music

Lost Music

Lindsay — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:58:27 +0200

My research today took a poetic wander. In thinking about the electromagnetic environment and how 'on land' we are submerged in modulated mumblings, my thoughts turned to the electromagnetically silent world of the deep, a world where radio and light don't penetrate, a world that can only be felt through other senses; the skin, the emotions, sound. Today I started looking at the Titanic. Armin's work through his and Hivenetworks Hidden Histories project, has already highlighted the community memory of this tragedy and through their early research, pinpointed one aspect that I found mesmerisingly intruiging; the music that was still being played when the ship went down.

‘What happens to music as it is played in water? On a purely physical level, of course, it simply stops since the strings would fail to produce much of a sound (it was a string sextet that played at the end, since the two pianists with the band had no instruments available on the Boat Deck). On a poetic level, however, the music, once generated in water, would continue to reverberate for long periods of time in the more sound-efficient medium of water and the music would descend with the ship to the ocean bed and remain there, repeating over and over until the ship returns to the surface and the sounds re-emerge’ Gavin Bryars

So today I spent with music, and the musings of the endless 'Last Tune' that the water surrounding the Titanic holds. I re-listened once again to 'The Sinking of the Titanic', a 1973 version of the Eno supported composition of Gavin Bryars, where the last tune of 'Autumn' is played over and over, interspersed with references to human life, quietly passing through the threshold of air to water, to continue for ever at the depth of 3,800 metres.

In looking at Bryars however, I had to listen and take into account more modern takes on this composition. One such interpretation is by London-based musician/artist Robin Rimbaud who works under the name Scanner. Whilst (for me) Bryars composition takes into account the directly quiet relationship between the music and the water, Rimbaud's seems more of an account of the entire disaster. The recent composition is certainly more dramatic, yet in some respects more obvious. Although following Bryar's lead with 'Autumn' as its intro, and some rather nice sound effects such as creaky boards, the compostion departed from the original around the central point, where the Bodhrán sounding a valiance of the third class, made sure that the celtic heart would never be forgotten. There thus followed an audio account of one of the passengers, that nicely brought the listener back round to the more mystical elements of fate. The track then started to disappear with slightly staccato but effective 'cut offs' of sound, interspersing music with the sound of a crowd, until eventually silence. The performance, which was recorded live in 2007, has the sound of the (slightly unsure) audience clapping at the end, which brings the acoustics nicely back round to rain...

Scanners performance can be downloaded for free here.

The final hymn played during those last 5 minutes of the ship's life is identified in an account by Harold Bride, the junior wireless operator, in an interview for the New York Times of April 19th 1912

"...from aft came the tunes of the band..... The ship was gradually turning on her nose - just like a duck that goes down for a dive. I had only one thing on my mind - to get away from the suction. The band was still playing. I guess all of the band went down. They were playing "Autumn" then. I swam with all my might. I suppose I was 150 feet away when the Titanic, on her nose, with her afterquarter sticking straight up in the air, began to settle slowly.... The way the band kept playing was a noble thing. I heard it first while we were still working wireless, when there was a ragtime tune for us, and the last I saw of the band, when I was floating out in the sea with my lifebelt on, it was still on deck playing "Autumn". How they ever did it I cannot imagine." Gavin Bryars

Titanic Hull

Lindsay — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:35:06 +0200

This is a picture (2004) taken of the hull of the Titanic 92 years after she sunk. The wreck lies at approximately 3,500 metres below the surface of the water, which is the same distance as the tops of some alpine peaks. This very beautiful and peaceful photograph along with a selected few other relatively hi-res images can be found at the Boat Shed

All photographs by Robert Ballard, the original diver discoverer of the Titanic wreck. The image was retrieved from the above link.

John Cage: Silence and Silencing

Armin Medosch — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:56:30 +0200

Three Receivers

Armin Medosch — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:56:30 +0200

A Proposal for a Multi-Relational Aesthetics

Armin Medosch — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:01:55 +0200

Sampling (Hetero)Sexuality: Diva-Ness and Discipline in Electronic Dance Music

Armin Medosch — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:01:55 +0200

DownLoads

admin — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:31:33 +0200

Freie Netze, Armin Medosch, Heise, Hannover 2003.

Deptford.TV Diaries II - Pirate Strategies, Jonas Andersson, Adnan Hadzi, edts., Openmute, London 2008

Musicology: Early British Bands and Music Hall artists

Armin Medosch — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:41:42 +0100

This is an image of a youthful Billy Reid, well known in the 1930ies as bandleader of Billy Reid and his piano accordion orchestra. Billy started out as a boiler maker apprentice in the Southampton docks.

Anyone who can bung me some tunes from Billy is very welcome.

Arthur Lloyd website
http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/index.html

Music Hall performers: this site has also some audio tracks and images.
http://home.clara.net/rfwilmut/musichll/musich.html

A discography but no samples
http://www.214b.com/MHDisco.html

Sir Harry Lauder, He was funny
http://www.sirharrylauder.com

Something I consider buying. Although it must be said the usage of the Real Audio Format should be punished by law.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000000X0R/qid=965242715/sr=1-/10...

Good article about recordings of black music in London pre WWII
http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/ubunca.htm

Article about accordion music and the cinema organ
http://www.accordions.com/index/art/bands.shtml

Felicity and Box

Lindsay — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 11:10:49 +0100

These two were spotted at an industrial techno night at The Cage Club creating dance-floor crime with the likes of Sketchy Pete and friends. The Cage is an ultra dingy backstreet den that shares the building with an inspired set of neighbours such as lapdancing and gay clubs, and of course The City Function Suite, the tacky but hip venue for the city's art scene. Haloween celebrations had started early, and both girls and boys had embraced the party spirit by flashing delicious thighs in stocking-tops, this of course was helped along by some Mansonesque soft black-strap bondage imagery, courtesy of The Cage's small but obligatory LCD screen.