New Toy

Just got hold of a Swissonic MDR-2, so I've spent the day messing around with it. I think it's pretty cool. I made one recording in mp3 mode, on-board mics. There is a level control for external inputs, but but not for the internal, which is probably a failing but I'm not not too bothered about it. Figured I'd post said mp3, just because I can! It's so so hassle free...




The automatic level control is pretty sharp; yes it clips, but it recovers really quickly. Besides, I quite like the way it distorts :)

BTW - the low hum you can hear is part of the charming E.M.R. signature of this house not the recorder.

A Sturdier Bruitisme

The teenage origami nazis are a fiction created by me in a spur of the moment decision. I think it took less than an hour to set up a myspace, record and upload a track. Voila! Instant band!

It's part of a larger intent to create several other flights of whimsy, each a 'band' operating within the constraints of genre. I've become fascinated lately with the non-musical aspects (conventions of style, presentation, etc.) that surround and mark off as distinct otherwise formally similar genres.

It's also an exercise in composition. I'm the 'author' of a system of conditions and relationships - the 'band' - and it's this system which produces the music. It's just like playing with dolls; each instrumental voice is a character with an emerging personality, and their pseudo-social interactions are an important determining factor in the construction of the musical content. With hindsight, I guess it's similar to the experience of some novelists; the characters write the story.

It's been fun too! I have a whole new understanding of the potential of reeds as weapons of mass irritation. But I've achieved my initial goals, so I'm shelving this before I become bored. I've some unfinished "L after I" business to attend to for now, plus a few more make believe projects that I'm eager to get my teeth into, but I'm sure I'll need to scratch this particular itch again someday...

http://www.myspace.com/teenageorigaminazis

Panegyric

A doctor of nothing, I have firmly kept myself apart from all semblance of participation in the circles that then passed for intellectual or artistic. I admit that my merit in this respect was well tempered by my great laziness, as well as by my very meagre capacities for confronting the work of such careers.

- Guy Debord

The overly-examined life (Saints Days, 2007)

Recorded throughout 2007, Saints' Days was an attempt to overcome some 'mental blocks' I had developed. The idea was to record and publish (via my blog) one audio piece every day for a year. The plan went awry almost immediately, and I lost interest well before the 12 months had elapsed, but I'm still fond of some of these things; postcards from a a time and from a person that I'm no longer certain existed...



Saints' Days on The Internet Archive