27/03/2011: Six Layers Of Lustrous Piano Lacquer

It was Matthew(Britton)’s Birthday the other day and as he made me a mix for my Birthday, so I returned the favor for his. Always a pleasure. The cover turned out to be an unintentionally sense-making cut-up in that the seemingly unrelated title I’d composed seemed to fit rather nicely with the image, hence its inclusion here. I couldn’t help but feel a little dissatisfied with the second side, it just didn’t seem as tight a grouping as on the first side. Still good though. I’ll have to wait and see what Matthew thought… Cover art and Tracklist:



Side A:

1. When I’m Older – The Systematics
2. Bad Mood Guy – Severed Heads
3. Nudies – Lemon Kittens
4. The Skunk Rolled Down The Hill And Ruptured It’s Larynx – Garry Bradbury
5. The Twist – Klaus Nomi
6. Dancing With The Bears – The Fibonaccis
7. The Fall Of Christopher Robin – Current 93 and Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson
8. Cherry Tomato – Freshly Wrapped Candies
9. English Faggot/Nothin Man – Foetus Interruptus

Side B:

1. I’m Scratching Peace Symbols In Your Tombstone – The Manson Family
2. Aries: The Fire Fighter – The Zodiac
3. Lotus Land – Martin Denny
4. Ramblin’ – Ornette Coleman
5. Triple Sun – Coil
6. My Number One Love – Esquivel!
7. Play With Fire – Durex And The Temple Of Art
8. R.U.Xperienced? – Caresse P-Orridge and Sickmob

23/03/2011: Classic David Jones

Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends, Series 4 - Amazon Customer Review (Unsubmitted)

During a period of obsessive model-train video-watching on the internet in the first year I found myself watching episodes of Thomas The Tank Engine on YouTube for supposedly nostalgic reasons. 100 or so episodes later I wrote the following with intent to submit it (though I never did) to Amazon’s customer reviews for the Series 4 DVD as I wasn’t satisfied with the apparent nonchalance of the other reviewers. Philistines.

“Though I like it for purely personal/circumstantial reasons, this for me is the most enjoyable series of TTTE. As a young child I was very familiar with the original Rev. W. Awdry book series and television series 1 and 2, and although I was a little older by the time 3 and 4 were made, I still watched and enjoyed them because of the (long anticipated) introduction of less-showcased/one-off characters like Oliver, Bulgy and Mavis and then of course my favourites, the "Skarloey engines"

As the latter were from a narrow gauge line (and therefore smaller than Thomas and co.) a whole new collection of beautifully modeled sets was presented along with a load of new incidental music and character themes, creating a general feeling of refreshment from the standard Thomas/Gordon/Henry/James lineup (which to me always felt a bit plain and more obviously marketable after the Skarloey engines had appeared) The engines themselves were brilliantly detailed considering their smaller size (likely 00 gauge or similar) and lovely sunset-orange twilight scenes seemed to feature more than in previous series too. The line itself always felt wonderfully cosy and peaceful, with little woodland stations, cliffside branchlines along the coast and many a trickling stream to cross/pass by (all real water by this point rather than the static resin often seen in the earlier series) - This is one for the connoisseurs in my opinion, at least visually.

Episodes like "Granpuff", "Trucks", "Steamroller" and "Train Stops Play" are among my all-time favourites (each of these featured rarer characters - Duke "the lost engine", the slate mine trucks, George the steamroller and Caroline the car) and although Series 1 and 2 are indeed classics as far as the TV show goes, this series is very sweet and will always be special for me. There are a couple of dud bits - in particular Driver Ben's review was right in panning "Rusty To The Rescue" as it's a completely unnecessary rehashing of Douglas' rescuing of Oliver in "Escape!" (Series 3), done with less panache and very questionable plausibility (highly unlikely that the Skarloey engines' railway would extend so far and to such a place, for example) and the episode "Toad Stands By" is disappointing in comparison to the Rev. W. Awdry's original book version. Though to argue with the aforementioned reviewer, I might add that I always preferred the multi-colour approach to the Skarloey engines - having them all the same red as in the books would have just been boring and more likely quite confusing for the younger audience, if not any viewer.

This was the last series of TTTE I watched, and by the looks of things was probably the last great series before things started to get silly with some of the newer dumbed-down/downright silly characters invented by Mitton and Allcroft for subsequent productions. Ignore the mediocre ratings, its wonderful!”

15/03/2011: Snippets From Brideshead

“Supposing the Pope looked up and saw a cloud, and said it's going to rain - would that be bound to happen?”
“Oh yes Father”
“Yes but supposing it didn't. Supposing there was no rain...”
- - -
“I suppose it'd be sort of raining spiritually, only we were to sinful to see it?”

“Throughout our married life, again and again I'd felt my bowels shrivel with envy at the things she said. But today in this gallery I heard her unmoved and suddenly realized that she was powerless to hurt me anymore. I was a free man. She had given me my manumission in that brief, sly lapse of hers - my cuckold's horns made me lord of the forest”

“I had not forgotten Sebastian; he was with me daily in Julia. Or perhaps it was Julia I had known in him in those distant arcadian days. Every stone in the house had a memory of him, and hearing him spoken of by Cordelia as someone she had seen a month ago, my lost friend filled my thoughts”

14/03/2011: On Reality/Realities

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about “realities” and how “real” they are, or can be. Think about the way feelings of fear or guilt or happiness from dreams remain with you the following day. Constant immersion in the developing landscape and balmy heat of my Cinema 4D project and the sadly halcyon world of Brideshead Revisited along with lots of wine for the last four days has reminded me how I felt during the first year – more “escapist”, and more comfortable as a result of rebuilding this forgotten dimension and residing in it, a glass of hot Lipton Morroco and the smell of Pine incense as the morning sun pours through the bedroom window unintentionally reminding myself that it is indeed all real. More often than not the realities I create for myself suggest themselves to be more real to me than any supposed, fixed, actual “reality”. Three nice quotes on the subject, previously collected and unused (including a belter from Mr. Klee):

“Now that inter-reality travel is possible, we will become the very substance of hallucination. All realities are equal. We will enter and leave at will all realities regardless of their location. In the retreat from matter all realities are equal.”
- Genesis Breyer P-Orridge

“Let us go on a little trip to the land of the deep understanding of things: In times gone by, people painted what they had seen or enjoyed, or would like to see in the world around them. Today we emphasize that what we see physically is only relative. There are things we cannot see but which are still real; there are many other realities and other truths in the universe - our reality is only one isolated instance. Compared with all the universe and creation, Art is only a parable - an example - just as Earthly life is only an example, an illustration, of cosmic life. Art goes beyond the visible world - it plays the game of creation without knowing what it is doing, just as a child playing is imitating us, so we imitate those unseen forces which created the world itself. In the make-believe world of Art, we should draw upon everything we know or feel or understand, good and bad. Art should be like a holiday - something to give a man the opportunity to see things differently and to change his point of view. The artist knows that the process of creation is never complete. What he sees is the act of world creation stretching from the past into the future, Genesis Eternal.”
- Paul Klee

“If you can’t imagine things, you can’t make them, and anything you imagine is real”

- Alexander Calder

12/03/2011: Olfaction – A Note

* On the link between olfaction and memory and the potential manipulation of this to invoke states of being:

If one had a willing sexual partner with which to practice, for example, one could choose a specific variation of incense to burn during sessions of lovemaking. By implementing this practice regularly and repeatedly, in theory a stronger sense of ritual could be developed over time with regard to lovemaking as the emotions of past experiences are invoked instantly through a sub-consciously edited memory-collage. As time passes the collage expands and the experience gathers increasing meaning and connotation, its quality heightened – the incense becomes a ritualistic tool for the enhancement of experience, as indeed it has traditionally always been.

06/03/2011: Film Week

Watching Lawrence Of Arabia last Sunday threw me back into a filmy mood after quite a substantial dry patch. At least one a day, not unhealthy:

Sun 27th – Lawrence Of Arabia --- Excellent; proper FILM
Mon 28th – Downfall and Lassie Come Home --- Boring/Rubbish (better than Downfall though)
Tue 1st – If… --- Fantastic; energizing and sensual
Wed 2nd – Mon Oncle and Cat People (1942) --- “Whimsical” – Mont, Amazing Colours esp./Rubbish
Thu 3rd – Cul-De-Sac --- One of the best films I’ve ever seen – perfect
Fri 4th – Grey Gardens and Mon Oncle (Post-Lynch…) --- Endearing and fun, both truly charming
Sat 5th – Caligula --- !

Couple of noted quotes:

If…:

The sexually repressed, somewhat alluring matron, Mrs. Kemp, sits with the boys at dinner. Quietly, placidly, nervously, sadly (?) she declines to all but the glass of water. Malcolm McDowell referring to the ketchup as “this” tickles me somewhat.

“Water Mrs. Kemp?
Lovely day Mrs. Kemp...”

“Salt Mrs Kemp?
Spring Greens Mrs Kemp?”

“Dead man's leg today Mrs Kemp.
Do you need this Mrs Kemp?”

Cat People:

Bullshit 40s B-movie I rented thinking it was the 80s remake with McDowell and Nastassia Kinski. Awful acting and boring story. I did like this monologue, delivered dreadfully from an old lady who ran a pet shop, that was about it. Landy deary me.

“Animals are ever so psychic, there are some people who just can't come in here - my dear brother's wife for instance, she's a very nice girl, I have nothing against her, but you just should see what happens when she puts her foot inside this place. The cats particularly, they seem to know, you can fool everybody but landy deary me you can't fool a cat. They seem to know who's not right, if you know what I mean...”

Cul-De-Sac:

“THAT FROGGY BITCH PULLED MY EAR OFF!”

05/03/2011: Notes On Sound (To no avail…)

* Brief notes made back in February, can bare them in mind...

I like loops because they provide a space, a parameter in which to work, as a piece of paper or a canvas. Loops provide rhythms of a sort, as we generally know rhythms to use repetition. A loop can be altered as it plays using effects or alteration of speed/volume etc. However they can also be used as sonic filler due to laziness. I want my sound work at present to be soundscape type stuff - mood sound of some sort. Rhythm is not especially needed for this but repetition of some sort is perhaps desirable. The repetition need not be consistent either; it could fade in/out once or more or could be tampered with as mentioned above. Voices can be useful in giving extra character for a piece but it should be something relevant/appropriate - perhaps consider using samples of my own voice though not necessarily obvious/dominant in the mix.

Boyd Rice and Frank Tovey
- Extraction 3: Nice changes in sound of constant loop (EQ filter of samples?) Too repetitive.

Cabaret Voltaire
- Doraseal: Voices through switching filters, delay, interference of tape play.
- Partially Submerged: Birdsong as atmospheric subconscious time/place positioning, speed changing of sample subtle and slight, important to have plenty of other sounds on the go