link of the month - June 2008

cartographie sonore autour du Taurion - a sound blog by Cedric Peyronnet exploring the Taurion river & its surrounding environments. Packed full of interesting MP3 files, maps, images & text (in French) this is one of the best specific location sound blogs out there.

new release of note: Daniel Jones & David Papapostolou

Daniel Jones & David Papapostolou - 'Leaving room' (adjacent recordings)

I've had the pleasure of collaborating with Daniel on a few occasions now & seeing him perform a couple of great solo live sets too. To my mind he's one of the most interesting young players in the UK right now.

David I have only heard on record - his 'one and two' cd is worth checking out. That disc features guitar, cello & sax - however in recent months he has concentrated on mixing desk and other electronics.

So, this first release by the duo (on David's new cd-r label) is most welcome. The 6 sections were recorded in February 2008 & one can almost hear both musicians moving forward on this recording. Daniel I feel is cutting a more instinctive path for himself, whilst David is searching for his own voice using his new approaches.

The music here is sparse, occasionaly punctured with the hard-edged tones of David's mixing desk but only once is the surface tension of the music overly distrubed. I believe there are more instruments being used by Daniel than the cover states but as usual he manages to show a restraint that is both carefully balanced and natural.

For a debut duo release this is a good start. Personally, i'm keen to hear Daniel solo & likewise I await another solo disc from David that confirms his own voice with his current set up, but here is a new label getting off to a good start !

contact: adjacent@laposte.net

Rhodri Davies, David Lacey, Dennis McNulty - 'Poor trade' (Cathnor)

Perhaps some folks viewing this blog understandably get the impression that it's only about 'field recording' based music / sound. Save for the post on Angharad Davies & Tisha Mukarji's 'end space' cd & the one on aspects of the Shakuhachi, the content here has indeed been fairly fr !. However, for me at least aspects of fr connect to the exploratory way I have come to listen to most sound & most music, not in a contrived or theoretical manner (though I have no doubt there are plenty of theories to be stated) but in the sense of the way my own ears have grown (!) & how my emotional reaction to music has been influenced by my enjoyment of sounds not generated by the human hand for example. That said this cd does include some field recordings (via David & Rhodri I believe) & some sounds occurring around the church in which the session took place. In that respect it is 'recorded in the field' & the quality of the recording (by David Reid) leaves many a studio standing.

From the first few minutes of the opening section 'Tried in the scales and found wanting' on this new Cathnor disc it's clear that this is a confident outing. There's no awkward finding of feet - all the players respond to each other with an obvious sense of shared purpose, whilst retaining and imposing their individual voices. Speaking as a listener and a performer myself, this interplay is the thing that makes improvisation a vital and expressive art form & it sets apart the successful groupings from the rest.

I have to admit that I often struggle with computers in improvised music (due in part to the heavy handed or lazy way in which they are often used) and I also find the term 'electronics' a rather obtuse word in this context - perhaps that is why some people use it. The music that emerges from Rhodri Davies's collection of minidisc players, ebows, electric fans and other gadgets, not to mention his adapted harp, doesn't suffer from any such lack of clarity or from the grey, restricted confines the term can imply.

This issue with terminology is, of course, just my own bag of shoulder chips ! and this trio also features Dennis McNulty - one of the few improvisers who can use a computer in a manner that moves it away from purely technological possibilities. The sounds he adds do not stick out, awkwardly digital and seemingly unresponsive - rather they sit within constantly developing sections that both carry their own momentum and find places in which to slow down and cut a different channel.

David Lacey, another who uses electronics, this time to augment his percussion, applies his usual subtle approach to the structure, often seeming to hold back but with timing that is on target throughout. The field recordings he uses, some using hydrophones, blend seamlessly into the whole and make one keen to hear more of this aspect of David's interests.

Perhaps when one thinks about the methods each player uses it's possible to see one drawback of a cd release of improvised music - there is only the music & given the highly coherent ensemble playing on display it's near impossible to visualise from whom some sounds come. However this actually shows the strength of the music here, exposing the clear need for contemporary improvisation to be supported when it is released & to be witnessed live. Of course the removal of the obvious visual element of a performance serves, as it has always done, to free the music from those constraints, resulting in a wider, more individual and creative landscape being available to us when we listen, when we hear. In that respect I see a correlation between a constant appreciation of the sounds in my everyday life and music - each has a wide vista, one for us to explore as we wish.

So this fifth release from Cathnor further strengthens its already solid reputation as a label that brings us music that retains its sense of pleasure in a scene currently often far too dominated by a rather clinical, elitist approach.

four questions # 10: Emmanuel Mieville

Emmanuel is a French composer & phonographer. His latest release is 'Dispositif: Canal Saint-Martin' (xing wu records) - this collaboration with Eric Cordier features the sounds of the Centre d'animation Jemmapes building in Paris, composed in real time from 30 microphones placed around the site along with a few sounds captured in Normandy & Emmanuel's unsettling synthesizer interruptions - an element that I found difficult a first but can also be heard as a way for the focus of the listener to be occasionally disrupted and re-established.

JrF: when & why did you become interested in field recording ?

EM: I started to do soundtakes during my sound engineer studies but became really interested in field recordings many years later, after a major aesthetic turn in my composer’s practice. My first approach to music was done with synthesis, samples and midi keyboards, when I was learning at the GRM (groupe de rechereches musicales). After a 6 years interruption due to personal problems, I started to compose again, my focus had drifted far from the former musical sources, and I began to get involved in field recording and objects, towards concrete music in its utmost historical concept. Besides, my travels to non European countries and meeting with other cultures and instruments modified to a great extent my music thinking.

JrF: how do you use your field recordings in your own artistic output ?

EM: I have a deep interest in the site’s topology, and the events disclosed during the recordings, which i’m trying to render in the music output, either with raw or treated sounds. The narrative component-if any- in the soundtake is not regarded as anecdotal material, but as memory collection, yielding a cohesive stimulation for my composing imagination. Nevertheless, there is no strict rule or methodology, and external materials can influence afterwards the work on the field recordings and disrupt the consistency of the initial material recorded.

JrF: do you regard 'natural' sounds as a musical element (bearing in mind that the conventional definition of 'music' is rapidly becoming obsolete) or as sound ? is this definition important ? does it matter ?

HM: 'Natural sounds' are undertaken as musical elements, but their definition is not relevant in my composer’s approach, for instance, working for radiophonic documentaries and using these 'natural sounds' is not considered as musical output, but it is for me. I want to blur all boundaries between sound sources, and not attach myself to definitions or constraints, unless they are creative, or issued from a specific commission.

JrF: has the act of making field recording had an effect (positive or negative) on the way you listen to your everyday surroundings and how has it affected the way you listen to other music and sound (if at all) ?

HM: No, I was sensitive to the sound surroundings since my childhood. I had no classical instrumental and solfegic learning in conservatories (except for a short and undisciplined piano practice), but on the other hand I was exposed to all kinds of music styles, among them musique concrète or ethnic musicians. For example, I listened to Pierre Henry’s first pieces at the age of 10, and it developed this fluid aural perception of sounds and music, with no hierarchy whatsoever.
The 'negative' notion of this perception is that I tend to emphasize or dismiss sounds that are normally unnoticed in Paris life.

May 2008

favourite places # 1: Kettle's Yard, Cambridge (house)

Kettle's Yardwas the open home of Jim & Helen Ede. The site now also includes a very good gallery but for me the house itself is the treasure here.

Four terraced cottages were renovated & transformed by Jim & Helen with the help of architect Roland Aldridge in the mid-1950's, providing a home & living gallery for thier art collection which featured works by artists, many of whom were or became friends of the Ede's, such as Miro, Gaudier-Brzeska, Laurence Whistler, Ben Nicholson, Alfred Wallis, Brancusi, Gabo, David Jones, Barbara Hepworth, Kenji Umeda & many more. The entire house & all of it's contents were given to the University & is still as the Ede's left it.

So, why do I like it - well, firstly there are the personal memories of my first visit with my Mother. I knew little about it before visiting & somehow expected, perhaps, something similar to other gifted houses - sterile & often more of a museum than a welcoming place, created with inspiration and still 'alive'. Kettle's Yard is the later - apart from the pressence of the discrete guides who are on hand for any questions (some of whom knew the Ede's & have some great stories to tell of the artists who stayed there) it is still like walking into a lived-in house, with a collection of art & books that is still added to from time to time. One is free to sit on the chairs, read the books on the shelves & spend hours just sitting and looking at the works of art. For someone brought up in a country seemingly obsessed with trapping and moth balling history when it comes to buildings, Kettle's Yard was & continues to be a revelation. Every time I visit I discover something I had missed before - both visually & in terms of the sound of the place.

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Although it is close to a fairly busy road, there is a sense of space & calm, especially if you visit mid-week & out of season when there aren't too many visitors (though they do have a system in place to prevent crowding). That's also the best idea because one really needs to have no time limit to fully appreciate the atmosphere.

Thinking back, it was also one of the first 'public' buildings that gave me a sense of audible silence - i'd been in many quieter structures before of course - country churches, remote houses & barns etc - but to be in a building in the heart of a thriving city, without sound proofing but able to retain a sense of quietness was stricking - perhaps because it confounded ones expectations on that level.

If I had to pick the best place in the UK to see modern art (mainly from the 20th Century) this would be my choice. It's a unique place, not only because it allows us to see the works of art in a non-gallery setting, but also because everyday objects (pebbles, glasses, books, plants etc) can be viewed as special objects too (without that becoming a heavy, enforced ideology).

As for the sound of the place - of course there's a huge variety - each room or living space has it's own character. The use of wood and flat white surfaces, along with glass surfaces and textiles all play thier part no doubt - but for me this has always been a building whose whole character and personal relevance illustates the relationship between what we see and feel and what we hear - the way our ears do not work alone.

As part of the first section of my own work on the 'in place' project i'll be recording the entire house & some of its contents during July & will no doubt post a few sounds from those sessions on the blog.

new feature on the 'in place' blog

a favourite place:

what with all the interviews with fellow artists & reviews of field recording based releases, I feel the blog is becoming too focused on the end result of what we hear that inspires or moves us. So there will be a new post series in which individuals can submit some words / an image / a sound of a favourite place - the emphasis being on describing the emotive reasons for liking the location. This post series is open to everyone - those who record & those who don't. So get in touch if you'd like to contribute - it would be great to build up a diverese range of these inspiring places !

four questions interview series:

I've been having a few interesting conversations about this series - most recently with Zoe Irvine (her interview will be up on the blog in the coming weeks) & I think it's time to look again at one of the questions. So far I like the fact that asking the same basic questions results in such different answers & overall paints an interesting picture of how different people feel about both their own practice & the questions themselves. However I think question 3 might need re-wording as it could give some the impression that there is an agenda behind it. So look out for any changes !

(the forthcoming interviews with John Grzinich, Goh Lee Kwang, Emmanuel Mieville, Yannick Dauby, Marc Namblard & Zoe Irvine were all initiated prior to any changes)

extended field recording...

The phrase 'extended technique' has so far been mainly used when referring to unconventional or unorthodox methods of playing musical instruments & has been a prominent aspect of musical creativity since the early 1900's. Of course many unconventional techniques had already been invented prior to this date - various methods of bowing stringed instruments, breathing techniques for winds etc. The entire history of music is one of perpetual invention anyway.

However, it has become useful at times to adopt the term 'extended technique' as a bridge between experimentation and the method in question becoming more established and therefore adding to the store house of knowledge and experience.

I started occasionally using this term a couple of years ago to describe my approach to field recording & as with most descriptive word choices it came down not mainly to something I felt was important for me to state in every circumstance but rather that there were situations where using the term could lead to a more open and flexible view being taken of what my work involves (in performance, installation, written proposals or applications for example). Furthermore it can be a useful way to actually re-discover the more conventional aspects of field recording, by looking a new at ones own methods and then finding a natural method slowly returning.


FIELD RECORDING (fr) can be traced back to as far as the late 1800's and for most of the time from then until the 1950's it's prime purpose was to capture elements of oral history, folk traditions and latterly as a means of recording natural sounds.

However many recordists have now moved into new areas - using the full creative range of the basic equipment to explore previously overlooked sounds or to form artistic impressions of environments they encounter.

Many of the methods that could arguably be termed extended field recording techniques have actually been in use for many years now, but the use of such an artistic term has often been at odds with the technical, scientific terminology used by the majority of people involved in fr. For example the use of contact microphones to capture vibrations, forcing the equipment beyond it's intended use (feedback), internal methods of sound capture etc etc.

There is also the use of fr in terms of music to be considered. There are now many examples of thier use in composition, improvisation, sound art, live performance, installation etc etc. This too can be seen as extended technique in relation to the original intention of fr technology.

It is this ever expanding sense of exploration, discovery and a deeper, more personal way to capture the natural sounds that exist that adds to my interest in fr as an art form - it is a source of occasional revelation side by side with the constant need for ones own development to take a natural and uncontrived path.

Patrick Farmer - 'Aerodrome' (extract)

aerodrome extract.mp3

four questions # 8: Patrick Farmer

I first got to know Patrick Farmer whilst he was involved in 'Knee Knees' (Nottingham, UK) - I played a couple of times at some of the valuable events he co-curated & also got to see Patrick's percussion skills in action - he's a versatile player who also retains an obvious wish to keep searching. So far he's released a few hand-produced recordings inc. pieces for solo percussion and field recordings of fence wires - get in touch with him via his myspace page for more info.

Apart from all that, Patrick also runs the 'compost and height' blog label - currently it features recordings by Patrick, myself, Jeph Jerman, Pascal Nicols, Matt Davies and Ben Farmer - with lots more to come inc a series of short-run split 3inch cd-r's.

JrF: when & why did you become interested in field recording ?

PF: I remember when my friend Ben gave me his Dictaphone, I can't say that I carried with me wherever I went, but I remember having a lot of fun with it. There was no discernible purpose, although i evidently see the link now, I used to throw cymbals up in the air and record them hitting the ground, tape people talking on the train, walk around Town late at night during severe weather and record shop signs falling from their housing. I never used these recordings for anything in particular, I just used to enjoy listening back to them, I remember laughing a lot. When the Dictaphone broke, I think it was the last straw when i buried it in a pile of rocks and tried to create a mock avalanche, I bought a couple of Boundary microphones. I used to place them in the glove compartment of my friends van, alongside glass bottles, old cans, etc,. And then record everything shaking and falling as we drove, on that same trip we camped out by the sea trying to record seaweed and the movement of the sand through the dunes.

JrF: how do you use your field recordings in your own artistic output ?

PF: To the best of my knowledge I've never used any of my field recordings live, it's a process that I don't understand as part of my own work, i can't see where they fit in terms of a live output. To capitalise on that, I'm not even sure what that last sentence really means. I've been to a lot of shows where the playback of recordings alongside more traditional instrumentation has ruined the overall event for me, and certainly vice versa. I've recorded a lot of things, however, that have most certainly affected the way I play on a drum. The first time I recorded a fence it presented me with such a multiplicity of ideas, and has continued to do so. Searching for objects to use alongside my drum has given me a lot of ideas for recordings also.

JrF: do you regard 'natural' sounds as a musical element (bearing in mind that the conventional definition of 'music' is rapidly becoming obsolete) or as sound ? is this definition important to you ? does it matter ?

PF: The Physicist David Bohm once said that the universe is a whole, but our approach and view points are so utterly fragmented, we are in turn presented with a fragmented and literal view of the universe. I understand and am fully enveloped within categorisation, but there is something in such an anthropic dissemination of music and sound that I can't quite adopt.

JrF: well, I suppose there are two basic ways that people come to these definitions: either through the technical meaning of each word or for personal reasons that are often related more to how we feel about them - personally for me it's the later, but oddly I don't think of it as a definition. Anyway on to question 4: has the act of making field recording had an effect (positive or negative) on the way you listen to your everyday surroundings and how has it affected the way you listen to other music and sound (if at all) ?

PF: At this point I seem to prefer sitting with my door open and listening to what is right there at that time over turning my stereo on. The sound of traffic used to irritate me, but more often that not it's going to be present wherever you happen to be, why should I spend my time angrily searching for a misplaced utopia? One thing I do know is that I'm happy to be forced to realise all this through listening.

April 2008

an extract from Patrick's recording of an aerodrome roof expanding and contracting in the sun can be found above.

recycled cassette release

brzeska - 1991-2002 (click for more info)

early improvised pieces for clear inputs / internal sounds - limited edition recycled cassette

four questions (+ one !) # 9: Lawrence English

OK, OK - I know we've jumped from interview number 7 to interview number 9, but the limited pressing of the new cd by Lawrence English has prompted me to post this one now. Interview number 8 with Patrick Farmer (+ MP3 exclusive) will be posted in the next couple of weeks, following which I will re-arrange the posts in order for these numbers to make sense !

'Studies for Stradbroke' , the latest cd by Lawrence English, concentrates solely on sounds gathered around Stradbroke Island, Queensland using hydrophones (microphones constructed to record underwater). There are an increasing number of field recordists & phonographers using HP's or geophones (underground mics) these days - perhaps a sign of attempting to find new areas, perhaps an often worrying sign of the rush for more technology influencing the creative impulse ? However, as this blog focuses not on the scientific but on the artistic it's fair to say that thankfully there hasn't been a flood (no pun intended !) of HP based releases of interest so far.

Here though is one that got the release it deserved - not only in terms of the content but also the package as a whole - from the letterpress sleeve to it's high quality cdr pressing - a hallmark of the Winds Measure imprint. I'm of the school that believes, in the right hands, the package can add to the work as a whole. Be warned though, this is a limited edition of 150 copies & will go fast.

On 'studies...' we get a range of recordings, some that capture more abrassive sounds such as those of boat motors through the water and the ghostly lashings of the two 'slide' tracks, but most concentrate on more subtle elements, such as on 'reed of brown lake' & 'invented tide'.

'intercepted communications' features the sounds of fish, mammals and of plants made during the process of photosynthesis (also explored by yours truely on 'field recordings volume 21' & by Lee Patterson of course - as featured on his Resonance FM series of broadcasts - repeats please !).

'rock walls' is the only track that comes close to documenting some of the more conventional sounds associated with recordings made in and around water - one can detect the sound of the tide splashing against the walls in question, however only in the background with further clicks and slight disturbance of the hydrophones holding the attention.

Releases such as this offer a clear example of the marked difference between the superfluous range of technically precise but bland water-based nature recordings available & an abstracted, yet more evocative approach.

Lawrence (whos also involved in the Room 40 label) has previously used field recordings as one element in his compositions or by heavily processing them, here the recordings are left to speak for themselves & the result is a release that should be considered for purchase asap before it sells out !

JrF: when & why did you become interested in field recording ?

LE: I think the first time I really remember listen to environments was when I started bird watching with my father. He was a fairly avid bird watcher and would often take me out with him to have a look for various birds at plain lands near-by our house. His approach was very much focused on listening for the birds, which were often camouflaged and then finding them by eye once we'd established a rough area they might be in. I think those experiences of really focusing on ears was something that has stuck with me and still to this day if I am looking for birds or animals in environments then I'll apply that approach. The first field recordings I made were in the 1990s, but they were more for having a 'sound memory' of a place that I could return to at a later date and recall a particular space or place.

JrF: how do you use your field recordings in your own artistic output ?

LE: I think increasingly it's becoming difficult to utilise field recordings in meaningful and original ways. Given the huge rise in domestically available recorders, there's a great deal of material emerging that is either entirely field recording based or utilising environmental sounds for a bed in which other musical elements might co-exist - much of it lacking any real investigation or reasoning. Whilst I think it's completely fine to use these kinds of sounds, like you would any instrument etc, I do think the commonplace nature of found sound in electronic and other musical areas means to create something unique takes a greater focus and concept.
With that said increasingly I'm finding that my own work uses field recordings in a number of ways. Obviously, like the recent winds measure release, I am still creating works entirely based on untreated field recordings. Like the works on Studies For Stradbroke, I really enjoy finding sound environments that are tactile in a way, but unfamiliar - something that asks a listener to consider what it is that they are listening to. Ideally to have them invest something of their own experience into the piece. I find hydrophonic recordings really bring this to the fore.
I also use field recordings in a compositional sense - not just as a sound source, but also as a reference from which I might design various sound elements. That technique I employed extensively on 'For Varying Degrees Of Winter'.

JrF: do you regard 'natural' sounds as a musical element (bearing in mind that the conventional definition of 'music' is rapidly becoming obsolete) or as sound ? is this definition important to you ?does it matter ?

LE: I guess music, if we define it as this notion of 'organised sound or noise', could certainly include natural sounds. For me these sounds often exist in very natural ways - especially with the growth of home studios etc - the environment around the recording becomes part of the sound space in a given recording. Like the traffic outside the window augments and modulates other sound elements in the recording. I think that can be nice, a hint at the spaces surrounding where the music was created.

JrF: has the act of making field recording had an effect (positive or negative) on the way you listen to your everyday surroundings and how has it affected the way you listen to other music and sound (if at all) ?

LE: I think certainly like most artists working with sound there is a heightened sense of awareness that comes from making field recordings. I've always been fascinated with the way that our minds learn to block out incidental sounds and it's something that occupies a slab of the work that I undertake I think. Often I'm drawn to using these sounds in compositions - they can often establish an element of focus when repositioned. I think if anything working in this field has just made me realise I'm interested in all sounds equally and find they all have a value, it's merely about the context about how they are 'heard' or 'listened' to.

additional question:

JrF: Could you tell us about your latest release 'studies for stradbroke' ? how it was recorded, your thoughts on exploring using hydrophones etc. (feel free to avoid the technical & focus on how you felt when making these recordings !)

LE: The edition for Winds Measure was recorded last year on two seperate visits to Stradbroke Island, which is a lovely island in Moreton Bay about an hour and a half from where I live. I was using a new stereo set-up of hydrophones with my sound devices recorder. I was really impressed by the qualities of the water environments there - the inland lakes with their reed beds created an incredible sound space - very low frequency responses. Equally the wal walls that dot the island also create a really rich texture as waves assault them. I think for me the quality of these spaces, in terms of the sounds that existed and equally could be 'found' on closer inspection...there's tactility to the sounds I was able to capture that is alien, yet at the same time somewhat comforting and I really enjoy that quality about the recordings.