POOL is a beginning, the starting point for a stream.
Afon artists are invited to browse a database of vinyl records and select a track or album to create a sonic POOL from which samples will flow and LOOP to become a stream.
Forming in the fixed water sign of Scorpio, POOL suggests the start of a journey into hidden otherworlds. Moving into and immersion in the POOL takes us into the unknown, a place where real and unreal worlds interact, where both become fluid memory and noise is the only true reality..
The POOL starts to form with these selected records : Joni Mitchel – Clouds; Johnny Cash – Big River; Top of the Pops Artistes – Float on; Neil Diamond – Walk on Water; Johnny Cash & Marty Robbins – Cool Water
Circular ramblings..halfway through another circle.. What is a Circle in 12 parts? A series of improvisations exploring parallels between creative and ritual practice, the symbolic power of the circle, the zodiac, repetition and magic. An ongoing process of artistic exploration and interpretation of astrology and the zodiac.
Why? Astrological, mystical and religious symbols were ever present growing up. My mum was an astrologer and psychic for a good part of my childhood according to her marketing. I can remember her having a fortune telling tent at the outdoor market just outside New Quay for a few seasons, in my memory it was decorated with astrological and other mystical symbols. She would offer a range of fortune telling skills from astrological charts and predictions to tarot and palmistry, runes and crystal ball. Later on she worked as a reporter for the local paper, was town clerk in Ashburton Devon for a while and went on to write a number of books, probably becoming better known for that, though she did continue to read tarot and look at astrological transits for people now and then.
“I know that in the village they refer to me as the ‘fortune-teller’; in spite of the fact that I never use that term to describe myself. My father, who passed down the skills I use, always insisted that I should be referred to as a psychic practitioner – but if people get their fortune told they usually end up calling the person who did it a fortune-teller, so I live with it and with the abuse it brings.” from Diary of a Fortune-Teller.
My mother didn’t make spells or potions (though she was asked to on occasion) but she did have an extraordinary ability to intuitively understand people and to empathise with them. Astrology, tarot, palmistry or runes, she was able to read the symbols creatively, to intuitively relate them to reflect the questions of clients, to encourage a greater level of self awareness enabling them to answer the questions they were asking themselves. It seems to me interpreting the different divination methods is a creative act – taking a few keywords or principles represented by a set of cards or symbols on a circle and finding connections and creating meaning for an individual, effectively an exercise in creative thinking and writing. I found this cassette in a local charity shop back in 2014 roughly. My mum was doing these for about 10 years so there must be loads of them out there!
Symbols and circles Images have power, symbols meaning and influence, they affect us and the world around us. Astrological planetary symbols combine 3 basic elements, the cross, crescent and circle which recur in different configurations to form the glyphs for the different planets.
Probably the most well known and an interesting example of astrological symbolism permeating into our mainstream consciousness is the use of the Mars and Venus planetary symbols to denote male and female. In a patriarchal world ruled through division one can see how the meaning has developed, however reductive it might be. To simply describe Mars and Venus as male and female denies so much subtlety, are ideas of beauty and love only feminine in nature? Are aggression and ambition only ever male principles? of course not, and despite the fact that astrology is full of polarised principles it is also full of nuance in how they interact and the resulting modification of their expression.
The circle presents as a much more neutral symbol, though astrologically it is likely seen as a male principle within the chart (the sun), it has not permeated into our collective visual language in that way. It also is the container for the chart itself and in that sense, is in my mind, a symbol of wholeness of inclusion, unification and completeness.
Astrology embraces one fundamental urge and principle over all others and that is the interconnection of everything. While you might think it’s model of the universe is flawed, for anyone studying physics or religion, or for anyone who thinks even briefly about the nature of our place in the universe, this principle is there.
Astrology is about time and place. Meaning ascribed to moments in time and space. Through its lens a circle in 12 parts encourages us to observe and contemplate moments in time, to be here now, to be part of a creative act manifesting in that moment, to share and become part of the circle.
Over the last 3 years as the project has developed, certain elements have become more significant than others. One in particular is the ‘Nowness’ of it. I am trying to make work ‘live’ as much as possible, both in terms of the audio/visual performances themselves and the resources used within them. Visual material, textures and patterns referring to the zodiacal elements are gathered processed and used while we are in that sign e.g. footage of skies during Gemini are taken and used under the sign of Gemini.
As an ongoing process this is having an interesting effect on my life and practice as I find myself constantly looking for new material relating to each element as we move through the months and keeping an eye out for vinyl to connect with the themes and meanings of the planetary rulers and zodiac signs.
A circle in 12 parts has from its beginning included a number of vinyl records as a constant resource. The records of Holst’s planet suite is the most obvious one and I have a number of different versions of it, mostly orchestral but with a couple of electronic variations. When it comes to certain zodiac signs the planet suite doesnt figure as there are no compositions dedicated to the Sun and Moon, or Luminaries as they are known in astrology. I posted a bit here about the records I came to use for these https://thefoundofmusic.co.uk/2022/07/25/music-of-the-spheres/
Along with a regular set of vinyl representing the planetary or luminary rulers of the signs there are also astrological spoken word records from Melvin J Gunton, Sydney Omarr, Patric Walker, Maurice Woodruff, Madame Francesca and Anne Petrie. Most of the astrology spoken word records have been recorded to yoube and are embedded in posts on the different Zodiac signs. I’ve a couple of spoken word records that cover the whole Zodiac, Astrology for Young Lovers narrated by Casey Casem, Roger Christian’s Discover yourself through Astrology and Your stars for 1968 by Cosmos.
There are some musical interpretations of the Zodiac with TheZodiac Suite from Norrie Paramour strings and orchestra, Russell Grants Zodiac Jukebox, Johnny Dankworth’s Zodiac Variations Cannonball Adderly’s Soul Zodiac, Roberta Kelly’s Zodiac Lady. Since starting the project in 2020 I have managed to get the entire series of ‘Astromusical House of…’ records with a booklet of interpretation notes by Carroll Righter. I love this set of muzak covers of popular hiots of the day (1969) themed to tie in with characteristics of each sign (these are all recorded playing straight and on youtube)
So far all the vinyl mentioned here has obvious astrological connections but theres a few others that have become staples of the improvisations. These are chosen to refer more to the magical ritual aspect of the project. A Kind of Magic by Queen (almost always in the mix in some way), The Magic Key by Charles M Simmons has some great moments and Percy Thrower’s guide to good gardening record is fantastic to place us at a particular time of the year. I’m sure there are others Ive forgotten…
There are images of all the records mentioned somewhere in the posts on here and many videos of them too. Images of these and more of my vinyl collection are also posted on my Flickr feed
Improvised audio visuals with J&K Hodges on turntables, pedals and synths. Cardinal water and crystal circles for an anniversary with live circle drawing by Spike from https://waldenarts.co.uk/
The Fourth Circle
The fourth circle is a return to the cardinal mode, itself suggesting a new initiatory principle that marks a shift towards more tangible and visible circles both at home and beyond.
Astrologically speaking the 4th house represents the home and family life, echoes the zodiac sign of Cancer, the cardinal mode and water element. The number 4 also suggests solidity, stability and structure, perhaps representing the solid physical world. With these principles in mind the work will extend further into the physical space of the studio and around my home as well as out to wider audiences in the coming year..
The social ritual that has developed over the year of the third circle with Jay and Keryl will also be extended to create a new, larger circle around the home, engaging more people in the physical world by inviting new participants to social ritual performances around the 4 Cardinal points of the zodiac. (edited extract from circular ramblings)
A 6hr performance/sound installation as part of Aberystwyth Arts Centre’s 50th birthday celebration. We will be in the Arts Centre theatre from 12pm – 6pm on Monday 8th May.
Mycelium Manifestation Sounds of Penglais emerge from the sea. Local voices resonate and repeat creating new forests of potential where past and future coincide. Fragments of the past loop, crackle, hiss and drone from a collection of audio equipment, old record players and vinyl records.
A curious figure (created by Dominic Saha) investigates how nature can adopt its persona by abstracting the sentient qualities found in fungus. He will inhabit the character of Mushroom Man, the protector of curious giant seed pods whose mysterious presence is amplified and animated by the shifting sound score transforming the ritual caretaking into something otherworldly that conveys a converging of something both ancient and futuristic.
Whittaker & friends will manifest to channel the spirit of the mycelium connecting the trees, embracing Venus to explore and connect with the spring energy of Taurus to create a ritualistic soundscape for modern times. Old and new combine to explore memory, music, repetition, ritual and function.
You are invited to join us in a ritual sound making experiment. Contribute and connect with voice and vinyl records to conjure a new lost forest world made from symbols of the past to connect with the future.
A Forest of Words – Find out your celtic zodiac tree and record your tree name to help grow a forest, who knows maybe we’ll summon some Dryads
Vinyl Mycelium – Browse a collection of vinyl connected to Aberystwyth and select tracks for the mix. From Datblygu to George Melly, to Cor Meibion Aberystwyth via Laurie Anderson to The Sound of Music and Cor Cantre Gwaelod, the connections are there to be discovered.
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.
My guest for Pisces this year was unwell unfortunately and rather than put pressure on them to participate, or try and find another with little time for preparation, I decided to take another break from working with guests and use the time once again to revisit work created in the first circle.
This is a live remix of the 2020 Pisces mix. Played on a laptop it goes through a HDMI – AV converter and on into circuit-bent analog video processors and into an analog capture device in Resolume Avenue.
Towards the end of the original recording I started using morphagene to take samples and mix them in. I let the video loop to explore this for a while.
The found of music 