This has been a strange old month, balancing creative and administrative work with building work at home. I’ve been regularly wearing full PPE gear with ventilator and mask whilst digging into the foundations of Scanner HQ.
As ever, the sheer horror of trying to do too much, resulted in my accidentally chiselling into the mains water supply, creating an indoor swimming pool and shower, urgently followed by a series of desperate phone calls to emergency plumbers. Suffice it to say that the leak is now fixed and my bank balance is unhappy.
So, in the last month, I’ve had two new releases, which I previewed last month. They are both now widely available on streaming services as well as direct downloads on Bandcamp.
Both have been received extremely positively from listeners. First out was “Vågnende Jeg Ser De Døde” {“Awakening I See the Dead”} by Danish artist øjeRum on Room40. The track has been playlisted on quite a few radio charts in the last couple of weeks and feedback has been extraordinary.
Both mixes take on the form of work I consider to be driftworks, that focus on a simple idea and expand the music into a vast soundscape. They are very open, immersive, floating works that feel almost timeless. You can pick this up directly here.
And, just a few hours later that very same day, the “South London Originals” EP emerged, a recording with LA based musician David Harrow. It’s extremely accessible music that produced my personal favourite comment from a listener: “this is brilliant, even my wife liked it.”
Thanks to everyone who watched the rather melancholic video too, which features footage from the 1980s around the South London area where we first met, with Croydon and Battersea taking prominent place! Watch it back in full here.
Everyone loves stickers, so I’ve had a series of new ones produced which are available as a little set with a signed personalised postcard too. You can decorate your synthesiser, guitar, school bag or lunch box with these then! Buy a set here.
Last remaining copies of the OLA CD are available directly from my Bandcamp page. Apologies to anyone overseas for orders that seem to be taking a long time to arrive but the recent hacking of the Royal Mail website meant no or very limited international mail for the last six weeks. This has only just returned to normal in the last week, so it will take a while for things to catch up I imagine. Please continue to be patient.
The OLA album has been received universally positively, which is encouraging for music that isn’t always the most accessible in a sense. French musicians Geins’t Naït and Laurent Petitgand are also happy enough that we are already in conversation regarding the next volume of this collaboration, so stay tuned for that.
At the time of writing, I only have 15 copies remaining of the CD. Once I’ve sold out there will hopefully be some copies left with the label Ici d’Ailleurs in France. You can pick that up here.
Tune into the ER Cultura YouTube channel in March to enjoy live footage from the Suono Grasso Festival at Café Oto in London in October 2022. Detailed information can be found here, in Italian, but it is very easy to understand the schedule. My performance with Italian composer and artist Roberto Paci Dalò premieres on 24 March and it’s a marvellous show indeed.
February has been busy focusing on various other projects, with countless meetings, in preparation for a busy year ahead. And a couple of utterly top-secret projects that could possibly include having a chart-topping record in the next 18 months, but let’s think about that rather absurd concept later on then.
I visited Lincoln last month to speak with students at the School of Film, Media and Journalism and am in discussion towards a new sound work to premiere in the city later this year, if plans all go ahead.
And education continues to play a part in my future as I’m directing a series of workshops and seminars about composing with the human voice at the Malagola Voice and Sound Research Centre, Ravenna, Italy in May 2023. It’s a real honour too, as they have previously worked with artists such Alvin Curran, Luigi Ceccarelli, Meredith Monk, Chiara Guidi (Societas Raffaello Sanzio) and many others.
More live action will be taking place in 2023, I’m pleased to report. Just this week I recorded a special session for Electronic Sound magazine, which will be available to watch online one day soon. It’s a dark, dense, black and white film too!
Then I’ll be back in Prague for the first week in May to perform the work of Terry Riley and La Monte Young with a wonderful ensemble of musicians, at Dox+ for the PMP festival. Gareth Davis and I will then be playing a duet in Bratislava together 6 May which will be amazing. If you don’t know our Footfalls LP then check it out.
A week later I will be performing with a smaller version of the ensemble in Utrecht in The Netherlands at Synthese on 13 May. We will be performing Stockhausen’s “Aus Den Sieben Tagen.”
Next up is the “Tone Science” at The Capstone Theatre in Liverpool on 22 April. This looks set to be such fun, playing alongside Ian Boddy, Polypores, Nigel Mullaney and Field Lines Cartographer. Then we will all collaborate in a rare performance of La Monte Young’s “Composition 1960 #7.”
So, back to the basement, hammer and chisel (and raincoat and umbrella!) in hand.
Thanks as ever for your support
Best wishes
Professor Scanner
::: listen :::
Eliane Radigue: Opus 17 (Alga Marghen)
Groupshow: Greatest Hits (Faitiche)
Sound: (Etats Unis)
Clark: 05-10 (2022)
::: read :::
Wangechi Mutu (Phaidon)
Brian Eno: Reflected (Magonza)
Matthew Hollis: The Waste Land (Faber)
Stephen Cripps: Pyrotechnic Sculptor (Acme)
::: watch :::
A Love Song: Max Walker-Silverman
Mouchette: Robert Bresson
The Last Bus: Gillies MacKinnon
Empire of Light: Sam Mendes
