Thrilled to see that all of the Cities and Memory field recordings and compositions (including my contributions Huygens and Ottawa Shortwave) are now permanently archived at The British Library as part of their Sound and Moving Image Catalogue! Read the full article at the Cities and Memory website. 📁
It appears that a whole month has gone by. Here are a few notable things that have cheered me up and cheered me on in recent weeks.
To what does the mysterious title above refer?
It can only be a new show from blue star radio! Here, you can listen to my contribution to the recent Cities and Memory project, Shortwave Transmissions, along with pieces from Moray Newlands and Audio Obscura (and also music from Grouper and Mica Levi for good measure). Get ecstatic for static below. 👂
Broadcasts and radio seem to be a bit of a theme recently. First off, BLACK ARROW & ETHER/ORBIT were released together on cassette via The Dark Outside (normally broadcasting from the Galloway Forest) and now Cities and Memory has released a new project called Shortwave Transmissions (broadcasts from around the world), featuring my contribution, Ottawa Shortwave.
You can listen to the entire release on Bandcamp and hear a special radio programme from its curator on Resonance FM (broadcasts from London).
We're back looking and listening to the night sky. My track 'Huygens' can be heard as part of Blue Star Radio's 41st episode, fittingly concluding with those stars who've recently drifted out into the infinite night, and a Leyland Kirby track. Listen below (full tracklist here). ✨
Huygens Probe Shines for Cassini Cameras. Photograph from NASA's Image and Video Library.
From High Down to Huygens, it's been exciting (not to mention a nice surprise) to see the new collaboration between Electronic Sound magazine and globe-spanning field recording project Cities and Memory. The new issue features an interview with Cities and Memory founder, Stuart Fowkes, along with a few picks from previous releases and I'm really pleased to say that Huygens is one of them (along with the original sound source for additional context)! The bundle edition comes with an excellent double CD…
Read moreNo boiled eggs or turkeys here. The Delia and Wendy-inspired Retrophonica (which includes my track Like Clockwork) is number 10 in Electronic Sound's top compilations of the year! Brian Eno's on there too, which is nice.
This week I've been getting on my soap box Derbyshire because 'Retrophonica' is now bleeping and blooping out in the world - you can listen to the full release below.
Enjoy a review of my "swirling synths" and "strong architecture" via ANTI Music here, in addition to a track-by-track listen on Yeah I Know It Sucks, where I may well have been betrayed by my gothic past. Additionally, here's an article about Wendy Carlos I found really interesting prior to contributing, which beautifully articulates some…
Read moreGreat to see The Wire Magazine and a closer listen digging in to the Cities & Memory #SpaceIsThePlace project. If you’d like to do the same, you can listen via Bandcamp.
Exciting to see the Cities & Memory #SpaceIsThePlace project receiving support from The Guardian, The Quietus, Bluedot Festival and even the European Space Agency. The long-running field recording project brought together artists from all over the world to rework sounds from space in celebration of the anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and I contributed a track called ‘Huygens’ which uses an alien weather signal as its foundation.
The picture above is a small disc that was left behind from the Apollo 11…
Detuned doom in a darkened room awaits. Hear an unreleased song on this magnificent cassette release from The Dark Outside!
Pleased to be adding some mildly threatening (and previously unreleased) wailing to this wondrous cassette release from @thedarkoutside. Fans of mysterious broadcasts in the woods and tape player owners, stay tuned.
All of the remixes from ‘Verxes’ in one place plus three previously unreleased early 2000s demos, now up for your listening pleasure on Bandcamp.