Hello
And welcome to the 2026th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 26th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 7th year of the 2020s decade. I hope you welcomed in this new year in a fine way. As ever, I was in bed well before the celebrations began so could awake refreshed in an exceptionally quiet new day.
Wonderfruit Festival Thailand
My year finished up in Thailand where I performed at the amazing Wonderfruit Festival near Pattaya, with the team at MSCTY. We got a great recording and hopefully there will be release this year of this special two-hour sleep performance.
Then it was off to Bangkok for a week of explorations which was amazing, albeit with a nasty surprise. I was accidentally hit by a street vendor pushing a heavy metal cart and it cut my ankle quite badly. I collapsed into a sobbing heap on the ground in pain and turned round to find myself surrounded by Police. It was all rather strange.
I was then taken to a local Red Cross tent which was handy, where they cleaned and dressed my wound. At which point the Police returned to request what I would like to do as the victim? I was utterly confused and expected or wanted nothing at all. The head nurse then turned to me, and apologised on behalf of all the Thai people. It was quite extraordinary. I’m still in pain as I write this, but I’ll have a lovely scar to remember the trip by, though.
Tears shed in Milan
My last European show of the show in Milan turned out to be a personal highlight of the year, with a capacity crowd at Auditorium San Fedele. I was amazed to find that the promoter was the very charming Father Antonio Pileggi, a Jesuit priest, who has dedicated the last fifteen years to promoting experimental music. There’s a fascinating feature about him to read here.
The show itself was extremely emotional, to the point where several people approached me afterwards in tears. It was such an honour to have this opportunity to perform in such a prestigious location.
A Special FREE Christmas Mix
For those who missed it, I released a special festive gift for everyone at Bandcamp, to celebrate another productive year of creativity. This features some reinterpretations of my Christmas album, plus an unreleased track that has featured in recent concerts. I hope you will enjoy it. It’s free to everyone. Download it here. And pick up the original A Scanner Christmas here.
I contributed a new unreleased track to this album on a brand-new label, No Beats Aloud. Entitled ‘Nostalgic Bandwidth Anomalies’ the album features 18 new works from the likes of The Future Sound of Londo, Robert Leinder, David Harrow, Dub Tractor and many more. My tracks, Gradiva, is a nod to my earliest scanned voices work. The limited 2CD edition is available here, as well as digital.
EarSpace Ep.30
Episode 30 of EarSpace hit the airwaves again in December, and again it was a little bit of time-travel through the past, present and future of electronic music. This time there’s new music from Carrier, Sara Udon, Alto Aria, Lapalux, Matthias Puech, Clark, Lawrence English and Stephen Vitiello.
It’s also a family affair with Mark Fell and Rian Treanor, and there’s a tribute to Daphne Oram, as well as Musique concrète from Jean Schwarz and Bernard Parmegiani. And, as always, a little bit of music you can dance to in between the strangeness. Listen back here.
Live shows coming up
January is already off to a busy start. I was just interviewed for a new book about some young upstart called The Aphex Twin, and finished up three remixes for artists to come out this year.
January is always a time to reset and schedule out the year ahead and it’s already exceptionally busy. My first live show will take place on 13 February in Athens where I’ll be playing a new modular synth set, solo and in collaboration with a local artist. And if the scheduling works out, then I’ll also be running a workshop for folks to join in.
The following weekend will be spent in Norwich at the Synth East festival and I’ll have the pleasure of supporting seminal band and old friends Cabaret Voltaire, which I’m super excited about. I’ll also be making short 10 min performances during the festival in a kind of random names pulled out of the hat too.
Then I’m off to Barcelona on 6 March to perform at Casa Montjuic, and play a very special London show at Rich Mix on 20 March, alongside Joseph Branciforte & Jozef Dumoulin which is definitely going to be something very special. Pick up your tickets here.
The Year to Come…
During this holiday season I’ve also begun to add old interviews of mine, beginning with 1994, to my website, which is proving to be a most entertaining revelation, stepping back in time almost 32 years to a very different world indeed. It’s a slow process, as there is so much material in the archive, but it’s a start, so have a look here and enjoy a little bit of early time-travelling then.
In addition to the new albums I announced last month, there will now be a seventh release this year with an old friend, which we are just finishing mixing. So, seven albums in one year really isn’t so bad I think, and who knows, there might be more to follow. My sincere apologies to your credit card and bank accounts.
I’m heads down into planning a new podcast series that will offer up something very unique this year too. If it all progresses as we plan then there will be an accompanying live talks and events too. It’s ambitious, but I’ll share more when I am allowed to.
So, a little briefer than usual, but just as busy, especially under the surface.
Warmest wishes
Professor Scanner
::: listen :::
Rupert Hine: The Shout (Buried Treasure)
Lawrence English & Stephen Vitiello: Trinity (American Dreams)
Reinhold Weber: Complete Electronic and Phonetic Works 1968-1974 (Sub Rosa)
David Jackman: Steadfast (Die Stadt)
::: read :::
Robert Ashley: Outside of Time (Musiktexte)
Letraset: The DIY Typography Revolution (Unit Editions)
Viscose Journal Sound 08
Walter Murch: Suddenly Something Clicked (Faber)
::: watch :::
Mastermind: Kelly Reichardt
Your Host: DW Medoff
All Her Fault: Megan Gallagher
One Battle after Another: Paul Thomas Anderson
