Monday, January 21, 2013

Abandon Reason launch in Galway



Join me in Galway in an underground car park this Sunday, as Abandon Reason launches their first release.

Declan Kelly started Abandon Reason as "a radio programme that showcased recordings made in a disused underground car park in Galway, Ireland made by various musicians and sound artists. It has since evolved into an independent label dealing in sound and visual art inspired by those underground experiments."

The debut release is a compilation entitled I'm in the Abyss!, featuring highlights from the last year of recordings. With such vital Irish musicians as Raising Holy Sparks, Áine O'Dwyer, Tony Higgins, and Gavin Prior you know it's going to be great. I was particularly taken by some of the simple vocal tunes, starting with one by Brigid Power Ryce. These work so well in the reverberant environment.
Thursday, January 17, 2013

My 2012 In Composition

If 2012 was a busier than usual year for performance, it was an insane year for composition... and not only for those works released in some sort of fixed format. I also had seven pieces (five new) played in exhibitions and festivals. I'll summarise them here -- read on for lots of listening!



"2003 UB313" was written some time ago following the discovery of this solar system's largest dwarf planet, Eris. Last year it was included in "the sublimated landscape" exhibition at Oboro, Montréal (3 March - 7 April). Curated by Helen Frosi (SoundFjord, London), Yann Novak (sound and video artist, Los Angeles) and France Jobin (sound artist, Montréal).
Wednesday, January 16, 2013

My 2012 In Releases

In 2012 I released two CDs and appeared on three compilations. It is a measure of how busy the year was that I completely forgot to let you know about one of these, so read on for not only a summary, but some "new" music to grab for free.

Though I had plans for more titles, time and financial constraints only allowed the release of two compact disks on my Stolen Mirror imprint. These are made by hand and this takes a good deal of time! (Please support my activities by buying the very reasonably priced limited editions. You can be sure that any funds go directly into future releases.) Both are actually re-issues of work I put out some years ago, but in both cases I wanted to update the contents and packaging.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013

My 2012 In Performance

TANK

This year just passed was likely my most productive yet in terms of sonic output, spawning numerous performances and collaborations. I had the opportunity to both cement partnerships from previous seasons and initiate some brand new relationships. Who could ask for more? This article will summarise the performance side of things; in future articles I will write up my compositions and releases.

Thursday, January 03, 2013

My 2012 In Photos

Abbey River under mist

I am not a commercial photographer. Though it's true that sometimes certain tasks or purposes are foremost in my mind, in general I can shoot what I like. I don't need to distinguish between shots taken for fun, for documentation, or with artistic intent. And that works just fine for me.

Apparently, in order to be a success, one must carefully select and present only one's best work to the public. With over 6,000 photos on Flickr I am not sure if I have taken that advice to heart. As near as I can tell I uploaded 1160 photos in 2012 and many of these were from events I was covering. My goal in those cases was to be thorough, so this inflated the total significantly. So I've certainly slowed down. I tend to be a lot more reluctant now to press the shutter.

Nonetheless, selecting only a few images to represent an entire year is difficult for me. After some consideration I managed to filter the flow down to 11, which is close enough to a Top Ten for me.