I’m full of dust and guitars,",said Syd Barrett, of Cambridge and the early, more experimental and cosmic Pink Floyd (1). Barrett is rooted in the intellectual and spiritual side of Cambridge, the Cambridge of art and innovation. Cambridge, so local, and yet so universal, is built on dust, and made out of dust, dust that creeps into us, that eventually blows out of Cambridge, into the cities; changing reality itself (2).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tGDc6Ptc_o

Barrett was jagged, nervy and cryptic, finding himself in a strange, turbulent place perfectly suited to innovative ideas. These took the form of music, using guitars and words to examine his state of mind and environment. There’s something in the air in Cambridge, all that mental activity: Syd Barrett turned it into sound.

Nick Drake responded to this magic too, and wrote and sang intensely sensitive and reflective songs with the help of his Caius colleague, string arranger Robert Kirby (3). These gorgeous songs responded to the drama of living in Cambridge, and carry with them an atmosphere you can still sense here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbutR2nvMCw

There’s lots of great music out there today that seems connected to the restlessness of Barrett, to the probing, self-consciousness of Drake, which is rooted in the wider tradition of Cambridge, in its dust (4), its river (5), in the craving for knowledge and understanding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbcFx66x-t8

New bands are constantly emerging with a focus on art and experimentation, reflecting the tension and pressure of the times (6). The escapist pop we hear at Cindies is fun but all great pop is essentially based on experimental ideas (7). If that dries up, great pop music dries up. I suppose what I’m missing in the current presence of music in Cambridge is something that connects to the University’s commitment to newness and radicalism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wXX7vtZpMo

I think of Geoff Travis, founder of Rough Trade (8), who studied English at Churchill in the 70s and supplied records for the weekly night, Pav, inspiring a wave of new and exciting scenes. Pop is fun, but it’s at its best when the fun combines strangeness and beauty, mystery and intelligence (9). As Syd Barrett said, it’s good if a song has more than one meaning (10).

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH3pqYwDBdQ

(1) ‘Dominoes’ – Syd Barrett (2) Dust Cloud – Bear in Heaven (3) ‘Place to Be’ – Nick Drake (4) ‘Infra 5’ – Max Richter (5) ‘Riverside’ – Agnes Obel (6) ‘Lucky 1’ – Avey Tare (7) ‘XXXO’ – M.I.A (8) ‘Landslide’ – Cabaret Voltaire (9) ‘Universal Mind’ – Nite Jewel (10) ‘See Emily Play’ – Pink Floyd