What I listened to this month... January 2012

Please Note: these 'plays' are taken from the plays scrobbled to my last.fm account (MBP, iPad, iPhones & iPods) and don't include music played on my hifi or in the car.

What are you listening to?

Tx

Skye by Studiocanoe

Skye from Studiocanoe on Vimeo.


Truly beautiful... and embarrassingly for me... a place I have never visited. I will need to rectify this soon.

Tx

(with thanks to @brainpicker)

Quiet Camp Vibes by Poler Camping Stuff

Quiet Camp Vibes from Poler Camping Stuff on Vimeo.

I know this is... in essence... an advert for some really cool camping gear from Poler in Portland, Oregon by the film maker Amanda Marsalis... but its also a very powerful advert for the wilds of Big Sur and also for getting away from it all.

It impressed me... and, more importantly, inspired me... and I thought I'd share it.



Their products look really good... especially 'the Napsack'... which needs to be seen to be believed. They have a 'Howies' vibe about them... which is cool.

All in... something special worth checking out.

Tx

www.polerstuff.com
www.amandamarsalis.com

Books with great covers... part 1

I have fancied doing something like this for a wee while now... and when Olly was working on my Canon Pixma MP490 scanner last week, I kept it plugged in and looked for an opportunity to get some scanning done.

I hope to feature the covers of some of the books I have in my collection... books I've picked up (mostly in charityshops) because I have been drawn to the cover, to the story, to the author, or a combination of all three.

The idea behind this exercise is threefold:
1) Feature books with great covers... and
2) Take the opportunity to appreciate what I have... there is no point in having a collection if you don't appreciate it.
3) Provide examples of what I mean by "artefact"... these books are beautiful on the outside as well as having good stories inside. Whilst I love my Kindle3 (and Kindle apps on iPhone and iPad)... Amazon and publishers really need to work on their designs... eBook covers leave me cold.

Enjoy

Tx

February's calendar / wallpaper

I know I am a couple of days early... but I wanted to get this one out. This month's calendar / wallpaper is based on a wee "happy accident" (as Bob Ross would say) I kept when taking pics of some of my old cameras for a hint of bergamot.

Usual flavours are included below... and there is even a wee surprise on the Kindle3 wallpaper.

Enjoy and thanks for everyones willingness to have my photography on their devices... it is appreciated by me.

Tx

1280x768
1280x800
1600x1200
1920x1080
1920x1200
iPhone with calendar + iPhone without calendar
iPad
PSP
Kindle3
980x800 for Andrew Berry's mobile device

Seven questions with... Peter James

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to "Memento" by Peter James and was delighted to accepted his friendship request on Facebook. He is a lovely chap who really cares for the music he creates... and this love is evident in his music.

I felt it apt to interview him and when you hear from him... his passion for ambient music and for people shines through. I love the wee story of the baby, for example.

I really appreciated James taking the time to answer my questions... and appreciate his candor considering his private nature.

This is what he had to say...

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(1) Who are you and what do you do?
My name is peter james, and I write ambient and instrumental music. I try not to use synthesised sounds wherever possible, and I create about 90% of the sounds and drones I use from real instruments and voices, or field recordings. I can record maybe half an hour of, say, bass guitar work, or an hour or more outdoor stuff, and yet sometimes I may only end up with a minute or 3 worth of useful sounds – hence me having recorded so few album’s. I don’t like to repeat myself, music-wise, and sound-wise, if I can help it.

I’m also a sound engineer and occasional producer – but only if it’s a project that I believe in. I also still use outboard analogue equipment and samplers, using the Mac pretty much as a stand alone sequencer/recorder and audio editor.

Since 2009 I’ve been a full-time” member of the global musical collective 48Cameras – whose main base is in Belgium. I contribute both musically and technically.


(2) What are you working on at the moment?
Currently I’m working on 2 projects – but there is some other stuff on the back-burner which is earmarked for a project with a writer and video artist from France..

My main, and on-going, project at the moment is a collaborative album with a female vocalist and lyricist from London, which will also be multi-lingual. I’ve never written specifically for vocals and lyrics, so it’s been a great lesson for me, learning a new discipline. There’s no release or finish date for this yet, but we should start mixing it sometime soon.

My newest solo project is again working with field recordings, but I’m taking a very different approach this time, and it seems to be heading in a more “industrial ambient” direction. It’s early days, and it’ll take a lot of working out, so again, I’ve no idea when it will be finished. I’m not prolific at all, due to the way I create my sounds, but I’d rather take it slowly, try to get it “right” than to juggle loads of things at once. It can take anything from 3 months to a year for me to complete an album, depending on just how much sound design and creation is needed.


(3)Who inspires you?


- Name an artist who has inspired you.

Werner Herzog. I’m not really inspired by music or other musician’s, to be honest, more by films/film-makers and their own particular ethos and approach to their art and the way they tell the story, and many of Herzogs’ films have affected me/inspired me on so many levels, more so than any other living artist.

(can I also add the late great Orson Welles here – for his pure drive and stubborn-ness, and his undaunting and unrelenting desire to create – at any cost! The 2 Arena films about him and his life should be required viewing, in my opinion, for anyone starting out in any of the creative arts). [of course you can, TM]

- Name place that has inspired you.

Cumbria/The Lake District. It would take a head, heart, and soul of stone not to be inspired by it.

- Name some "thing" that has inspired you.

seeing a 3 week old baby, born addicted to Methadone, sleeping soundly to a piece of music of mine, that I’d been asked to write for her by her foster parents, wake up crying when it had finished, and then go straight back to sleep when it was played to her again.


(4) What drives you to do what you do?
see above. I don’t want to come across as pompous or in any way egotistical, because that’s simply not my schtick, but If, as an artist you can affect just one person, make a tiny difference to another person’s moment, give them some joy, raise a smile, bewilder, inspire, or simply just give a bit of mind or stop-time (and yes, send them to sleep, even) with what you do – that’s all that matters, not how many album’s you sell. I am constantly surprised, and humbled, by some of the stories I’ve been told about my work, and how it has affected someone in a positive way, and this is why I carry on with it. if I was in it for money, I’d have given up many years ago.
Of course I’d like more people to hear what I do, because then I’d feel I’ve been able to repay somehow the people who continue to support and have faith in me and my work, but I’m more than happy with how it’s all gone so far.


(5) What values do you wish your creativity to express?
That it’s ok to be incredibly simple, and that it’s ok to be incredibly complex – I think this William Blake quote says it better than I ever could

“I must create a system – or be enslaved by another man’s. I will not reason and compare – my business is to create”

(6) What role does community play in what you do?
I’m not really that much of a “connected” person – I’m incredibly private, by nature, but the more I think about it, it’s been vital. Without the support of a few people who I’ve “met” over the last few years, I don’t think I’d have done half the things I’ve been lucky enough to do, or been involved in. I couldn’t catch a cold in the U.K, so without the rM.ning community, for instance, I’d still be blowing in the wind. I even have to give a nod to (the now much-maligned, and rightly so) Myspace, as that is where a lot of opportunities first arose. Someone once said, because of Myspace, I was “one of the most well known, but un-successful, underground ambient musicians in the U.K” ;-) so yeah, it’s been very important to me, and allowed me to interact with and get to know, and work with, some truly inspirational people – and I’ll give a special name-check in this regard to John Koch-Northrup at Relaxed Machinery, who has been championing my cause for the last 3 years. I wouldn’t be here now, writing this, if it hadn’t been for him. I guess I must learn, somehow, to do “more”.


(7) What is next for what you do?
Difficult question. I try not to think about it, and I tend not to plan, as I never know what’s coming, or going to happen, next, on pretty much every level. But on a creative level? I really do not know. It depends what comes along to inspire me enough to want to do something new. I guess all I really want to do is to keep (trying) to push my own boundaries, keep it as honest and as human as possible. My general ethos is to not repeat myself, so it doesn’t get any easier, as time goes on. I never thought I could top my 2nd album – “is” – for sheer creativity (i.e just how many sounds could I wrench from just one instrument) and hard-nosed “almost drove me insane”, approach to it and my intentions for it, but I guess I was wrong. So yeah, who knows what the future may hold for me, and for what I do, but I’d love to work on some music for a “commercially” produced film. That’s my as-yet-unfulfilled ambition.

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Thanks Peter... I thought the story of the baby was heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measure.

Tx

A couple of songs from Jake Tatton's band... The Hermitage

My friend Jake Tatton is currently working on material for her upcoming album with her band, The Hermitage. She shared a couple of demos with me and I loved them so much that I wanted to share them with you... I will be watching the development of her album and her band's career with considerable interest.

Enjoy.

Tx

http://www.thehermitagemusic.com/

Congratulations to my mum and dad on their 40th wedding anniversary

Today's my mum and dad's 40th wedding anniversary... and I just wanted to give them a shout-out. They were away at Troon for a couple of days... and we'll be sharing in a meal at a local Italian tomorrow night with other members of the wider family. Looking forward to it.

Congratulations to you both... here's to the next 40!

Love, Tx

Jerry's Map

Jerry's Map from Jerry Gretzinger on Vimeo.

This video is fascinating... I love how immersed he gets into his creation. I find his passion inspiring.

Tx

(with thanks to @nofi)

Seven questions with... John Koch-Northrup

I have become a huge fan of the Relaxed Machinery netlabel and their output. This has come through meeting on Twitter and befriending the label-head, John Koch-Northrup. He is a wonderful character... a really inspirational chap and someone who deeply cares for the kind of music I love.

He has been very generous and opened up his server to me... letting me listen to some of their new and recent material. I have featured both "en seier" by åpne sinn and "memento" by Peter James on here... and have shared my thoughts on "Temporal Arc" by Koch-Northrup himself over on the Alternative Matter website.

In conjunction with the post over on Alternative Matter, I thought I would ask him my wee interview... the first of 2012. This is what he said:

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1) Who are you and what do you do?
John Koch-Northrup. I started playing piano when I was 5, played in school band (trumpet), in live bands starting when I was 15 (synths/bass), and have recorded since I was 13. I currently own the Relaxed Machinery label (http://relaxedmachinery.com) and help other artists release their music.  We're more of a collective, "self releasing... together" than a proper label. But there's a lot of overlap.  I've been married to the most wonderful woman on earth for almost 20 years now. I do IT work - mainly data / EDI / programming type work these days - been at it for around 19 years.


2) What are you working on at the moment?
At this moment my studio is torn down as we may be moving to another state. That's not confirmed and it's a bit up in the air. We're in hurry up and wait mode. So I'm not actively writing new music right now. For Relaxed Machinery, we're getting ready to roll out a great album by åpne sinn called 'en seier' in February. Later this year will see releases from Steve Brand and Disturbed Earth and Shane Morris. Steve is also reissuing his double album collaboration with Ishq on his private Pioneer Light label which we also host through relaxedmachinery.com  -  I'm also working on a top secret project I can't discuss at the moment... :-)


3) Who inspires you?
So many people!  My grandma got the ball rolling when I'd see her playing organ - and then she was my first piano teacher when I was five. She played organ in the same church for 65 years... just about everyone in town had seen her play a wedding or funeral or Santa Claus breakfast at the firehouse - she filled in at a number of other churches as well.  If I could only pick one person - it would be her.

- Name an artist who as inspired you.

Herbie Hancock and many of the 60's Blue Note era crew. Herbie's ability to roll with the times. Similar to Miles Davis in the sense of rolling with the changes of the times or creating those changes.  David Sylvian. The Beatles. Claude Debussy. David Bowie. Cabaret Voltaire. Depeche Mode. Autechre. Orbital. Lately - Steve Brand, Ishq (Matt Hillier), Marcus Fischer, Loscil (Scott Morgan), Taylor Deupree, Saul Stokes, Max Corbacho, Bruno Sanfilippo... so, so many.

- Name a place that has inspired you.

Home with my wife.  Matthiessen State Park in Illinois. Sitting in a dark room playing piano.

- Name some "thing" that has inspired you.

The feeling of walking on frost covered grass.  Trains in the distance. Books, many books. Art.  Photography. The Elder Scrolls video games... (Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim).


4) What drives you to do what you do?

It's in me. It always has been. I feel lost if I'm too far away from creating in some fashion or another - whether it's playing piano or guitar, or recording, or sound sculpting, or listening, or talking about music, or taking photographs, or ... well - anything.  I found that if I put music away for too long I'm missing something in my life... there's a hole.


5) What values do you wish your creativity to express?
Values? Not sure I've been asked this question before. I love to write music. I like to infuse a feeling that I have about the music into it.  I can't guarantee anyone will hear what I was thinking - in fact they most likely won't.  I guess I'd like people to know I greatly care about the music I write and to pull from it what they will. I would say I write from a more positive standpoint the vast majority of the time.


6) What role does community play in what you do?
I often create alone, but the community is everything else. Where else but in the communities I frequent will I find people who want to share their creations and listen to mine? We have common ground, common things to discuss. We may have totally different world views, political views, backgrounds - but music, photography, painting, design, writing... creativity is the binding principle that pulls us together into communities. Community is very important to me... I helped created one after all... http://relaxedmachinery.ning.com


7) What is next for what you do?
Ah, what's next! Hopefully moving. After that probably some downtime from music for awhile as that's a major change.  Once settled in and studio back up - the secret project is my top priority followed by a new album from me.  As always - Relaxed Machinery will continue with it's 2012 lineup of releases - I have two other people that help run the label and I know they'll pick up my slack for a while... a sincere thank you to Steve Brand and Geoff Small who are my partners in the label.  After that, we'll see!  My wife and I want to invest in a macro lens for our Nikon one of these days - I love macro photography - kind of like I love getting up next to sounds on field recordings that can't be normally be heard.  There's always something next - I always have multiple projects going.

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Thanks John... please check out Relaxed Machinery and "Temporal Arc". Oh and read my review of "Temporal Arc" over on Alternative Matter.

Tx