Wednesday, 8 January 2020

Art: The Music of Chance / Booklet: Mark Staniforth, 8 Sonnets for Birds / Music: Fieldwave Vol. 1 - V.A.


The Music of Chance, RTomens, 2019

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Mark Staniforth, 8 Sonnets for Birds (VVV2)

Timglaset have published Mark Staniforth's 8 Sonnets for Birds, which looks like a charming booklet so I ordered it. It's hoped it will help LJ communicate with her feathered friends in the garden. She reckons herself a regular Dr Doolittle, swearing that a neighbour's cat 'talks' to her. I'm not sure that the birds would be so happy that she's friendly with a cat.  You can buy it here.

Mark Staniforth, 8 Sonnets for Birds (VVV2)


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By chance/coincidence, not long after buying the Timglaset booklet I was playing Fieldwave Vol. 1 when birdsong emerged from the speakers in the form of Nick Luscombe's Tokyo Spring Birdsong and, as you know, there are few more pleasing sounds than birdsong. Luscombe curated this compilation of treated field recordings by artists from around the world. Naturally, it's impossible to judge the album as 'music' or really compare it to anything else other than other works in the genre, with which I am largely unfamiliar. It is, however, a very pleasing listening experience. For Now with Darren Hayman's Yellow Flowers! has emerged as a favourite, containing as it does what sounds like a happy rural experience closing with ominous thunder. Kate Carr's Highway Bridge Drain Pipes, Saskatoon, Canada is a contrast to rural bliss; being 'industrial' yet 'ambient', it suggests something very (David) Lynchian. There is work with more emphasis on electronics, some thumping minimalist Techno and a 26min recording from the streets of the Hong Kong protests so, all-in-all a varied, intriguing release. It's available here from Jan 17. 

   

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