Baggage Reclaim

Linear Obsessional - Eight Releases

2012-02-19T20:14:00.000Z

Dear blog, sorry I've been neglecting you, as you can see I've been rather busy with the Linear Obsessional Netlabel-

There are now eight releases - all free to download
or go to the main site for full details.

Linear Obsessional becomes a Label...

2012-01-28T12:41:00.002Z

...in that it now has more than one release, and the new one hasn't got me on it.Ahem-

For the second release on Linear Obsessional I'm very proud to present a work by the London based composer Sam Fendrich (b. 1947, Novosibirsk, Siberia). "Etude Brutus" is a composition for computer driven piano."Etude Brutus" is not minimal in any sense except that of instrumentation - it is an epic solo piano work (over 75 minutes in length - in 11 movements) of exceptional energy and powerful dynamics. In terms of length it could be compared to Sorabji, in terms of complexity it compares to the player-piano works of Conlan Nancarrow, and in energy to the solo work of Cecil Taylor, but it is its own beast - wild, ecstatic, endlessly fascinating and witty.I've been an admirer of Fendrich's work for many years, and I'm delighted that he has allowed me to issue some of his music on Linear Obsessional.

Download for free-&lt;p&gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://linearobsessional.bandcamp.com/album/etude-brutus-2"&amp;gt;Etude Brutus by Sam Fendrich&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Buy This CD!

2012-01-26T09:20:00.000Z

For a remarkably reasonable £4 (and a mere 50p postage) you can buy a hard copy of the first Linear Obsessional release - Tone Chambers by Richard Sanderson + SkitterTone Chambers by Richard Sanderson + Skitter8cm mini CDR in PVC sleeve, with specially printed two sided insert on coloured card by Liam Stefani and a random segment from a "how to play melodeon" book in a PVC wallet.Strictly limited, numbered edition of 50, hand made and assembled by Richard Sanderson and Liam Stefani.You may recall the last edition of 50 I did, of "Improvisations for Melodeon" sold out. You have been warned. Just follow the link above to buy.Or, you can just have the download for free.

Launched! God Bless Linear Obsessional and all who sail in her...

2012-01-23T21:52:00.001Z

My netlabel "Linear Obsessional" is now live - just one release at the moment, but plenty more in the pipeline, including works by Alex Charles, Adam Brett, Neil Parker. And I'm actively seeking appropriate submissions.Please go and have a look-Linear Obsessional Website

Linear Obsessional Recordings

2012-01-14T19:21:00.000Z

I now have a launch date for Linear Obsessional Recordings - 23rd January 2012.And I'm slowly gathering a list of artists...

Rock Pose #43 - nonchalant mic hold.

2012-01-09T09:54:00.000Z

Great photo from the Teesside Drop gig which I haven't seen before, taken by my old friend Geoff Spence (who was kind enough to include our gig in his highlights of the year)...I'd forgotten what fun making a racket with an electric guitar can be-

Andy Kiss informs me that work has begun on recording Drop, with my vocal and guitar to be added soon....

World News Vision

2012-01-08T23:12:00.000Z

Please note, my Foulkstone colleague has released an album on Three Legs Duck.
If you download it (as with all TLD releases it's "Name Your Price" and entering 0 Euros is perfectly acceptable) you also get two bonus tracks - remixes by Jérôme Poirier and myself....

Go get.
World News Vision March 2011 by Jude Cowan Montague

We start work on the Foulkestone album this week.

Richard Lainhart

2012-01-08T17:12:00.002Z

The American electronic composer and musician Richard Lainhart died just before the New Year started. I became aware of Richard's music through the ImprovFriday community, which he contributed to, but it was his work released on the Ex Ovo label which I found completely captivating. Richard worked with the drone, and his drones were particularly sonorous, luminous and utterly captivating. Do check out "White Night" (which rather astonishingly dates from 1974) - a half-hour piece built from 4 sine-waves weaving around eachother - a truly immersive experience.

When the full history of minimalist music is written, Lainhart's work will undoubtedly feature, but during his own lifetime he all too often flew below the radar, but for those of us touched by his music his loss is keenly felt.

Members of ImprovFriday have produced a series of dedications to him.
My contribution was
Unplugged Electric Guitar for Richard Lainhart (mp3)

10 Free To Download Netlabel Releases I've Enjoyed This Year

2011-12-24T21:43:00.001Z

2011 was the year I embraced the Netlabel, and in particular the "Creative Commons" free to download netlabels. I've already done one lengthy post on the subject here. This is something of a postscript in which I list 10 releases I've enjoyed this year. You are warmly encouraged to download these albums and try them for yourself...

Thee Moths - Peace Flag (Bandcamp -name your price)
Alex Botten's unique take on lo-fi electronica and repetition. Sixteen tracks of well-placed noise and none of them outlive their welcome.

Juanjo Palacios - Portuario (Audiotalia -free)
OK, I mentioned this in the last round-up, but I really don't want you to miss it. This mix of highly evocative field recordings and the sort of drones that actually sustain interest is compelling, and its not been off my iPod all year.

Nigel Samways - Mirror (Audiotalia - free)
This is in a similar vein to the above, by a British artist whose work seems well worth exploring. Kind of misty and unfocussed electronic music, quite mesmeric. Nice cover too...

Big Block 454 - Bells and Proclamations (Bandcamp - Name your price)
Very English, a bit folky and sometimes very peculiar, this is kind of avant-prog-folk or something, and unusually for a Netlabel release it's actually by a band. They have lots of other stuff, but this, their most recent, is the most focussed and least self-consciously "eccentric", and in places very beautiful indeed.

Canoply Games - Post-Music #2 (Haze Netlabel -free)
Should you be looking for extremely experimental music from Siberia, this zonked out masterpiece of racket, piano, noise and radio should sort you out. Exciting and surprisingly enjoyable.

Claudio Curciotti -Indica: Sounds From India (Impulsive Habitat - free)
Splendid release from this consistently astonishing label - an amazing collection of field recordings from India that's as far away from any old hippy notions of the country as imaginable. Check "Slum Bakery" that sounds like a long lost piece of motorik noise rock...

Photographers - Atlantic (Demo) (Bandcamp -Ffree)
I think this sort of stuff used to be called "Dream Pop". Whatever, this is an exhilarating mix of noise, drone and folk influenced vocals - really rather lovely.

Steve Moshier - Limestone Gates (Spectropol - Name Your Price)
Archive release of Moshier's highly evocative minimalist music from the 80s. Especially fantastic is "Deliquium in C - Recitative" featuring a truly haunting vocal appearance from Anna Homler.

MAS and Travis McAlister - The Fade Out Room (Test Tube - Free)
Wonderful spooky stuff here - including bells and the inimitable sounds of an Optigan. Filmic, creaky, dusty and very odd. Makes me think of "Eraserhead"...

Gimu -Beluga - (Audio Gourmet - Free)

Strange hovering organic sounding string sounds, haunting and rather pleasantly melancholic.

In 2012 I will be launching my own Netlabel - "Linear Obsessional", and in the meantime I'm happy to hear of any Netlabel releases that I really should know about.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Boxing Day. Get Out Of The House.

2011-12-22T22:17:00.002Z

The traditional way of spending Boxing Day is to lounge around the house nursing a mild hangover and maybe watching a James Bond film and catching up with other members of the wider family. But for me, for at least the last six years, it means getting my bells on, checking my hankies are clean and then walking to Blackheath to meet the rest of Blackheath Morris Men for the Blackheath Morris Boxing Day Tour of Blackheath. This basically means meeting at a pub, having a dance or two, going to a second pub and having a few more dances before retiring to a final pub, dancing a bit and then playing some tunes. This has proven to be a most enjoyable way of simultaneously blowing away the Christmas cobwebs whilst also sustaining a certain level of ..erm...bonhomie past its usual limits.

A cursory glance at Flickr provides a few pictures from previous years-

Here's me singing, with Ken staring at me, wondering why I've apparently aged an extra twenty years.

And here we are outside "The Crown" (one of the alehouses referred to above)

And another of us outside "The Princess of Wales", another of the aforementioned hostelries.

So, get out of the house and come and join us.
Details-
12.30 - Princess of Wales
13.45 - The Crown
15.00 - The Hare and BilletWith guests Fowlers Molly, and maybe others...

To conclude, here are two slightly disturbing photos of the sort of people you might see-

More Photography

2011-12-22T16:54:00.003Z

Just back from the developers - more analogue shots taken this autumn....Sunrise in Hither Green...

Autumn in Lewisham Park

Towers of Lewisham

Dacre Morris in Action

Our Kids with Sparklers

Horniman Museum

Wysteria Road

Manor Park

(all photos taken with a Mini Diana)

Transpontine meet Patricide/ Patricide meet Transpontine

2011-12-20T11:07:00.001Z

Neil Transpontine turned up for the launch of Patricide 4 last weekend, and has submitted a report. I'd brought along a few old 78 covers from long vanished South London record shops, which I had an inkling he'd be interested in. He was.If you're curious to know what an old 78 sounds played with a contact miked toothbrush, then have a listen to this- Shellacide3 by Richard Sanderson

Transpontine is easily the best blog covering South London, and Patricide 4 is rapidly selling out, there's less than twenty five copies left, so if you want one, for goodness sake get it now!

Steve Layton - Strange Neighborhood

2011-12-20T10:49:00.001Z

"Strange Neighborhood" (how I want to Anglicise that spelling!) is a splendid new release by ImprovFriday comrade, mixmeister and all-round good guy Steve Layton. Like the two recent Three Legs Duck releases, it is a collection of mixes and mashes of material submitted to the weekly ImprovFriday meet-up.Strange Neighborhood by Steve LaytonIt's a fine collection - it's interesting to compare Steve's album with Jérôme's Col[.--.]lages and my own Category Errors, all of which are working with similar material, but each achieving different results. To me, Steve's work is about keeping as much of the original music (including intentions) as possible while blending them with other tracks, often resulting in quite dense soundscapes, but he also has an uncanny ear for what will work together well harmonically. A great example of this would be the opening track "The Moth in Love with the Moon" which fuses Joel Sutton's ambient electronica with kawol sammarkind's guitar and my wheezing and grating antique melodeon.Jérôme's mashes are short, working with sometimes jarring jump-cuts and tiny clips of sound - the results are exhilaring rushes of sound, witty and surprising. My own approach is to attempt to sustain and even stretch a mood, by using time-stretch, repetition and selecting only the parts of an improvisation that suits my construction. It could be argued that Steve's work is the one that respects the original contributors the most!All three albums are free downloads, so go and make your own conclusions.

2011-12-19T10:50:00.001Z

Linear Obsessional Recordings - coming soon

2011-12-19T10:18:00.000Z

2012 will see the launch of a new Creative Commons Netlabel -
"Linear Obsessional Recordings"

Those of you with particularly sharp memories will remember that "Linear Obsessional" was the label I released my first two solo albums on. The netlabel will be an extension of this, but will be releasing music by other artists I like. All releases will also be free of charge.

The plan is to release MP3 albums in the following categories - experimental music, improvised music and field recordings.

I will be sending out invitations to artists soon.

I will be sending out artists

The Face That Launched A Thousand* Downloads

2011-12-18T13:46:00.002Z

I just love this picture of Three Legs Duck Netlabel boss Jérôme Poirier (which I hope he doesn't mind me sharing) with an example of his artwork. The expression on his face perfectly encapsulates for me his generosity of spirit.
Thanks Jérôme!

*slight exageration

Housework

2011-12-17T15:25:00.001Z

I've been trying to tidy up this website - the "Discography" section has been updated, with links to each release, and the "information" section has been expanded to include a few photographs.

The discography looks huge especially for this year (which has been quite busy) but appearances can be deceptive, as most are appearances on compilations.

Coming in 2012

2011-12-17T14:38:00.000Z

A collaboration with Skitter (Glasgow based sound artist Liam Stefani)

New Release - "Category Errors" Out Now

2011-12-12T10:08:00.000Z

Go listen, and if you like, download!

Category Errors by Richard Sanderson

"Category Errors" is a collection of mixes and mashes assembled from works submitted from around the world to the weekly ImprovFriday sessions. I am indebted to the 20 wonderful musicians who have allowed me to be so reckless with their creativity. A list of musicians follows, with the tracks they appear on in brackets.

Paul Chagas (7)
Dark Vortex (5, 8)
Jeff Duke (4)
Ken Ficara (7)
Bruce Hamilton (8)
Johnny and Faith (1)
Jukka-Pekka Kervinen (4)
Steve Layton (3, 10, 11)
Kevin Martin (1)
Andrew McCance (9)
Steve Moshier (3, 5, 6,)
Lee Noyes (2, 4)
Paul H Muller (8, 11)
Norbert Oldani (5, 11)
James Ross (1)
Kawol Samarkand (11)
Richard Sanderson (2, 9, 10)
Benjamin Smith (1, 7)
Roger Sundström (1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, )
TimoTuhkanen (4)
Chris Vaisvil (1, 5, 6, 10)

All tracks mixed, edited and re-assembled by Richard Sanderson, London 2010-2011

And while you're at it, check out Jérôme's new collection - Col[.--.]lages Volume Three

Many thanks to Jérôme and Three Legs Duck for facilitating this release.

Popcorn Double Feature

2011-12-08T21:31:00.000Z

The forthcoming release "Category Errors" is actually being in launched alongside Jérôme Poirier's "Col[.--.]lages", as this advert from Three Legs Duck makes clear-

Both are mix/mash/collage albums. In fact it's quite possible that some of the same source material appears on both...although Jérôme and I take very different approaches.

So get both.

When they come out.

Which is soon.

Saturday

2011-12-08T16:17:00.000Z

I've got a much better idea of what I'm doing on Saturday (see below), and it's going to be good!
And quite noisy...

A Performance on Saturday

2011-12-07T19:50:00.000Z

I will be performing at the Launch Party for Patricide 4 at Massive Little World in Deptford on Saturday. Admission is free and all are welcome.

I'm not certain exactly what I'm doing, or when I'm on - but it will involve my wind up gramophone...

Here's the flyer - be lovely to see you!

Review of "Improvisations for Melodeon"

2011-12-07T16:59:00.000Z

Two months after publication, I discover a great review of my "Improvisations for Melodeon" from The Sound Projector magazine. This may go some way to explaining why I've recently sold out of the physical copies of the release....

Accordion To You
UK improviser Richard Sanderson is also a broadcaster for Resonance FM (Little Atoms) and I welcome his bluff, no-nonsense remarks whenever we bump into each other at the studio. He released his second solo record Improvisations for Melodeon (LINEAR OBSESSIONAL RECORDINGS LOR002) in May 2011, a fine collection of music and sounds produced with this squeezebox-type instrument more often associated with English folk music, and which he has sometimes used to accompany his sea-shanty-like songs with their offbeat lyrics. No songs on this solo release, though – it’s a showcase of varied approaches to music production, reflecting for example his live setup with foot pedals and amplification, or those tracks where he pushes the sound through a computer programme called Audiomulch which mangles it into a species of low-grade electroacoustic murk, with results that are somewhat like witnessing a phantom apparition of John Kirkpatrick adrift in a never-never land somewhere above the IRCAM studios. Sanderson also has his own idiosyncratic approach to the “prepared instrument” methodology (John Cage via Keith Tippett), adding bells, shells, the windup mechanism from a music-box, and a dictaphone to his impedimenta. In contrast to what some critics regard as the typically English approach to improv, i.e. hyper-fast and full of twitchy space-filling notes, this release is slow, creaky, wheezy and in places the music resembles the movements of a guttering candle flame. It’s also very sonically rich, and I feel sure that if so inclined the very talented Mr Sanderson could find a home among the international EAI jet-set. Limited edition, of which the cover is a black and white photocopy enhanced with coloured gel overlays; the box is packed with cryptic conceptual-art inserts, including a fragment of a London street map and a page from a summary log of space launches. The whole release has the attention to detail and English quirkiness that we used to get with Recommended Records, The Remote Viewers, or The 49 Americans, all now nearly vanished manifestations of a 1980s radicalism that is somewhat lacking today.
-Ed Pinsent

As the physical version has now gone I'm selling the download version for "Name Your Price" with no minimum, so if you want, you can have it for nowt.

Improvisations for Melodeon by Richard Sanderson

Coming Soon...

2011-12-07T11:12:00.000Z

Faffing

2011-12-01T11:11:00.000Z

I've done some faffing about with the site - please note that the "Forthcoming Appearances" section has gone (as I hardly ever get gigs!) and has been replaced by a somewhat spartan "Shop".
Christmas is coming, after all....

New Release - "Misappropriated"

2011-11-30T14:04:00.001Z

"Misappropriated" is an EP of mixes I made from rehearsal tapes of improvisations by Lost Robots. Using very small samples and loops, these tracks were assembled in 2007/8. The songs are "imaginary" in the sense that all structure was imposed by me after the fact.

Mark Braby - Drums/Voice
Andy Coules - Bass Guitar
Clive Pearman - Guitar
Richard Sanderson - Organ

Original recordings by Andy Coules.
Songs assembled by Richard Sanderson.

The release is available to download at "name your price" - £0 is a perfectly acceptable price...
Lost Robots - Misappropriated - Richard Sanderson's Mixes by Richard Sanderson

Foulkestone - Live Friday

2011-11-24T23:12:00.000Z

This is a photograph of the group "Foulkestone" taken by my friend Alan Savage-

Foulkestone is Jude Cowan (voice and synthesizer) and me (vocal and sampler). We perform traditional songs.

We have a gig at Scaledown tomorrow (Friday the 25th November) we're on about 9ish. Admission is free...although you may be asked for a donation to the musicians. Scaledown usually features about 6 acts in an evening, each act has been asked to "scale down", in our case we've decided to ditch the songs on which I play electric guitar. I have to admit, the rest of the acts look WELL WORTH CHECKING OUT.

It would be lovely to see any of you tomorrow.

Foulkestone are about to start recording their debut release....

Shiverheat

2011-11-20T12:28:00.000Z

A new electronic piece - work in progress....

Shiverheat by Richard Sanderson

Appearing on CD

2011-11-15T19:46:00.002Z

I have a track (a shortish melodeon improvisation) on the CD accompanying the new issue of Patricide. Patricide is a wonderful magazine providing a uniquely 21st century take on surrealism. It's a bloody good read.

I sent editor Neil Coombs some tracks after reading the excellent "Surrealism and the Uncanny" issue, and he's been kind enough to include a track. I also take part (on melodeon again) on the collective "Sonic Egg" track recorded live at "Massive Little World"

You can read all about the current issue (a 182 page book and 42 (42!) track CD) and indeed order it for £10 from the above link. They're going fast I gather, so get your skates on....

The Cuckoo

2011-10-17T13:25:00.000+01:00

This is going to get the Foulkestone treatment-

This is fantastic mind...

New Project/ Older Project

2011-10-16T19:37:00.000+01:00

I'm delighted to say I've started a new project- a collection of songs colliding with free improv. It's a collaboration with the French musician Jérôme Poirier. Both Jérôme and I sing, and it's already proving to be pretty interesting....it'll be a while before we make any of it available though.

In the meantime Foulkestone have been re-activated, working on some new material, honing down the older stuff, preparing for a "Clear Spot" on Resonance FM, and a gig at Scaledown towards the end of November. Also note the new webpage

Watch, as they say, this space....

Latest Photography Experiments

2011-10-09T14:55:00.000+01:00

Some recent analogue pictures-

Two views of Lewisham, into the past, and into the future

Morris trip to Seaford and environs

Standing Stones at Hilly Fields

Mountsfield Park

Morris Collage

Pendragon School - Hither Green

Late Summer Interlude

2011-10-03T09:29:00.000+01:00

This is new electronic piece - possibly destined for a follow up to "Steady States", vaguely inspired by the extraordinary (and most welcome considering the disasterous holiday season) Indian Summer we're having at the moment.

Late Summer Interlude by Richard Sanderson

Pendragon School

2011-10-02T19:41:00.000+01:00

I've been experimenting with using Sunprint Paper in cameras. With little success. The problem is you need extraordinarily long exposure times- to get an image on sunprint paper you place an object directly upon it in bright sunshine for two minutes - to get an image through a camera lens you need an exposure time of several days.

This is my most successful image so far - an exposure time of four days - the sunprint paper was placed in the back of a 1920's Kodak Box Brownie. I then scanned the resulting image and made a negative of it. It shows the view from my bedroom window - the building is Pendragon School, the bright line shows the movement of the sun over four days....

Return

2011-10-02T19:29:00.000+01:00

Hello Blog. I've been rather negligent as of late. Truth is, things ground to a halt over the summer holidays (which aren't really holidays for stay-at-home dads) followed by a bout of flu which left me feeling a bit discombobulated.

So what did you miss in the month that I was incommunicado? Well, I became mildly obsessed with analogue photography, and I now have a home at the Lomography site which you can see here. I've continued to have a splendid summer morris dancing around the country including visits to Saddleworth and the South Downs. I had an aborted improv concert due to some unfortunate double booking by the venue (not the promotor) and a rather nice improv gig in New Cross.

I've grown increasingly frustrated with Facebook, although I still go there because everybody else does, and I've opened a Google+ account after being invited to join by Ed Milliband (!) which I prefer to use, but not enough of my mates are on it (yet).

In the future- I hit 51 in less than a week, I'm going to make a darkroom, I have further gigs and a planned radio show with Foulkestone, I'm desperately looking for improv gigs for my duo with Paul May, I'm appearing on the new album by Kev Hopper, singing, I'm starting work on a new project with Jérôme Poirier (kind of abstract songs is the idea) and, well, all sorts really.

So, now I have some occasional free time again, I intend to start maintaining this blog...after a fashion.

Melodeon Solo in Deptford

2011-08-25T23:45:00.000+01:00

I'll be performing a solo for amplified melodeon at this event. Sometime in the afternoon (possibly about 3.30) the whole event sounds great. And it's in Deptford, which is also great. Jude's also appearing, and there's a "sonic egg" apparently. Seems pretty essential to me.

...."Melodeon Solo"? wasn't he in the "Man From Uncle"?

I can't wait ...

2011-08-24T22:59:00.002+01:00

...for all my photos to come back from the developing labs.

I've also got a gig in Deptford on Saturday. Remind me to tell you about it.

Back

2011-08-23T15:04:00.001+01:00

I am back from my travels. Here are a few photos (taken with a Holga 35BC) many more to come-

And one from taken with the Zenit E SLR I picked up for a fiver in Saddleworth last year...

Update - No Update

2011-08-10T19:12:00.002+01:00

I am away. Will be back after the Saddleworth Rushcart Festival...

Running Out

2011-07-29T22:15:00.001+01:00

It's nice to report I now have less than 10 of the "hardcopies" of this left-

So if you still want one, then you probably need to go here soon. £5 will you get one of a numbered edition of 50, with handmade cover, inserts (including a map, a list of rocket launches as well as sleevenotes)

The download version will remain available, just £3.

Thanks to everyone who has bought a copy - you have re-affirmed my optimism.

Crystal Palace

2011-07-29T21:16:00.000+01:00

Today, my family and I got the 122 bus down to Crystal Palace to visit the park. The last time I was here was when I was about 6 years old (just a year older than my son) when my parents took me to see the dinosaurs (yes even 45 years ago all kids were into dinosaurs). Although the park was unfamiliar to me, I was surprised at just how familiar the lake with the concrete dinosaurs was so many years later.

It was also great to see the steps and foundations of the original Crystal Palace (what a magical name by the way - up there with "Queen of the South" in the list of magical sounding names in the football results I listened to whilst waiting for Dr Who to start). It was huge - the original building must have been absolutely awe inspiring. I tried to visualise it in my head.

This picture comes close-

The 75 foot fountains must have been something too. The park itself is really lovely, lots of slopes perfect for rolling down, and a great (slightly dinosaur themed) playground for the kids. Considering it's a fairly short bus ride away, I'm astonished we haven't gone before.

I've also discovered what the area was called before the Crystal Palace was moved there in 1854....it's technically Penge.

I took loads of photographs, but as I'm all anologue when it comes to photography now, you'll have to wait a few weeks before you see them.

The Foulkestone Gazette

2011-07-28T20:16:00.001+01:00

To commemorate our first concert as Foulkestone, Jude and I produced a 12 page magazine, "The Foulkestone Gazette". It includes lyrics, short essays, some explanations of the Foulkestone method, illustrations, a bit of "creative writing" a cartoon and other bits and pieces. The magazine is resolutely pre-digital. Jude did the pictures and writing in pencil and pen, I used a manual typewriter...

Thanks to Jude for the scan

Should you want a copy you can get one in various ways- send us 50p and an A5 Stamped Addressed Envelope to "Foulkestone Gazette" c/o 30 Pascoe Road, Hither Green, London, SE13 5JB.

Or...click the button below and order by Paypal (50p plus 35p P&P)
Or.... meet either Jude or I at a pre-arranged time in a public place clutching a shiny Fifty Pence Piece. (Pre-decimal coinage of Half-a-Crown or above would also be acceptable)

Foulkestone at "Mirror Mirror"

2011-07-28T19:52:00.001+01:00

Foulkestone had a lovely time in Stoke Newington playing at Karen Haines' "Mirror Mirror" club. The space (downstairs at Ryan's Bar) was cosy but nice- the experience would have been improved if the venue hadn't ran out of all real ales after 8.30 pm...but hey, I could do with a break from drinking for a while.

The trip from our corner of South East London is quite tricky, especially as I'd eroneously persuaded Jude that we needed to take her amplifier which meant lugging a Dalek-sized shopping trolley onto crowded buses, and this meant we had had to leave before the excellently named "Matron" took to the stage - we caught some of their melodic post-punk in the soundcheck.

We did alright, we played "Skin and Bone" in the wrong key which it gave it some wacky Schoenbergian harmonies, otherwise it was fine - we even ended with a sort of 80s pop song. 1880s.

Alan Savage turned up. It was a real pleasure to see him again after...I reckon 28 years. He took this picture-

We also sold copies of our magazine "the Foulkestone Gazette". Details of how to get this in the next post...

Foulkestone

2011-07-25T20:20:00.001+01:00

I'm getting very excited about Foulkestone's first proper appearance at Karen Haines' "Mirror Mirror" club (Ryan's Bar, Stoke Newington) tomorrow. Jude and I have been working hard, not just on our songs and set but also on our publication "The Foulkestone Gazette" which (touch driftwood) will be published in time to sell at the gig. In the unlikely event that any copies are left after the gig, I'll let you know how you can get one from us.

Speaking of Jude - her "Lamb and Tiger - The Commune" album has just been released by Rash Records as Creative Commons release. I'm delighted to say I squeezed two "remixes" of her tracks on to the album - there are another 18 tracks of reworkings of her Blake transcriptions...it costs nowt, go get-

Lamb & Tyger - The Commune by Jude Cowan and a host of lovely collaborators

Happened - Free ep

2011-07-24T13:31:00.001+01:00

I've just released this live recording of an 18 minute improvisation for amplified melodeon, think of it as a companion piece to the "Improvisations for Melodeon" album. It's a nice recording (made as a lossless FLAC by Emile Pesik) with a very quiet audience, recorded at The King and Queen last month.

And its free...for the time being.

Happened by Richard Sanderson

Music Questionnaire No 26 - Thee Moths

2011-07-14T08:30:00.001+01:00

Alex is somebody else I've never met in the "Real World", although I eventually hope to rectify this. We met years ago as fellow bloggers on LiveJournal (where this blog used to reside), and over the years I've downloaded a fair bit of his music, and been very tempted by some of his highly limited, and very attractive releases. I was reminded of his refreshing views on music after reading an excellent letter he wrote in this month's Wire, a reposte to Chris Cutler, which was most welcome. It seemed the ideal time to ask him to do the Music Questionnaire...He's also a remarkably talented visual artist....

Who are you?

I'm Alex Botten

Where are you based?

Just outside Stourbridge in the West Midlands at the moment, but I've lived all over, from Dundee in Scotland down to just outside Brighton.

What instruments do you play?

I sing, I play a few stringed instruments, plus percussion, keyboards, laptop, and various effects

What is your current musical project?

Thee Moths, a 'band' that I've been playing as for over 10 years now

Name a record that had a big impact on you in your youth

'Graceland' by Paul Simon. I grew up listening to my mum's Simon and Garfunkel records and 'Graceland' was one of the first albums I ever bought. I still have the tape and I still love the album. Other records that impacted me in my younger years were 'Hunting Hight and Low' by A-Ha, and the Ghostbusters soundtrack.

What was the last music you bought?

I think the last thing I bought was 'A Ray Array' by Lucky Dragons, but that was via a Kickstarter funding thing....other than that I think it was another Lucky Dragons cassette 'Shape Tape'. I download masses of music though, and honestly can't remember the last thing I grabbed.

List three records by artists we all should hear:

I'd recommend 'The Texas Jerusalem Crossroad' by Lift To Experience, a criminally unknown album written by the son of a Hell Fire Preacher about the end of the world. Also worth grabbing is 'Dark Falcon' by Lucky Dragons, this is their first album and is a far more patchwork affair than their recent work. Finally everyone should give 'Pop!' by Erasure a listen, if only to hear how good pop music can be.

Describe a live performance that had a big effect on you:

Lucky Dragons, Y.A.C.H.T, Wrist and Pistols, Bobby Birdman, and Germlin, in a Glasgow living room with an audience of about thirty people, lit only by candle light, back in 2003 or 2004. Up until then I'd been playing acoustic singer songwriter stuff in the vein of The Microphones in the years after I'd stopped playing in rock bands, but that show completely changed the way I thought about music. Here were these Americans playing live music on laptops, and improvising with it. That, plus the wonderful vibe of the whole evening set me on the course I've been on ever since.

Your favourite live venue:

I'm rather fond of Tchai Ovna in Glasgow, Dundee Rep Theatre Cafe Bar, and Light House Media Centre in Wolverhampton - all three have been endlessly supportive and encouraging to me, all three have welcomed extremely experimental music with open arms.

What's the strangest place you have performed live?

I think an impromptu guerilla performance, using the computers on the ground floor of the Frankfurt Museum of Communication to stream loops from my website was the oddest.

Tell me about a great experience as a performer

Playing a show in Stourbridge, at an Irish theme pub, to an audience who had mostly never heard improvised electronica before, and ending up with thirty plus people holding hands, smiling and laughing as a small synth passed signal through them all in a huge loop.

Is improvisation important to you?

It's essential. I've played in bands since I was 16, and improvisation has been my only way to remain interested after so much time. I can't imagine ever going back to playing rehearsed music, I'm too in love with the idea that the first time an audience hears my music live being the first time that I hear it as well.

Name three heroes/heroines:

Ade Bordicott, a Birmingham based musician who performs as Mutate - he's criminally unknown, yet makes fantastic drone/improv/electronica. Luke Fischbeck of Lucky Dragons has been a massive influence, opening my eyes to new ways of working many years ago, and continuing to inspire to this day. Josh T Pearson of Lift to Experience, for making an album that still, to this day, makes me feel that guitar rock can still have something interesting to say.

Favourite city?

I'm very fond of Dundee, I lived there for 7 years and firmly believe it to be one of the most creative cities in the UK - it's just a shame it gets so overlooked, or is only spoken about in terms of drugs problems, or unemployment.

A couple of favourite books?

Excession, by Iain M Banks - possibly his finest Culture novel (and they're all good, so it must be special) - I love the idea of making the main characters super huge sentient starships. Accelerando, by Charles Stross - a dizzyingly creative work, bafflying, lyrical, surreal, and beautiful.

A couple of favourite films?

Withnail & I, funny, touching, and brilliantly written and acted. Donnie Darko, a film that's actually probably even smarter than we think it is.

What makes you laugh?

My teenage sons, Chris Lillies 'Angry Boys', Stewart Lee, Family Guy and The Simpsons (still as good as it ever was, don't listen to the naysayers!)

Is there a pop song you feel sentimental about, and can you name it?

'A Little Respect' by Erasure. Years of bad cover versions (including one by me), karaoke, and over exposure have made people overlook what a perfect record this is.

Photo by Antonio Roberts
Thanks Alex!

Pictures from The Long Drone

2011-07-13T13:42:00.000+01:00

Some photographs by Jake Blanchard-

The event itself was terrific - the drone waxed and waned with wonderful slowness and control, and there was a beautiful bell interlude in the middle. I got to meet some musicians I've known for the best part of 20 years, but don't see very often, and meet some amazing musicians I hope to meet again.

Congratulations to Sharon Gal for holding the whole thing together for 2 hours, and managing to keep 19 musicians (many from the world of improvised music) playing beautifully in unison and avoiding getting too wayward. I found the experience enormously moving and exhausting. That said, I could happily play for twice as long.

I hope to be able to direct you to video evidence and a recording as they become available

Summer Interlude

2011-07-10T19:56:00.001+01:00

I've given Film4 a lot of stick over the years for the amount of rubbish films they feature ("Hot Shots Part Deux"?) but I have to admit my recorder is going into overdrive taping the current Ingmar Bergman season. Do they do this sort of thing often?

"Wild Strawberries" is in my all-time top 10, and "Summer Interlude"....oh, man....

Attention Lewisham!

2011-07-10T19:44:00.000+01:00

The Mixed Porter Session (various Blackheath/Dacre people and cohorts playing instruments) are playing at the newly opened and rather fantastic Ravensbourne Arms next Friday (the 15th) we'll be gathering with squeezeboxes and fiddles etc from 8pm. Admission is free of course, and there's nice beer and room to sit down.

The Way Of The Morris

2011-07-10T19:22:00.000+01:00

WAY OF THE MORRIS: Official Trailer 1 (HD) from Way Of The Morris on Vimeo.

This seems very promising- and certainly looks very beautiful. A film about morris dancing which doesn't take the piss. It's a documentary, and I wish it well....

Velux Doppler

2011-07-09T21:55:00.001+01:00

Velux Doppler by Richard Sanderson

Long Drone - This Afternoon

2011-07-09T09:49:00.000+01:00

Just a reminder that I'm taking part in the "Long Drone" at Raven Row gallery this afternoon, between 2 and 4pm. If you can't make it you can listen live on Resonance 104.4fm

Full details here

London Sound Survey

2011-07-05T22:34:00.000+01:00

I've just spent the best part of an hour perusing this website- London Sound Survey I've no idea how I missed it before. An astonishing collection of field recordings from throughout London presented on a most engaging map.

Local favourites include the sounds of the Ravensbourne River running beneath a grill in the pavement in Catford, the Carwash in Sainsburys, New Cross and (my favourite) the down-tuned sound of a pipistrelle recorded at Ladywell Fields. Click here to hear that one...

No recordings of morris dancers or traditional English music in pubs as far as I can see - I'll have to see what I can do about that.

The London Sound Survey is a real labour of love, and highly recommended.

I've just bought one of these....

2011-07-05T11:11:00.002+01:00

with all the original documentation, accessories and case. I think I'll use it to make the proposed "Foulkestone" magazine...

Netlabels - my introduction

2011-07-04T20:09:00.008+01:00

I was a real latecomer to the world and concept of Netlabels; ie, MP3 record label websites where original material is hosted and available to download for free, through a Creative Commons licence.

Like many, I expect, I held the view that if the music was being given away for nothing, then it probably wasn't any good.

After some exploration I discovered that yes, there is a lot of music which isn't especially interesting. In the computer age most musicians that record for netlabels tend to be solo artists and electronic- bands are, on the whole, just too exensive to record. Once you start dipping your toe into what turns out to be an ocean of free music, (especially if you're looking, as I am, for music which is loosly summed up as experimental) you soon find that there is an enormous amount of not-very-interesting ambient music out there.

However, there is also a remarkable amount of excellent music there, and, if you're a bit like I was a few months ago, here's my very basic guide to some excellent netlabels and some of the amazing music you can download right now.

1. Impulsive Habitat - I completely adore this label. Ostensibly a label devoted to field recordings and manipulated field recordings virtually every release so far has been essential - however I particularly recommend Philip Sulidae's "Lux" , which is one of my favourite releases ever - a hauntingly atmospheric recording based around the sounds of an emptying city at dusk.

2. Resting Bell - A Berlin based label mainly geared towards "ambient" music, but containing much which far surpasses the synthy drone cliche of the genre. Much to recommend including Herzog's Fennesz-esque "First Summer and the Running Dream", and Christopher McFall, but I suggest Spheruleus' magisterial "Forgotten Outland" as a starting point.

3. Insubordinations - a Swiss netlabel for improvised music (all also get limited physical releases too), my mate Lee Noyes is on there, and the group Diatribes are great, but my favourite is Jonas Kocher's album of solo accordion - a slowly unfolding world of microtones and whispers...

4. Audiotalaia - some terrific stuff on this extremely well presented label , including gems from Philip Sulidae, Flora and Fauna, some surprisingly abrasive stuff from David J Fonseca, and a solid gold classic from the Spanish sound artist Juanjo Palacios, whose "Portuario" is a masterpiece of controlled composition and found sounds (eg -the shrieking of wet ropes of moored boats against sumptuous walls of drone). Beautiful.

5. Audio Gourmet - a British label ran by Harry Towell, the man behind Spheruleus recommended above. A lot of truly lavish ambient music, and a few curveballs such as the dissonant orchestralism of Gimu's "Beluga" and more great work by Philip Sulidae, but my choice is the collaboration between Offthesky and Pillow Garden, "A Dream In A Dream" a luminous, haunting and very beautiful EP.

6. con-v - Some real hard-nosed experimentalism here from a label that releases physical CDs as well as Creative Commons MP3s - including a few "names" - Jason Khan, Brian Lavelle, Jeph Jerman, Mattin, Dan Warburton etc. Ranging from hours of near silence to the noisy, corruscating and terrifically exciting racket made by Cheapmachines on his "Latitude EP". My mates Lee Noyes and JC Combs' release (the latest on the label) should also get a mention- a masterpiece of restrained free improv.

7. Homophoni - extremely minimal presentation, very little information, but some terrific music compiled by David Kirby. More names that are starting to become familiar and are usually guarantees of quality - Christopher McFall, Cheapmachines, Jason Khan. Kirby's own release Shear Wave even got a good review in the last issue of The Wire (which rarely mentions netlabels) and is terrific.

8. Off/Bruma - There's some pretty off the wall stuff here, on this label I've only just discovered - well worth dipping into.
Try Larsp's "Transit Land" if you want to know what "Melancholic breakcore" sounds like. Much more yet to explore.

9. Three Legs Duck - I had to mention this one really, considering it released my own "Steady States" album as well as my collaboration with Lee Noyes and Jérôme Poirier. All the releases are great though, ranging from abstract mashes and cut-ups to semi-composed improvisations. Jérôme's superb graphic design helps too. Try his wild and occasionally hilarious solo album "Faunal Succession" ("inspired by the waves of insects onto corpses" theme fans) for possibly the most outré concept album ever released. Or my own record if you like...

I found quite a few of these labels by checking other label's link lists, but I've since found this exhaustive and very useful guide on the excellent "Acts of Silence" website. It's also worth checking genres you like in Bandcamp as a fair amount of stuff is up for "free download" or "pay what you like".

There's a whole argument of whether we demean music by giving it away, or by positively rejecting the whole "branch of show business" (-Mark E Smith) element of record retail we give people the chance to hear and own new stuff without breaking your credit card. Of course, if you did want to pay any of these musicians, I'm sure you could.

Henceforth

2011-07-04T18:53:00.001+01:00

Henceforth by Richard Sanderson

Headquarters

2011-07-03T14:00:00.001+01:00

I was in the mood for a bit of noise yesterday. Heavilly processed melodeon sounds...Headquarters by Richard Sanderson

Foulkestone - the first pictures!

2011-06-26T23:13:00.001+01:00

Thanks to Shaun Downey, the first ever live performance by Foulkestone was captured on camera.
Here we are singing "The Trimdon Grange Explosion" on Friday night...

Garmoshka?

2011-06-26T19:28:00.000+01:00

...and if you want to know more about the instrument I'm playing in the long drone, this page will tell you everything you'd ever need to know...

Mine is like this one-

Long Drone @ Raven Row Gallery and Resonance 104.4 FM

2011-06-26T19:10:00.000+01:00

Details are in for Sharon Gal's "Long Drone" performance-

LONG DRONE @ Raven Row Gallery

9th July 2-4pm (UK time)

Sharon Gal with a large ensemble of musicians will perform the The Long Drone, a collaborative composition for acoustic instruments and multiple voices.
The performance is part of Resonance Fm’s Gone with the Wind sound exhibition at the Raven Row gallery.
You can experience it at the gallery or tune in to Resonance 104.4fm.
The performance will also stream live www.resonancefm.com
Please note - Gallery space has a limited capacity and places would be allocated to those who arrive first. Space opens from 1.40pm.

With –
Elisabetta Ferrero - Voice
Giulia Messana-Loi - Voice
Ali Warner – Voice / bells
Guy Hrries – Voice / flute
Alison Blunt - Violin
Ivor Kalin – Violin
Noura Sanatian - Violin
Grahame Painting – Cello
Andie Brown – Dbl bass
Dave Tucker – Dbl Bass
Mao Yamada – Dbl Bass
Graham MacKeachan– Dbl Bass
William millis - Flugelhorn
Bernard Burns - Sax
Sophie Cooper- Trombone
Paul Shearsmith - Trombone
Richard Sanderson - Russian button accordion (Garmoshka)
Jamil Samad - Harmonium

Raven Row Gallery, 56 Artillery Lane, City of London, E1 7LS 020 7377 4300
http://www.ravenrow.org/

Foulkestone Debut Performance

2011-06-25T22:15:00.000+01:00

Foulkestone's actual debut performance was yesterday, when we did one song at the start of Scaledown, but our real, proper, bona fide debut performance will be at "Mirror Mirror" in Stoke Newington on Tuesday 26th July.

Here are the details from the event's Facebook Page-

+++++++++++ MIRROR MIRROR +++++++++++

New happenings afoot in Stokey!

An evening of live music and performance that will intrigue, compel, invigorate and challenge!!!

Featuring!

MATRON
“Gender bending post-punk taking the future from behind…”

KATY CARR
Songwriter, performer, ukulele player hugely inspired by Spitfires, 1940s & WW2.

FOULKESTONE
Foulkestone is the duo of artist/musician/writer Jude Cowan
(voice/synthesizer) and experimental musician Richard Sanderson
(voice/sampler/electric guitar). Taking a 21st Century slant on
"folk-rock" that's equally informed by post-punk and the avant-garde,
all material played is traditional. This is their first performance.

2STONE SOUNDSYSTEM
Independent artist and producer of dub, reggae and ska electronic music with live vocals that theme on class politics and anti-capitalism.

KITTY WARD
Blues/folk singer/songwriter plays/uke.

D ANTHONY THOMPSON (OINK)
Hm...

Plus!

Burlesque performances from TETE BANG

Visuals by LE CORNICHON EXPLOSIF

DJs: JOHN THE REVELATOR, SEAN BRIGHT and AUNT FANNY will play ska, punk, mod, new wave, indie, R&B, sixties beat, rockabilly, Bollywood, music hall, calypso, New Orleans mardi gras, ju-ju, balalaika, mechanical music…

Entry £3

7:30pm-11:30pm

Ryan’s Bar
181 Stoke Newington Church St
London N16 0UL

HOW TO GET THERE

BUS: 67, 73, 76, 106, 149, 243, 476 routes from central London. Many stop outside the venue.

TUBE: Manor House or Finsbury Park (and take a bus to Stoke Newington)

TRAIN: Stoke Newington.

Cor!

Scaledown Report

2011-06-25T21:04:00.001+01:00

I had a lovely time down at Scaledown last night. Before anybody played I met up with the lovely Shaun Downey who had very kindly offered to take some photographs of me that I could use for this website and promo purposes. They'll make a nice change from the self-portraits I've done with a crappy digital and an outstretched arm. Here's one he took-

The trajectory for the evening was very strange, the complete reverse of most concerts where the "avant garde" stuff is on first and builds towards the pop hits. On this evening there was a succession of pleasant singer/songriter and acoustic types before things started getting a bit odder. I was very taken with Mr Ron Jetson's skewed complexity-pop, I've seen his name before and always assumed something more comedic and wacky, but this ended up being far from the truth- he's a real musical talent and possessed of a wonderful voice. Later Jude did some of her "World News Vision" imporvisations, and charmed everybody, before I provided the grand finale in the form of a solo for melodeon and feedback. Here's a blurry photo taken by Adam Brett on his phone, which I'm sure he would be the first to admit is hardly of Shaun's standard-

I have to say I enjoyed my improv- as is often the case (if we're truly "improvising") it wasn't what I envisaged, for some reason my pitch-change pedal wasn't working (and I've only just this second worked out why) which reduced my (cough) palette considerably, so I possibly leaned on the feedback a bit more than I intended to, but I still enjoyed myself and managed to get some sort of shape out it.

It was nice to see me Scaledown buddies again - it appears they may be taking a break for a couple of months - I've offered my services as a one-off curator. It was also lovely to see a few old mates - Welsh avant-ist John Morris, Steve Moyes who'd traveled up from Gillingham and whose solo cello album "Scrapes" is well worth downloading, Scott Taylor and a brace of Kevs (Younger, Plummer and Hopper).

I even sold some CDs.

Live Melodeon Improvisation - tonight

2011-06-24T09:50:00.000+01:00

OK, so I'm playing at Scaledown tonight. I'm on about 10.30. I'll be doing a solo set for amplified melodeon and footpedals to promote my current album, copies of which will be on sale for £5 each.

Jude is also playing!

Blackheath Morris Men - In Lewisham Tonight

2011-06-23T08:35:00.000+01:00

A short tour from Blackheath Morris Men -

7.45 - 8.30 at The Ravensbourne Arms - Lewisham High Street

8.30 - 9.15 at The Jolly Farmers (basically across the road)

9.30 - 10.00 at The Ladywell Tavern (probably with music inside afterwards)

See you there!

The Sirens Sound

2011-06-21T18:54:00.000+01:00

"The Sirens Sound" (the "unstoppable blog about Great Music") has picked up on my "Steady States release and featured it. The editorial content is pretty minimal, it seems to consist of seven words - "DRONE DRONE DRONE AT ITS VERY BEST" and Five Stars *****, but the attention is, never-the-less, extremely welcome!

You can see it here.

Scaledown Friday

2011-06-21T09:21:00.000+01:00

I had a run-through of the sort of set I'll do at Scaledown on Friday - it's quite exciting (for me, whether it will be for anyone watching is a different matter)

If you are planning to come, the organisers have put me on last. I'm due to play at 10.40pm...

Windy

2011-06-20T10:46:00.001+01:00

I don't always listen to the extreme of the avant garde you know. I also love listening to stuff like this-

The Association performing "Windy" and proving they can cut it live, even during the great microphone shortage of 1967.

I have to say I can't imagine many girls would like to be called "Windy" mind.

But what a song.

On the Porch

2011-06-19T22:57:00.001+01:00

Just had a satisfying practice at Jude's house in Mottingham in preparation for our vignette (and unscripted) Foulkestone appearance at Scaledown. I cycled there for the first time which was pretty satisfying - got lost twice, a couple of righteous hills, and a beautiful "through the countryside" passage and a nice "very posh houses" stretch.

It was a peaceful night, so we played on the porch, in a 21st century version of the blues cliché*, Jude playing a synthesizer on her knee, with only Jude's dog, Solly, observing.

Then back on my bike. No more trains for me. Feeling slightly smug.

It's stopped raining, and I'm drinking my Father's Day whisky and about to listen to an album. Life could be a lot worse....

*I once wrote a song which included the line the clichés rockin' on the porch, it takes a long time to recover/ from the blues of old Chicago to your bloodless "goodtime" cover - I was probably getting something off my chest.

Foffed

2011-06-19T15:31:00.001+01:00

Always good to hear from North Eastern avant-comedy genius (and very occasional collaborator) Wavis O'Shave- and I did yesterday-

Baggers old chap!

Tis your duty to spread the word on your reclaim site and every other
possible outlet, of the following Wavey appearances!
Google for em at;

Mindscape Tv episode 7....he's on almost at the start
Mindscape Tv episode 9...buffer to approx 40min mark
Mindscape Tv episode 10...buffer to approx 18min mark
Mindscpae Tv episode 11...buffer to approx 20min mark

Go to it baggerz!

You can see the first one mentioned here.... (I hope that's a wig)

The rest are easily located by Googling "Mindscape TV Videos". What a splendid fellow he is...

Apocalyptic Whales

2011-06-19T14:57:00.001+01:00

You can tell when you're getting old when you can actually remember something in the Evening Gazette's eternal "Remember When" pages, as for so long they seemed to be blurry photos of stiff-legged men in stove-pipe hats or flat caps.

However I remember this clearly-

It happened at dinner-time when I was at Marton Road Junior School. It seemed apocalyptic - I remember rushing home in darkness for my lunch at home (I only lived across the road) and the enormous/thrilling storm which followed it viewed from my kitchen. I was 7. The full story is here

While I'm on the subject I was delighted to find photographic evidence of something else I remember, which seems now straight out of Bela Tarr's "Werckmeister Harmonies". It seems unimaginable that the populace of a Northern Town would come out in droves to gawp at a whale carcass in a tent, but...

Here's the poster advertising just such an event at Clairville Common. Unlike Bela Tarr's film, I don't remember the whale sending the populace into a frenzy of violence and madness. But then I probably wouldn't have noticed...

Full story here

Shade

2011-06-18T20:05:00.002+01:00

This is a new work, along similar lines to those on "Steady States" but with a bit more space... Local field recordings mixed with melodeon sounds.... Shade by Richard Sanderson

Unshamanic practice

2011-06-18T15:26:00.001+01:00

I had a very enjoyable short escape into London yesterday, following a rather fraught visit to the "Summer Fair" at my children's school (fraught because of the awful weather it was held in a cramped, noisy and claustrophobic hall).

Into to town to meet up with Neil Denny for an episode of Little Atoms - we met the intervieweee (author Jim Baggott) for a swift pint anbd were also joined by other presenter Padraig Reidy and Resonance station controller Ed Baxter. Discussion ranged from the joys of children's films like "Monsters Inc" to the (apparently imminent - you read it here first) discovery of the Higgs Boson. The interview was fine, it'll be online in few days I'm sure, with Neil leading most of the way and me just adding the odd quip. A century of Quantum Theory summed up in 30 minutes.

Whilst at the studio I picked up a flyer for an organisation where "Ecstatic DANCE and shamanic practice meets social, environmental and political activism" which was re-assuringly nutty enough to convince me that Resonance hasn't gone completely corporate yet. I can almost hear the bongos from here...

Back to the pub for more chat - great to see Ed again, he always seems to be in the middle of some enjoyable feud with an artist, today being no exception...then away into the night and home for 9pm.

Mind you, I'm quite glad to not have to read about the wave/particle division for a little while...

Solution To Wordsearch 392 (Live Performance)

2011-06-15T17:08:00.000+01:00

or "Flyer for the Forthcoming Scaledown Performance" if you prefer.
Full details are here, admission is free although voluntary contributions to the performers expenses are sought...

According To Sanderson

2011-06-15T13:26:00.001+01:00

My book reading has really suffered since the kids arrived - I guess everybody's does. I realised with mounting horror that I'm currently reading six books simultaneously - each filling a slightly different role-

1. The Quantum Story by Jim Baggott, because he's on Little Atoms this Friday.

2. According To Jennings - Anthony Buckeridge - pure nostalgia for me, I loved Jennings books as a preteen. I was starting at a grotty, unfriendly comp in Middlesbrough, so the Jennings world seemed very appealing. They were, and still are surprisingly, funny.

3. A Song For Every Season - Bob Copper - a gift from Alex Stone, useful for the Copper Family words..

4. For The Messengers - Jude Cowan - 'cos she's me mate, and because I think poetry is somehow more quickly digestible (it isn't really) and because it's brilliant.

5. Anima - M.John Harrison - well stuck into this one, extraordinarily high quality writing, and very mysterious, but my reading speed has become so glacial I worry I'll ever finish it...

6. Mr Pye - Mervyn Peake - Rereading it, and it still makes we want to visit Sark.

My main problem is that as soon as I get comfortable with a book, no matter how exciting/interesting it is, I start to nod off. I could do with one of those monks' pews that tip you out as soon as you fall asleep...

Not Many of These Left Now

2011-06-14T09:54:00.001+01:00

...on Hard Copy at least....
£5 for the ltd ed/numbered handmade cover CD (with free download)
£3 for the download only.

Improvisations for Melodeon by Richard Sanderson

Col[-...]lages

2011-06-14T09:52:00.000+01:00

Jude Cowan and I have yet to release anything together in our Foulkestone guise, but, bizarrely we do both appear on the new release from Three Legs Duck - "Col[-...]lages" by Jérôme Poirier - a collection of short pieces assembled by Jérôme and cut up from improvisiations by 28 members of the ImprovFriday community - including Jude and I. I like Jérôme's mash-ups very much, witty, energetic sometimes puzzling and never outstaying their welcome. The release, like all on Three Legs Duck is "Name Your Price" and 0 Euros is an option, and it's highly recommended....

Col[-...]lages by Three Legs Duck Netlabel

Paintwork - Richard of Hume

2011-06-13T13:41:00.002+01:00

I've had a number of enquiries about this track (...oh, alright, three in as many months)

It was a track I recorded in January 2005 for a download only album produced by members of the Fall Forum- a various artists cover of "This Nation's Saving Grace". Said album has long disappeared into the internet's electronic dustbin, but this track has had something of a second life after I rather cheekily inserted it into an interview with Stewart Lee we did for Little Atoms (I did tell Stewart- a massive Fall fan- that it was me, but neglected to tell the listening audience - referring instead to my short-lived pseudonym "Richard of Hume" -not "Hulme")

So, just in case there's a fourth person who wants to hear this track- you can now download it from me.

Richard of Hume - Paintwork (MP3)

People who are interested in technical stuff may be interested to know I'm playing it live at home- the melodeon, drum machine, electronics and guitars are all in my laptop on Ableton Live, which I'm running and mixing whilst adding live melodica, dictaphone and vocals all going straight into a minidisc recorder. The dictaphone also throws in a random few seconds of my wife's amateur operatic society rehearsing...

None of which explains why it's mono.

Virtual Japan

2011-06-13T09:52:00.003+01:00

I've never been to Japan, and to be honest I'm unlikely to simply because I'm not very good at handling long distance travel - New York is about my limit (of course if any Japanese promoter wanted to give me a gig I'd seriously reconsider....)

But this collection of field recordings by Surround2011 is probably the next best thing - seemingly put together by the "Nature Sound Society of Japan" (although it also includes plenty of urban and industrial sounds) there is a fantastic range of recordings all available for free download and you have permission to remix and adapt too. A lovely resource.

There are some great field recordings on Bandcamp, but beware there are an awful lot that are mixed together with insipid ambient music. There are also a few mixed with really interesting music too, like this one, which has become one of my favourites of the last 6 months...

Foulkestone Variations

2011-06-13T08:32:00.002+01:00

Very useful Foulkestone practice with Jude yesterday - finally sorted some nagging problems I had with two of the songs - the guitar part on "Vacant Chair" never worked properly - now it has a sampling groovebox part instead. Meanwhile, "One Cold Morning In December" was just a little too spartan, and now has a nice (although still quite spartan) guitar part.

The first - extremely low key - performance by Foulkestone will occur at Scaledown this month, where both Jude and I are booked for solo performances - we have permission from the curators to perform one song together as Foulkestone, but if you want to see it come early as it'll be the first thing on in a packed night: there are seven acts!

Cramming

2011-06-09T09:35:00.000+01:00

Just got in the post a 500 page book on Quantum Theory. I have to read it before next Friday when I'm interviewing the author...

Not as easy as it sounds.

Love Sucks

2011-06-07T13:47:00.002+01:00

I had a long phone chat with the composer Sam Fendrich today (we don't get to see eachother very often these days - kids etc...) and during a wide ranging discussion he pointed me in the direction of this animated film by Dominic Lee called "Love Sucks" - it's a vaguely Svankmeyer-esque and an extraordinary piece of work. Sam provides the suitably odd-funk soundtrack.

It's less than a minute of half long and well worth a visit...

Sam is one of those friends I kind of lost touch with and I'm anxious to meet up and maybe do some kind of project with. See also John White.

co(side one)

2011-06-07T13:35:00.002+01:00

co(side one) by skitter Superbly enigmatic work from my friend Liam Stefani "co-creators" recorded onto damaged cassette in 2007, processes 2007 to 2010 assembled and released onto recycled cassette"

I'm fascinated by this kind of engagement with old technology, and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on this intriguing release.

Jude Cowan - Sound Art Radio Show

2011-06-07T13:30:00.000+01:00

My good friend, and music and video collaborator in "Foulkestone" Jude Cowan has an hour long programme of Sound Art on the Soundart Radio station this evening at 8pm. Tune in via the website.

I've known Jude long enough to have completely given up on her doing anything expected, I'm looking forward to it.

Melodeon in the Rain

2011-06-06T22:22:00.001+01:00

Had a strange day of squeezeboxing yesterday. It was the day of The Big Lunch and the morris team my wife dances with, Dacre Morris had a small engagement in a street in Hither Green. They also had no musician, and given a choice between using a tape and using me, they perhaps rather unwisely chose me. This was my first ever attempt to play live for the morris, solo, and I found it completely nerve-wracking.
Suddenly as well as trying to remeber which way my fingers go, I have to listen to the instructions of the Squire, and watch the dancing of the dancers, and put the choruses in at the right places..I think I got better as the slot progressed, but I was shaking like a leaf by the time it ended! Would love to try again some time though...
Then, as the heavens opened, we moved on to the neighbouring street which was also celebrating the Big Lunch, where I had been asked to play a few tunes after the rock'n'roll band. The rain came down harder, and I stood under an umbrella and played the jolliest tunes I could think of. I became drenched, the whole family became drenched, but still people smiled and enjoyed the cake competition. It was fun, but eventually the wet started to get under our skins and we set off with two drenched kids for home, towels, dressing gowns and a jigsaw.

Tomorrow I've been asked to play in my daughter's nursery class. I really should learn to play this bloody thing...

Housekeeping

2011-06-04T21:10:00.000+01:00

I've been trying to tidy up, and make sense of the Discography, now with album cover shots and a bit more info. Let me know if you need more...at the moment my head feels like it#s about to explode!

Communique from Little Atoms

2011-06-03T09:43:00.000+01:00

This coming Friday 3rd June sees Little Atoms reach its 200th episode. The show created by Neil Denny and Richard Sanderson, and currently presented by Neil Denny, Richard Sanderson, Padraig Reidy and Becky Hogge, has been broadcasting interviews with leading writers from the worlds of science and the arts since September 2005. Over the years the show has featured interviews with people such as Ian McEwan, Noam Chomsky, Jon Ronson, Ann Druyan, Jonathan Meades, Linda Grant, Brian Cox, Christopher Hitchens, Howard Jacobson, David Eagleman, Lynn Barber, Iain Sinclair, Adam Curtis, Julie Burchill, Alan Moore and Marcus du Sautoy. Thankyou all for continuing to listen and support us! x

Joining Neil Denny for the 200th edition of Little Atoms is Astronomer Royal Martin Rees.

Martin Rees (Baron Rees of Ludlow) is Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics and Master of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. He was the President of the Royal Society until 2010, and is the Astronomer Royal. A member of the House of Lords, he is a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His awards include the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Einstein Award of the World Cultural Council and the Crafoord Prize (Royal Swedish Academy). He was the recipient of the 2011 Templeton Prize. Martin's latest book is From Here to Infinity: Scientific Horizons, which expands on his 2010 BBC Radio 4 Reith Lectures.

Local Interest

2011-06-02T16:30:00.000+01:00

People who live in my locality my be interested in two local references in my new album, the cover image is derived from a photo I took of the roof in nearby Eltham Palace
The roof is an art-deco masterpiece of concrete and little circles of glass. With some editing, alignment and colouring by myself and Jérôme Poirier, I think it looks almost cosmic.

I've also included a field recording of my local river, The Quaggy River which starts off the track "Quaggy Drift". I recorded it in Manor Park, which my bedroom overlooks, in the few moments which my daughter allowed me before splashing into it.

Quaggy Drift by Three Legs Duck Netlabel

The whole album is available here.

New Release - "Steady States"

2011-06-02T16:11:00.001+01:00

Released today on the Three Legs Duck Netlabel.

"Steady States" is a collection of immersive electronic works recorded in 2011 in South East London. I wanted to create an album of sustained moods that avoided the sometimes cloying prettiness of "ambient" music and the sense of foreboding and other unpleasant baggage that accompanies much so-called "dark ambient". Although I accept that its almost inevitable that this release will end up being classified as such. The music is a mix of slowly morphing microtonal drones, occasional field recordings and heavily processed melodeon sounds.

For the moment the album is available as a download in MP3, FLAC and other formats for "Name Your Price" which of course includes the option of "0 Euros". The zip-file also comes with the front and back covers as high-resolution files for printing.

Please visit the Three Legs Duck website to download.

Many thanks to Jérôme Poirier for facilitating this release.

New Release Imminent

2011-06-02T10:27:00.000+01:00

I do seem to be making up for lost time in 2011 - this will be out very soon, on the wonderful Paris based netlabel Three Legs Duck. Watch This Space, as advertising used to say in the '40s...

Cover design by Richard Sanderson and Jérôme Poirier

Melodeon album gets reviewed

2011-06-01T10:57:00.000+01:00

Frans de Waard reviews "Improvisations for Melodeon" in the latest issue of Vital Weekly, quite positively!

RICHARD SANDERSON - IMPROVISATIONS FOR MELODEON (CDR by Linear Obsessional Recordings)
A melodeon is a diatonic button accordion, in case you were wondering about that, and its played here by Richard Sanderson. He is a member of Ticklish, Minnow and has duos with Mark Spybey and Steve Beresford. As the title suggests these are works of improvisation. There are three approaches to playing the melodeon here: entirely acoustic, sometimes with the addition of bells, music box and a dictaphone. Secondly by feeding it through computer software (Audiomulch) and live playing using foot-pedals and amplification. This variety is shown on this album. Indeed all three varieties are shown here and make some remarkable music. 'Parsec' sounds like curious mixture of microsound and improvisation, followed by 'Five Small Stones' and 'Desorbering', which sound like full on, careful improvisations. Field recordings, played through the dictaphone perhaps, slip through on 'Bottle City'. There is even some mild noise explosions in 'December Valves'. See, not a disc about one thing, but about many things, and this variety holds up for the entire length of the disc of an hour. Quite exciting for its entire duration. (FdW)

The track "Bottle City" also features on the Vital Weekly Podcast

Bela Tarr - an unexpected cultural reference...

2011-05-31T12:20:00.000+01:00

As you know, I'm a huge admirer of the Hungarian minimalist director Bela Tarr, although, I would never in a million years have expected to have seen his masterpiece "Werckmeister Harmonies" referenced in The Simpsons....

With a definite hat-tip to Unspoken Cinema...

Thames Barrier

2011-05-31T11:48:00.001+01:00

A version of a track from the forthcoming album of "Steady State" electronic works...Thames Barrier by Richard Sanderson

Shallow Brown

2011-05-30T20:59:00.000+01:00

Spent a fascinating and enjoyable day in Mottingham with Jude Cowan on a video for our project Foulkestone. The video is for the song "Shallow Brown", an unusually mournful sea shanty I first heard played by the great Tony Hall. Perhaps in unconscious tribute to Tony, I play the melodeon in the video (with Jude playing banjo), although on the actual song I play very noisy distorted electric guitar and Jude plays synthesizer...We filmed it in a shed.

This evening I've been working on a collection of my "Steady State" pieces (I don't really like the word "drone", although that is effectively what these pieces are). The results should be released soon...

Gil Scott Heron "Winter In America" (1974)

2011-05-28T15:45:00.000+01:00

Aw man...

"ain't nobody fighting 'cos nobody knows what to say..."

Drop - Boxes (live Stockton Georgian Theatre)

2011-05-27T09:31:00.000+01:00

1.47 of brand new song. "Boxes" composed this year...

Drop - French Windows (Live Stockton Georgian Theatre 2011)

2011-05-26T13:15:00.001+01:00

1979 vintage Drop song, performed live at the Georgian Theatre Stockton 25/03/2011 by the original 1979 line-up-
Richard Sanderson - Vocals/Guitar
Neil Jones- Keyboards
Chris Oberon - Bass
Andy Kiss - Drums

Playing a Tune

2011-05-24T22:08:00.002+01:00

From the camera of Jack Entwhistle- Blackheath Morris started playing outside the final pub at the Brighton Day of Dance, before long it had grown to this...

...and yes that is a serpent the man in red is playing.
It was a lovely end to a lovely day.
Can anyone tell me what the tune is called though?

Wally K Daly

2011-05-24T17:44:00.001+01:00

Readers from Teesside may be interested in this play on Radio 4 - Whistling Wally's Son (available for a few more days on Listen Again)-

"Earlier this year playwright Wally K Daly revisited his home town of Middlesbrough and went to the area where he had grown up in Grangetown all of which has virtually disappeared. Most of the local industry has gone together with all the surrounding housing, school and pubs.

His play recalls the street in which he lived, his earliest war time memories, the people he knew, their fears and tragedies, the 'sessions' in bombed houses and the return of his father from a prisoner of war camp. He remembers in particular his love for his mother and the death of his father, Whistling Wally and how these events from his childhood have had a profound effect on his writing career."

I still vividly remember a BBC Play for Today called "Butterflies Don't Count" (set in Grangetown) that was written by Wally Daly, and I'm very curious about a science fiction series he wrote called "Before The Screaming Begins" mentioned in his Wikipedia entry. Turns out he wrote a Doctor Who story too....Interesting bloke.

Listening

2011-05-23T21:38:00.000+01:00

I'm spending tonight listening to LPs. This is something of a rare delight these days, as I'm often too busy with other stuff to allow myself the luxury of just listening.

But it has reminded me of the fact that there's a whole load of music and music-related posts I want to make here... for the time being you'll just have to make do with a list until I can summon up the energy and time to write them...

1. An overview of Netlabels - I was absurdly late in discovering this scene, and the huge amount of riches that can found, usually legally free. Mind you, there is an AWFUL lot of ambient electronica....

2. Joni Mitchell, I why I was an idiot for not picking up on her till a couple of years ago.

3. Problems with live folk music, and the "classical-isation" of the repertoire.

4. Why my free improv owes as much to Nik Turner and Dik Mik of Hawkwind as does to Derek Bailey and Even Parker.

5. and so on

No Rock (Live Stockton 2011) - Drop

2011-05-23T16:48:00.001+01:00

No Rock (Live Stockton 2011) - Drop by Richard SandersonA pretty intense performance from the 2011 re-union of Drop, playing together for the first time since 1979...