Hello
It’s been mighty cold here in the UK. Walking into the studio with temperatures of just 8 degrees Celsius is rather challenging and not so inspiring, but I have bravely battled through, ably assisted by thermal clothing.
OLA – new album
Having ‘only’ released five new albums last year, I’m beginning 2023 with a concerted effort to beat that. Within the next month there will be THREE new releases. First up is a new CD entitled OLA, created with French musicians Geins’t Naït and Laurent Petitgand.
Geins’t Naït and Laurent Petitgand have been music activists for more than 30 years, two very singular musicians, coming from two different schools – the industrial and experimental scene for Thierry Mérigout (the last active member of the group Geins’t Naït) and for Laurent Petitgand, well known for his movie soundtracks, especially for his collaboration with Wim Wenders. As one press review stated:
For “OLA”, I joined the GN+LP duo for this explosive collaboration. The album claims an industrial pedigree, but is hard to pigeonhole, shifting between drums and drone, enhanced by field recordings and occasionally distorted words. Out for pre-order today and available from 03 February 2023.
I have just 50 copies of this on CD, almost half of which have already been sold. Pick it up directly from me here, or from the label themselves in France here.
Our last collaboration from 2021 is available here digitally and we are currently in conversation already about recording the follow-up to OLA.
South London Originals EP
A week later on 10 Feb comes a new EP, South London Originals, recorded with British musician David Harrow. David and I first met in the early 1980s in South London, where we shared mutual friends. The EP features four tracks, recorded remotely, with David now over in sunny LA, and offers a warmly organic warped package of new music.
David has worked extensively with Alex Patterson of The Orb, as well as writing Gary Clail’s two big hits, ‘Human Nature (Bad Natured)’ and ‘Who Pays the Piper,’ and written, recorded and co-produced tracks for artists such as Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Bim Sherman and Mark Stewart.
South London Originals will be on all streaming services and available to buy directly from me here. The link will not be live until 10 February. I also made this little video to accompany the closing track of the album, which is amore cinematic, drifting piece of melancholia.
Awakening I See the Dead
And on this very same day, emerges this new release on Australian label Room40 by Danish artist øjeRum. “Vågnende Jeg Ser De Døde” {“Awakening I See the Dead”} was recorded during the Easter holidays 2022 on an old piano in an old house secluded in the Danish countryside.
Apparently while recording, radio waves and static electricity interfered with the signal – sometimes subtly, sometimes more pronounced – supplying the recording with an accidental ghost accompaniment. This chance encounter encouraged him to get in touch with me as he was familiar with my use of radio waves and police scanners.
I took his original samples and transformed them into these lilting poetic soundscapes. I couldn’t choose between the two versions I created, so offered them both and it seems neither could the label decide, so in addition to the original 19-minute track, you also get two 21-minute remixes of mine. So, 60 minutes of new music isn’t bad really.
I definitely recommend you check out his Instagram channel for some truly inspiring artworks too. You won’t be disappointed!
By the way, if you don’t have the commitment to listen to all five of my albums from 2022, I had a lovely conversation with Joe Reilly at CKCU FM 93.1 radio recently and he played many choice pieces from the releases so you can get an overview of my entire year in about an hour or less. Listen back here.
Spotify Mixtape
I was recently invited by the label Ici d’Ailleurs, who are releasing my OLA album, to create a mixtape on Spotify. I often struggle with such choices as there’s simply too much good music out there, so decided again that the best solution was simply to choose music I’d been listening to in the previous week. So, tune in here and you can hear my choices, which include Alva Noto, Loscil, Mark Stewart, Silent Servant, Mogwai, Grandaddy, Plaid, Harry Bertoia, Jan Jelinek and many more. Listen back here.
An interesting free download for you now. Back in 2005-2006 I took part in Trajectory at Space Studios in London, in a series of deeply challenging intensive sessions with fellow artists. We published a book at the end, which you can download for free here. I was in conversation with my fine friend Stephen Vitiello, American sound artist, about the role of collaboration in art. Download the book here.
A studio experiment
A moment of playfulness in the studio recently led towards this easy listening piece of music. It was filmed on my iPhone, so apologies for the less than perfect focusing. I connected up the ever-wonderful Suzuki Omnichord 84 through The Dust Collector, which offers a gritty analogue edge to the already low fidelity music, by way of LFOs, tape saturation, a spring reverb, a delay and a phaser. Nothing spectacular, just a moment in the studio, nothing more, nothing less. You might enjoy it.
So far this year live shows are few and far between which is disappointing, as it’s always a pleasure to travel and meet people and share my work. Working independently can certainly have its drawbacks at times.
My next confirmed live shows are at The Capstone Theatre in Liverpool on 22 April for the Tone Science event. This looks set to be such fun, playing alongside Ian Boddy, Polypores, Nigel Mullaney and Field Lines Cartographer. Then we will all collaborated in a rare performance of La Monte Young’s work.
Then on Saturday 10 June I will headlining the WFR London Festival, an all-day electronic music event at Water Rats at King’s Cross. This looks set to be a truly amazing event that begins at 15.00 and runs until the evening, and there will be special limited-edition items exclusively available at this event, including new material from me. Hope to see some of you there.
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
