New album with Mysterybear: “Sing Men and Women!”
May 20, 2013
The concept is control and reaction to control. Musically it’s wave interference. Almost all of what you hear here is due to that, not any fancy sonic manipulation.
Track 1 is an overlay of two different live recordings from Mysterybear (one played backwards over the other). That’s all I did, no EQ, compression or effects of any other kind. It’s fully organic weird that is free.
All good? Hurrah, let’s go.
How to Contact God When He’s Out of Cellphone Range
March 30, 2013
Using the lord’s prayer in morse code dummy. Use a good ground wire and a good length antenna.
Hello!
March 29, 2013
I am almost always out of phase with what people like, I know that.
Just when everyone got to hating drones and hum I started making them.
I’m going to cut and paste from an email to Dave Seidel here:
I was asked to write music for the 175th anniversary of Belgian independence in 2005, to be played in Asia.
New EP: “Hum 4 [0 Copies]” is Released
February 7, 2013
I found this in my project files and I have no memory of making it, I can’t find the source files, at first I thought it was just a processing of Hum 3 but no. Anyway it’s good.
Headphones with the highest volume you can tolerate.
Single file, 34’29″.
The Old
January 4, 2013
Here’s a 1983 recording, second track on the 6th At Sea release. Blur Blur was a duo but I can’t get a callback from the other as he’s now a famous DJ. He did the drumming, I did the processing, with tapes and tape loops.
This was on a cassette sold for one pound plus a stamped addressed envelope, I think we were both 17.
I like it!
“Hum 3+9 Copies” is Released
January 2, 2013
“Hum 3+9 Copies” uses as its sole sources recordings of the hum from 50hz and 60hz electricity supplies. It uses only 2 samples from Wikipedia.
“Hum 3″ is iterated 10 times. I found, listening through headphones that each repetition brought something entirely new. 10 was good.
The way I listen to music was entirely changed by two pieces in 1981: “Pagan Muzak” by Non and “Vexations” by Erik Satie.
In a way those were exercises in sensory deprivation through repetition – you’re presented with the same information over and over again.
The first revelation for me was that even though I knew it was repetition, I heard something different each time.
The second revelation for me was that I could actively influence what I heard.
So this is for Non’s one-time genius with Pagan Muzak and Erik Satie (who I admire greatly, particularly Ogives).
I encourage you NOT to actively listen to this album, it’s not a delivery, just let it be.
This whole exercise is retro but goes back to an unexplored possible future.
Download here.
Amusement Park Phases
July 23, 2012
2007 album, very big, also very small at the same time, still good to my ears. I count this as one of my major achievements. I’m not dead yet but I think I may be remembered for this.
Download here from the Internet Archive for lossless FLACs, the MP3s and Oggs are not worth your effort.
Direct download of LAME v0 MP3 encoded by me in a zip file here.
This is based on an old Welsh folk tale of the same name, translated as “The Black Crwth Player and the Wolves”.
The album features the crwth (a traditional Welsh stringed instrument) played by Gillian, field recordings featuring additional crwth and vocals from Gillian in a cave plus vocal fragments composed by Saint Hildegard of Bingen in the 12th century (sung by Bethan C.).
Why title it in Welsh? It’s my contribution to the culture and it’s a form of exposure, both to the language, the folklore and the traditional instruments but in a contemporary context. It’s not a dusty document and it’s not attempting preservation of any kind, quite the opposite.
Here’s the story. The black crwth player was walking home through the woods with his crwth on his back… at nightfall he was surrounded by wolves and was forced to shelter in a cave. He played his crwth loudly and aggressively to try and scare them away but the wolves tried to rush him. Panicked, he started to play sweetly and harmoniously and unexpectedly the wolves became quiet. He played all night and then fell into a fitful sleep, expecting the wolves to attack at any moment. At dawn he woke to see the woods littered with bodies, he escaped physically unharmed but with memories that would not quickly fade.
This is for La Monte Young. Please enjoy.
Download here.
Listen here.
Read the review from ATTN: magazine here.
90s Finale
July 4, 2012
Here you go, last album from the 90s, no-one bought it at the time. I think it’s flawed but still fantastic.
Ovations and Hoarsely Gleam Album
May 20, 2012
Here’s an album which is a sampler of my music 2004-2011, excluding “Svalbard”. I prepared it as a bonus to the UK release of the abbreviated “Svalbard LP” by The Centrifuge but it seems to be no longer available so I’m now hosting it myself. It’s somewhat remastered.
The title is an anagram of “Alan Morse Davies Anthology”. The cover is a joke.
Download here.
Listen here.
