Sonic Art programme.
Saturday 11th November 2006,
Lighthouse, Poole, UK
The call
Sonic Artists were invited so submit recorded pieces on the theme of UNSAFE: sound works that take risks - artistically, aesthetically, philosophically, sonically, even physically. Works that should carry a health warning, that ignore safety margins, that lie outside the comfort zone. Works that challenge the listener - but also the sound artist. Works that may be radical, unusual, subversive, awkward, exciting - but above all, interesting. This is the result.
The works
Submitted works were diffused through a multi-speaker system during Saturday afternoon (2 - 5 pm), in Function Room 2, 1st floor. Click here for full programme.
For full details of Unsafe 2, please click here for brochure (4 MB PDF)
The works
Adam Asnan (AdamAsnan@aol.com) Realization for 4 MDs and unknown material
I
A realization of a score that allows for a completely unforeseeable morphology,
heavily reducing, if not eliminating completely any opportunities for personal
gestation, but instead allowing for complete creative freedom in the preparation
of the collective material, and therefore contributing blindly (or deafly) towards
one quarter (in a performance quartet) of the total range of material available,
a realization that juxtaposes the gathering of determinate sound with the indeterminate
occurrence of which, for the total duration. However, with respect to the written
score the process of each performer's gathering of material formulates the indeterminate
system by which the total range of sound is selected.
The participants had been asked prior to the realization to create 1 x 80min MD (mini-disc) with sound material of their choice, revealing nothing to the other performers. At the beginning of the performance each performer will have their MD entered into a selection process where each performer will be provided with one of the other performer's prepared MDs at random (taking precautions so as not to select their own) in which will be the range of material for them alone to explore and use for the entirety of the performance. The performers are required to use nothing but 1 MD player each on which to perform, as their sole instrument, relying on nothing whatsoever apart from the limited alteration mechanisms that each MD player provides I.E. volume, play, stop, fast-forward, rewind, loop and perhaps the limited EQ options found on some models.
There are no requirements in regard to the structure and/or arrangement, dynamic or amplitude, morphology and continuity of the sound, and is left entirely up to the performers, however the score that was devised as a basis for realization will be used as a visual aid. 'Explore' is a key word in regard to the nature of this piece, as the composition can only take shape simultaneously in respect to the exploration of unknown material each performer is provided with, and as to how each of the performers determine how to apply the newly discovered material they have within the musical arrangement, as well as learn to work within the simple limitations in regard to their equipment.
In Brief - Number of players: Ideally 4 or more Duration: Completely Variable. Instructions in respect to - Material used: All of which at performer's discretion. Equipment used: Solely 1 Minidisc player each for playback alone. Structure/Arrangement: At performer's discretion Dynamic/Amplitude: At performer's discretion Morphology/Continuity: At performer's discretion Multi-channel Diffusion: Optional but Quadraphonic preferred (for quartet). Notes: The realization featured here was edited from the initial recording made on Friday the 27th October 2006, Due to technical difficulties the full 30 min piece was not recorded in its entirety, therefore this piece was edited together from the excerpts that were recorded (there were about 5 approx 2 minute recording failures). Special thanks to Milo Taylor for Documentation.
Biogs Edward Kelly was born in Bebington, UK, and studied electronic music with Javier Alvarez and Iain Dearden before completing a PhD in composition at the University of East Anglia with Simon Waters. He specialises in the subversion of temporal experience through music, and has created both electroacoustic works, classical scores and computer software to this end. He is currently teaching sound design at the London College of Communication. Tetsumi Segawa / DelayedBrain (born in Japan, 1982). Tetsumi has dedicated herself to the creative fields since a teenager - "I started my musical activities with percussion, while belonging to a brass band as a timpanist and a percussionist. I later started to work with a punk band as a musician and songwriter. At 17 I left for London to learn English and after a temporary return to Japan, I stayed in San Francisco for a year and studied filmmaking at City College of San Francisco. I then moved to London again in 2003 and completed a Foundation Diploma in Media at London College of Printing (now LCC). I progressed towards a BA Film and Video course at the same university and completed first year, I then transferred to study Sound Art just before the beginning of second year." I focus predominately on electroacoustic improvisation by use of laptop as well as sound design for websites and experimental short films. My music ranges greatly between many styles of music, but currently am concentrating on minimal electronic sound based on sine wave under the pseudonym DelayedBrain". Tetsumi recently organized and curated the first of an ongoing sonic arts and electronic music events entitled "+ -" in September 2006, the intentions behind the event were to form an intersection between conventional musical perceptions and the phenomenon of sound art, to a great success. James Holcombe is an artist filmmaker and experimental musician, his sound work usually consists of live performative improvisation with a diverse host of wonderful devices, including many re-wired electronic instruments, optical soundtrack readers, bio-feedback monitors and sometimes accompanied by a tomato or a banana. He is one part of the experimental sound group Bicycle Clip Sex, and has written articles for Noise Gate magazine. "I started making Super 8 films in 1996, and use mainly Standard 8 and 16mm film in my work. My films have been shown at the Avanto Festival in Helsinki, The Cube Cinema in Bristol, Cinema Nova in Belgium, at the launch of no.w.here and various performance art spaces in London. I am currently the full time education and training assistant at no.w.here - an organization set up by artist filmmakers Brad Butler and Karen Mirza to provide a contemporary platform for avant-garde and experimental film." www.nowhere-lab.org Adam Asnan Born in London, UK (1983). Adam began to pursue sound as his primary medium 4 years ago after studying painting for the majority of his life prior. He now studies Sound Arts at LCC, specializing in electroacoustic & experimental composition and phonography. Currently practising within particular areas that employ the creative possibilities of magnetic tape and methodical sound arrangement, focusing primarily on indeterminate qualities both interventional and observational, or composition that derives from found or generated ephemeral and phenomenal content, heavily drawn to the forms of Concrete Music. He has written works for open-form electroacoustic performances showcased at specific events in and around London, as well as arranges the improv group "Miscellany" who play monthly with Tetsumi Sagawa, Catherine Shindler and others. Adam also collaborated recently as part of the electronic music collective "7000 Dirhams" in the 'Festival International Du Theatre De Marrakech 2006' in Morocco with Edward Kelly, Catherine Shindler.
Jon Aveyard (JAveyard@uclan.ac.uk) Steelbreath, stillborn
Steelbreath struggles to escape its own aesthetic limitations, tries to make
something of itself, searches in vain to find purpose, fails beautifully.
Biog. Jon Aveyard is an electro-acoustic composer, audio artist and interdisciplinary
performer based in Preston. He has had music, installations and papers presented
across the UK and abroad, most recently at the SightSonic Festival in York and
the Sounding Out conference in Sunderland.
Al Babaloo (albabaloo@aural-initiative.com) Dude in a microwave.
Al Babaloo (albabaloo@aural-initiative.com) Dude in a microwave.
Biog. Al Babloo is a founder member of The Aural Initiative (a schizophrenic collective). His interests include: bourbon, unidentified hair, things that are cone shaped, wee wee hats, wee wee scarves, and the aesthetics of randomly tossed handkerchiefs.
becoming animal. (becoming.animal@btinternet.com) Porchoir.
Biog. becoming animal are a group of organisms who create sound using field recordings along with collaborators such as the arctic fox, black vulture, blackbird, pigeon, spaniel, eagle owl, Canada goose and turkey. They've been together, on and off, for decades. Porchoir is made in collaboration with a pot-bellied pig. All sounds are organic. The piece should be played either very loud or very soft.
The Beige Channel (Michael V. Farley) (the_beige_channel@hotmail.com
www.thebeigechannel.com) Acorn fall
In late summer the acorn trees in our backyard begin to drop their nuts from
a great height in a noisy barrage, smacking the roof of our house and our lawn
furniture, creating a racket that harkens to the autumn season a few weeks ahead
of us. Every sound in Acorn Fall is derived from a 5 minute recording of one
such instance. Parts of the recording were run through granular synthesis and
pitch shifting plugins resulting in this symphony of looping ticks, kicks, little
melodies, and atmospheres.
Biog. Michael V. Farley is a classically trained composer based in Delmar, NY, who releases his music under the project name, the Beige Channel. He uses found sounds and field recordings of humble origins and slowly transforms them to create moments of contemplation intended to allow the listener to transcend the mundane world. At the same time, the composer wishes to draw attention to everyday sources of sound that, when taken out of context, can be appreciated beyond the simple circumstances of their origination. The two most recent critically acclaimed cds by the beige channel have focused on recycling mood music from the 1950's (Plain Vanilla 2004) and rearrangements of his 17 month old daughter improvising at the piano (Autumn Rain in the Yard, 2006). Through his compositions, Farley hopes to allow the sound of the ordinary world to regain the element of magic, and he encourages listeners to discover the inherent beauty of their audible surroundings.
Paul Burnell (paul.burnell@tesco.net www.musicalsquares.com /http://www.myspace.com/paulburnell)
Gotta be allowed to say that.
A version of a rant about free speech heard on the radio
Biog. Paul Burnell, born Ystrad Rhondda, now living in London. Member of CoMA, Brake Drum Assembly, Burnell-Hunt duo.
André Castro (andrecastro@c-e-m.org) Sduolc#44.1
This is a piece created while researching into the generation and control of
sound, through chaotic one-dimension functions. Based on two iterated non-linear
functions with a chaotic behaviour, I created an algorithm system (in Max/MSP)
divided into two parts. The first part is responsible for synthesis of short
waveforms, which parallel the function's trajectory through a sample-by-sample
synthesis method. In the second part the short waveforms were employed as grains
in a granular synthesis engine, whose parameters were controlled by the two
chaotic functions' results, scaling factor and initial value. Lastly the algorithm
products were subjected to a process of edition and sequencing, which gave the
piece a certain sense of narrative. By having worked these somehow unstable
elements I believe to have entered into unknown territory. A terrain where sonic
results are very much unforeseeable, but are often of a unique and exciting
nature, which can't be achieved so easily through more conventional methods.
As a consequence of both the non-standard synthesis and control techniques this
piece seems to have been contaminated by intense streams of energy, which run
intensively through, and hopefully out from it.
Biog. André Castro is a sound artist living and working between London and Lisbon. With a background in dance and performance art, he started to work with sound materials in 2002, which has since become his main medium of exploration. His works have included acousmatic and soundscape compositions, pieces for dance and installations and improvised music in collaboration with Martin Aaserud (prepared guitar and computer processing). Currently studies at Sonic Arts BA course at Middlesex University.
Chris Cook (remote.control@btinternet.com www.hotroddy.com www.myspace.com/sameactor)
Multiband depressor
This microtonal piece features samples of sitar, guitar, recorder and metallic
kitchen objects (mainly baking trays). All of the notes are in the space of
one semitone, as if a whole octave were squished into the claustrophobia of
a semitone. The unbent microtones represent different kinds of depression, hence
the title.
Biog. Chris has been producing pieces since finished an electronic music course at the University of Hertfordshire in 1999. He has performed regularly and released CDs under a variety of names, including Remote, Hot Roddy (for sitar and beats) and Same Actor (for experimental /MaxMSP/acoustic pieces). He has released albums on BipHop and Wrong Music and still plays his sitar at gigs as much as possible.
Barrie J Davies (barriejdaviesisanartist@hotmail.com www.barriejdavies.com)
Track 5 from 'The Barrie J Davies Ultimate Crap Music Album compact disc'
This album could be a waste of money to buy, the waste of a compact disc and
even a waste of time. Even the cover looks like it was designed by a U grade
GCSE art student. Making an album of musical tracks for many deejays and musicians
is usually based on style, tunes, beats, timing, grooves, hype and lyrical content.
But the artist Barrie J Davies presents his premiere album of music and sonic
art outside these contexts. With songs about honey nut cornflakes, boredom,
singing on the toilet, a computer turning off and why won't Charles Saatchi
buy his artwork. This album as stated in the title, might be complete crap,
but the artist Barrie J Davies does not care; it's about getting things off
his chest, voicing his ideas, hopes and fears but with a car boot sale techno
disco beat.
Biog. The work of Barrie J Davies ranges from the use of various media playing with meanings, images, objects and texts to create possible new fictions and reality to reassess the world and space around us through the guide of language and displacement. Humour is the catalyst in which is manipulated to help guide the work to possible understandings.
Chris DeLaurenti (chris@delaurenti.net) Live in New York at the Republican
National Convention Protest, Sept. 2- Aug. 28 2004. 'Our streets!''
Created with the pertinent sonic material of social change - raw protest recordings,
battlefield audio, relevant texts and earwitness testimony - this piece bears
witness to current crises - eroding civil liberties, poverty, war, corporate
control of the media - that touch my conscience and impel me to respond. Recorded
on the front lines during the suppressed protests of the re-coronation of President
George W. Bush at the Republican National Convention, 'Live at New York…'
welds combative field recordings of various protests and art actions, police
radio transmissions, NOAA weather alerts, radio broadcast anomalies (splashes
and sprays of tape hiss, enigmatic numbers glossolalia, crude phase encoding)
and wild card audio snatched from the airwaves into a vivid soundscape of dissent.
Biog. Christopher DeLaurenti (1967-2071 USA) is a Seattle-based composer, improviser and phonographer. His best-known pieces, the so-called 'protest symphonies', use the pertinent sonic materials of social change, topical field recordings, battlefield audio, earwitness testimony and other relevant sonic documents: N30 Live at the WTO Protest November 30 1999, N30: Who guards the Guardians? Two Secret Wars and Live in New York at the Republican National Convention Sept. 2- Aug 28 2004. Christopher's music resides at delaurenti.net along with many music-related essays and articles.
Fergal Dowling (fergaldowling@ear.ie http://www.cmc.ie/composers) 58
seconds of distorted pulses for two loudspeakers
This piece is a two dimensional noise-based sound projection. The surface texture
exhibits rhythmic noise bursts which in turn reveal an underlying contrapuntal
structure. three musical parts emerge on three rhythmic levels. The piece should
be replayed on two loudspeakers only, and should on no account ever be reproduced
in mono. The piece was realized entirely on an Apple Mac PowerBook G4 using
Csound. The weir on the Tolka River at the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin,
was sampled using a Sony MZ-R37 minidisk recorder and an AKG D-222 dynamic cardiod
microphone. The samples were subsequently edited at the studios of the University
of York, England. These samples are read as noise-like wavetables which form
the basis of the individual pulses.
Biog. Fergal Dowling was born in Dublin. He studied composition with Kevin O'Connell and Donnacha Dennehy at Trinity College, Dublin, where he received an M.Litt. in 2002. He recently completed a PhD in Composition at the University of York with the assistance of the Elizabeth Maconchy Composition Fellowship awarded by the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon. His output includes choral, chamber, electronic and mixed works, and have been performed and broadcast in Ireland, England, Germany, Sweden, Canada, the USA and Brazil. His recent compositions combine sound spatialisation with real-time interaction, and can be presented as installations or concert pieces. He is a member of Association of Irish Composers, and since 2004 has been a director of EAR New Music Ensemble. Artist's Statement: 'My compositional techniques are rooted in psychoacoustical principles, the methods by which humans perceive sound. I apply acoustic and performance principles to place the listeners' perceptions at the centre of each work. To this end, I pursue two main forms: through composed pieces for regular loudspeaker arrays, and real-time computer-based improvisations. Both groups of works attempt to focus the listener's attentions on the physicality of the listening space, stressing an objective approach to composition and performance, and a detached approach to listening. For me, this process of composition is a sculptural, almost physical act, involving the construction of sonic objects in space. These fragile spatial constructions are often veiled by an apparent forcefulness and physicality. In all my works the materials are integrated in highly detailed movements of sound which aspire to clarity of form and brevity of utterance'
Katie Gately (katie.gately@gmail.com) Untitled
This piece is a combination of processed field recordings which I can no longer
recognize. My external hard drive crashed and with it went all my raw audio.
I have processed clips on my desktop but without literal extension names! So
I'm playing in the dark and aiming to create another blind possible world.
Biog. I was born in Queens and grew up in Brooklyn NY. I went to school in Minnesota and studied philosophy. I teach preschool in Seattle right now. Field recording is my favourite pastime. I'm 23 and completely Irish.
Joshua Goldman (joshuadavidgoldman@yahoo.com) Language
Language is a stereophonic sound structure composed for seven vocalists (none
of whom are using their vocal cords). During playback (in complete darkness),
the piece should be played as loud as possible, without causing damage to any
speaker equipment or anyone's ears.
Biog. Josh Goldman is a composer/improviser/guitarist/instructor who resides in the United States. He composes/improvises/performs music, using acoustic and electronic sources, for various ensembles and settings. Much of his music combines sound and visual elements (film/video/various installation spaces). His compositions and performances have been heard and awarded internationally. Mr Goldman holds degrees from New England Conservatory of Music (BM in Music Performance) and Brooklyn College (MM in music composition).
David Handford (dave@postofficerecords.com) Faraday's folly (from CD
'Chapel Couture')
Biog. Born in Torquay, Devon, David Handford has been producing sonic work since 1992. From pschedelia with Vibe Tribe (1992-1993), and electronica with Moduloss (1993-1995), he now produces various forms of leftfield music as dj Methodist and Ministry of Defiance on his label Post Office Records, as well as film and performance soundtracks under his own name. this work has received BBC Radio 1 and Radio 3 airplay, as well as in Europe, Australia and USA. His handbuilt electronic sound devices and music have been commissioned for various art projects. Ministry of Defiance's album, Chapel Couture, was released to critical acclaim in October 2003, and toured with film in May 2004, throughout 2005 and recently at Netmage '06, Bologna, Italy. The new dj Methodist album Seven Nights is out in Winter 2007.
Mikhail Karikis mail@mikhailkarikis.com www.mikhailkarikis.com
Dance. The composition is for two harpsichords, piano, orchestra, electronics and voice. It is inspired by the Greek folk dance from Caucasus near the Black Sea. The orchestra begins to play when suddenly the vocalist enters a 'vocal crisis': he attempts to speak/vocalize without being able to. The style employed by the singer is unconventional and potentially harmful to the vocal cords. The voice employs extended vocal techniques. It fragments language and explores the limits of the performing throat. On the one hand, the work explores the new expressive and communicational possibilities that open up through the inability to communicate, and on the other, it attempts to address questions related to the politics of linguistic divisions and free speech.
Echo's love song This composition is for voice only and begins with an exhalation- the vocalist has no more air in his lungs, which would normally pass through the vocal cords to generate sound. Then the singer begins to vocalize in an 'inverted' way by inhaling and thus 'swallowing' his own words. He continues inhaling and 'interiorizing' his speech until his lungs are entirely filled with air. This is a highly physically demanding and potentially harmful vocal technique, which distorts the voice, damages the vocal cords and fragments language. The same act is repeated to the point of exhaustion and to what sounds like self-strangulation. 'Echo's love song' is inspired by the myth of Narcissus and Echo, in which Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection on water and eventually drowned. As Narcissus confessed his love for his image, the nymph Echo- who was unable to initiate speech herself and was condemned to eternal repetition of the speech of others- repeated Narcissus's love-words towards his reflection and at the same time expressed her own desire for him. The composition explores the inability to communicate and searches for emotional honesty in expressing the disastrous consequences of a circuit of misplaced desire.
Biog. Mikhail Karikis is an international artist whose multi-disciplinary practice encompasses music, sound art and performance. His work is dedicated to the exploration of auditory culture and the invention of innovative music in the fields of electronica, avant-garde, pop and folk music. Mikhail's music has attracted the attention of music explorers Björk and Graham Massey who released it commercially to critical acclaim. Forthcoming projects include his solo album 'Orphica' to be released by Sub Rosa / Quatermass in Spring 2007, and performance collaborations with the Alamire Consort, conductor David Skinner, and artists Sonia Boyce and Oreet Ahsery.
Anthony Kelly and David Stalling (anthonykelly.artist@gmail.com www.aphasiarecordings.com)
1. asphalt 2. kausalität
Biog. Anthony Kelly (Ireland) & David Stalling (Germany) have been collaborating
on a series of audio works over the past three years.Their work encompass a
shared practice of recycling 'objets trouveés' of sound material as part
of their ongoing collaborative sessions. The results are collages of everyday
noise and original music snippets taken from accumulated field recordings and
old personal cassette tapes belonging to the artists. The tracks 'Asphalt' and
'Kausalität' are from these sessions; the juxtaposition of contrasting
material forming these audio 'musique
concrète' pieces.
Leif Inge (expanded.field@sensewave.com http://www.expandedfield.net/)
9 Beet stretch
This piece is a massive soundscape made out of Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th symphony
stretched to 24 hours, with no pitch distortions. The work is presented as 24-hour
long electroacoustic concerts or occationally as a sound installation. The piece
tends to activate a new social space, and at best it creates its own society
for 24 hours. The audience has embrased this rare occation and some have actually
stayed through a 24 concert!
This is what the New York Times wrote: "The piece slows symphonic time
so that movement is barely perceptible. What you hear in normal time as a happy
Viennese melody lasting 5 or 10 seconds becomes minutes of slowly cascading
overtones; a drumroll becomes a nightmarish avalanche. Yet the symphony remains
somehow recognizable in spirit if not in form, its frozen strings fraught with
tense, frowning Beethoven-ness. [...]. 9 Beet Stretch has been presented at
venues as diverse as Diapason Gallery, New York; 964 Natoma, San Francisco,
the 11th century Bergen Cathedral at the Borealis Festival for contemporary
Music, Bergen; and BizArt Art Center, Shanghai.
Biog. Leif Inge is an idea-based artist. He has showed extensively world-wide, in China, México, USA, Canada, UK, Germany and the Nordic countries, and is at present living in Oslo, Norway.
Ali Kilpatrick (a.m.kilpatrick@sms.ed.ac.uk) xcpdrm
In 2005, Sony BMG released 52 CDs containing Extended Copy Protection - a piece of software developed by First 4 Internet intended to stop unauthorized piracy of CDs. While this software did its job, it also installed a rootkit (without the listeners permission) on the listeners personal computer. These rootkits can be used to hide unauthorized activities on a computer system. While there is no proof that Sony used this software intentionally to harness listeners computers and harvest data from them, it has been proved that the rootkit installed leaves the computer and its users personal data open to attach from internet worms and trojans. In trying to maintain the safety of its profits in an era when music downloading is rife, Sony has put the safety of both the hardware and personal data of its listeners at risk. 'xcdprm' is a list of banned ripping and burning software from the XCP files, algorithmically transformed into music which is fed through a simple filtering system to produce the final piece.
Biog. Alastair Kilpatrick was formally trained in violin and piano before studying music-based computer programming with Dr. Michael Edwards at Edinburgh University. Previous works include 'dots', a graphical music creation environment; 'med_2', a live sample manipulation work; 'sperf' for pre-recorded samples and wireless gamepad; and 'II' for solo piano. His latest tape piece 'Nd60' has been played on New York radio and will see its concert premier in late 2006. Alastair is currently studying for a diploma in piano performance and undertaking research in composer and style identification through algorithmic and statistical analysis.
Panayiotis A. Kokoras (email@panayiotiskokoras.com http://www.panayiotiskokoras.com/)
Anechoic pulse. For tape.
The life of this piece began in Cork, England, in August 2003, where most of
the sound material was recorded at the anechoic chamber at the University of
York. After being worked in my home studio in Greece, the work was completed
during the summer of 2004 at the Mastering Studio of the Department of Music
Technology and Acoustics in Rethimno, Crete. Having the luxury to work without
deadlines and on a non real-time environment I tried to refine and control the
finest sound detail. I tried to create a kind of virtuosity of the medium. The
sound material, not easily recognized most of the time, undergoes a rather simple
transformation in terms of sound processing using editing tools such as hard-limiting,
maximizers, cut n paste, dynamic envelope changes, time stretches and binaural
spatialisation. The piece ends with a pulse drone created with tiny strokes
of a metallic stick on19 inch timpani. The work is dedicated to the composer
Sungji Hong. The piece was awarded First Prize at the international electroacoustic
composition competition Musica Viva 2005 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Augustine Leudar (gustard33@gmail.com www.download.com/augustineleudar)
Daisicle
Daisical was written in the summer of 2005 originally for surround sound using
various field recordings and granular synthesis techniques. This is its first
public airing in any format and is presented here as a stereo downmix though
the original surround mix will soon be available on DVD . The pieces' creation
is a testament to the survival of magical thought in an art world which is increasingly
dominated by verbal thought processes. For this reason on the whole the interpretaion
of the music is left to the listener . The last movment of the piece ,however,
specifically relates to a nocturnal journey across the English channel to Brittany
on an old Cornish fishing lugger called "guide me". The creaking wooden
ship was entirely sail powered not even having an engine, on the trip the artist
witnessed floatillas of phosperescent algae float past and entire shoals of
luminescent fish could be seen fleeing the prow of the boat underneath the waves.
Biog. Augustine Leudar was born in the UK and started working with sound in the late eighties. Throughout the nineties Leudar pursued a more experimental and electronic direction and released several works, some of which were featured on John Peel's Radio One show. The music has taken an increasingly more experimental and naturalistic direction since spending half the time living in the forests and dustbowls of the Peruvian Amazon. Soundscapes created in Peru were featured at Prague's national gallery the Rudolfinum 2006, as part of the Impressed exhibition and accompanied the paintings of Czech painter Otto Placht.
Georgina Lewis. (sashimib@tiac.net) cordelia to lear
An exploration of the building blocks of speech, which serve as analogues for
the simple sine and sawtooth waves which form the bedrock of electronic music
and which are used frequently in the composition. As Lear's kingdom is fractured
by declarations of love and allegiance, so the composition is punctuated by
human utterances - highly fractured and disjunctive… of the word 'love'.
Cordelia to Lear was composed using a variety of software, including Pro Tools
and Max/MSP, as well as field recordings, recordings of a home-made square wave
generator, and vocalizations by the composer.
Biog. Georgina Lewis received an MFA in Sound from Bard College in 2006. She holds undergraduate degrees from Franklin and Marshall College and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Lewis' sound pieces, sculptures, and photographs have been presented at various national and international venues, including the Visual Studies Workshop, National University of Ireland, REDCAT in Los Angeles, FILE Brazil. Lewis was a 2005 artist in residence at the Millay Colony in New York state. She lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts. Her mother was born and raised in Poole.
Clive Loseby (clive@rathergood.net www.rathergood.net) Breaking the circle
Breaking the circle was conceived after working 'to order' as a media composer
for seven years. Most of my commissions to this point had been dictated by the
images I was writing for and were also written to meet the needs/expectations
of the Director (and, in turn, the audience). Satisfying your own expectations
and the expectations of your contemporaries was difficult at times. I wanted
to compose a piece of music that would stand in its own right, with only my
instincts guiding it. It is difficult, to say the least, to compose original
music in the 21st century, but I wanted to at least push myself, musically,
and compose something that satisfied myself and my own expectations first. For
once. I hope that others find it interesting.
Biog. Clive Loseby is an established, award-winning international composer whose credits include Walt Disney, Universal Studios, BBC, Channel 4, Jaguar, Pilot Productions and the acclaimed ACAP campaign, which has reached over 1 billion people to date, in Europe, the United States and Asia.
Dallas Masters (dallasmasters@dallasmasters.force9.co.uk; dallas@dallasmasters.co.uk)
Pipechant.
The work alludes to the imprisonment of Baha'u'llah in the Black Pit of Tehran,
Persia (now Iran) in 1852. He and His followers were incarcerated, tortured
and martyred for their beliefs of 'The oneness of God, the oneness of Humanity
and the oneness of religion, progressively revealed through the Great World
Religions'. Also Unsafe in the sense that most of it was performed down a newly
built sewer. Also it is a spiritually motivated work, which is overtly religious
and emotive ("the two things we never mention are religion and politics!")
and therefore for many people uncomfortable! The piece contains poetic and historic
narrative from a phonographic sound art perspective. Incidentally, 12th November
is Baha'i Holy Day - the Birth of Baha'u'llah - the Founder of the Baha'i faith
- and as the Holy Day runs from sunset to sunset, playing this after sunset
on 11th November would be of great religious significance for the Baha'is.
Anders Östberg (ostberg@mac.se) Salvia
Biog. Anders Östberg was born in 1957 in Sweden. Works in the field of phonography. Member of the Chain Tape Collective, a community of individuals dedicated to creating an ongoing series of idea-based collaborative CD compilations.
Adrian Newton (nemeton@clara.co.uk http://www.nemeton.org.uk) Last broadcast
from the top of the world
Bruce Herrod was a mountaineer and film-maker, who successfully climbed Everest
in 1996, the fulfillment of a long-held ambition. Sadly, on his descent, he
fell to his death at the Hillary Step. This piece is based entirely on sounds
derived from a last radio broadcast that Bruce made from the summit. Given what
happened afterwards, his words are almost unbearably poignant. Having accompanied
Bruce on a previous expedition, I composed this piece as a small tribute to
him. As well as reaching the topof the world, the ultimate achievement of his
life, he also reached the summit of what is a sacred place. To Tibetan Buddhists,
the name of the mountain is Qomolangma, meaning Mother Goddess of the Universe.
A central belief of Buddhism is that life is infinite, and death a transition,
something I have tried to explore in this piece. The final section is filtered
to the pitch of F-sharp, believed to be the resonant pitch of mountain landscapes.
Biog. Adrian Newton is a sonic artist based in Dorset, England. He is particularly interested in using soundscape composition to explore the relationship between people and their environments, especially places of particular value or importance. His work has been performed widely, and has been featured on Resonance FM and Sonic Arts Network productions. He has performed a number of sonic art compositions as part of site-specific theatre works, and also regularly performs electroacoustic improvisation with the Safehouse collective (Poole), the duo Nemeton and the group Zaum.
Ailís Ní Ríain (mail@ailis.info www.ailis.info)
Wounds, scars, screams.
This piece forms part of a larger music-theatre, electroacoustic production
called THE FALLING (2005) for harpist/actor and pre-recorded vocal soundscape.
The work comprises recorded samples from a live harp and prepared piano performance
with spoken texts written and performed by the composer.
Biog. Born in Cork, the Irish composer and writer Ailís Ní Ríain combines her interests as a composer, sound-artist and writer to produce works which challenge, provoke and engage. She is particularly interested in cross-discipline collaboration, public sound art, improvisation, music-theatre and presenting contemporary music in diverse spaces. She has been represented by the Contemporary Music Centre of Ireland since 1999 (www.cmc.ie) where you can obtain scores and recordings of her music. She is a Composition graduate of University College Cork (BMusHons), the University of York (MA), the University of Manchester (MPhil) and the Royal College of Music (PCRNCM and PGDipRNCM) Manchester, where she also became the college's first Junior Fellow in Education. Her compositions have been performed in the USA, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Holland, UK, Ireland and France and on Irish radio and television. In 2004 Ailís was honoured to represent Ireland in Culture 2004 in Rome and Greece.
Thomas Park / mystified (autocad13@hotmail.com www.mystifiedmusic.com)
By Jove
A risky trip to Jupiter is imagined in this piece, created using homemade sounds
such as bedposts and gastank tones, and a vocal sample from NASA. Think of Poe….
Biog. Thomas Park, often known as mystified the band, has been writing music for over 6 years, and has been involved with music for almost his whole life. He has dabbled in most forms of electronica, and recently has focused on making music using sounds harvested from his sound world in South Saint Louis, Missouri.
The Short Wave Band. (Theshortwaveband@hotmail.co.uk) Trancemissions
- the journey back. Fetch lights.
An experimental electronic document utilizing naturally occurring phenomena,
and synthetic textures, through a matrix filter of electronic, analogue and
digital landscapes, fed into feedback loops and delays.
Eldad Tsabary (eldad@yaeldad.com www.yaeldad.com) The cosmic chainsaw
for electronics
The piece is shamelessly inspired by a quote from the cheesy sci-fi movie 'Crossworlds':
"You want to know what it is? Ok. It's a cosmic chainsaw; it cuts holes
in our reality, ters the boundaries between dimensions. Boundaries are good,
we need them; they keep things separate and clear." In this piece I purposely
attempted to blur the boundaries of reality by heavily processing an originally
single-pitched chainsaw sample (provided by Thomas Park of Mystified) and playfully
interacting it with atmospheric convoluted pads.
Biog. The works of Montreal-based Eldad Tsabary are decidedly inspired by the concepts of motion and fluidity, which are, in his mind, defining qualities of life itself, and he is ever in search for new techniques to produce smooth transformations, aural metamorphoses, and a sense of motion in his work. He is the winner of the 2006 Harbourfront Centre New Canadian Sound Work competition 2006, and a third prize winner in ZKM's 2006 international electroacoustic competition Shortcuts: Beauty. Performances of Tsabary's work include the Bulgarian Philharmonic, the Cygnus Ensemble, Haim Avitsur and collaboration with composer Robert Cuckson. His sound-art and music compositions were presented worldwide in concerts, installations, and conferences at venues such as Carnegie Hall, CCRMA and ISCM. Mr. Tsabary is a professor at the Concordia University Music Department (Montreal, Quebec), an Artist Mentor for the MFA in New Media Program of the Transart Institute (Krems, Austria) and Head of Music at CBB Montreal.
Benjamin Thigpen (thigpen@u.washington.edu) 1. Nous n'avons qu'un espoir
au monde
This piece is based on a recording I made on 1 May 2002, in front of the Opéra
Garnier in Paris. The neo-fascist political party, le Front National, was holding
a rally in support of its presedential candidate Jean-Marie LePen. A group of
demonstrators began singing a manly song, whose lyrics run: Les bleus chez vous
dansant la ronde / Boiront le sang de votre cœur / Nous n'avons qu'un espoir
au monde / C'est le cœur de Notre Seigneur
Which translates roughly : The infantry's here, they'll dance in a ring / And
drink the blood from your heart / We have but one hope in the world / It is
the heart of our Lord. The sounds were processed in Vincennes using custom sound
processing tools I developed in Max/MSP, and the piece was composed in May 2003
during a Djerassi Artists Residency in California. The piece is 60 seconds long
and was composed for 60x60, a project consisting of 60 works by 60 different
composers, 60 seconds or less in length, used to create a continuous one hour
long concert. The project was premiered on 2 November 2003 in New York, and
has played at various venues since.
2. 0.95652173913
'It starts out quietly, almost imperceptibly. The nature of the small bouncing
sounds that open the piece, however, should put us on our guard: tense and nervous,
they announce the catastrophes to come. Because 0.95652… is a catastrophic
piece. Its very substance seems to be catastrophe. Relationships are inverted.
Tumultuous, roaring upheavals, increasing throughout the piece, are paradoxically
its moments of calm. which may shed some light on its title - enigmatic and
unpronounceable (like the name of God in the Old Testament?). This almost one
speaks the limite, the smallest difference, which is also th einstant of maximal
intensity. And 0.95652… places us within this instant as if within a nest.
(After, there will be one: completion (?), silence (?), death (?) - domains
beyond our reach). The total sound, immobile and solar agitation, is detached
from all causality. It appears brutally (increasing brutally as the piece advances),
and stops just as abruptly, without reason'. R.R. Larivière.
Commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture 2003, and premièred in
Paris, 23 April 2006.
Biog. As a composer of electracoustic music, Benjamin Thigpen has worked primarily in studios in France and Belgium: GRM (Paris), Rechereches et Musiques (Brussels), CCMIX (Paris), and SCRIME (Bordeaux). He has also been an artist in residence at Djerassi (California) and l'Espace Totem (Montreal). His music is performed in Europe, North and South America, Australia and New Zealand, as well as on the web; it has been awarded mentions in various competitions (Musica Nova, Prix Noroit, Métamorphoses, Città di Udine, CIMESP). He has received commissions from GRM, SCRIME, The French Ministry of Culture and L'Espace Totem, and is often invited to present his work at conferences and universities in Europe and the United States. He studied composition, aesthetics, and computer music with Elaine Barkin, Samuel Weber, Christian Eloy etc. After working for nearly six years as a computer music instructor at Ircam (Paris), he is currently teaching digital signal processing, acoustics and psychoacoustics at the Conservatory of Cuneo, in Italy. His CD human for scale has recently been released by EMFMedia (www.emfmedia.org). His music is concerned with issues of energy, density, complexity, movement, simultaneity and violence, and he often works extensively with space as a primary compositional parameter. He thinks that music does not exist in time but rather creates it, and considers that music is not the art of sound but the art of the transcendence of sound.
James Wyness (j.wyness@tiscali.co.uk) man soldier girl boy woman
This is a text/sound piece based on a simple poem. The poem begins with the
sequence of descriptive sentences of the form definite article, noun, verb,
definite article, noun. Each line describes a scene witnessed every day on our
televisions; the act of war and its effect on civilians. The poem gradually
disintegrates grammatically until we are left with lists of nouns and verbs.
The text is composed as a reading by several computer voices. These voices are
relentless and never draw breath. Their cold inhumanity serves to draw an obvious
parallel with the subject of the text and with the artist's perception of the
media's voyeuristic coverage of events in the Middle East in particular. A solo
female voice offsets the computer voices and maps a trajectory from confidence
to isolation to eventual madness.
Biog. James Wyness is a composer and sound artist living in Southern Scotland. His most recent work, a commissioned soundwalk, explores the themes of location and identity. His electroacoustic music, multi-channel installations and radio art pieces are played and performed regularly in the UK, Europe and South America. He is currently studying part time towards a PhD in composition and sound art with Pete Stollery at Aberdeen University, and is setting up a netlabel to represent UK sound artists who use field recordings primarily in their work. Details of past and current projects can be found at www.wyness.org.
Additional performances / installations
During the event we hope also to perform "I believe I can Fly. (For Pauline Oliveros)", a participatory improvisation-based piece by becoming animal. All welcome to participate - no musical experience needed! This is scheduled to take place around 3.45 pm.
Also, we hope to present an installation by Philip Archer entitled 'What's The Worst That Could Happen? #2' The installation consists of a Yamaha Portasound PSS 380 keyboard which rests on top of a water-filled tank. Wires from the circuit-board of the keyboard extend from the case and into the water. A portion of the circuit also protrudes from the case, exposed to the elements. A pump in the tank slowly drips water onto the exposed circuit, randomly making connections between the components. These new connections cause the keyboard to behave in unexpected ways, playing tones, bursts of noise and corrupted loops. The installation becomes an autonomous, circuit-bending water-feature which plays on the received notion that water and electricity don't mix. The first instance of this installation appeared at 'Circuits of Malpractice' in October 2005 - a concert at the University of East Anglia devoted to unorthodox use of technologies.
Bio. Phil completed a PhD in Composition at the University of East Anglia in
2004 and is currently working at Norwich School of Art and Design. His main
areas of interest are circuit-bending and hardware hacking, the creation of
electro-mechanical musical instruments and interfaces, and the use of these
in live performance situations. Past works have involved modified CD players,
a 'prepared' inkjet printer, and a series of electronic music boxes.
Contact: Adrian Newton