Hello
Well, I must confess that I’m happy to be here this month. Last weekend, I had a horrendously scary reaction to prescribed medicine, resulting in side effects that could be apparently ‘life-threatening.’ A swift call to emergency medical services, sleep and plenty of fluids were the only solution. Believe me, it was a little intimidating.
So, after six weeks of travelling, from Prague to Bratislava, Vienna to Utrecht, Lille to Vienna, my temporary life in a suitcase ended with a little break in Paris. And a week in this fine city is never enough, and this time the days were occupied by visiting shows at Louis Vuitton Foundation (Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat), Centre Pompidou, La Philharmonie (more Jean-Michel Basquiat), Bourse de Commerce Pinault Collection, street art, meetings friends and and much more.
It’s great to back home for a little while now, but for a moment, let’s return to June.
WFR London was a huge success. It was a mini festival curated by the Werra Foxma label in Scotland, featuring a huge variety of live acts. To a capacity crowd at London’s Water Rats, I played at the end of the night, in sweltering heat. For a moment I had a sneezing fit, a reaction to seasonal allergies and the dry ice on the stage, leading some to consider renaming me ‘Sneezer’ instead of Scanner. Thanks to everyone who came along and supported this show.
The Infra-ordinary Lab Presents Taste Impressions with chef Paul Day in Prague also turned out to be a great success. Commissioned by the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, it was a site-specific participatory performance that invited the public on a multi-sensory exploration of Holešovická Tržnice, framing perception and peeling the skin of the everyday to reveal hidden narratives. Created by artist Tereza Stehlikova I produced a new hour-long soundtrack to accompany the work. I’m considering to add this to my Bandcamp account for those of you interested in hearing the work.
Back in the studio was less about music and more about writing this month too. I’ve just written a new feature for British music magazine Electronic Sound, and an essay for a hugely expansive 16CD box of music from French composer Denis Dufour which I was thrilled to be invited to write. More on these once they are out.
But don’t worry, music is still being produced. In fact, I’m currently listening, sampling and processing music from Thelonious Monk, Handel, Vivaldi and others for a very special show at Cafe Oto, celebrating the birthday of legendary American composer Carl Stone.
Dubbed the King of Sampling by the Village Voice, and one of the pioneers of live computer music, Carl Stone started originally with tape recorders and turntables in 1972. In 1986 he adapted his performance to include live computing, which he continues to this day. Pitchfork called Stone’s music “like a dance party in a room made of funhouse mirrors” and the New York Times called it “a powerful stimulant with lingering euphoric effects”.
Now in his 70th year, Carl Stone’s plan for his Cafe OTO residency will feature his solo work, plus collaborators helping him explore acoustic resonance, media bombardment, Irony, elegance, economy and wit.
On Friday 14 July, I join Vicki Bennett (People Like Us) and Emily Bick of the Wire Magazine for a conversation, then on Saturday 15 July, Vicki and I join Carl in a wild improvisation around popular music. I’m super excited about this. Carl and I first met 26 years ago so it’s taken this long for a collaboration to come to fruition. Patience is indeed a virtue.
Older readers of the newsletter might remember the series of special mixes I produced some years ago, called On 45. These were originally created for a popular online mix channel, but they have now restricted access only to paid subscribers and I felt an audience deserved to hear them.
When I was a teenager there was a popular series of hit records under the umbrella title of Stars on 45, where popular songs would be combined into a medley, with a common beat underneath. It was like a kind of greatest hits of a certain artist or style of music. It was a novel and playful idea and I thought for a long time about creating such an idea for more exploratory artists.
So, I produced mixes featuring exclusively on one artist per mix, featuring the work of Alva Noto, Ryoji Ikeda, Lorn, Pole, Mika Vainio, Martin Gore, Holly Herndon, Laurie Spiegel and many more. So, I’m now creating videos to accompany these which will be uploaded to my YouTube account. The first two of these are now available. The first features the music of the late Scottish producer Sophie (1986-2021) What you hear is what happened in a real time mix, and a tribute to an amazing artist. Watch and listen here.
The second is actually another tribute to an artist sadly no longer with us. Mika Vainio was a Finnish electronic musician, probably best known as a member of legendary electronic group Pan Sonic. I wrote a feature on their debut show in London in 1994, which I took a role in making happen. And that was a very special night indeed, especially since a power cut meant their debut show was just 12 minutes long! But just long enough to get them a record deal with Blast First and to live on in memory.
As to the cause of the powercut? A truly un-rock ‘n roll kettle in the kitchen tripping the entire system, plunging The Orb into darkness at the same time too. Enjoy the full tale here. Listen to the full Mika Vainio mix here.
Every now and then I work on commercial projects. I actually thrive on the fact that I can remain invisible, and especially how this work can be enjoyed by an audience who would never otherwise be exposed to my work. Over the years I’ve worked on projects with Comme des Garçons, Philips, Max & Co, H&M, Chanel, Financial Times, Jaguar, Top Shop, Kering, Jill Sander and many more, so thought it might be interesting to share a recent project with you.
This time it was a collaboration with GF Machining in Switzerland, who just released the Liechti Turbomill 500g, setting the “new standard of blade machining”apparently. Yes, perhaps like you, I also had no idea what this actually means, but these machines are actually used in the manufacture of the Apple iPhone and Lego products to achieve the precision and detail they need at microscopic levels. It’s a great little film too.
Whilst in Vienna in May, I met up with the writer Michael Zangerl to make an interview for Skug Musikkultur. It turned out to be a really enjoyable and fun conversation between my friend and collaborator Gareth Davis, over lunch in the sunshine, sitting in Museumsquartier.
You can read back our rather playful conversation, as we joined the dots between Stockhausen, TS Eliot, Samuel Beckett, John Oswald, memory and performance. Read it here.
You can listen to much of my music on streaming services, but as most of you already know, Bandcamp is the best place to pick up my music, where many exclusive releases are available. At present I have about ten complete full-length albums ready to go, so trying to work out the design and schedules for these. Tune in here to browse the full catalogue.
So, back to resampling popular culture and many more adventures.
Thanks as ever for your support
Best wishes
Professor Scanner
::: listen :::
Stephen Vitiello: Soundtracks for Andrew Deutsch (Room40)
Clark: Sus Dog (Warp)
Clock DVA: Noesis (ArmComm/Rizosfera)
Swans: The Beggar (Mute)
::: read :::
Rene Daumal: Pataphysical Essays (Wakefield Press)
Adrian Shaughnessy: The Graphic Language of Neville Brody 3 (Thames & Hudson)
Ernest Cole: House of Bondage (Aperture)
Basquiat x Warhol: Paintings 4 Hands (Editions Gllimard)
::: watch :::
One Fine Morning: Mia Hansen-Løve
György Fehér: Twilight
Reality: Tina Satter
Sisu: Jalmari Helander
