ALBUM RELEASE AND PERFORMANCE/LECTURE

On Saturday 2nd February, I will be performing at the White Building, Hackney Wick, starting at 4pm. This is to mark (finally) the release of the "Ghosts and Weather" CD. There will be physical copies on sale there, if I get it sorted it will also be available for download from bandcamp or somesuch - rest assured, details will be posted here. All physical copies of the CD will come in a limited edition hand printed cover with a special sachet of graveyard dirt (from the legendary Bike Cemetery). If you email me here I can probably arrange some sort of mail order for it, too. Maps and such here

THE MONOCHORD

"It is, however, only in the electronic age that international tonal centers have been achieved; in countries operating on an alternating current of 60 cycles, it is this sound which now provides the resonant frequency, for it will be heard (together with its harmonics) in the operation of all electrical devices from lights and amplifiers to generators. Where C is tuned to 256 cycles, this resonant frequency is B natural. In ear training exercises I have discovered that students find B natural much the easiest pitch to retain and to recall spontaneously. Also during meditation exercises, after the whole body has been relaxed and students are asked to sing the tone of “prime unity"—the tone which seems to arise naturally from the center of their being—B natural is more frequent than any other. I have also experimented with this in Europe where the resonant electrical frequency of 50 cycles is approximately G sharp." 

The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World (R. Murray Schafer)

ABJECT BLOC RADIO SHOW JULY 2012

BEGINNING (INVOCATION) FROM SATURDAY'S GIG AT THE WHITE BUILDING

NEWS, TRAVEL & CHAT

They're dry humping
Bonnet to bonnet to bonnet to bonnet to bonnet to bonnet to bonnet to bonnet to bonnet to bonnet
Clotted frustration
Through the morning.
All the way back from junction 13 junction 12 junction 11 junction 10 junction 9 junction 8 junction 7...

We followed the ghosts
North from the coast.
They hum and slip between the hands
Of skeletal giants
Fingers drip with ectoplasm
Sparks in the rain. 

WITCH TRAPS

I shall start with the image of a snarl of cables, wrapped around themselves and apparently inextricably tangled. They snake across the floor of a windowless room, connecting unknown pieces of equipment to each other in an arcane pattern. The air hums with a net of electromagnetism and audio feedback

I shall add a second image to this: a glass ball, or sealed bottle containing a labyrinth of red string and shreds of metallic foil, buried under the threshold of a dwelling, or standing sentinel at a window. The connection between 

The first image is a recording studio, the second a charm that was known as a “witch trap”.

The spectral, understood as a liminal state of being (un-dead), is an integral part of our electronic ecosystem. Recording and sound manipulation technology gives rise to the existence of ghosts; or maybe it is more accurate to say that these technologies have provided the spectral with an hospitable environment. There are obvious examples such as EVP(electric voice phenomenon),  Some people believe that the voices of the dead sometimes manifest on magnetic tapes and more latterly digital media, this is known as Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP). The website of the EVP Research Association UK advises that “You will find that analogue recordings contain a high level of background hiss, which is where many of the voices can be found during analysis”. As far as digital recorders go, they say that they are “[…]most effective for capturing EVP when used on the lowest quality settings. These settings appear to generate a higher degree of background hiss […]” (http://www.evpuk.com/evp_equipment.html Accessed 17/01/12) The spectral manifests itself in noise. 


There is also the spectral powers the technology itself.

A paranormal and ghost hunters’ site expresses some excitement at predictions of solar storms: "Solar Flare activity and Geomagnetic Field activity seems to affect the amount of ghost activity [...]Spirits often tap into normal electrical sources such are electrical appliances and batteries to get this energy." (emphasis mine). There is, interestingly, another site that describes a piece of technology similar to the witch trap described above - 


"The sprite trap is created from a blackthorn stave and copper wire that has never carried electricity. During a ritual process, the copper wire is bound to the stave with red thread and the stave is marked with a Dag (or D) rune.[...] After the sprite trap has captured a spirit, it is removed from the location and the red thread is cut with a consecrated knife; the thread is then placed into a prepared witch bottle." One wonders why the copper wire should never have carried electricity if it is to be efficacious. Perhaps once it has been a conduit for the lumeniferous ether, it remains forever open to it and the sprite can simply slip away.


Which brings me back to my linked images of the spirit catching charms and the recording studio.

Quite calm actually

Cloudy and mild with some brighter spells this afternoon,

the chance of a few showers  

a light or light to moderate south or south westerly. 

A lot of spray and surface water out there -early doors- 

No accidents, no incidents to report. 

The work continues on Brig Road the A10-29. 

Overnight lows dropping off to around 10 celsius,

temperatures tomorrow rising - mild

17 or even  18 Celsius.

mainly dry with clear spells.

The A31 at Merliegh closed again- 

overnight roadworks

between Merliegh House Road, Forest Links Road and Chobham Road. 

Any problems you spot, call me if it's safe and legal 

resurfacing work  between Western Street and Coker Hill. 

heavy rain continues through the breakfast period showers from about mid morning

There are temporary traffic lights, which might just slow you down.

looking busy around the M55 junction 1 roundabout And the A6 North Road

slow, in Blackburn, at the A666 Lark Hill

The A3024 Bittern Road West westbound, one lane closed there

Thursday morning windy, spells of rain; later sunshine and showers developing.

Anything you spot, call us if its safe to do so

0800 854 833

It will be slow on approaches to that later, because of the diversion 

19 celsius the high today, that's 66 fahrenheit.

All shops and businesses remain open throughout this work

But the diversion will take you a bit of time to negotiate.