A stream of lucky sounds tomorrow from 11pm on https://awelshstream.co.uk/
I should be SO lucky
improvisation
Amazing Judy Loops
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.
A circle in 12 parts: Aries
The start of a new series of improvisations with guest artists for 2024.
My first guest for the zodiac sign of Aries was Ailsa Mair. The audio video improvisation was created entirely live, combining a selection of Ailsa’s photos and video clips with astrological symbols, live cameras and sounds.
The session started with a bit of Ann Petrie on vinyl talking about the Aries nature, it combines with a loop of Holst’s Mars and Cor Meibion Aberystwyth before giving way to the cello and voice of Ailsa Mair.
We have been talking of making some work around the tarot and symbol of the fool in particular. Seems wholly appropriate to explore this in the time of Aries.
Check out the Fools Journey on Ailsa’s bandcamp and more music too!
https://thefairytalecellist.bandcamp.com/
Looking Back to Basics
Traditional mix of vinyl loops from 3 copies of Holst’s Mars from The Planets, 2 by the L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra and 1 by Tomita; A loop from Scorpio on Cannonball Adderley presents Soul Zodiac and a little bit of voice from Sydney Omarr’s Scorpio.
3 records on:
Dansette – Hawaii Calls: Waikiki after Dark, Presented by Webley Edwards.
Ultra – Dire Straits – Money for Nothing.
BSR: Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass – Going Places.
the fourth circle: Autumnal circles
Improvised audio visual stream with guests for a belated equinox improvisation on the midpoint of Samhain. Thank you all for contributing!
Along with the astrological staples there were vinyl records selected by our Scorpio guest including Yellow Submarine and Orpheus in the Underworld
Drawings by Jo Shapland http://www.mantroi.com/
Photo by Jay Hodges
the fourth circle in Taurus – Beltane
Improvised audio visuals with J&K Hodges on #turntables #pedals #MakeNoise #blackandgold #Strega #0Coast #0Ctrl #live #vj #analog #circles #circuitbent #tree #mayday #ritual #cragenbeca
The fourth circle at Beltane with friends Ceri, Elsa and Kathryn.
I previously wrote about my plans for the fourth circle here.
Visual earth symbols for this session are almost exclusively derived from video clips of the trees of the Ogham Tree alphabet which I have been collecting as part of a new work for ‘Aberetwm’ at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on May 8th.
The birthcharts in the video are mine and Jay and Keryl’s. There’s also one drawn up from the date, time and place of our first play together on Youtube on March 22nd last year.
We were also celebrating the anniversary of the wonderful Cragen Beca parade in Carmarthen on Mayday 2022. An amazing project with public art parade event by Kathryn Campbell Dodd that we were all involved with in some way! Cragen Beca was a conch shell blown by the leader of the ‘Rebecca ‘Merched Beca’ protestors in the 19th century (without them you’d probably be paying tolls on all the roads!). For Kathryn’s project and for this fourth circle celebration of it’s anniversary event artist Ceri Owen Jones sounded a conch, each in a very different way. (Read more about Cragen Beca)
This year the sounds went into some Make Noise modules and bounced around to become some of what you hear in this.
A third half – Layers of live
Halfway through a third year of a circle in 12 parts.
Thanks again to all the lovely people who have been part of this years series.
I am very excited by the process of making these works and how it has developed this year.
Both visual and sound elements are now being created live, though not necessarily concurrently. Where possible guests have come to my studio and interacted live with the turntables or synths, playing them or their own instruments into the mix. I then have live cameras and recorded video clips, images ready in VJ software to mixin real time with the live audio.
Where we have been working over zoom the audio mix is created and recorded live both ends and both zoom visuals feeds are recorded. I then process those recorded visuals and any other material from my guests to input into a different format for the VJ software where I manipulate and mix all of the visual elements while playing the live recorded audio from earlier.
A third circle
Another circle completed and the cycle continues.
A huge thanks to you all of my guests for the thoughtful, creative contributions to this last year’s series of improvisations.
I’ve been really pleased (and slightly surprised!) with how much people have embraced the idea and engaged with the work. The year has flown by and each month has brought different ideas and new interactions to the process, I really hope they enjoyed the experience as much as I have.
This year will see a new series of improvised works with new guests I hope.
I also plan to invite last year’s guests back for another go now they have a greater understanding of how they might contribute.
An interesting feature of the series has been the sense of guests interactions developing in response to the previous, each bringing new material and finding different ways of contributing. Most guests have immediately suggested they would like to do more so it will be fascinating to see what they might bring to a new work.
Circles, cycles, synths and symbols. Alongside the continuing monthly vinyl mixes there will be a series of live works streamed regularly and irregularly through the year. This new cycle will combine more animations, images and symbols with synths and vinyl, themed according to the zodiac sign under which they are created. Working with new technologies and regular guests Jay and Keryl (Virgo and Capricorn contributors this last cycle) brings new structures and opportunities to experiment in different ways. We have loop pedals and hardware synths, multiple cameras, vision mixers and VJ software, the opportunities are endless!
22022022022022
Once in a lifetime. The precise second where the palindromic time and date hit last night.
It was 20 years ago in 2002 that I first started playing with virtual synthesisers. I rediscovered them recently and have been finding my way around the amazing free VCV Rack since last September, finding ways to apply live visual effects and overlays to live captured synth improvisations.
This fairly minimal droney one started at 22:00 on 22/02/2022 and lasted 22min. Annoyingly Youtube seems to have cropped a second off to spoil my Twosday!
The found of music 