The Domestic Soundscape

Posters at Love Is Awesome, group show, February 2009, Gallery 10, St Mary’s Butts, Reading

Last year around this time of year I was working on the Love Is Awesome show, and I made these anti-Valentine’s-day cards in celebration and recognition of my (then) very Broken Heart.

I am feeling much more positive about Love this year than I was around this point last year, but I still maintain that Love is an awesome force - much greater and darker and gutsier than the pink and red schmaltz that is in all the shop windows at this time of year. And so the Love Is Awesome anti-Valentine’s day cards - in recognition of the fact that Love Is Awesome in the true sense of the word (i.e. to inspire Awe) - are on sale again this year for the princely sum of £10 per pack including P&P. All 9 cards were designed and photographed by me, they are printed on A5 300gsm card, and they come hand-packaged in a set with one of the original screen printed Love Is Awesome tags that we used all over the show when it was open last year at Gallery 10, in Reading.

I am not selling these cards through Etsy; to buy a set for anyone you know who has a broken heart and needs cheering through February, use the Paypal button provided below.

Sometimes there’s just so much going on that you have to do a to-do list to get through it all. I have loads of sound-art projects going on at the moment, and I need a list to get through it all! If I place such a list here then A, it is in the public realm so I will therefore be shamed into doing it, B, I can combine organising myself with publicising some of the things I’m working on, and C, have the ultimate to-do list pleasure of ticking things off as they are completed

1. Organise kit for SOUNDBANK ‘darning’ project (there is a large gap between 8th February - 4th March 2009, where I was so busy working on Love Is Awesome that I didn’t keep up with my SOUND BANK recordings…) Kit to include: *new envelopes and notelets *time/date stamp order from 100proofpress ink for new envelopes and card design to be based on fabric plasters and darned sock heels

2. Organise recording schedule for forthcoming performance of Gentle Fire by Alvin Lucier at Sonic Art Oxford. This involves listing all the sounds I already have and working out how/where to record outstanding sounds, then processing the sounds so that they sound like they have come from alternate sources, then developing some sort of visual way of showing the text on the CDs and making a score for the performance. plus a rehearsal on Saturday 27th February. Also, PROMOTE PERFORMANCE

3. Printing sound effect bags for the interactive installation, POP MUSIC at forthcoming Sonic Art Oxford event; this involves printing firework sound effects on the front of paper bags and then serving popcorn in these bags at Sonic Art Oxford. Also, exploding mouth candy

4. Collating Framework radio show from assorted explosion noises… roman candles, splooshing stones, exploding mouth candy etc. Order paper bags draw designs to be printed, book time in the printing studio

5. Work on ZINE ideas, starting with making a mock contents page and pinning it somewhere prominent in my home environment so I can see it and get more ideas from it

6. Organise recording/production schedule for April series of The Hub Contact Oxford Guild of Spinners Weavers and Dyers to organise a recording date, let all the Guild members know I am interviewing at the Guild on 20th March and learning how to spin a Cotswold Fleece! Contact the Pitt Rivers Museum to organise Knit Weekly with them set up I SPY / I HEAR recordings/features for production meeting on 18th

7. Timetable production schedules for I SPY / I HEAR podcast, 3 x Framework shows I have promised to create

8. Work on funding applications and correspondence and branding and programming line-up for a conference planned for October

That lot plus the 2 teaching jobs I’m working on this semester should keep me pretty busy!

This weekend Mark and I set off to explore another 30-mile section of the Walk 2012 project, this time exploring various trails between Putney Bridge and Guildford. I am sure Mark will write in more detail about the route on his blog, but in the meantime I thought I’d share with you a selection of creatures (real, imaginery and metaphorical) that we spotted this weekend.

Horses - or evidence of horses; spotted near Putney Bridge, by Beverley Brook.

Laughing/Green woodpecker - this is my favourite bird as I absolutely love its giggly sound. Please forgive the detestably pixelated qualities of the digital zoom and the failure of the photograph to convey the woodpecker’s lovely, undulating flight path; it was very magical to see this bird on Richmond Common…

…where we also saw these fine Red Deer.

Much later on in the proceedings, Mark found a Feasel with its very own road-sign…

…and then we slept in a Holiday Inn, which was situated at the end of Felix Lane in Shepperton.

The next morning, striding out into the fresh sunshine and readying ourselves for a 16 mile or so tramp along the Thames and then the River Wey, we found a stern-looking Swan…

…and some sort of Goose-Yoga convention.

Beside the start of the Wey Navigations, I found a Bear with a map.

It is rumoured that a monkey accompanied us on our travels also…

…and we were greeted at lunchtime by a very friendly Badger, whose regal visage always occurs in the same place as good, Hall & Woodhouse Ales.

Joy of all joys, we spotted an enterprising Barn Owl out hunting early in the afternoon as we neared Guildford; Mark got a better picture of it than I did but you can just about make it out in this shot.

When we got home I found a lovely fox on Kate’s blog, and went in search of Liz’s post about the Barn Owl that I remembered. The title of Liz’s blog post is ‘Magical’ and that’s how it feels to see the real creatures we saw.

In my mind, even made-up-animals like feasels and bears become magical totems when you go on a journey; they make for good story-telling when you’re cold or your feet hurt, and they are a good reminder of all the living things that share the places where we go.

The deadline for the contest has been moved yet again due to MORE SNOW! Do take up the coldness as an opportunity to don as many woollens as you can and get outside to be photographed in all your handmade finery. There are treats involved.

And if anyone could help me spread the word, that would be great; twitter, blogs, Rav groups…

Thanks.

Yesterday I finished editing a radio feature on The Cotswold Woollen Weavers Mill at Filkins - just over the Oxfordshire border - in Gloucestershire. I learned about this woollen mill when I saw that Robert Jarvis had used the sounds of the loom there in his composition - sounds of Oxfordshire. Robert kindly sent me a clip of his recordings, which is included in the feature I’ve made for The Hub.

Although you’ll have to wait until Sunday to hear the final edit on the interview I did with Richard, there were quite a few things I couldn’t fit into the show, and I’ve added one of my favourite clips* at the bottom here as a gift to all fibre-fans**.

The Sheep Yoke that Richard talks about in the show this coming Sunday

This is to be the last Knit Weekly feature for this series of The Hub, but I am hoping to take it further in April in our next series when I intend to make something from a Cotswold Fleece and record more local, woolly doings for the show.

If you live near the Gloucestershire/Oxfordshire border and have a love for woven woollen cloth, then you must visit this treasure-trove of a place to see the handloom described in the interview below, the beautiful fabric in the shop, and Richard’s amazing collection of objects relating to the Woollen industry. There is even a cafe where cakes and tea can be purchased. I had such a happy afternoon there; I wish I could have taken you all.

*if you are reading this through my Facebook page, you will not be able to see the link at the bottom, so you must click this link instead.

**if you in any way hoard stash and have a partner who in any way resents this activity of yours, you must play them this clip, because I think you will both feel a great affection for the couple who sold Richard the beautiful handloom that he describes in the audio.

 

 Richard Martin talking about the handloom: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Framework is one of the longest-running field-recording radio shows that I know of. Patrick McGinley - the creative force behind the Framework radio show and the Murmerings website - is one of the most consistent makers and producers that I’ve met, and the longevity and sustained quality of Framework make it my favourite radio show. Framework is an essential meeting ground for field-recordists and a platform for works that would otherwise be homeless in the world of commercial broadcasting. Soundscapes, environmental recordings, phonography, field-recordings and compositions created from found sounds all find their place on Framework and looking back through the playlists on the website is a feast for anyone interested in finding artists who work with sound.

I have really enjoyed producing shows for Framework over the past number of years; Domestica, S H E E P, and a version of the Fantastical Reality Radio Show were all developed for Framework, and the work I did on the Janek Schaefer weekend workshop was broadcast on the recent found-stories episode of the show*.

During September 2009, Framework celebrated its 250th broadcast, and an official release has been compiled in order to commemorate that occasion and raise some funds for the continuation of the project; here’s what Patrick sent me.

the framework250 compilations are now ready to ship!

we are celebrating a landmark. in september framework aired its 250th
edition. to mark the occasion, a collection of artists who have been
important to the program over the years agreed to donate new and
exclusive tracks, which we have published on a pair of double-cdr
compilations, in handmade packaging.

they come in hand-cut, hand-folded, hand-silkscreened opaque origami
sleeves, with inlay cards printed on local 100% recycled estonian-made
paper from the rapina village paper factory, about 20km from me here in
mooste. the sounds are slow-burnt onto the highest quality taiyo yuden
cdrs, and hand-stamped with custom made rubber stamps. they sound and
look great, if i do say so myself. all in all, my novice over-enthusiasm
means these are more effort that i would probably ever be willing to
make for a release again, so snap them up while you can!

images, full tracklists and notes, and more info here:
Murmerings website

these compilations are available only through the framework website, and
you will receive one as a thank-you for your donation of €25 or more (or
any subscription that will result in the same amount). alternatively,
for a minimum donation of €40 euros, we'll send you both!

including exclusive works from: jeph jerman, loren chasse, nuno moita &
matteo uggeri, felicity ford, tarab, murmer, scott sherk, steve roden,
peter cusack, keith berry, toshiya tsunoda, maria balabas, asmus
tietchens, keith de mendonca, seth nehil, martin clarke, maksims
shentelevs, hitoshi kojo, dallas simpson, eric cordier, jonathan
coleclough & ben owen, toy.bizarre, mark schreiber, michael ruesenberg,
jim haynes, thomas tilly /TO, john grzinich, jean-luc guionnet, emmanuel
mieville, jez riley french, giancarlo toniutti, rie nakajima, chris
watson, joel stern & lloyd barrett, richard garet, aaron ximm, michael
northam, simon whetham, and phill niblock

Please circulate this information amongst anyone you know who might want to buy a limited edition, landmark, DIY, Artist-publication made by a group of composers who have been drawn together through a shared love of sound and the amazing context of the Framework Radio Show!

*you can hear a version of the Found Sound Stories workshop over on the Genepool Podcast page. Martin Franklin, (who runs the Digital Media Centre at South Hill Park and who organised the Janek Schaefer weekend workshop) edited together all the materials produced at that workshop, into an informative and rich podcast. Do go and download it if you want to listen to a lot of interesting soundscapes made from old records, found-sounds, field-recordings etc.

I SPY in the country has become my most entrusted creative companion. For the past month I haven’t left the house without it, and my knowledge of the countryside around Oxfordshire and Berkshire has genuinely broadened through organising interviews and visits connected with investigating all the items contained within its beautiful, vintage pages.

I was really encouraged to develop I SPY / I HEAR for radio by your kind comments, left here back in September when I first started exploring the idea. I was spurred on also by the positive response that I got while opening the doors on the SOUND BANK advent calendar, because it made me feel that there is much room for projects which celebrate hearing as part of our imaginative experience.

With these ideas plus my initial PhD research questions in mind, I have approached making the I SPY / I HEAR features for The Hub Radio Show as a practical research activity; an exercise in exploring how a familiar visual text can be adapted to become a listening or audio experience.

In the first episode of the series, Mark and I explored the area around Appleford, where there is a rare thatched wall. For this recording I used binaural microphones which are worn in the ears, in order to pick up sounds in a way that is closer to our natural hearing.

For the second episode of I SPY / I HEAR, I went to record the soundscape surrounding the salmon ladder at Mapledurham Lock, where I was lucky enough to bump into one of the men who works on the river who told me all about the salmon ladder. For this recording, I used the inbuilt microphones on the Edirol recorder that I so love to use…

…and last week’s I SPY / I HEAR feature was created through my visit to MERL - The Museum of English Rural Life - and the interview that Roy Brigden generously gave me, about the items in the collection that are listed in my book. He was able to answer some questions I had such as why we no longer see milk stands in the English Countryside, and why there is a sort of lattice-work pattern at the top of thatching.

I have collected so much audio relating to the idea of I SPY / I HEAR, that I am going to put together a 40-minute podcast covering as many of the items in I SPY IN THE COUNTRY as can be found.

The experience of recording the features has been really exciting; I have found myself closer to the weather for listening intently to it and going out into it specifically to record the sounds at different locations. I have found myself hearing many birds that I cannot identify, and collecting the sounds of different winds, different trees, and different terrains as an extension of the curiosity and collecting habits that are celebrated within the old I SPY books. I have learned many small things about Oxfordshire that I did not know before, and feel closer to this landscape for those small scraps of knowledge. I have also found myself experimenting with how to convey the playful glee of the book and its old, vintage, slightly geeky atmosphere, in sound.

To make the jingle, I played the tune on an old electronic keyboard and created several sung harmonies to go over the top. The words are simple, but then so is the idea (I SPY with my eye, but I HEAR with my ear.) Finally I integrated the sound of my door opening at the start of the jingle and my door closing at the end, to represent the journeys one makes into the world to experience such things as Museum collections or thatched walls.

I also created a sound to represent the points that are awarded in the old I SPY books for spying various items, using a toy xylophone.

I have noticed that at the back of the I SPY books, there is a certificate that one can send off to “Big Chief I Spy.” The bizarrely inappropriate American-Indian branding notwithstanding, I do like the idea of some kind of award at the end of spying all the items in the book and I think this incentive must have provided many generations of children with the necessary inspiration to go outside and start finding out about the things in their locale. I don’t think we were ever organised enough when we were younger to get an award on filling out our I SPY books, but I like to think that I can somehow make up for this now in adulthood, and in keeping with my art practise and creative research. I am therefore working on some kind of I HEAR / Keen-eared listener sonic award to finish off my podcast. In the meantime, you can hear me talking to Roy Brigden on this week’s episode of The Hub, and a further episode of I SPY / I HEAR will be played on next week’s edition. For your listening pleasure now, I present the salmon-ladder feature, the point-scoring sound that I have attributed to SPYING / HEARING one of the items in the book, plus an extended version of the jingle.

 

 I SPY jingle, long: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The joyous DING! of points won in spying escapades: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The Salmon Ladder I SPY / I HEAR feature created for The Hub: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I am loving all the parties this year. I have maintained for a long time that I don’t really *like* parties… this is strange, because I do *really love* friends. But the stress of so many people I don’t know, the dreaded ’so what do you DO?’ question, and the pressure to be entertaining and sociable when what I really want to do is partake of some joyous, solitary activity has been enough to put me off parties for the past few years. However I am realising that a little more partying might be good for the soul and that maybe it is something fun that I like doing. For instance, I really enjoyed being LEGOMEN with Mark at New Year in Weymouth. There was something extremely fun about trying to coordinate our dance moves according to the anatomy of lego men - no bending of knees, no sideways or hip movements at all, arms semi-bent at all times and hands constantly maintaining the c shaped classic lego grip position. The costumes were extremely lo-fi, mostly involving buckets and paper mache and very cheap clothes of the sort I would normally never purchase or endorse.

…I also thoroughly enjoyed the sausages and cider party that we threw here a couple of weekends ago; it was a fantastic opportunity to share the cider we have made and the giant order of sausages that we got as a Christmas present from my Mum last year at Christmas, and I really loved seeing so many friends and feasting so royally together on the first vaguely sunny day of the year.

Thanks so much to everyone for coming!

Finally, last weekend, I enjoyed very much revisiting the 1980s with the help of Stav and Rachael - my two 1980s style-consultants - who sport the 1980s look extremely well themselves. I think Rachael looks especially good as Slash from Guns’n'Roses, and I have been very inspired by recent news from Prick Your Finger that shoulderpads are in stock!

Stav lent me this legendary piece of knitwear. It is made of something incredibly synthetic and pearlescent and had only one shoulderpad still left in it. I fashioned a new pair of shoulderpads, consulted some style tutorials on 1980s makeup and let Stav loose on my hair for a completely new haircut. Then I bleached my hair, DIY style, with a bottle of colourant that cost about £3. I imagine I will have to spend considerably more than this getting it back into some sort of everyday-wearable condition, but I had a lot of fun doing the opposite of what I normally do with makeup and suchlike (i.e. absolutely nothing) and revisiting the silly fun of my girlhood days of dressing up.

All this play was considerably enhanced by the fact that Mark let me do his makeup and consult on his own plans to attend the 1980s party at the weekend dressed as Kraftwerk.

I do like a manly man with eyeliner.

I think maybe this spirit of fun and dressing up would be a good thing to integrate more into everyday life - along with my newfound enjoyment of parties!

There are some amazing recordings around of ice sheets, which I just read about on the SAM blog. Check them out here and here for a topical listening experience.

ETA - ***THE CLOSING DEADLINE FOR THE SNOWCASE HAS NOW BEEN EXTENDED AGAIN TO 10TH FEBRUARY BECAUSE THERE HAS BEEN MORE SNOW!***

There are 2 excellent entried to this context at Ellen’s Blog and Liz’s Blog and there is more snow expected this week!

However, in the event that snow does not fall, and acknolwedging that it will still be fairly cold anyway for the next few weeks, I am going to extend the contest deadline to February 14th, giving you knitters all a good shot at getting your WOOL-FACTOR on.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check this out.