Hello
Still settling into the Scanner Factory at present and still busily engaged in the process of trying to find everything, whilst digitising my archive each day, and fresh discoveries each and every day.
September brings with it the beginnings of a project I’ve been keenly anticipating for some time. Weaklings is a theatrical work inspired and loosely based on the writings of American writer and artist Dennis Cooper, blurring the boundaries between fact and fiction, where identity is slippery and ideas are everything. Cooper’s blog, intriguing and unsettling in equal measure, details and reflects on his enthusiasm, from his favourite music and writers, via abandoned buildings, parks, haunted houses, through to serial killers, vintage gay porn and extreme BDSM.
I’ll be working with the very fine Chris Goode and Company developing this production towards performances later this year, premiering at the Warwick Arts Centre in October. Stay tuned for some very dark sonic adventures soon.
Every musician loves good speakers, and I was recently interviewed for a feature on my use of these extraordinary Egg150 speakers, which if nothing else at least look magnificent. So have a read and a sneaky look inside the new Scanner studio and the ever-growing Eurorack Modular system. Read it in full here.
Some recent commercial work has come to light, a soundtrack for the new Max&Co Autumn Winter collection, where I composed some very optimistic dynamic music to entertain the teenage generation today. Enjoy the sound of light.
So in lieu of a new album release, which actually I’m actively engaged in too at present, here are a host of gems from the Scanner Archives. Firstly some unheard and unreleased sketches towards a soundtrack score for a film for the late British film director Derek Jarman, which were composed on one cold Saturday afternoon in Cold Storage Studios in London. Download the entire series of works here for free.
And how about a tape from 1982-83 full of Moog Prodigy synth experiments? None of these are finished pieces, more playful sketches recorded as a teenager, live directly to tape. Some were recorded on TDK cassettes and some on a Teac reel-to-reel recorder given to me by my English teacher at school. The heads were out of align on this Teac machine, hence some very odd time signatures at moments. It’s worth listening to if only for the ridiculous pop song hidden in there somewhere. Download them all here.
An archival find online is the film Modulations: Cinema for the Eye, directed by Iara Lee in 1998, which caught the electronic music scene at a particular point in time. I still vividly remember being interviewed in the offices of Rawkus Records in NYC at the time, surrounded by cardboard boxes and speaking about found sound and my great love of John Cage. The full-length features Pierre Henri Genesis P-Orridge, Juan Atkins, Moby, Mixmaster Morris and countless other influential figures. Watch it here.
It’s never too late to support the people in Nepal and once again let me mention this extraordinarily diverse compilation that gives you 75 new tunes for just £9.99, a price that really can’t be argued with. I’ve contributed an original work using my Eurorack modular synth system, Monorocket Volt, alongside new works from Ryuichi Sakamoto, Shakespears Sister, Attrition, The The, Anni Hogan, Nick Cave, Dave Ball, Jarboe, Richard Strange, Wrangler, Steve Severin, BJ Cole, Simon Fisher Turner, Kid Congo and countless others. All monies go directly towards rebuilding Nepal through the charity agency Action Works Nepal and Animal Nepal. Treat yourself and others here.
Until next time, thanks for your kind support as always.
Hugs
Professor Scanner
::: listen :::
AFX: Orphaned Deejay Selek 2006-2008 (Warp)
Health: Death Magic (Fiction)
David Toop – Lost Shadows In Defence of the Soul (Sub Rosa)
FKA Twigs: M3LL155X (Young Turks)
::: read :::
Jeremy Grimshaw: Draw a Straight Line (OUP)
Piers Bizony: The Making of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 (Taschen)
Ben Rivers: The Sky Trembles and The Earth Is Afraid (Artangel)
John Harvey: The Story of Black (Reaktion)
::: film:::
The Treatment, Hans Herbots, Belgium
L’eclisse, Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy
Iris, Albert Maysles, USA
Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis, Dany Boon, France
Exhibitions
Sound Matters
Wolverhampton Art Gallery
14 November – 06 February 2016
The Crafts Council presents Weave Waves, a digital commission, which brings together sound artist Scanner, and textile designer Ismini Samanidou.Weave Waves explores sound, geography and mapping and how this data relates to both textile weave structures and musical scores. The work features as part of a show exploring the relationship of crafts and audio.
Scanner and Samanidou were inspired by the visual and technical similarities between the digital software they both use and the physicality of code.
soundmatters.org.uk
weavewaves.org.uk
Traction Company
PAFA
Fisher Brooks Gallery
Philadelphia USA
02 July – 11 October 2015
An artist collective and studio in Philadelphia founded by, and composed of, PAFA alumni, faculty and staff. Features a work created in association with Jordon Rockford, Heaven, a sound installation secreted in a plastic storage bin.
Night Haunts
By Sukhdev Sandhu
Design Mind Unit
Sound Design Scanner
Artangel Interaction invited
writer and historian Sukhdev Sandhu to write a nocturnal journal
unfolding over the course of 2006. His postings will appear sequentially
at this microsite specially designed by Mind Unit.
Sandhu’s forays see him prospecting in the London night with the
people who drive its pulse, from the avian police to security guards, zookeepers
and exorcists. Acclaimed artist and musician Scanner has collaborated
with Sukhdev and Ian Budden of Mind Unit to compose the sound for
the site. If you would like to be kept informed as each episode is posted,
join artangel’s mailing list by clicking
here .
