Wednesday 18 August 2010

Acorn Bath

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/149/l_efc984560ead4f1bbc08125b14ec8e0a.jpg

Maybe I am biased but this album is amazing!
Horacio Pollard (Leon) is crashing at our house and he gave me a copy of his latest album released on Twilight Luggage (a small Norwegian record label dedicated to noise, experimental, improv and drone music). You can download it for free here

Acorn Bath is Horacio Pollard's second album for Twilight Luggage, and his world doesn't seem to have gotten any less strange since the last visit. Bizarre creatures play manic musique concrete while pieces of broken machinery jump out of the bushes to partake in the spectacle. Come along on another wonderful journey into the unknown with Horacio!

Sunday 15 August 2010

Kari Tykkyläinen

http://www.tykkylainen.com/kuvat/alaston_kari.jpg 

I recently discovered this amazing old man on YouTube (thanks to Rich). His name is Kari Ahti Ilmari Tykkyläinen, he's an artist, sculptor and musician. One of his other passions is making videos with young (and old) girls dresses in stockings (off course it's deeper than that). He has uploaded over 700 videos on his YT page. He uses his own music on many of the clips.

Incubate

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/4820842478_05f0f3d131_z.jpg 
 
I might go to this festival if it's financially viable. A lot of my friends are playing over that weekend (Festival runs from September the 12th to the 19th).

Incubate is the annual celebration of independent culture. Expect a diverse view on indie culture as a whole, including music, contemporary dance, film and visual arts. We bring more than 200 cutting edge artists in an intimate context to an international audience. Black metal next to free jazz. Street art next to academic dance.

Wednesday 4 August 2010

Listening Post

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I went to see Listening Post yesterday at the Science Museum. It took me about two hours to get there, that's London traffic for you! Once I found the entrance I was excited like a kid going to see a dinosaur exhibition for the first time. The installation by Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin was captivating and humorous. The overall experience reminded me of cyberpunk films such as Hackers to name one. As soon you enter the dark room you are drawn into it, staring at 200 mini screens that resemble a home cinema screen. The seating arrangement and dramatic ambient music add to the cinematic feeling. The long intervals after the messages are displayed and read out create anticipation and tension. I did not particularly appreciate the cheesy background music that accompanied the whole process. I do like the concept of computer generated voices reading out uncensored random messages abstracted from chat rooms on the internet. The randomness made me stay longer waiting to hear more absurd messages. 

Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin's Listening Post immerses us in a rhythm of computer-synthesised voices reading, or singing out, a fluid play of real-time text fragments. The fragments are sampled from thousands of live, unrestricted internet chatrooms, bulletin boards and other online public forums. They are uncensored and unedited. Stray thoughts resonate through the space in sound and voice as texts surge, flicker, appear and disappear, at varying sizes and speeds, across a suspended grid of over 200 small electronic screens. An ambient soundtrack accompanies the activity with isolated pulses reminiscent of computer modems, clatterings, footsteps and the beeping of mechanical answering machines. At intervals darkness and silence take over, creating momentary pauses before Listening Post continues with its next movement.