In the midst of a maelstrom of lecturing, research, performances and preparing to give my paper at NIME2010 15-18th June. As part of this I am going to be performing a networked concert with a combination of local and remote musicians on FBi 9-10 pm AET (12pm GMT) on the Sunday (20TH) after the conference. This will also be one of the 1st recordings for a proposed Exploration in Sound net label release later in the year.
Other events include:
Memory Flows exhibition with Neil Jenkins. A sound and light installation at Newington Armory opens 14th May.
Production and mixing of “Elixer” a New album by Mircan Kaya to be released in the European Autumn.
Furthernoise facelift and re-locate..not as painful as it sounds…hopefully. The new April issue is now online here
Well here we are, four weeks into the new year and I feel like I haven’t really stopped to take hold of the new decade. Apart from a few days in Newcastle over new year, looming deadlines, writing, lecturing and online improv sessions have meant that I haven’t had much of a chance to take stock of what was 2009.
Projects coming up are “Memory Flows” exhibition at The Armory in May, NIME2010 in June, a new Mircan Kaya album, tutoring on the new Music and Sound Design degree at UTS, along with various Ethernet Orchestra performances. We are also about to go live with a new issue of Furthernoise.org in the next few days. he he ha ha….
I’ve had some interesting jams in the last month, particularly with the recent weekend session in electro-music.com with the Washing Machine crew. Musicians from all over the place streaming their playing in Nicecast, which is then mixed at electro-music and re-broadcast from their radio station. It’s an ethic of using the network ‘as is” and necessitates incorporating latency of up to 20 - 30 seconds into ones playing. As most of my recent improvisation has been in eJamming (11ms or under), which is basically real-time, it really requires a quite different methodology to create a continuum in performance. In essence you play a phrase for as long as it takes to be broadcast back into the mix, which forces you to stop playing until you have heard the ensuing musical dialogue with what you played half a minute ago. It’s very time based and forces you to stop and listen to what has essentially become a past event. As a result the improvisations are mainly textural and sonorous without many rhythmic contributions.
Download Washing Machine Mix 1, featuring ocp, eartrumpet, musicman11712, Antimon, Inventor, muied lumens and Blue Hell.
Download Washing Machine Mix2, featuring ocp, eartrumpet, musicman11712, Antimon, Inventor, muied lumens and Blue Hell.
Still looking for collaborators in these online improvisatory escapades, so please get in touch if your interested. With an application gone into NIME2010 I am looking at arranging some trials in eJamming in the coming weeks.
Well as everything gradually grinds to a close for the year, us thesis students are still beavering away till the last. I’m also working on a paper for NIME2010, which UTS is hosting and I’m excited about. It’s seems to be drawing the rather fragmented strands I have collected this first semester into some kind of order. The hardest and most interesting tip I have been on is the thought of diverse cultures collaborating / improvising together with a ‘free improvisation’ aesthetic. Is this still imposing form on what should be formless ?
Where does the ‘unique event’ happen in improvisation ?
Or is it always the Cagian ”improvisation is generally playing what you know’.
All the cultures of improvisation I have looked at employ modes, scales and repetition of phrases which are built upon. In this way, I feel free improvisation is the only theoretical form that can accommodate a truly free musical lexicon, that can actually communicate between players and listener. Although I am painfully aware of how anachronistic this might sound.
Still some of the intriguing aspects will be the UX, how the musicians interact remotely without visual signifiers, and how a dialogue might be passed around in different temporal and geographic cyber-place/spaces.
I have been shortlisted as a finalist for the Golden Eye Awards with Idea of South, and we will be performing an edited version of the piece at the Bon Marche Studio on 20th October. It is strange imagining this work in front of an audience, as it is really a radiophonic work with occasional instrumental interventions. As the space has a surround sound system, I am going to play it out as a 6 channel mix in tools, with Bernie (Douglas Mawson), Hogi on violin, me on processed horns, and Neil doing a special visitorsstudio mix. The night also features performances by Nick Wishart, Emily McDaniels, Miguel Valenzuela and Emma Ramsey.
Refraction Sound night at the UTS studio. Bon Marche Studio, 755 Harris St, Ultimo, Sydney. Curated by Emily McDaniel.
7pm, 2nd September 2009
So far it’s me on horns and loops and Yavuz Uydu - on Turkish Bendir Oud and Mark Francombe on guitar live from Oslo paying in pre set keys based on previous improvisations. The boundaries it imposes are quite severe but there are still so many possibilities. Simple and minimal is just so nice !
Anyway we are on at 20.00 and you really have to be at the venue to get all three performances together. it also features :
cleptoclectics
Cleptoclectics is Tom Smith – channelling sonic detritus, playing various instruments, Tom Smith uses granular synthesis to create dense, idiosyncratic music. Warm textures, a distinctive tonal range, and staggered rhythms develop into a subtle form of reverie.
Morning Stalker
Morgan McKellar began writing music under the name Morning Stalker in 2005 as a home-recording project. Using heavily-effected instrumentation and crude recording methods to create lo-fi soundscapes of layered guitar loops, synth drones and fractured vocals. Since then Morning Stalker has become three, recruiting fellow Underlapper members Marc Chomicki (drums) and Matt Furnell (samplers) for live performances based around improvisation, texture, and progression.
Ethernet Orchestra
Live Internet improvisation session featuring Roger Mills - trumpet, Yavuz Uydu - Turkish Bendir and ex Cranes guitarist Mark Francombe performing live from Oslo. The performance will integrate live streamed guitar textures, trumpet and semi determined tonalities and structure. Roger Mills is currently an MCA student at UTS whose practice focuses on networked collaborations, Internet performance and experimental radio. www.eartrumpet.org www.furthernoise.org
Genevieve Little
Currently completing a Master’s degree in Audio Production at UTS, Genevieve has recently returned from a year abroad in San Francisco. Genevieve offers an intriguing sound with inflections of jazz and alt-folk. By incorporating experimental looping techniques into her performances she is able to achieve a full band sound as a solo artist.
I can hardly believe it’s been nearly two months since we first broadcast Idea of South on that cold rainy Sunday night in June. It’s also been at least three months since I posted anything here, which is something I have been wanting to rectify for a while, so here we go…
In the end the whole project was an inspiration to make, as well as working with so many amazing people without whom it simply would not have been possible. From Maurice in New Zealand, Andra in Indonesia and Wilfred from Uruguay, to everyone who participated either in recording, performing or facilitating… a very big thanks particularly to the UTS audio dept, Brendan, Sina & Dan..Also Peter at FBi and Anthony at 2SER and Shannon O’Neil…but there were so many people that helped make it happen.. all the contributing sound artists, Loop Space, Neil, Sophea and Kaustubh you can read my genuflecting gratitude to them all in the Idea of South Blog. Stereo version is now up in projects at Idea of South Stereo Mix
Onto the next chapter now and I’m settling down to some reading and thinking about my research into the possibilities of hybridity in remote real time Internet collaborations. What exactly is the solo in improvisation and is it a conversation or well rehearsed statements ? If it’s a conversation how does not seeing your collaborator effect the interaction ? Is it learning a new set aural signifiers ?
What does the technology contribute or detract from the process ?
Can improvisation be as much a language of texture and timbre than melody ?
All grist for the mill and I would welcome any ones thoughts and/or experiences of remote netbased collaborations. Of course it is all written up under projects on eartrumpet.org and you can listen to a stereo mix of the end result !
Well, Just over a half way through the making of this triple horned beast. Making three distinct mixes which are at once entities by themselves but also inherent parts of a whole….All at 2SER and FBI and UTS have been fabulous in imagining this piece with me, and a big thanks to Peter Hollo at Utility Fog, Shannon, Norie, Brendan, Pia, all at Dorkbot and Lars at Extended Play for continued support.
After a few false starts and re-envisaging of compatible formats (cubase and tools..ggrrrrr) I have a mix forming which seems to have taken a life of it’s own. Partly driven by the field recordings that continually inspire musical development or a will to impose a musicality on them. How much grit to include ??
We live in such a beautiful place, which like anywhere also contains a certain amount of broken dreams…it’s hard to not feel like introducing balance.
Continuing to record content which will at some stage will be edited into place…. violin, guitar, trumpet and various spoken words. When do you stop ?
Still interested in more field recordings particularly from African sub continent. If anyone has any dv cam or hard disc audio from places like Angola, Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique all contributions would be gratefully received.
We go live Sunday 14th June, 22.30 - 11.00 AEST, UK TIME 13.30-14.00 GMT
For more details on how to listen from wherever you are go to eartrumpet.org/ios
UK based Nebulus has done a great visual mix for a track I did as part of a dance performance a few years ago. It is a brilliant mix of generated fractal graphics and colour which works beautifully with the single melodic line of the trumpet with acoustic guitar. I was surprised at how expressive it was with the dynamics of the track in a kind of organic, evolutionary way. Nebulus has a very distinct and understated style which reflects his listening as much as watching.
Idea of South - Web Map Installation (work in progress)
Roger Mills & Neil Jenkins.
21st February - 21st March 2009
Loop Space Gallery, Newcastle.
109 Hunter St, Newcastle, NSW.
IDEA OF SOUTH
Inspired by our relocation from the United Kingdom to Australia twelve months ago, Idea of South explores the quintessence of southern sentience through sound. Part phonography, part psycogeography, Idea of South maps an evolving collage of sound events through a net based interface. As a work in progress, this impressionist soundscape will evolve as further contributions are added. The coordinates from each location will also plot a tonal composition for an eventual contrapuntal radiophonic work to be performed in the Autumn.
CALL FOR FIELD RECORDINGS.
To contribute field recordings, please email stereo WAV or high quality (320k) mp3 to roger AT eartrumpet [dot] org via ftp host yousendit.com. For those with access to a server, I am also happy to download from them.
Please also include the following details:
Location with latitude and longitude coordinates
Time of year recording was made
Name and contact
All contributors will be credited and by submitting recordings I assume your permission to use the material in the manner outlined. All contributions for the web map installation will be licensed, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0.
For more information on the development of the project - Idea of South Blog