I recall hearing an interview with Gruff Rhys of the Super Furry Animals once who commented that one of the most difficult gigs he’d ever been a part of with the group was when they had had to follow the band Suicide on stage to play live (I had no idea who they were at […]
Here’s a great and short video outlining some of the ways this incredible music has influenced western classical composition. There are other ways of considering how this music has been opened up to the outside, but the Gamelan has such a unique and extraordinary sonic presence that it is hard not to fall in love […]
Recently, I found myself becoming more and more entwined with listening to some of the outstanding work from composer Max Richter, which brought with it a few thoughts about the classical church organ in certain forms of composition. Born in West Germany and then brought up in Bedford in the UK , Richter has come […]
from science fiction films in the early 80’s Growing up in the early eighties, science fiction was my obsession. There was a definite absence of quality science fiction at that time, certainly on screen and in cinemas. I would reflexively and obsessively check anything which was labelled as science fiction. During this time, weird, flakey […]
Recently came across this excellent article on software and coding and its role in our modern ways of living. I was aware of bits and pieces in relation to this, but its good to get something that delves in and gives us a context and perspective on how our lives are being affected and […]
space life in ambient electronic music Spaces of being If spaces are a key expression within ambient music then it feels like from early on, a sonically expressive animacy (or sonic-presence-as-being) has been another. Partly because as per Young/Zazeela there is the question of ‘forms of existence’ being involved with sound, I think different kinds […]
space life in ambient electronic music (Part 1) Expressions of spaces I came across this great piece of music which is also a remix while recently checking in on the LA artist Deru (Bejamin Wynn) some of whose earlier co-credits have included amazing work and sound design on the Avatar /Korra US Anime series, as […]
Drawing by Artist Marc Ngui It seems to me that a very useful concept in philosophy is affect. This is something other than the everyday way we use or come across the word. I thought it would be helpful to put this definition up here. From Brian Massumi’s introduction to A Thousand Plateaus, Capitalism and […]
Intensive relations and sound (a paper) Felt like a good time to post a copy of a paper on sound I wrote some years ago, having found it coming up a few times in exchanges recently. It was written for a symposium as part of the Cybersonica Festival in 2005, although when I re-read […]
Throughout Neil Young’s 2012 autobiography Waging Heavy Peace, he reserves his most potent cosmic utterances for talking about Crazy Horse, the electric group which has backed him since the mid sixties and with whom he intimates if not directly references the experience of sonic journies into the furthest reaches. This though is a section […]
‘4 Way is empty. Use it: it never needs filling. An abyss so deep it seems ancestor to the ten thousand things, it blunts edges, loosens tangles, softens glare, mingles dust. A clarity so clear it only seems real, whose child could it be? Apparently it precedes gods and creators.’ I’ve posted links to David […]
What an amazing episode of the old children’s programme Willo the Wisp from the beginning of the 80’s. Moog the (proto-/semi-/pseudo-) dog arrives at abstract thought for the first time and then discovers humour in the same vein before being trapped by the nasty Televisual-witch Evil Edna, who amazingly convinces him to trap himself in […]
Pixies changed things, when they came along. I recently put together a playlist for a friend and it’s been amazing to be immersed once again with their spectacularly punchy, brilliantly melodic music that edges between pop and harsh, screeching theatre of experience. They’re also credited with bringing loud-quiet-loud approach to playing live which among other […]
While walking through the desert of London’s interstitial spaces at night and troubled by something I had encountered, I found myself composing a response to Laurie Anderson’s wonderful track Walking and Falling. We had forgotten you, And we had dreamed you, but we couldn’t remember you, We had forgotten you, And we had […]
Female singers in the warping planes of tone Part 2 (and Part 1) Playlist link The idea of a playlist can take on different forms, although I feel the most important thing is simply to remember that each song is an open door and at a different cast or angle of the day or night, […]
reflectivewavelengths 