Well, it’s not perfect but it’s here. Fears of losing my podcast mojo (did I ever have it?) dashed with fresh optimism and I explain the reasons for the delay. I don’t help by banging on about the fact this is BLSS13, when it’s clearly the 11th show!
Anyway, it’s so boring listening to people apologise for their lack of commitment to their blogs and shows and podcasts, that just let the music speak for itself. Tracklisting very soon, but I thought I’d post it fresh! Stream below, and download here!
This is it. The end result of my residency with Timespan in Sutherland, forming the sound element of my work there. An album with 1824 seconds of music in it based on the 1824-founded Icehouse in the village. But that’s not all. I’ve started a record label! see www.studio1824.com – a BLSS will follow after the opening on April 10th. You are WELCOME to attend the opening!!!
I have been super busy at work. Here’s some of it!
Tonight was the first “Soundtoy” workshop held at Timespan. It ran from 6.30-9pm and it was attended by Heather, Jamie and Gillian and Ruth (please email me folks if I have spelled your names wrong!). During the session we looked at what a Soundtoy is and I did a quick impromptu soundtoy gig which lasted five minutes. Then we cracked on and made some noises with whatever was to hand. We used sweet wrappers, voicework and daftness to create a pallette of sound. We then edited the material and then I demonstrated how easy both Audacity and Soundtoy is to use. Then I split the group up to both practice with Soundtoy and to explore all of Timespan’s nooks and crannies to make sounds with. Everyone recorded their own sounds on a Zoom H2 recorder by themselves and learned how to edit the files in Audacity and export them into Soundtoy. Which we hacked a bit, to play our own sounds and not just the ones that come with the excellent CD of music and software from bip-hop. It was designed by Studio Tonne.
Our first track can be heard below. I am writing this post in The Bridge Hotel opposite Timespan and out of respect for the guests and wonderful manager Shanaz I am not going to play it loud in the bar! So it is a little raw and unedited right now. But I was really impressed with everyone’s contribution and am really looking forward to part two on Saturday!!!
Thanks to Douglas Benford for his help in locating bits and pieces for his workshop. The participants (who are really my bosses) liked your work on that CD a lot as did the artist in residence here, Ruth Macdougall. I wish I could do this job forever here. I love it. Ellie is away in Elgin till Saturday arranging high fallutin’ book signings at Waterstones and other local booksellers in that neck of the woods. Tomorrow I am going to record some material at Helmsdale School on their piano after hours. I can’t wait. Then on Saturday we have Soundtoy part two plus Cath Whippey is coming up so I can film her on Sunday dressed as a Salmon of Knowledge.
Last year there were ten Bovine Life Support System Radio Shows, new slightly melancholic compilations interspersed with snapshots of life in and around my UK. But this year, I want to relax a little. I have the first show coming up from Helmsdale, Sutherland, Scotland where I will be working in Feb and April this year – see this blog for more information. So it’s all change for the better I think.
In the meantime, two weird little sound recordings for you:-
Below is a button. If you press play, you will hear me doing some sound tests in the ice house made on the 13th January in the afternoon. I am basically going la-la-la-la- but at one point it sounds like I am saying “Allah” – I am referring to “A La” as opposed to any creator. But you never know. If you listen very carefully at around 50 seconds, you can hear a crow outside and then some wind later. Problems? Try download here
Just before and just after our research week in Sutherland I was putting the finishing touches to a podcast I did for Eleanor for her book launch in March. We are both really proud of it. And because we presented some of it at our Art Ceilidh I thought you might like to hear it on the stream below.
BLSS 11 is in the making for 2009! End of Jan most likely. I’ve got a great mix for it already and 12 to boot. In the meantime, here’s a taster from my art life, featuring a track from my Aesthetic Animals Album…
This is a December Mixtape for playing one hour before sleep or for falling asleep to… please support the artists in the tracklisting many are online as bona fide free mp3s.
The Bedtime Barbiturates:-
My collaboration with Glasgow-based writer Eleanor Thom. Her dad recorded her voice when she was two and a half. The recording was beautiful in it’s own right, but it was begging for an electronica makeover. Its me playing the piano and shakers…
