Chris Watson using one of my standard series hydrophone elements on BBC TV's 'the one show - best of'
forthcoming....
jez riley french - ‘instamatic: snowdonia’
a document of listening, simply
6 tracks focusing on fence wire recordings & listening to the wind
available as a limited edition, full size taiyo yuden cd mounted on an art card + additional postcard
Review by Daniel Crokaert from 'The Field Reporter' website:
In his Instamatic series, Jez riley French invites us to share his moments of fortunate listening like they are, without make-up nor intellectualizations, retouches or alterations of the source, except a careful selection and probably a bit of equalization…
A hike within some magnificent natural region of North Wales, namely Snowdonia, led Jez to look particularly into the wind, that wind which speaks to us, while sweeping at the same timeendlessly across ever changing landscapes…
that air which circulates, lifts, makes particles, objects and surfaces vibrate, suggesting their outlines and concrete features…
But, far more than a report about a physical truth, the work quickly switches over to the extra-ordinary, underlining a very personal way of experiencing, of giving another dimension to things, and our environment…
Vast palette of amplified metallic resonances of fences planted in the isolation of a still preserved nature…agitation, vibrations, ferruginous supplications…a whole universe stands out, and submits to the laws of another one…a unhurried play of echoes and reflections coming out of the insignificant, and which reminds us constantly that our perceptions are fluctuating, eminently subjective, and tributary of their “captation tools”, but that they can also be the starting point of unexpected emotions…
“There’s an aesthete within us all “ seems to be, roughly speaking, what Jez whispers to us.
Through his care, his methodical record, his sense of listening, the creation of his own range of microphones, Jez acts like a revealer, a non-standard intermediary…
“Snowdonia” succeeds in closing our eyes slipping us into a long travelling through shaggy herbs, dishevelled by an insistent breeze – a Malickian scene…
Just next to us, trembling & bending wires, streaking the rust tones of a jaded vegetation…pebbles shrouded in history shape long grey veins studding the country as far as the eye can see…in the faraway, the shadow of hills asleep, peaceful guardians of a permanent sight…
In our ears, clicks, muffled murmurs of cold metal, aeolian moan, all the tense sensoriality of the world…
“Snowdonia” ends up ringing like the name of a mythical place where one has rendezvous with the other-worldliness…that other-worldliness, disguised under common appearances, here finely caught, and alongside which we often pass by in total indifference…
Sunday, 31 July 2011
Friday, 29 July 2011
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
Water Beetles of Pollardstown Fen by Tom Lawrence
10 Tracks (70:46)
CD (500 copies)
http://www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=5235
What is presented in this CD is a very alien world, a hitherto unheard
aural environment that breaks with all our preconceived notions of
what underwater life should sound like. All our traditional
conceptions and inherent cultural conditioning are overwritten, deemed
void and deleted. The work contained in this CD redefines our notions
of underwater life and presents a world of alarming sophisticated
communication; a myriad of signal generation, perpetuated by a
plethora of intelligent species. In this booklet, Pollardstown Fen and
the mechanics of insect stridulation are examined before an
explanation of the contexts of the sound recordings and the
methodologies employed are discussed. While every attempt at
comparative analysis, spectral analysis and species identification
from the known literature have been made, a certain interpretive
license has been used in suggesting the meaning of the sounds
recorded. Without doubt, further detailed investigations are necessary
to be convinced with scientific certainty the meaning and context of
each communication. Another consideration is that no mechanical
devices were operating on the Fen during the period that these
recordings were made. The recordings are not contaminated by any
electrical interference. Other than an occasional overhead aircraft,
no other sounds from above the water are present in the recordings.
Field Recording Series by Gruenrekorder, Germany, 2011
2.
Ultrasonic Scapes by Eisuke Yanagisawa
10 Tracks (35:06)
CD-R (50 copies)
http://www.gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=5260
Buzzing of cicadas, pulses of bats, repeated beats from automatic
gate, drone sounds from street lights…We usually don´t hear but so
many ultrasonic sounds are emitted on the street as well as in nature.
Some are intense, continuous and harsh others are pulsing, fragmentary
and more harmonious. This is another soundscape documentary beyond our
audible range. All ultrasonic sounds were captured and real time
converted by bat detector. All tracks are unprocessed except for a
little amplification.
Field Recording Series by Gruenrekorder, Germany, 2011
Thursday, 7 July 2011
field recording / sonic arts label Gruenrekorder have announced a new series of digital downloads, with the first 3 releases available now:
Caucasus Tapes | Martin Clarke
GrDl 090 | Gruen Digital
MP3 & lossless WAV
Armenia
1 Kobayr 02:48
2 Hayravank 02:45
3 Haghpat 02:11
4 Echmiadzin 02:01
5 Sayat Nova 01:36
6 Zvartnots 01:52
Georgia
7 Garikula 03:45
8 Sioni 03:14
9 Crickets 05:53
10 Dogs 02:09
11 Piano 04:29
12 Taxi 01:39
13 Ratcha 03:43
14 Sink 01:26
14 Tracks (39’50")
_________________________
Tupelo | Mirko Uhlig
GrDl 084 | Gruen Digital
MP3 & lossless WAV
Seven years after the first public musical outing. What a crucial phase. The first album planted flowers in an abattoir, this new one throws leaves on a grave. I guess for the running people a persevering man seems to be leaving.
The teeth are loose, we need a brace!
Two boys buried, I’ll travel with you to Tupelo. Towards Bright Music for Lulubelle.
"Don’t listen to Rock’N'Roll, it’s contaminated by death’s bite!"
1) Soot
2) Loosing Teeth
3) Lurking Teeth
4) Soot Toe
5) Losing Teeth
6) Soot Tea
Soundscapes
6 Tracks (39′57″)
__________________________
Antarctica | Craig Vear
GrDl 089 | Gruen Digital
MP3 & lossless WAV
In the winter (Austral summer) of 2003/4 I embarked on an ambitious musical project in Antarctica, having been awarded a joint fellowship from Arts Council England and the British Antarctic Survey’s Artists and Writers Programme. The purpose of my visit was to compile a unique library of field recordings from the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions, which would become the sound source for music composition.
The focus of my many field recordings was to capture and reflect the relationship between the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the continent it embraces, and the life and populations of the area surrounding the Weddell Sea. Under these headings, the natural sounds (wind, sea, weather and wildlife), the human sounds (scientists living and working, boat captains, ‘talking heads’ interviews and conversation), the mechanical sounds (machinery, generators, boats, scientific experiments, travel, entertainment), and the phenomenological sounds (whistling rigging, clanking objects, crunching ice floes, musical accidents) were of equal significance.
I journeyed to far and desolate lands, recorded colonies of penguins and seals, flew to isolated huts deep in the Antarctic Peninsula, and smashed through pack ice aboard an ice strengthened ship. I experienced the euphoric highs and the mind-crushing lows of solitude, the overwhelming presence of all who had come and gone, together with the realization that I was, as a human and an artist, a mere speck on this planet.
The main artistic product of my three-month journey is Antarctica (earthear.com), a large-scale surround sound electroacoustic composition, created from this sound library compiled during my residency. Described originally as “theatre of sound”, this piece was created as a sequence of scenes, immersing the audience in a three-dimensional sound-scape of Antarctica. This album presents new audio elements not previously heard before.
1. Iceberg (Rothera Point) – 12’20"
2. Uranus Glacier (Adelaide Island) – 5’08"
3. Katabatic Wind (Sky Blue) – 5’15"
4. Adélie penguins (Jenny Island) – 12’20"
5. R.R.S. James Clark Ross hold #2 (Lemaire Channel) – 21’51"
5 Tracks (56’54")
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