Album Art

 

Foxx Head

More work this week on the new JF&TM album with Foxxy. Things are coming to a head

(Sketch by JF)

Dream Studio

Here are some studio pictures which I have fed into the the Deep Dream Algorithm, a computer vision program which uses a convolutional neural network to find and enhance patterns in images via algorithmic pareidolia, thus creating a dream-like hallucinogenic appearance in the deliberately over-processed images. Dreamy!

Oscars

An exploration into additive synthesis on the 1983 OSC Oscar duophonic synth. I created a few simple harmonics and played two layers in duo mode, so there are 4 voices with each pair going through a digital delay line (BEL BD80). I then added a long reverb using the Lexicon 224

The video is made by me filming the sound going through an oscilloscope then messing it up with a vintage video mixer



Here is lovely little Oscar:

Sparked Lines

Wow here are the lovely line drawings of synths done by Lyn for our remix album Sparked. Don't they look nice?

Pixelpaint

Here is an art film I made



CREDITS:
Visuals: Oil on canvas, Phillips VKR6810 camera, Panasonic WJMX50A production mixer
Sound: Buchla 100 modular synthesiser, a remix of tracks taken from the album FORMS FIVE, SHAPES IN SPACE, by Benge

Spark Up

Look here! You can pre-order the new Wrangler album which features 11 remixes of tracks from LA Spark. Its an epic release, especially if you go for the double gatefold vinyl, but I would recommend getting the vinyl AND the CD because they are both worth having in your collection (I hear CDs are coming back into fashion)

Picture Picture

As promised, I framed up Richards drawing - here it is in-situ:

What A Card

Look my friend Richard drew a picture of my studio for my birthday card! Thanks Rich, I love it - I'm going to print it out and put it up on the wall next to my Moog

Polycaro

Here is a video of the Korg Poly 61. I programmed some new sounds into the memory bank and set up a loop on the tape recorder. You can edit the 2 digital VCOs, the filter and VCA which share an envelope, and send an LFO to the filter, pitch and VCA. Thats pretty much it, but the results of combining these few parameters are really satisfying, especially when dealing with first-generation analog/digital hybrid electronic circuits

The second bit of the video was shot at Tate Modern, where they have a really good 60s/70s minimalist show on at the moment. There was an arresting yellow Anthony Caro that caught my eye

Articulation

In 1958 György Ligeti produced his electronic work Artikulation at the WDR studio in Cologne. Then in 1970 Rainer Wehinger created a 'score for listening' - a visual representation of the sounds - in book form. Here someone has put it into a timeline so you can hear and see the craziness all at the same time:

Keep Kalm

Have you ever missed an art preview and then wished you had made the effort to mingle with all those trendy arty people drinking free beer and talking really loudly and not looking at any of the paintings because of all the other trendy people in the way or even worse missed the whole show even though it was on for months, because you're just so busy and you had never actually heard of that artist but then it turns out their work is really cool when you read about them in vice magazine 3 years later? Well here is the solution if you live in New York. Mr Kalm should franchise this idea out to other cities, I love watching these!



James is a working artist himself and has an amazing knowledge of modern art and a great eye for detail. Of the 500+ exhibitions he has covered most are walk around tours, which is like being there in person, but occasionally he interviews the artist directly

Shock Omission

Actually one of the few omissions from the previous post video was this excellent synth theme for the 1980 modern art series The Shock of the New. The music was made by Paddy Kingsland at the Radiophonic Workshop. Being at a loss due to flu I just watched all 8 episodes back to back

70s World

Everything up on the moor looks like something from a 1970s Roger Dean painting, like the one below from one of those Yes albums I just bought

For example, here is a picture of Biba I just took:

Face Book

Speaking of Record Store Day, our good friend Natalie (Lone Taxidermist) has been busy with the oil paint again. Check out the whole collection here

Moved

The reason I have been a bit quiet round here lately is I moved house. And county. And Everything (except the studio)

I found this sketch amongst the original plans and drawings for the house which were left here by the previous owner. Its from 1960

You Want It

University Challenge

Last week I went to Norfolk for the day and I popped in to the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts to have a look round. Its a very impressive art/artefact collection which used to be in Mr Sainsbury's bedroom (according to one of the museum's staff I spoke to). He liked Frances Bacon a lot. The building is an early Norman Foster, and it is in the grounds of the University of East Anglia. It really is an amazing campus and well worth a visit if you want to see a fantastic 1960s example of British futuristic utopia. The halls of residence are the crowning glory - crazy ziggurats designed by Denys Lasdun who also designed the National Theatre in London. What a beautiful place to spend as a student, sleeping all day long (thanks to Lyn for that joke)

I vaguely recalled that the UEA had a very important electronic music studio in the 1970s and wondered if it was still going. To my great horror I discovered that it has just closed down and the current students are the last ones to attend! It was set up in the early 1970s by Tristram Carey who purchased one of the first EMS Synthi 100s for the students to use. That machine eventually ended up in the collection of Mute records founder Daniel Miller, here he is being interviewed about it by Tara Busch:

On doing some google research on the history of the UEA studio I came across this very interesting thesis by Nicola Candlish on UK electronic music studios and the pioneering people behind them:

Nicola Candlish PhD 2012.pdf by Zack Dagoba

Abstract Distractions Two

From Rekjavik