Loops of 5 Judy Collins vinyl records. Both Judy Collins and William Walker, the composer of the tune ‘New Britain’, have birthdays in Taurus.
I worked with Amazing Grace quite a bit some 20 years ago but was surprised I couldn’t find a recording using all my copies of the Judy Collins 7inch version.
Annoyingly the small phono mixer turned out to be a bit noisy, its kind of ok for a bit, but kind of not. I think its the Sony turntable that was causing it, swapped that for a line level Numark and it seemed much better (no3).
After a while of vinyl only loops, No3 has the tune sequenced with synth sounds and effects too. The recognisable bits of the song mean it can’t be seen in Russia and Belarus.
Found a few more of these recently. I thought I’d try the Marx Toys battery powered record player I got a few years ago which I believed was broken, but it turns out I just hadn’t put the platter on correctly!
I made a video with my clockwork toy gramophone by Marx Toys some years ago (2008).
This was new work made for the festival of light in Aberteifi back in December 24. It’s a combination of footage from several years working with moving images of the river Teifi and its tributaries.
Since 2020 I have been working with different astrological symbols and themes, changing in relation to the sun as it moves through each sign during the yearly cycle. The circle emerges as a symbol of interconnection and unity, leading to live performance and creativity as an expression of the moment in time and space.
One of several iterations, the video is created through a live mixing process where video clips can be looped and layered in different configurations. Over time the layers repeat while the interactions between the images shift and change.
The astrological chart describes a moment in time and place and in these videos describes the moment of creation of the improvised soundtrack with musician Elsa Davies. Based on a tune called Aberteifi and arranged by Elsa Davies it was created live on November 19th here in Aberteifi with violin and modular synth.
2 copies of Scorpio Bryan Adams’ Everything I do looped, reversed and filtered.
I do everything Haiku from Bryan Adams (2002)
Take the time, see all And when you find love, tell me tell me it’s true worth
What you do to me I can’t help it, I want more. You give Everything
Look into your soul, for Everything true. you will find your love
there’s nothin’ I do. Look, Don’t give me Everything unless you want me.
no more sacrifice- You can’t love me more I am mean – take life
There’s nowhere to hide Don’t you search my heart for it I search there for you
it’s worth tryin’ for you tell me it’s not dyin’ you’re worth all my heart
Bryan’s Leftovers
I can’t help it for it’s true it’s not there All Search nothin’ there as for you do I fight it’s like fightin’ will I do – I do it your eyes know I lie could you would you There’s – the other way you’ll – And – not I I do it -There’s – into my I would know you Don’t tell it’s not worth tryin’ for there’s nothin’ more Ya would Walk I’d die for Ya no no – I’d wire for – for – it for the Ya know
I had a great few days working with the Maynard Afon project this last week, I posted a bit to describe my process and thoughts before my visit here.
Arriving with ideas of exploring the cottage as a container for the watery material gathered over the last year, I started immediately projecting video onto different areas of the interior.
The temptation of the vessels on the dresser was too much to resist.
While mapped water played on the different vessels in one room, there was a single channel live video mix projected onto the wall in the other.
This used video clips from over the last year in a structured, layered composition designed to constantly change, reflecting both the control and manipulation which we impose and the inherent changing nature of the water itself.
Over time, the water returns.
I spent some time on the river in the few days there too. Recording more sounds, focusing attention on the resonant, underground spaces I found nearby, the places where human presence has been fixed and changed the acoustic nature of the water course.
With a body of recordings I set about filtering the water sounds, using a QPAS filter I was able to single out different frequencies and add resonance to create a shifting soundscape from only recordings of the water. Using the Rene sequencer I attempted to program the tune ‘Dŵr yr Afon’ and was able to draw out frequencies and guide the water into the shape of that melody, mixing in additional resonance, echo and reverb as well as the source material of the water. With a selection of water sounds in the sampler, the master clock, driving the echoes and the sequencer, was in turn taking its lead from the length of loop playing.
Water connects us all and everything.
I cant help feeling that we should observe the proliferation of words from millennia of observations, interactions and experiences of these fundamental parts of our world. Surely they act as indicators of how important they have been and still are, to our human and societal development.
As part of the Annwn / Otherworlds exhibition in the Old Sail Loft last week we set up a space to play live with my video projections in the basement. The performance went on through the evening exhibition opening, with each of us playing different parts, drifting in and out over a few hours. The extract above is from the last section where we condensed most of the processes into a manageable 15minutes.
The video projections were of ‘Otherworlds’, a video made from filming clips of trees reflecting in puddles seen on walks around the local area over the last 2 or 3 years.
Over the last year, while working with Maynard and Afon,
I have limited my time on the project to when the sun is passing through one of the 3 water signs and taken the mode of each as a guide to consider and collect different kinds of material.
The process began with a walk down the river Pibydd with the sun in the sign of Cancer. The size and nature of the river seemed to express something of the cardinal mode.
While the sun was moving through Scorpio in 2023 we walked in the woods around Fynnone, perhaps Pluto was watching. The still deep waters of the lake inspired an idea to POOL a collection of sounds and I invited the other Afon artists to select vinyl from my collection to become a resource for a new improvised mix.
With the Sun in Pisces this year I spent some time with the confluence of the river Mwldan into the Teifi and the merging of Nant Duad and Nant Hafren near Castell Henllys. I gathered some material and had an idea to MERGE, to explore ways of bringing together different sound making practices.
When the sun returned to Cancer I returned to MERGE and also looked closer to home to explore the Mwldan in more detail. Taith Afon Mwldan was the result and started to explore ideas of containment and control.
During my time with Afon this November the Sun will be in Scorpio. I plan to explore and record some of the hidden parts of the river. To bring together material gathered over the last year and explore its potential once contained and displaced
My friend John sometimes brings me vinyl, mostly what he finds at the local recycling centre for cheap, these seven inch records are from his Dad’s collection I believe. Great covers, thanks John.
The river Mwldan is a tributary to the Teifi in the town of Aberteifi / Cardigan in west Wales. Starting in the north it runs the length of the town on the western side before joining the Teifi a little way downstream from the old bridge.
Historically the Mwldan was an important part of the industry of the town powering mills along it’s journey before reaching town and being put to use by a variety of industries and traders over the years. These days it is largely overlooked and unseen but it continues to provide a slender and valuable channel of natural habitat for all kinds of wildlife.
I recorded with a hydrophone on all of the crossing points of the Mwldan, edited and layered in the soundtrack of the video above to include the machine noise and mechanics of handling and movement, blending the natural and man made sounds to reflect the natural and unnatural course of the river.
I was recently watching a pair of swans on the Teifi. They swam into the culvert entrance on the Teifi and went under the car park to emerge onto the Mwldan a couple of minutes later. A strange moment walking across the car park knowing there were swans swimming underneath!
Walking upstream the next crossing is the footbridge at Lower Mwldan which used to be a drawbridge. ‘The Old Sail Loft’ buildings have been used for various things over the years, storage for a long time and a Ceredigion Council run training centre for a while before its recent change to arts space and print studios.
After the footbridge the river Mwldan disappears from sight as it runs behind what was once a timber yard and then storage for Furney’s Amusements. For quite a while the open sided sheds could be seen through the gates, full of old fruit machines, pool tables and the like. When the yard changed hands some years ago they sold off all that, I regret not buying the boxes of old jukebox records still marked up with the pubs they had been in. As we move further upstream the terrace continues to obscure the river before the culvert begins at the back of the old amusement arcade and the river opens up again just before Bath House Rd Bridge.
Moving further upstream the river has 2 more bridges in quick succession for yet another car park and access to Mwldan buildings.
From there the Mwldan meanders through a low lying area with no public access before the final bridge in town on Gwbert rd.
The found of music 