Music for an Underground Circus

The sound of a half-forgotten carnival, for harmoniums, toy piano and strings. Slow, steady, expressive and sad. Dramatic and slightly unwell.

      Music_for_an_Underground_Circus-JPM

Monkey Dance

Toy pianos, xylophones and harmoniums evoke a mischievous dancing simian. Atonal elements make this a vaguely sinister piece. Something is going wrong in the toy world.

      Monkey_Dance-JPM

Like a Mantelpiece the Sea

Back room farmyard instrumental, acoustic instruments with a tender yet mischievous melody. Folky but genre-defying. An extension of the soundtrack to Withnail & I.

      Like_a_Mantelpiece_the_Sea-JPM

Kerugugs Homecoming

Comic high-drama, toybox symphony. An epiphanic moment. Bagpuss and co. get back home after stopping an asteroid colliding with the earth. Or something. Mega-silly symphony of kazoo, voice and accordion.

      Kerugugs_Homecoming-JPM

Kentish Plover

Triplet-feel dramatic orchestral refrain, with soft voices and repeating phrases. This is hilarious and highly dramatic at the same time. Perfect for an episode of Bagpuss, if Bagpuss was trying to fly a biplane to the moon. Includes real violins, voices, kazoo, accordion, wooden percussion and a whole lot of interesting phrasing.

      Kentish_Plover-JPM

Flea Circus & Ice Cream Man

Flea Circus is a drunken comic waltz, with high cartoon singing and cracking whips. I’m including this as the entire website’s most ludicrously specific track. If someone uses this, it can only be for a scene with a circus of very small creatures singing drunkenly together. With whips.

Then (in Ice Cream Man) they all go off and get ice creams in opera mode. Of course.

      Flea_Circus-JPM
      Ice_Cream_Man-JPM

Dance With a Ball of Emperor Rudolf II

Neo-classical patterns for acoustic instruments. Atonal and jazzy, feeling off kilter, drunk, confused but happy.

      Dance_With_a_Ball_of_Emperor_Rudolf_II-JPM

CERN Fulcanelli at the LHC

A quirky, charming theme with bell-like zithers, light percussion, with held sections with brooding percussion and lilting high electronic voices. A happy, bumbling and disjointed procession.

      CERN_Fulcanelli_at_the_LHC-JPM