I’ve put together a 75-minute mix, available from here; it’s a collection of early electronic compositions, folk music from around the world, cosmic rock, and other bits and pieces (some techno, some dub), all layered together with probably excessive amounts of reverb… it’s not highly polished, but it’s pretty fun.
It’s mainly inspired by a mix Super Numeri did in 2005, called The Enochian Way, which you should definitely seek out (it’s available to buy here).
I feel slightly overawed by the seemingly endless possibilities afforded by the speed at which tracks can be taken apart and re-combined using various bits of hardware and/or software (polished and pitch-perfect Ableton DJ sets, for example); I’ve always admired the craft of polished DJ mixes, but have never felt massively inspired by the accelerating showiness and one-up-manship they involve; I tend to prefer a well-chosen compilation to a flashily-rendered mix, even if the latter requires a more readily evident set of skills to produce.
What I really liked about The Enochian Way is the manner in which it mixes songs together based less on rhythmically polished edits and precise construction than on something more textural or nebulous, closer to a compilation tape or radio broadcast. There’s a consistency of atmosphere and tone, even if they use loads of different styles and moods. I’m not sure if it’s worked with the mix I’ve done, or whether I’m over-conceptualising something which is basically just a glorified compilation tape, but the plan is to refine the idea over a series of different mixes and see if it bears fruit.
Categories: audio · media · work
the problem with a short attention span is that you end up starting a million things and never quite finishing them. hopefully, however, the bits i’ve been putting together will soon start bearing fruit:
firstly, an AEO demo tape / EP. it currently just needs to be put together in order. in a really silly bit of workflow ineptitude, i’ve spent months tweaking sounds and adding layers to songs (including lots of work on interfacing stuff with my monome 64), rather than working on more basic things like song structure. everything does seem to be emerging now though, so hopefully it’ll be a case of being able to record them as-live, and have them sound okay. in this vein, i’m playing at the exciting-sounding Wattsfest this weekend. it’s my first gig at a festival, and considering my usual parlous luck with equipment malfunctions, i’m hoping the weather doesn’t conspire to rain all over my laptop / cover my xylophone in mud etc etc.
secondly, the Vanity Phonograph has its first live appearance next week at 93 Feet East… i’ll be playing at a night of “cosmic disco and epic synth prog” called Signals From The Cosmos. the first Vanity Phonograph mix is also being finished, so I should be able to put a link up tomorrow.
thirdly, i’m going to be doing something with Albumen Records, involving short repetitive loops. don’t want to give too much away at the moment, but it will involve some handmade sound art pieces, and a re-imagining of 20th-century technology as a new medium for music distribution.
fourthly, my hand-made arduino midi controller is coming along nicely: got a faceplate manufactured so i’m pretty much ready to put it all together now: a build log will be up here, hopefully. it’s a bit lower down the list of priorities (and sometimes tricky to find a suitable time when the cat’s asleep, so I can do some soldering without the risk of him jumping onto the table to investigate…) though so it might be a while before this happens.
Categories: aeo · audio · built · work
I’ve been playing around with Processing this week, with the aim of creating a bespoke user display for live performance (i.e. not just having the standard boring Ableton set looking back at me). The eventual aim is to maybe develop this into a touch interface for performer / audience interaction using a Wii Remote and some infrared LEDs (kind of like a more basic Reactable). That’s a very long way off, but despite this (and not being any good at coding), I’m already having lots of fun with little blobs moving around the screen and tracking mouse movements.
Categories: audio · code · visual · work
Categories: audio · media
