oh dear, racist papa jons!

mr.sergeant, nah, not tired of this, finding time to do it is the mission. still need to catch up on ‘drinks’, ‘fit’ & ‘letters’. hold tight! what am i learning? i like long intros, minimal sounds, i can write these sketches in less than 30 mins, the muscle has been exercised. i need to up my game.

Rose Oliver and Jen Folds, what’s happened to your photography version of this May project? ahem…

kitchen

mum

danger

what’s the name of that david lynch film, with the mask?

funny

here is memory. audio from youtubes ennit.
i took the piano triad used on the video and messed around with it, took half the time, it is very simple. white notes.

memory

Where are days 5-8? Coming, sorry, I had some teething problems and was away. Needed more time off-line.
Today’s word: ‘Stranger’.
Was a bit stuck, so perimeters quickly set; the orchestration was strictly for wind instruments. Mulled over what ‘stranger’ meant: think mysterious, unknown, my person is a bit quirky, smokes fags in alley ways.

This is what I did:
stranger

Here she is:
snack

dark.

more ambient stuff, today’s remit was ‘blurry’. so no reference to damon albarn, straight in with synths. with 30 mins you have to go for it, no turning back.

use headphones, seriously, no, seriously bab, you’ll miss the bass frequencies….

blurry
does this sound blurry? my emotive response to having steamed up contact lens, steamy windows in a greasy spoon.

i know five people are listening: loz, marcus, rose, jen, sergeant, zip. feel free to say you don’t like ‘em. developing a thick skin. i’m womaning up.

right, time to have a life. booze! sure this is day 4? 27 to go.

pink =  b,b,g,d = my note row.

i can only use these notes. 30 mins. inspired by the question ‘what does pink feel like?’ pink is raw, pink is apparently girly, pink is sakura. pink shaded the colour of the sky when i climbed mt. fuji whilst severely hungover with ‘h’, (celebrating my move to tokys), i looked a right state after. d’oh. think mt. fuji is winning, yup, let’s go with the clouds. timer.

here she is: pink

hmmm, this sketch is my least fave, i like minor, moody shades, restricted by my note row. pah! then, again with a reframe, i am getting david lynch vibes. mulholland dr., what a creepy, amazing film. i’ll try harder next time.

Kept to the 30 mins, thought I’d have a play with orchestral sounds this time, eurgh Logic Pro MIDI strings, need me some decent sounds.

crush

This ‘only have half an hour’ time limit is fuuuunnn! Can I keep it up for a month? Hmmmm….

Rules: I can only spend 30 mins tops on it.

This is my contribution for day 1.

Hope I don’t get shot by the Disneydoom team. Name that disney film (which I’ve lifted the audio from)?

kissingwudbenicebg

Sounds like many a youth ensemble I’ve been in/facilitated, however adults are playing:

“The Portsmouth Sinfonia was an orchestra founded by a group of students at the Portsmouth School of Art in England, in 1970. The Sinfonia had an unusual entrance requirement, in that players had to either be non-musicians, or if a musician, play an instrument that was entirely new to them. Among the founding members was one of their teachers, English composer Gavin Bryars. The orchestra started as a one-off, tongue-in-cheek performance art ensemble but became a cultural phenomenon over the following ten years, with concerts, record albums, a film and a hit single. They last performed publicly in 1979.”
Read more Here.

Darth Vader isn’t scary anymore…

‘Push and Pull’ is going to be performed at the end of the month at this. pushandpullblog1 second half

pushandpullblog2

Need to do a last minute edit, stripped the track bare, so dance moves are the focus, I always add too much. Vicki from Uchenna‘s choreography is really powerful, I’m loving some of the voguing and wacking movements that depict the tensions faced in life’s pushes and pulls. I’ve been guilty of both, pushing and pulling others for my own happiness, when in fact a strong inner core is all I’ve ever needed, cue self-esteem power ballad LOL. The last section was written in reaction to the all too familiar, ubiquitous even, situations found in relationships, exploring feelings of being pushed into something undesired. Moods presented; blissfully blithe, confusion and tension upon the realisation of the ‘push’, it falling apart; flat out on the floor, numb when it’s all gone wrong, hence the piano yelling bit.

Kismet‘s Celestial Cinematic Kotch was good times: we had a lovely afternoon showing shorts, serving teas as part of Flatpack. Gutted I missed this:

Grandma Lo-Fi – Trailer from Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir on Vimeo.

Glad I saw the Robert Morgan shorts and the Outer Sight, Wild World shorts at the Edge. Both trippy and freaky in places.

Finally, I was successful in getting the BASS festival, Vanley Burke commission, so more composing! Here is some of blurb about what I am trying to do, just need to start it!

“‘Box Brownie’ is a music/community music project which pays homage to the photography of Vanley Burke – who captured images that served to document a more balanced survey of the black British experience, countering mainstream media’s often negative portrayal. Composer BG (moi) will create a bespoke work for an afro/classical ensemble combining strings, wind players afro-rhythm section and voice. There will also be performances by two local Handsworth schools.”

Gulp!

We’ve hosted a taster event, fundraiser and are going to be hosting a space as part of Flatpack Film Festival. We are really excited about this.

“….in conjunction with Flatpack Film Festival, Kismet will host a chill-out space for those in need of a little respite in between events.

Armed with seasonal herbal teas, freshly made cakes, samosas, mellowing incense, short films, sound and animation, our love child of grassroots local creatives will provide the perfect atmosphere to relax, converse and sit back to experience some of the finest artistic talents to come from Birmingham and beyond.

All this and more, with a specially designed Sound/Art installation…”

Staring Stina Jones, Leon Trimble and little me.

Banking Man: Why do you want to close your account?
Me: Because I want to bank ethically.
Banking Man: Why’s that?
Me: Bank have a dodgy history; funding apartheid, involvement in ‘Bloody Diamonds’ in Democratic Republic of Congo, involvement in nuclear weapons.
Banking Man: You shouldn’t believe everything you read.

We had a nice chat and I filled him, cleared outstanding payments and walked away relieved.

With the tiny bit of power I have, I am going to make sure I at least make sure the tiny bit of money I make is banked wisely.
Still a ways to go, food shopping, clothing etc. but baby steps. Where’s your money going? Loans, overdrafts? If you can move them you should.

Go on Catona!

Northern Soul tune thanks to Rodders;

One of my fave Japanese artists: Yayoi Kusama san.

See No Evil Art Project In Brizzle:

(Time BCC got off it’s arse, took out its purse (recession I know but still) and funded something like this here in Brum). End of vent. lol!

and my beautiful friends…. love, love, love you all!

Developed the ‘Push and Pull’ ting some more. Quite like where it’s going, getting darker, a real challenge today considering I was in such a good mood.

sketch2.2.12
Headphones, don’t bother playing through tinny speakers. As requested have put more of a beat behind it. A lot of tidying and quantising to do, sonically too, everything is competing. Got a session with a mix down pro. Can’t wait!

What do you get if you cross a dodgy keys player, midi sounds, Logic Pro, an hour, excessive listening of Ravel and afrosounds?

A musical sketch which sounds like this: sketchy  (my bounces always end abruptly for this blog).

I know weird ennit. Gonna use it for Uchenna methinks, just so much tidying to do. Couldn’t resist the use of whole-tone scales. The oboe loop sounds wrong, will fixup. The beat underneath is gonna be a sampled kitchen appliance, or a heart beat; simply a guide for the moment. The hunt for live strings is on!