Hello
August was another episode in my ever-failing human body. Since I was in my late teenage years, I’ve had issues with my lower back. Over the years, doctors have suggested it could be the result of Mission Impossible style stunts, such as when I flew over the top of a car in a bike accident when I was 18 years old, or slid under a coach, also on my bicycle.
Despite these rather miraculous escapes, I have continued to suffer. And a few weeks ago, I made the stupid mistake of bending down to pick up an empty cardboard box (the silent killer, as it shall now be known…) and my back completely locked up. Even the slightest movement was agony, as if a sharp blade was being twisted in my spine.
I was completely unable to move for days. Even getting dressed was a challenge, but thanks to a wonderful sports therapist I was back on my feet in just over a week. It meant that I fell behind with work and correspondence too. What a challenge!
Whilst I was still mobile, I played a live show at London’s Ikecktik, which was an absolute joy. I used this new portable LW/FM/SW radio to pick up sounds and voices from the airwaves for sounds to sample and incorporate into the live mix, and quite honestly, I couldn’t believe the synchronicities that took place. To begin with I found a broadcast with two men speaking in a Marseille French accent which I incorporated into an abstract passage. Then I chanced upon several classical radio stations, and remarkably every single sound I produced live was perfectly in tune with the random broadcasts I picked up. Wow!
Thankfully I recorded the set, and it will feature on one of the new labels I’m currently setting up, to be launched very soon. I can’t say too much until all the details are resolved, but believe me, it’s quite exciting indeed!
August was otherwise very much studio-based activity – I’ve just finished up soundtrack work on a new documentary, Future Ruins, of the work of legendary designer Ben Kelly.
Ben is one of the UK’s most influential designers. He has directed successful and innovative projects across the UK, Europe and Asia. He is probably best known for his interior design of the legendary nightclub, The Haçienda in Manchesterm but his practice has produced influential work for 180 The Strand, Virgil Abloh, The Sex Pistols, The V&A, Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, Factory Records, 4AD, The Science Museum, The Design Council, The Natural History Museum, Gymbox and BIMM. Now, that’s pretty impressive, eh?
Ben and I have been friends for many years now, so it’s an artistic exchange of goods in a sense. In return, he’s designing an album sleeve for me which will feature the soundtracks of other works I have written for him. Stay tuned for more on that.
I also had studio time booked with TeZ from seminal British band Clock DVA, where we recorded for three days towards a new release in 2024. It’s a combination of live instruments such as Shakuachi flute with electronics. I’m excited to listen back to these sessions and see what might emerge.
I’ve also been working away on a new performance work which will premiere in Lincoln in the UK in September, called “If Books Could Talk.” I’m working with the medievalist scholar Dr Hollie Morgan. We have had the pleasure of working with some of the medieval charters in the County Archives in Lincoln itself, and medieval manuscripts in the Cathedral Library, housed in Exchequergate.
Such archives are full of noise in a sense, so we began thinking about a different kind of library noise. What if you were able to sit, very quietly, and listen as the books began to speak to each other, telling their stories? What kind of connections do you think they would make? Would, for instance, a 19th-century scrapbook and a 16th-century monastic music book have anything to say to each other?
The performance will take place at the University and be recorded. This will be available on both YouTube and on my Bandcamp channel for free, so everyone can experience later on.
Another unique performance will take place in Bristol on 30 September at Machina Bristronica. It will feature 11 hours of incredible live hardware performances; everything from ambient to electro, mechanical techno to weird experimentalism – with six unique visual artists providing mind-bending accompaniment throughout the day. And alongside will be talks, educational sessions, workshops and over 100+ tables of the finest synthesisers, manufacturers and modular gear on the planet.
It all sounds a little overwhelming, but I’m performing at 16.30 so can still get to bed early, so that’s important. Apparently all the shows will also be broadcast live online so keep any eye online for any updates regarding this. More details here.
More live shows are also coming up in York on 13 October, and Potenza in Italy on 20 October.
My first radio show premieres on Thursday 14 September on Slack City Radio at 22.00 until 00.00. EarSpace will be broadcast monthly. And if you miss an episode you can listen back whenever you wish here. More on the show next month!
‘Panorama 25‘ opens at Le Fresnoy – Studio national in Tourcoing France on 22 September and I’m honoured to be showing an installation of mine there, ‘In-Between.’
When Bernard Tschumi designed Le Fresnoy in 1991, he conceived of a building without a centre, a new structure wrapped around another already existing development. What now exists is a sense of the in-between, a place between past and present, beginning and closing conversations between different times and places.
In-Between explores an experience that utilises all the mysterious sounds that reside in Le Fresnoy, from the drone of the air conditioning, the hum of electricity, the ductwork for heating and ventilation, as well as the movement of bodies within. The work was first created and shown back in 2011, but at the invitation of the visiting curator Chris Deacon, now director of the prestigious Fondation Cartier in Paris, it returns to the building.
It features an animation and audio and will be installed outdoors as part of the physical structure of the building itself. The CD of the soundtrack is still available, and ideal for fans of Pan Sonic, Throbbing Gristle and generally grinding industrial rhythms and textures ideal for a noisy night at home 😀 Buy it here on CD and digital.
If you haven’t picked up a copy of my live album, “La Fenêtre Magique,” then there’s never a better time to do this. Available on blood red vinyl, it can now be yours for only £9.99 which is a ridiculous price, since Werra Foxma are having a massive stock clear out. Don’t miss out! Pick up a copy here.
I just shared the fourth in my series of On 45 mixes online. This time it features the music of German artist and musician Carsten Nicolai, alias Alva Noto.
Carsten and I first met in New York City by chance in the 1990s, actually in the wonderfully inspiring Other Music shop. We’ve remained friends since then, performing and recording together. Our Uniform (2001) album was documentation of a two hour+ live show at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in March 2001.
As with the other previous mixes featuring the work of Sophie, Martin Gore and Mika Vainio, it features exclusively only the music of the named artist, so this new mix has almost 40 minutes of Alva Noto music, balanced against a CR-78 drum machine. Enjoy it!
I am thrilled to see that Split will be performed at SIDance Festival in Seoul, South Korea on 13 and 14 September. Choreographed and directed by Australian choreographer Lucy Guerin, Split had an interesting genesis.
Lucy and I were working in London together on a new work Tomorrow, for which I had recorded a variety of rhythms and textures. One particular piece appealed to her, but it was less than 3 minutes long and she needed an hour-long piece. So Australian artist Robin Fox stepped in and collaged together this short section into an evening-based work that is just outstanding.
The music is so simple, repetitive, like a heartbeat, but it ebbs and flows, constantly seeming to unravel, stimulating the dancers into a truly hypnotic work.
It’s a tender and beautifully intimate work that develops into a truly stunning performance. The soundtrack will soon be released as part of my new label, but again more on that one day soon.
Thanks as always for your support
Best wishes
Professor Scanner
::: listen :::
Robert Turman: Distant Dosage (Dead Mind)
Phill Niblock: Four Full Flutes (Blume)
David Toop & Lawrence English: The Shell That Speaks the Sea (Room40)
Keith Fullerton Whitman: Antithesis (Kranky)
::: read :::
Bill Perrine: Alien Territory (Billingsgate Media)
Designing Utopia (Museum of London)
Zamp Kelp: Prospector: Casting an Eye on Haus-Rucker (Spector)
David Keenan: England’s Hidden Reverse (Strange Attractor Press)
::: watch :::
Incredible but True: Quentin Dupieux
Le fidèle: Michaël R. Roskam
Squaring the Circle: Anton Corbijn
Retour à Séoul: Davy Chou
