…So I have a good few starting points for the PhD but am wondering about whether or not I need to begin placing such concerns and ideas in another blog. I was all set to go ahead and do just that until Lara pointed out to me that political/critically-engaged crafty blogs are scarce. I wonder about the desirability of separating out concerns such as ‘how does one improve the quality of rhubarb jam?’ from other questions like ‘how does one engage with the domestic soundscape imaginatively and creatively?’ What do you think? I’ve made a poll for you, readers, to vote on. It would be good to know whether opinion sways more in favour of separating polemic from FO, recipes and other crafty joy, or keeping them all together. I am learning about blogging all the time and it would be good to get some feedback…

In other news, it should soon be possible to stream my first radio show featuring domestic material from the Framework website. In the meantime, I think it was played on Resonance FM at the weekend and you can download the mp3 for it here.

Here is all the info:

This edition of framework features a range of different approaches to exploring the domestic soundscape and has been curated by Felicity Ford, AKA the littlesongbox.

This show I hope illustrates some of the issues/ideas/themes around domestic field-recordings. Strategies for capturing our everyday lives with sound range from detailed interviews about daily tasks, as created by Kayla Bell and Claudia Figueiredo for their graduation event – ‘Mundane Appreciation Week’ – right through to electronically manipulated recordings made from rooms with ‘additional effects to make something a bit more listenable,’ (Domestic Hiss.)

Many of the recordings found in this selection began life as the sound element in an installation; Amy Vickery’s ‘Stairs’ was installed in a brown package at the top of her stairs in an exhibition she did in her home, during her graduating art show. Likewise, her ‘4 London Road’ piece was originally the soundtrack to a series of still photographs of domestic locations. Suzanne Williams and Dio Mock made several soundtracks to be installed in an old Jam Factory in huge mason jars; (the speakers were immersed in jam.) Although their recordings are largely taken from outdoors, I think the domestic context of the jam jar and the overall comment about the relationships between locale and home make ‘Canal Jam’ a relevant inclusion here. And this relates also to the work of John Zeman whose piece ‘An evening at Home’ was the second piece for the ‘What’s For Dinner?’ exhibit at the Museum of Domestic Design. According to their promotional material ‘It depicted the preparation of a meal and the enjoyment of it, in contrast to its counterpart, which was about the journey to obtain it. This piece reflected the warmth and comfort of being at home, the care that goes into a meal, and enjoyment that comes from sharing that meal with the ones you love.”

This edition of framework also features several excerpts of work from Aeron and Alejandra, (The Lucky Kitchen Label) ranging from the found-sound/manipulated sound/musical collages of ‘The Shed Record’ and ‘Christmas in the Empire’ to their ‘Family Album’ in which they asked
people they knew to send in recordings – like sonic snapshots – of their families.

With ‘The Shed Record’ in particular, the music/field-recording line is continually blurred, as we hear many moments when Aeron’s Grandmother is singing and playing the piano. This confusion about domestic environment/music will be familiar to anyone who has grown up in an environment where music practise, piano-playing and other ‘musical’ activity is part of the soundscape; Joseph Young’s ‘Family Album’ looks at this in more detail, while the Kitchen Sink Dharma recording ‘ Dusting a Piano’ explores the less glamourous side of growing up with instruments in the house. The end of a Diane Cluck song is also featured in relation to this point because it is interesting that she has allowed her real life to enter the normally sealed recording environment. The phone rings, she picks it up and stops playing the song. Are we listening to her everyday life or to her song or are they just the same thing?

It is Peter Cusack’s recording, however, ‘Onions frying in my flat’ from ‘Your Favourite London Sounds’ that really needs to be noted here; the cataloguing of detail from people’s everyday lives that underpinned the whole process of making ‘Your Favourite London Sounds’ is probably the thing I heard which got me interested in the idea of the domestic soundscape in the first place.

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Tracklisting:

Joseph Young – Family Album / Domestic Hiss – Bathroom / Bell & Figueiredo – Mundane Appreciation Interviews

http://www.archive.org/details/JosephYoungTheFamilyAlbum
http://www.archive.org/details/domestic_hiss
http://www.myspace.com/mundaneappreciation

Suzanne Williams & Dio Mock – Canal Jam / Bell & Figueiredo – Mundane Appreciation Interviews / Felicity Ford (the littlesongbox) – The Perfect Cup of Tea

http://www.myspace.com/majamoxford

Peter Cusack – Onions Frying in my flat / John Zeman – An evening at home /
Kitchen Sink Dharma – Cooking Omelettes at home

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cusack
http://isnoone.org/
http://www.archive.org/details/Kitchen_Sink_Dharma

Kitchen Sink Dharma – Nothing cooking / Bell & Figueiredo – Mundane Appreciation Interviews / Gallagho Kitchen Soundpack – The Freesounds Project

http://freesound.iua.upf.edu

Peter Cusak – Keys in my door / Joe Young – Family Album / Amy Vickery – Stairs

http://www.myspace.com/amyvickeryartist

Amy Vickery – 4 London Road / Alejandra & Aeron – The Shed Record / Domestic Hiss – Kitchen

http://www.luckykitchen.com/aa_works/aacv.html

Felicity Ford (the littlesongbox) – Washing machine, telephone pickup /Alejandra & Aeron – The Shed Record / Kitchen Sink Dharma – Dusting a Piano

Joseph Young – Family Album / Alejandra & Aeron – Family Album / Alejandra & Aeron – Christmas in the empire

http://www.fallt.com/empire

Magali Babin – Chuchotement / Felicity Ford (the littlesongbox) – Telephone pick up and telephone / Felicity Ford (the littlesongbox) – The Speaking Clock

http://www.archive.org/details/nta012
http://www.sonus.ca/curators/norman/babin.html

Joceline Colvert – Creaking Floorboards / Alejandra & Aeron – Family Album / Tim Coster – Liz’s alarm clock

http://www.myspace.com/timcoster

Diane Cluck – taking a phonecall halfway through a song!