as much of it as you can. It includes some of the areas that I will explore through 2026.

Thanks in advance if you feel able to help me out. 

Click the link here to open the form. 

On this version there is an opportunity for you to add images you've got of favourite concerts, tickets, t-shirts, memorabilia or anything else you'd like to share. Dig out those old ticket stubs or programmes, or creative maps of world tour routes.

I've made another version which is embedded here and can be filled in: