In October of 2013 I was invited by The Penthouse to the Sluice Art Fair in London (see Oct '13 in the archive). I had done a residency for The Penthouse earlier that year, where I made new improvised works and performances, and was invited to help represent them at the fair. On the final night of the fair I made a live performance that would on reflection be one of the noisiest and less compromising of my performances.
Not being as careful at documenting my own performances as I probably should be I had forgotten that a friend who was present had recorded the gig- and I guess he forgot too, since it arrived in my inbox only last week. On listening back two years later it reminded me of being quite relaxed at the time and just letting the waves of sound and feedback build up further and louder than I would usually before turning some channels down and other up. It wasn't really planned that way but my travelling from Manchester with a limited set of equipment and the atmosphere at the event not being one conducive to people listening intently influenced my decision to make something more direct and reactionary and less abstract or quiet. At some point I asked for a microphone that was not part of my set-up to be switched on and stood for a while playing the FM tuner into it while the Loopstation did some of the work, then left the FM tuner on the floor in front of the audience which can be heard at the end playing out static before I come over and turn it off. With the benefit of hindsight I can say that this performance relates to my interest in using instruments and technology in ways which they were not designed for and adapting to situations and environments as part of improvisation. Something I would go on to explore as part of my MA in Sound Arts and continue to do.
The first in a new series of sound works from remixing and rearranging some of my own recordings into new works, PianoDrones was composed on computer using a 2007 recording of a live improvisation with an abandoned piano that has been used in several live performances over the years and recent recordings of an electric piano. The short samples have been stretched and manipulated through software to form drones and drawn out ambient sounds and causing some small sounds and details to become audible.
My new self-released digital album Joined Apartis out now at Bandcamp Full download is £4 Featuring 10 new compositions of electronics, tapes, records, objects, found sounds, words, accidents, coincidences, echoes...
A transistor radio signal lost between Italian radio stations, a record crackles, a piano is pushed from a window in some dreamlike sequence, an old Casio fades in and out, traffic passes on a London street, plastic beads become rainfall…
Joined Apart was formed over a number of years and was recorded, mixed, edited and remixed at different times and places in Manchester, London and the countryside in Northern Italy. Found sounds, found objects, rediscovered tracks, new improvisations, field recordings, scraps of forgotten or unfinished works are brought together by a combination of analogue and digital techniques and improvised processes- too many to remember what was done where. Inspired in parts by found materials, journeys, isolation, bleak landscapes, accidents, coincidences and finding and losing love. The cover photo is taken from a train arriving in Oxford Road station, Manchester
Some reflections on the making of the album
Joined Apart features 10 new compositions made from samples, found sounds, bits of old unused recordings spanning a few years composed and mixed in 2015. It became an album almost by accident. While trying to make some new works I decided to find some of my old stuff to listen to and found a number of sound files and unfinished tracks I never used for one reason or other. Some where more recent Logic projects and some where MP3s of finished recordings. Some of these were remixed and edited and some parts used in new compositions. One track has the left channels removed and the right channels remixed into a kind-of-stereo. In another an electric piano bass line is lifted from an unfinished 'song' and used to add some rhythm to an otherwise abstract composition. That bass line is probably the most musical thing ever to features in one of my compositions. The new material I was working on using samples from records and tapes, electronics and synthesiser gradually became collaged and mixed with bits of the old stuff I was finding. The process became about repurposing the material, cutting, pasting, rearranging meaning every track has had some part of it or been entirely composed in a computer program though the elements of improvisation are still there and on some tracks parts were improvised in real time along with the arranged elements. To me the album sounds rough or unfinished in places. I don't mind this as I usually feel like nothing I make is finished it just arrives at a place where I think it is interesting enough and I am happy to share it.
Most of the tracks were mixed and finished in Manchester in May and June 2015. The album was published on 23 June 2015.
The personal story behind this work is one of discovery and change. The short version is: In 2013 I was living in Manchester and had already been recording, performing and exhibiting as an artist. I was suffering with severe depression and came to the conclusion that I should leave Manchester to get a new perspective on my life. I applied for a Master's in Sound Arts at The London College of Communication, what I considered to be a long shot but worth a try. I got a place on that course and before I knew it I was quitting my job and moving to London in December of 2014. I was studying full time and trying to survive in London. The course gave me access to so many great people and opportunities and really helped me galvanise my idea of what my work was and what I wanted to do as an artist. I met a girl on the course, we started living together and she basically saved my life. We stayed in Italy for a few months and tried to work out a life together but by the time I finished this album that relationship had ended and I was back in Manchester. The story is not important to the listening of the album but for me all the experiences and events are part the composition as much as the sounds.
Some notes on the individual tracks
These can also be found with the release in Bandcamp
01 Right Channels
Tapes, cymbals, objects, Buddha Machine, electronics, keyboards. The right channels from what was originally a stereo mix re-mixed into a kind of stereo. Originally recorded in 2012 and remixed in 2015.
02 Falling Piano Dream
A record for tuning a bass guitar, a record for testing stereo turntable equipment, a real found recording of a piano falling from a window.
03 Both Channels
Original version of Right Channels with both left and right output mixed in stereo. Tapes, objects, Buddha Machine, cymbals. With the sound of a tape recorder breaking under the strain of misuse.
04 Maria With Object And Bow
Recordings of radio static from the middle of the North Italian countryside and an improvisation with a metal object and bow recorded in London some months earlier. Radio Maria is an Italian Catholic radio station.
05 Broken Square
Mini digital synthesiser, square wave tone generator, toy keyboard and an electromagnetic pickup coil channeling internal electrical sounds from the computer during recording.
06 Ten Stage Phaser Version 1
Loops and echoes of mini digital synthesiser, square wave tone generator, radio static, electromagnetic pickup coil channeling internal electrical sounds from the equipment.
07 Listen The Birds
A composition from an old set of records of European bird sounds. Some parts of the records contain background sounds of ocean waves, trains, church bells.
08 Owl Factory
Including sounds from the Nintendo Gamecube startup screen, found cassettes and a toy keyboard. The sudden ending is accidental due to a power failure during recording.
09 Records And Chimes
Improvising with turntables and records to a borrowed recording of hands playing with the chimes of a broken clock.
10 Walk In Plastic Rain
A field recording from a walk in London
A recording of plastic beads in a flat in Manchester
An excerpt from a reading of a short story about meetings, coincidences and heartbreak
A borrowed recording of hands playing inside a broken clock
A bass line from a song written on electric piano in a half-built house
A short report of what I've been doing during the last few months including a specially recorded new track, a residency and performances at Noise Above Noise and an exhibition in Venice. I have also been recording, mixing and editing a new release of experimental recordings to be released soon I will write about in a separate post.
Hoor de Vogels / Listen The Birds new recording for the opening of Fundevogel space
In April the Fundevogel space opened in Todmorden, West Yorkshire as a new DIY venue for arts and sound events. At the opening celebration there was an exhibition and concert by specially invited artists. I recorded a new piece of bird-themed sound work for the exhibition.
"A collage of sounds from a series of 18 vinyl records of various European bird sounds. Originally released in Holland and the UK for bird enthusiasts, here the records, found in a record stall in Manchester some years ago, become a curiosity, a discovery from a time passed and a found material to inspire new compositions."
http://fundevogel.co.uk/
Noise Above Noise residency at The Penthouse, Manchester
During April 2015 I was artist in residence for the Noise Above Noise program at The Penthouse, a residency of working on new live sound works for performance. I was staying in Italy during the first few months of 2015 with a now ex-partner and flew to Manchester with a very limited set of materials from which to develop new work. These included a vibration speaker, an old pocket transistor radio and some guitar pegs.
Arrangement of objects in the studio, Noise Above Noise 2015
With my limited budget I bought a 10 metre long roll of paper and experimented with interacting with it and the kinds of sounds I could make, both with contact microphones and purely acoustic. This formed the basis of one of the live performances. I made a series of videos of experimenting with materials found around the space and on the street in Manchester including: a metal file drawer, broken digital radio and a jug full of screws.
Noise Above Noise 2015 Youtube videos playlist
Also during the residency a new series of prints were made by taking thoughts and ideas about sound that were not necessarily fully formed and then printing them letter by letter with black ink onto A3 graph paper. The process of printing them rather than just writing them down meant they became more permanent works and tangible artworks based on not particularly precious ideas.
Birdcall Print and hand-made birdcall instrument 2015
Noise Above Noise performances with Matt Dalby and Helmut Lemke
"PERFORMANCE SERIES NOISE ABOVE NOISE ELEVATES MANCHESTER’S UNDERGROUND SCENE TO THE FIFTH FLOOR OF A TOWER BLOCK."- THE WIRE
NAN Residency Special flyer
Towards the end of the residency two performance events took place with myself and friends and fellow artists Helmut Lemke and Matt Dalby as Tear Fet each performing experimental solo sound works. Tear Fet made an uncompromising vocal improvisation and Helmut set up an apparently complicated contraption for listening to the sounds of the environment through the vibrations in the glass of the windows and made a visual representation of the sounds.
The first of my performances took place in The Penthouse corridor and involved the large paper roll with two contact microphones and two amplifiers. The paper was unrolled along the corridor with the audience sitting and standing along one side, it was then pulled, dragged, scratched, screwed up folded and thrown around in the corridor causing a range of small and loud, amplified and acoustic sounds. Later I made a second improvised performance using a 'scrap guitar' made from found wood, the guitar pegs, a tuna can and some strings from toy guitar bough from a charity shop. Found objects were played against the strings in a succession of sound making actions.
The second event was held at the Fundevogel space in Todmorden, West Yorkshire and was another improvisation with the scrap guitar and some electronics. A last minute decision was made to time the performance based on a recording I found in my mobile phone of a field recording made while walking in London from Elephant and Castle to the South Bank. The phone was included in the set up and parts of the recording were mixed with the rest of the improvisation as it played in real time.
"I love industry. Pipes. I love fluid and smoke. I love man-made things. I like to see people hard at work, and I like to see sludge and man-made waste." David Lynch
A short piece based on tape-recorded field recordings made at The Photographer’s Gallery, London at an exhibition of David Lynch’s Factory Photographs. The exhibition is black and white photographs of slightly bleak and foreboding industrial landscapes from around th e world. This is my response to a brief asking to make a ‘review’ of something artistic or cultural I had seen recently. I took a tape recorder along to the exhibition and recorded sounds of people talking while viewing the work, using the elevator, opening and closing doors, the sound of myself walking around the exhibition and the dark, ambient tones of Lynch’s own sound installation accompanying the exhibition. The tape recordings were then processed through digital delay, while stop-starting the tape causing the sounds of the tape recorder and the recordings to repeat and overlap to create new sounds. The piece was re-mixed in real-time while being copied between two tape recorders. Some low synth tones were added in response to Lynch’s own sounds. Quite how this constitutes a review I don’t know but there it is.
"Sound artists Graham Dunning and Gary Fisher with producer and electronic musician Testrack improvising three tracks of bass-heavy drone at the Penthouse artist space in Manchester, April 2013."
NEW RELEASE: Gary Fisher Compilation. Imaginatively titled compilation release. Free download.
Selected home and studio recordings from 2007-2013 spanning the various
approaches, phases experiments in sound composition (not in date order). Prevalent through
the recordings is a fascination with amplifying textures and surfaces
and the use of loops to build layered compositions of sounds. Some of
the tracks are from previous releases and some have been officially
released for the first time.
Compilation is made up of recordings from 2007 to 2013 including the short Piano and Objects one of my first recorded attempts at improvising with sound and is unique that it features no electronic effects or instruments and was recorded on a real piano. An approach I intend to investigate more in future especially after a recent performance at The Penthouse, Manchester, using just 3 cymbals, objects and amplification, which I really enjoyed. Some of the tracks on Compilation are selected from my previous releases and some are made available here for the first time. They span various stages in my development as an artist and the many approaches, techniques, instruments, objects, electronics, mistakes and experiments including the ever present fascinations with amplifying textures and surfaces; using found objects and and found sounds; loops and delays and self -imposed restrictions. No live recordings are included as they are often about 20-30 minutes in length and are currently being located to be uploaded individually to the Live Music Archive.
Short phone video. A self contained tape loop inside a cassette with the sound of room noise from the residency suite: a mixture of the heater, room tone and the tape recorder its self. There is a slight glitch where the loop overlaps.
In September 2012 I joined the Open Sound Group in London for a collaborative workshop and recording session all about experimenting with tape. The recordings were released in January 2013.
The fourth Open Sound Group event was held at Elevator Gallery, Hackney Wick on 16th September 2012 and featured seven artists and musicians experimenting with analogue tape. This release documents recordings from the event.
Participants: Daniel Adeyemi, Melanie Clifford, Graham Dunning, Emily Evans, Gary Fisher, Henry Holmes, Simon Reuben White.
Illustrator and visual artist Emily Evans also made some images during the event, included in the download.
Tracklist 01, 02 Full group tape improv recorded onto fourtrack cassette via line and mic inputs 03 Full group tape improv recorded to stereo cassette via inbuilt microphone 04 digital recorder, mics, noise box + tapes 05, 06, 07 mobile digital recorder with stereo mics; moving through various experiments in the space 08 various members contributing to a long, overlapping tape loop. Recording via digital recorder on amplifier at the other end of the loop 09 Multiple small loops made from disecting the loop made in 08, playing simultaneously recorded with mobile digital recorder, mics 10 multiple micro-loops inside cassettes made by each participant lines mixed and amplified: digital recorder placed by speaker
"Not And" Live improvisation for Chorlton Arts Festival, 27-5-2012. Keyboard, square-wave, FM radio, cymbal, book, objects, contact mics, mobile phone, effects, loops and mixing all improvised and performed live. 26th live performance and first to feature the Casio PT-30 mini keyboard and a sample recorded on a mobile phone. This is a recording of the entire performance. The last few minutes are an impromptu ending of touching a stereo jack through a digital delay, something I will use more in future performances. Apologies for the not-perfect sound but it is quite a big file and I wanted it to stay in one piece.
Recorded and mixed on 4-track tape recorder in 2011. The first home recording I made for a while that was composed using over-dubs rather than a live recording of a continuous improvisation. Each track has a few different instruments recorded at different tape speeds with loops and delays. The picture is of the Chapman Gallery, Salford, 2010.
Just relaunched the label Found in a Skip with a great compilation of experimental sounds, improvised music, electronics, field recording and more. Previously the label was used only to release and promote my own stuff but after deciding it should be a proper label started putting together a compilation of the kind of things I want to release in the future. It took ages to put together and it's gone out minus a few artists I wanted to be on it but I also wanted to keep the label moving and start getting some full releases ready by some of these artists and others.
"FOUND" compilation out now
Found in a skip, a new netlabel that celebrates experimental sound through free downloads and absolute freedom to the artists, launches with "FOUND": an eclectic compilation of artists, groups and recordists covering (among other things) improvisation, field recordings, tape music, circuit bending, a remix of abstract sound and a load of people drumming in a swimming pool. Featured artists: Noise Research vs Herve Perez, Gary Fisher + Maxbender, W VON, Graham Dunning, Koobaatoo Asparagus, URN, Salford Media City, Christopher William Anderson, Trying to Remember Fields, The Royal House of Choke.
Tracks:1. Noise Research vs Herve Perez 1001 [Edit]2. Gary Fisher + Maxbender Music Book [Seti-signal Mix]3. W VON We Found Two Strings4. Graham Dunning Digbeth After Hours5. Koobaatoo Asparagus They Lied Starz Are Planets6. URN Blue Death7. Salford Media City The Lynx Effect8. Christopher William Anderson Moskenstraumen9. Trying to Remember Fields Trying to Remember Fields10. The Royal House of Choke White Rabbid
About the label:Found In a Skip is a net label releasing free downloads of experimental music, sound art, field recordings and a variety of experimental approaches to sound and recording by a wide variety of artists, musicians, groups and recordists.
The label will exist only online and be promoted through various sound and music related sites such as soundcloud, last.fm, sound network and through facebook.
All the releases will be available as free downloads.
For the full releases there will be no restrictions on the kind of album they want to make. I am choosing artists I trust will make interesting releases in their own way. I will just make them all available as a collection in one place.
Hopefully the artists will find it a nice way to formulate more unusual sounds or project works into releases and it will become a way for people interested in sound and experimental music to discover some new things and get them for free.
Short video from 2010 0f the beans tin synth: a build-it-yourself square wave generator encased in a beans tin. Here it's played through a digital delay. It has since been housed in a hard metal case because it was not practical (though it looked good) and the knob kept coming loose. The beans tin and the new version have featured in many live performances and recordings over the last few years. At the moment I'm building a new one with a wider frequency range to be housed in a wooden cigar box.
Live recording from 'Stroke Club at Gulliver's on 17-03-11 is available on the Electronic Musik net label along with two out-takes from a home recording. Free to download.
Download: em 139- Sea of Mirrors (zip of all files including cover direct from the label)
1. Cymbal + Book 2. Sea of Mirrors [live] 3. Lime Street Station 1
Electronic Muisk is: "...a DIY label which specialises in experimental electronica and improvised music. Formed in 2000 it’s run by the Sound manipulator / Improvising musician Ian Simpson (aka Noise Research) and is non profit making which enables the label to release exactly what it wants (ie: what it likes). Ian is based in the U.K."
The recording "Sea of Mirrors" was made live at the 'Stroke Club' night at Gulliver's, Manchester using; cymbal and book with contact mics; Buddha Machine; tape recorder with Amstrad tape; reverb spring and FM radio. The piece was titled afterwards with a phrase I've had with me since I was a kid and remembered when an audience member mentioned the ocean in relation to the feel of the piece. Also on the release are two out-takes from a rehearsal recorded at home. 'Cymbal + Book' is a live recording experimenting with the two amplified objects and with panning the different looped sounds in Stereo and 'Lime Street Station' (named after the train station in Liverpool because it feels like a nice combination of words) was recorded the day before the performance and features all the same objects and instruments. The cover photo was taken in Birmingham in 2009.
(See also: post 23-3-11- live review by Cath Aubergine)
A recording of a rehearsal the night before a concert that was cancelled. Temporary Structures is a continuous, improvised, live composition in three loose ‘movements’ moving through different combinations of instruments and objects and forming smaller compositions and cycles that overlap and leak into each other, sounds falling in and fading out or popping up suddenly (the accidental sound of a spectrum game tape signaled the end of the first part and has ended two live performances in a similar way). The intention for the performance and this recording was to was to be more patient with building the composition by letting it unfold with more of a sense of time passing and include a mixture of sounds created electronically and acoustically ranging from textured, minimal and close, such as a rustled plastic bag against a microphone, to ambient and spacial sounds like live radio static without it getting too noise-heavy. The piece starts minimal and quiet with the textured sound of an amplified book being tapped and scraped and ends in a similar way, but more tuneful, with a single echoed note from the scrap guitar a home-made instrument of a bit of found wood with two guitar machine-heads at one end and strings stretched across it.
The title “Temporary Structures” comes from a fascination with architecture and structures related to it that are not permanent fixtures (cranes and scaffolding are constantly going up and coming down all over Manchester in it’s relentless regeneration) and was conceived some time before but chosen for this recording as it suggests something about the approach to the composition and the things that inspired it. The cover photo is the Chapman Gallery at the University of Salford taken by Gary on 35m film. The CDr version is packaged in a single sheet of folded A4 paper printed with the full photo.
Instruments and objects used: amplified book, scrap guitar, contact mics, plastic bag, small cymbal, drum mic, reverb spring (removed from a guitar amplifier), knitting needle, beater (metal skewer with bouncy ball on the end), tape recorder with train tape and spectrum game tape, heat sink (removed from an old stereo), stylophone with chorus effect pedal, pocket radio, Loop-station and -of course- digital delay.
(in this post blue text are links to tags in last.fm)
A free download EP on my Found in a Skip netlabel. Originally released in 2009.
(Original post: 16/06/10. Updated: 05/02/11)
Download direct from the label (all tracks and cover): Skip 05
1. Six Lines 2. Buddha Book Taps 3. Three Bands of Static 4. Delayed Trains 5. Accidental Ending.
Named after a problem with a ground-loop ruining any attempts at recording with an unwanted and constant noise that went away as suddenly as it arrived- Ground Loop Problem is an EP of selected live improvised, minimal composition experiments from 2010 and one from 2009. The tracks ‘Six Lines’, ‘Buddha Book Taps’ and ‘Accidental Ending’ are taken from the same recording.
‘Accidental Ending’ is a genuine accident with the main loop cutting off instead of fading out.
The sounds are made with; amplified books, contact mics, broken cymbal, small cymbal, toy xylaphone, wire rack, pill packet, typewriter, breath, 3 band pocket radio, tape recorder, found field recording tape, ‘Steam In The 50s’ tape, turntable with ‘Golden Age of Steam’ record, fence brace, various found objects, reel-to-reel tape recorder, digital delay, Loopstation.
Sound of Graham Dunning using a drill against his hand-made induction coil echoing down the corridor outside the studio. Recorded on cassette dictafone with lots of inteference. Published at 20:57.
Sound from outside the building, from the studio on second floor, as picked up by a drum mic, pointing downwards, through a mixer with added bass. Recorded direct to the computer. Published at 15:58.
