Hello
It’s been another exceptionally busy month here, with lots of sonic adventures, so let’s not waste time and dig right in!
You know the cliché about waiting for a bus for ages, then two arrive at exactly the same time? Well, it seems that this is happening with my releases. I have two new albums out in the next month, each quite different from each other, and on different labels too.
Forces, Reactions, Deflections
“Forces, Reactions, Deflections” is out on 1st October on Quiet Details, on CD and digital, with streaming services to follow two weeks later. This is a very unique release too, in that it’s forged entirely from the resonant clangs, echoes, and whispers of a stainless steel staircase at home, transforming everyday architecture into an unexpected orchestra.
By coaxing rhythm, tone, and atmosphere from the metallic body of a staircase, the work reimagines movement between floors as a passage through sound. No synthesisers were used in the creation, only the natural sound of the staircase using a geophone seismic microphone.
This microphone is quite unlike traditional microphones that pick up vibrations in the air. This actually captures vibrations of the ground, buildings, or objects instead of airborne sound. They are often used to record the resonance of a bridge, the hum of machinery through metal, or footsteps transmitted through the floor. Or even earthquakes, apparently!
If you are familiar with the work of American artist and furniture designer, Harry Bertoia (1915-1978) and his Sonambient works, you’ll have an idea of what to expect. And if you aren’t, I encourage to search his works out online, as they are incredible metal sculptural works that create sound.
For my album, I actually ‘played’ the staircase using a variety of brushes and sticks, so it merges metallic fragments with hauntingly evocative melodies, all created from the movement of the staircase itself. More information here.
Songlines with Gareth Davis
And on the other side of the sonic spectrum is “Songlines,” out on 17 November on Dutch label Moving Furniture. It’s a meeting of electronics with acoustic instruments, as it’s a collaboration with my old friend Gareth Davis, British bass clarinettist resident in Amsterdam, and Polish clarinettist Monika Bugajny.
This will be released on limited vinyl and digital, and is a deeply textural and emotive album, as intricate electronic textures weave around Davis’s deep, resonant tones, blurring the boundary between acoustic breath and digital pulse. The result is a sound world that’s at once intimate and expansive, familiar yet thrillingly unpredictable.
Think late-night conversations in abandoned buildings. Think fog rolling over neon. And now you have an idea of what to expect. Pick up the limited vinyl here, or the digital files.
The Sinking of the Titanic
And, (pause for breath here), there’s another release available on my Bandcamp channel. Back in February 2007, I was invited to perform with my friend Todd Reynolds for the opening of the new season for Peregrine Arts in Philadelphia. It was a low-key event, as I was about to present my museum performance/installation work, “The Order of Things,” at the Wagner Free Institute of Science in the same city in the following days.
Todd and I set up in this remarkable space and performed an intimate interpretation of the classic work from British composer Gavin Bryars, “The Sinking of the Titanic.”
For years, Todd has been violinist of choice for contemporary artists such as Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, and Bang on a Can, and he’s also a founder of the string quartet known as Ethel. He’s also collaborated with artists like Yo-Yo Ma, Todd Rundgren, Joe Jackson, Mark Mothersbaugh, and even Bruce Springsteen!
It has been remixed and remastered for this 2024 release and responses so far have been extremely positive. Have a listen here and treat yourself if you wish.
Tone Science – The Final Patch
I also contributed new music to the final edition of Tone Science, the subsidiary label of British label DiN. The first album in the series was released in 2018 and since then there’s been a remarkable 72 artists featured on the releases. I am honoured to play a modest part in these, with new music on Volumes 1 and 8, and now on this final double CD set, Volume 10.
The use of modular synths is now common in many forms of music it seems today, and these albums have been frequently exploring the outer limits of what’s possible with electricity, cables and a healthy bank balance at times.
This final edition features exclusive music from such lovely folks as Andrea Cichecki, Field Lines Cartographer, Benge, Nigel Mullaney, Panic Girl, Chris Carter, Sarah Belle Reid, Hainbach and many more.
Tone Science Module No.10 The Final Patch is out on CD and digital and features the spectacular design of Matthew Shaw, as do the rest of the series. Time to treat yourself! Pick a copy of CD here.
And four very lucky people are now the proud owners of an extremely limited 7” single that was available exclusively at my live show in London at SJQ Dalston. I arrived after dinner to find that three of them of had already sold without even being promoted that evening, which was a lovely surprise indeed. And thanks to everyone who came along to this special evening, which was almost like performing in your living room!
Un’immagine in Turin
“Un’immagine” at Gallerie d’Italia Turin has been a massive success too. 500 people attended the private view where Stefano Pilia and I performed together in the enormous gallery space. Stefano set up at one end with his guitar and pedals and I was at the very other end, so we couldn’t signal to each other or even see each other. Somehow it all worked out fine though. We recorded the performance, and the gallery has agreed to produce a special vinyl edition of the soundtrack to the show which is exciting. More on this when the time comes.
The installation by Dutch artist Erik Kessels continues until 7 October. If you navigate to this link, you can see images of the performance on the opening night too.
Curiously, and in a similar way to two buses arriving at the same time again, I’ll be back in Turin at the end of October to DJ at the opening of Electric Dreams Art and Technology Before the Internet at OGR, an exhibition which was previously shown at Tate Modern in London.
Given that I hadn’t been to Turin in many, many years, two trips in less than two months is a genuine surprise, but I’m super excited to play music for the opening of this fantastic show which celebrates the early innovators of optical, kinetic, programmed and digital art, who pioneered a new era of immersive sensory installations and automatically-generated works. I loved the show so much I saw it four times at Tate Modern!
Having worked out that it took 11 forms of transport to get from here to Turin (from trains to Metro, planes to buses), that’s 22 opportunities for things to go wrong, but fingers crossed I’ll be there again on 31st October. More details on OGR here.
Electronic Music of the Past, Present and Future
It’s also time for your regular dose of music from the past, present and future of electronic explorations, with EarSpace episode 27. This time it’s a dark dive into music in the shadows, with new sounds from Mika Vainio, Carrier, POL100, K of Arc, Fatwires & Atsushi Izumi and Burial.
We slip back in time to hear Brian Eno, Akkord and Biosphere, and celebrate the 10th anniversary of Tone Science with a fond farewell. In between, there’s even more sounds from Slomo, Katharina Ernst and Larum and much more. And all in just two hours! Listen back in full here.
Getting Fashionable with Fendi
In the midst of all else, I also made time to contribute music to the launch of Fendi’s Women’s and Men’s Spring/Summer 2026 Show in Milan last month. Here’s a link if you want to watch skinny young people lightly stride along in fine colourful clothing. I must say that I loved the set too, which was designed by Marc Newson.
More live shows are being added to the schedule at the moment, so hope we can have an opportunity to meet and greet in the real world. I’m in Italy (again) this month in Bari, performing at Spazio Murat on 24 October, then Turin on 31 October at OGR. Next month I’m in Berlin to premiere a new project based on the work of American poet Allen Ginsberg on 8 November, then back to Italy (seriously!!) on 1 December for a live show in Milan.
Somehow, in between, work continues on this new massive permanent installation to open in London in 2026, as well as a new film score for an incredible work at the Venice Biennial.
As ever, thanks for your support, and I hope you will have a chance to listen to some of my new works this month too. I have also increased the font size here in response to a couple of requests, so please let me know if this helps or bothers you. I try my best to make this as accessible as possible to everyone.
Warmest wishes
Professor Scanner
::: listen :::
Terry Riley: The Columbia Recordings (Sony)
FSOL: Mind Maps (Touched Music)
SDEM: At Quadrant Park (Quadrant Park)
Michael Ranta: Transits Vol 1 (Important)
::: read :::
Chris Marker: Immemory: Gutenberg Version (Exact Change)
Évelyne Gayou: Revolution in Music: The History of the GRM (Uni California Press)
Things that Go Through Your Mind When Falling/Forced Entertainment (Spector)
Meredith Monk: Calling (Hatje Cantz)
::: watch :::
Eddington: Ari Aster
Official Competition: Mariano Cohn & Gastón Duprat
Les Dames Du Bois De Boulogne: Robert Bresson
Days of the Bagnold Summer: Simon Bird
