January was a gentle start to the year, scheduling projects up until summer 2027 which is always exciting, as well as studio explorations and a trip to the Netherlands where I caught some amazing exhibitions in Den Bosch and Amsterdam.
A new year comes with a new look, which I hope you find pleasing. Simple but hopefully easy to read and interesting for you.
I was honoured to have an opportunity to score an archival show of work from celebrated British fashion designers Vexed Generation, at the premiere of their new collection in Paris in late January. It’s been twenty years since they last developed a new collection, so was equally excited to witness their AW26 ‘Halo’ collection.
Working with Vexed Generation
Vexed Generation is a British fashion/design label and collective that was founded in London in 1994 by designers Joe Hunter and Adam Thorpe, and they became known in the 1990s for politically-charged, urban utility wear that responded directly to issues like surveillance (CCTV), civil liberties, air pollution and police powers.
Anyone who knows me will recognise that I wear their clothing all the time. Almost every jacket I wear is designed by these guys, and countless photoshoots of mine feature their clothing, made out of high tech and protective fabrics — like ballistic nylon and knife-resistant materials.
Alongside these new designs, they installed a selection of archival clothing from their past, and I created an original work to accompany this body of work. Perhaps I’ll share it with everyone on Bandcamp if there’s enough interest.
Talking about Radio and Art
Back in October 2025, I had a lovely chat with Tom Whitwell of Music Thing Modular when he came to visit me in my studio. I never anticipated this was going online as it was originally intended as a modest presentation to a workshop that Tom was presenting, but I’m delighted he chose to share it with the world.
I talk about the use of radio in my career amongst other things, and offer advice for the use of it in creative work. Much laughter and fun conversation was exchanged. You can watch the full 30-minute video at the link. And notice how I even wore his badge for support! And yes, in case you were wondering, that is indeed a halo floating above my head. It appears at random moments of joy. I can’t help it.
Scanning in Interviews from 1994-1996
I’m continuing to add press interviews and scans of features to my website and it’s proving to be a revelatory experience as most of these I haven’t seen in 30+ years. There’s such an incredible wealth of material in my archive to explore that it could take some years until I finally arrive at the modern day, so for the moment tune into me circa 1994-1996. Dig in deep here.
The Joy of French Avant Garde Music
A little while back I was invited to write the sleeve notes and introduction for a massive boxset of music celebrating the French avant-garde composer Denis Dufour (b.1953). Dufour is best known for his work in acousmatic and electroacoustic music. He was a student of the celebrated composer François Bayle, and became a central figure at INA-GRM in Paris, where he helped shape the post-musique concrète landscape.
His music is often highly dramatic, sensuous and spatial, treating sound as a physical, sculptural force rather than something purely musical. It can be immersive, visceral and intensely cinematic in equal measure.
This boxset follows on from the incredible first volume in 2021. It brings together 16 CDs with 49 works by Dufour, composed between 1976 and 2024. Spanning more than 17 hours of listening, it completes the exploration of a major corpus in electroacoustic music. And, of course, once you read my detailed notes on all the music you will love his work even more. As I write in the booklet:
“He is an artist whose work celebrates the relationship between noise and silence, structure and abstraction, narrative and illusive chaos. At points, works will suddenly shift into radically different dimensions, where birdsong is more prominent than a siren and footsteps merge into synthetic textures. Dada-esque cut-ups slice into environmental recordings of power drills, voices stutter and reassemble into new configurations.”
The first 100 copies are numbered and signed by Dufour too, and there’s a discount if you buy this new set with the first boxset. Go on, treat yourself!
EarSpace Episodes 31 & 32
January 1st began with the latest edition of EarSpace on Slack City Radio. Episode 31 brought chill wave from Shook, dreamy ambience from Marcus Fischer and Polypores, and insanely intense new music on a new label from Slikback, with Worse, Median Wage and No Author x 2wrist.
There was also a little exploration of music discovered at Wonderfruit Festival in Thailand and a wealth of warm, organic electronic from the likes of Placid Angles, False Aralia and many more! Tune in here.
And the way the calendar works sometimes means that there were TWO EarSpace episodes in January, with Episode 32 broadcast at the end of the month. This time there was music you can tap your toes to from Ship Sket, Solitary Dancer, Alva Noto and Binary Algorithms, and the first new music from Berlin’s Sun Electric in 20 years.
I also stepped back 30+ years with classic IDM music from Balil and B12, and in between offered the organic ambience of Celer, Ballista, Isobel Waller-Bridge and plenty more in-between. Listen to Episode 32 here.
Live Performance in Athens
I’m off to Paris for a week in February, then to Athens for a show on 13 February at the invitation of the Krell Society. This will be both a solo show, and then a collaboration with Nikos Fokas and all performed on modular synth set ups which will be a thrill. More details can be found here for the Athens show.
Supporting Cabaret Voltaire
Then I’m off to Norwich at the Synth East festival where I’ll have the pleasure of supporting seminal band and old friends Cabaret Voltaire. Though tickets have sold out for this show, in record time apparently, tickets are still available for the entire synth event with film screenings, and live performances too. I’ll be there for the entirety so please come and say hello if you attend. More info here.
For everyone who has been asking progress has finally been made on the vinyl edition of Contrary Motion, my collaboration with the legendary Steven Stapleton. There will be a double LP with gatefold sleeve and engraving on one record, plus a very special art edition in limited quantities, each with unique artwork and a special completely alternative version of the music. And yes, more on that once I have it in my hands!
So, wishing you a great month ahead.
Warmest wishes
Professor Scanner
LISTEN
Laibach: 40 (Mute)
Bernard Parmegiani: Mémoire Magnétique Vol. 3 (Transversales Disques)
Test Dept: Industrial Overture (Artoffact Records)
Poulson Sq. and HIIIT: Battles & Silences (Bandcamp)
READ
Matthew Blackwell: Plunderphonics (Bloomsbury)
Robin Muir: Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World (NPG)
Charles Dickens: David Copperfield (Penguin)
Erwin Olaf: Freedom (Stedelijk Museum)
WATCH
Lurker: Alex Russell
Written on the Wind: Douglas Sirk
Tellurian Drama: Riar Rizaldi
L’Accident de piano: Quentin Dupieux
