Dunning x Testrack x Fisher - Triangle

New collaborative release: Triangle

"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."

Stream/download here

Artist links:

Graham Dunning

Testrack

Gary Fisher

Gary Fisher Compilation. 2007-2013 compilation release. Free download.

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.

Stream below, download all files and cover (ZIP) or go to Gary Fisher Compilation at the Internet Archive.

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.

Collage / Objects / Tape Loop

 

A wider view of one corner of the room showing the relationship between a few different elements of the work. The triangular tape loop has had one corner pulled in and hooked over the clear bottle causing the tape to follow the shape of the room rather than cut across it. Recently I have been randomly and spontaneously recording sounds onto the tape regardless of it's position or the relationship to the other sounds causing a purely accidental composition from spontaneous yet deliberate acts.

Objects on The Windowsill

A couple of card record sleeves and a Polaroid photo of the record sleeve cymbal drawings arranged on the windowsill. One of the sleeves has a verse of poetry from The Wasteland by T.S Eliott typed onto it. Part of my practice is about simply arranging or grouping objects instinctively.

Temporary Wall Collage.

During the residency I have arranged and rearranged the different elements of this collage on the floor over several days, making changes instinctively. It has been transferred to the wall and again re-ordered. The collage is made up of found images, images from my work and actual pieces of previous work including smaller collages, drawings and photographs dating from now back to 2007.

Objects On Paper Sleeves

Some objects placed on paper record sleeves. They are kind of like drawings and have a lot on common with my own drawing style though these are temporary and the objects are not stuck down and can be re-arranged. The photograph is a document of a spontaneous idea and is now a new part of the work itself. All the documentation of my work immediately becomes part of the work.

Record Sleeve Cymbal Drawings

Drawings from tracing the edge 3 different sized cymbals with marker pens. The record sleeves with holes in the centre were placed on top of the others making two drawings when separated. One of the drawings is on brown paper bag, for some reason it felt right to break the pattern.

Amplified Cymbals and Objects

Some broken cymbals, hand-made contact mic's, objects and electronic bits for noise making. Been sporadically and casually making sounds with these for few days. Soon I will be recording some more structured approaches and recording a collection of sounds for an online release. Also I will be performing with these at the Open House event on 1st of March.

At last some decent pictures with a proper digital camera rather than a phone. The rest of the photos from the residency will be like this.

Short Cassette Loop

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.

Room Reflected in Window

Phone picture of some of my work in the the residency suite reflected on the window.

Food Cans.

Collected food cans with nails and bottle tops for sound making. They look good as a collection of objects too.

Collage Work in Progress

Some collage work in progress at The Penthouse residency. Found images, drawings, photographs, words and images from my own work are arranged on the floor, adding rearranging the parts and composing sporadically in an improvised way over a few days.

Triangular Tape Loop 10/2/13

A long triangular tape loop across one corner of the room and over some record sleeves laid out for drawing and collage. The reel-to-reel tape recorder has recorded the sound of itself through a hand-made contact mic', parts of the loop still contain some accidental noise from a previous recording. The recorded sound information on the tape is traveling around the room in a continuous cycle and the sound reproduced by the tape recorder is the sound of itself recording itself. The casing for the contact mic' is a bottle top but the connection to the beer bottles holding the tape up was not noticed at the time but is a nice touch. Loops, cycles, patterns, self-referencing and self producing sounds have been an important feature in my work for many years. Sounds coming soon. (And proper non-blurred photos.)

Polaroids and Tapes 10/2/13

First two in a Series of Polaroid photos both of windows in The Penthouse- one of the same window it is sitting on- and a tape recorder to capture the sounds of various actions in the space. The plan is for a series of recordings from the space to use in an improvised performance.

Work starts at The Penthouse.

A few photos from 8/2/13. Arranged some things to start me off on some new work.

Record sleeves ready for collage, drawing etc. Makes a nice piece like this, too.

Quick drawing on a plastic sheet against the window.

Started collage of ideas and research. This wall will be used throughout the residency for photos, drawings, found images, texts.

Photos from The Penthouse

A few phone pictures from some spaces around The Penthouse. There will be plenty of these taken during the residency. A really interesting building.

The Penthouse Residency 7/2/13 - 7/3/13

Just started a residency at The Penthouse- a new not for profit artists' space in Manchester's Northern Quarter. I am taking over a room reserved for residencies by invited artists who's work has methods and values in common to the vision for The Penthouse of it's creators and curators- artists Rosanne Robertson and Debbie Sharp.

From my initial proposal:
"Sounds will be recorded, drawings made, photographs taken, experiments performed, texts written. The residency space will become a working studio: a place to collate and organize research, a place to plan, a place to bring objects, sounds, and images together. The space, the Penthouse, the building and its surroundings will provide a basis to create new works as as response to that environment and context."

More phone pictures of the residency space before work began, taken 6/2/12:

 

Tube Map Rearranged

A London Underground map torn along the lines where I folded it to fit into my pocket and rearranged on graph paper. During my recent Trip to London I walked around the city -on average- about 8-10 miles a day and was thinking about ideas of Situationism, this is kind of a response to that. 

Here is one dictionary definition of rearrange: • change (the position, time, or order of something) : he had rearranged his schedule.

This phone picture has been enhanced in photoshop. More collage maps, field recordings and works inspired by that trip will be coming soon. The finished maps will be properly photographed later.

Working at home: "Skip Studios"

The state of the table in the living room of my flat in Whalley Range, Manchester since I don't have a studio. I've called it Skip Studios. I've recently got back into recording and making things and finding things after a difficult couple of years. This current set up is a 10 channel mixer with digital loops and delays recording the usual mix of mini keyboards -which despite being a regular fixture in my live performances are yet to feature on a 'studio' recording- tapes, objects, home made electronics, amplified cymbals, Buddha Machines etc onto 4-track tape recorder allowing for a kind of half composed, half improvised approach which can be mixed in real time while transferring from 4-track to MP3. So it's still pretty much all improv but I can kind a kind of live edit. As well as the sound art stuff that I will be doing forever I'm working on a more self-contained project with the provisional name "Eardrums" involving electronic beats from an app on my mobile phone, percussion and guitars with lots of noise but more conventional structure (well, as much as I can manage). Would be great to get people to collaborate on that.

Sounds coming soon.

Open sound Group - Tape Music recordings

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.

Click here for photographs from the event.

Listen online below, check out the release at the Internet Archive or download the full release now.

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

Open Sound Group #4: Tape Music

I'll be doing this on Sunday.

Open Sound Group #4: Tape Music
A one-day open workshop and networking event for artists and musicians working with analogue tape.
1pm – 8pm Sunday, 16th September 2012
Elevator Gallery, Hackney Wick, London

it’s all done with tape recorders consider this machine and what it can do … you can study and analyze every pause and inflection of a recorded conversation … a tape recorder can play back fast slowly or backwards … play a sentence backwards and learn to unsay what you just said… such exercises bring you a liberation from old association locks– William Burroughs, The Invisible Generation.

Open Sound Group events give participants the opportunity to share ideas; talk about and demonstrate their practices and methods; form potential collaborative connections; and create sounds and record together. While the format of the day is open and flexible, one expected outcome is a series of recordings which will be released through the Open Sound Group netlabel. The event will take place at Elevator Gallery in Hackney Wick, East London.

The event is open to artists, musicians, composers and performers from any background. The one restriction specific to this event is that only analogue tape can be used, both as input source and recording medium. Four-track cassette and domestic reel-to-reel machines will be available on the day.

http://opensoundgroup.wordpress.com/

Record Prints [A5 card]

Prints from 7-inch records. Black block printing ink on A5 card.

Record Prints [A3 paper]

Prints from 7-inch records using black block printing ink on A3 graph paper.

The last two images are prints from pieces of a broken record.