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. 📁
Viewing: Compilations - View all posts
Loud and Cloud
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.
- Gaining some Electronic Ears to go with my electronic fingers.
- Ottawa Shortwave on CiTR 101.9 FM.
- The cloud that always has the silver lining.
- This International Women's Day mention.
- Oranges that look like other things.
Silver Hearts and Static
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. 👂
Shortwave Transmissions
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).
P. S. Given the recent news that Bandcamp have enabled queuing in their listening app, I've added all of the songs currently on the secret part of the site to Bandcamp as well so they're easier to play on the go. If you're interested in learning more, head this way.
Moons and Stars
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.
Track and Field
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 compilation too.
You can pick up a copy here, via Bleep, Magalleria, Norman Records and Underground Solu'shn or read more over at the Cities and Memory website.
Cooking With Delia
No 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.
Retrophonica Out Now!
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 of the misgivings that I've seen or experienced around electronic music. There is also some crossover with this excellent Tara Rodgers essay, which I very much enjoyed reading, about synthesizer politics and a largely unheard area of electronic music history.
Speaking of unheard histories, the vinyl copies of BLACK ARROW have now arrived and they look incredible! You can order a copy from the website or via Bandcamp now (limited to only 300 copies). On that note, I'll conclude by linking to some thoughts about Bandcamp; some mine but mostly other, more eloquent explanations. Perhaps it's idealistic or naive, but I'd like to think that the confusion or anger around how much larger companies have operated and treated their listeners/makers in such a fragile environment could be channelled into something more conscientious and useful longer term. I am also trying not to imbue my own nostalgia or present opinion into any of this, but the places and eras I associate with active music listening and participation have felt the most joyous to me and I know my own world would be a lot more grim had I not received tape mixes made by friends, or read blog articles which enthuse over insanely niche or place-specific details, or had my tracks played in a dark forest to a few radio enthusiasts. I hope it doesn't alienate anyone to talk about why I feel let down by streaming platforms, why I no longer give a shit about monthly listeners and highlight where I think people are offering better alternatives or making positive suggestions (even if there are no definitive answers), I just want to support ideas which encourage creativity, sociability, mutual support and the excitement of building your weird project out of nothing, without competitive metrics and where it can return to some form of sustainability.
Okay, time to step off the soap box.
Totally Wired
Great 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.
Moonkind
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 mission to the moon containing messages and sounds of goodwill from Earth. It has a fascinating story which you can read about here.
Music From The Dark Outside: Volume 3
Detuned doom in a darkened room awaits. Hear an unreleased song on this magnificent cassette release from The Dark Outside!
Cassette 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.
Verxus
All of the remixes from ‘Verxes’ in one place plus three previously unreleased early 2000s demos, now up for your listening pleasure on Bandcamp.