Incredible John Frusciante interview in which he talks about many things including the process of music being an internal product of our brains in oppose to something external. I felt this was related to my self initiated project in its attempt to define how we might take sounds from our surroundings and assemble them as music in our own minds.

Oversound - Self Initiated Project - Google Map

View London Oversound Walk in a larger map

Here is a link to the customised google map I created to chart my journey for this project.  The map shows my route, as well as plotting each of the locations in which I made sound recordings and provides a short description of my experiences on each route.

Will Self, Urban Psychosis Lectures

A fascinating lecture I attended recently as part of the research of my on going, self initiated project.  Will Self discusses the topics of traveling in the urban environment among other things, a theme which is perfectly suited to my own activities and intentions with this project.

Secret language gif

My first attempt at creating a gif to represent my alphabet.. currently basing it on the trend in geometric shapes that is prevalent in contemporary graphic design blogs at the moment.  Each layer of this gif was photocopied from a transparency as a metaphor for the process of duplication all memes must go through to become successful. 

More info graphics and Virus visualisation

Firstly a beautiful info graphic that made me consider using something similar to track the progress of memes as past of this project -

http://vimeo.com/19088241

More stuff on the subject of viruses, this first piece is a moving info graphic on the spread of viruses

http://vimeo.com/22371716

The second piece is actually showing the formation of microscopic bacteria.

http://www.virology.ws/2010/02/03/now-playing-viral-plaque-formation/

Virus Video and Meme Doc

Some interesting bits I have been looking at recently as part of the on going research for my meme alphabet project.

Firstly,  This interactive piece demonstrates the different aspects of viruses, an avenue I am still considering for this project -

http://www.yourdiscovery.com/anatomiesof/virus/

Secondly, a short documentary from the Vice creators project on the subject of Memes.

http://thecreatorsproject.com/blog/the-mystique-of-online-viral-imagery-video

Unknown Alphabets - Gif

Been considering using the humble gif as the format for my final alphabet.  I can think of nothing more suited to the concepts of internet culture, memetics and repetition then a Gif.  The one below interests me in particular as it acts as a really nice metaphor for the spreading of ideas.  (Source: iwwo, via my-tumblrisbetterthanyours, via http://ultrazapping.tumblr.com/)  -

Graphic Design Memes

I have been considering the function of memetics in contemporary graphic design as part of my on going secret alphabets project.  Trends, like the memes I have previously studied for this project, show the spread of ideas from designer to designer, as certain aesthetics are seen on blogs, emulated and mutated in the work of designers whos work is then fed back into the blogs sphere to further perpetuate the memes growth.


In response to this I have been trawling a selection of design blogs recording some of the most prolific trends, upon which I intend to base my alphabet.  The following blogs have been the basis for my research -


http://www.manystuff.org/?cat=1

http://graphic-porn.com/

http://www.qubik.com/zr/

http://www.lanciatrendvisions.com/en/trend-wall

http://ultrazapping.tumblr.com/

http://www.buamai.com/image/tag/graphic-design

http://reform.lt/

http://www.baubauhaus.com/graphic-design/page/1

Some sounds for SIP - London Oversound

The first few sound sample recordings I made for my sound art self initiated project are on Soundcloud and can be found here - http://soundcloud.com/you/sets

Not all uploaded yet, but all images, videos and samples for the project have been made and passed on to my collaborators..  Very excited to hear the results! STill not sure of that title though.

Secret Alphabets Research - Witch house

I have sort of gone back to the drawing board with this project lately, after my attempts at growing bacteria yielded interesting yet ultimately unsuitable results. 
Since then I have been reconsidering the topic of memetics and looking for other examples upon which to base my alphabet.  


I started thinking more about other internet based memes, aside from those of the humorous kind, the majority of which have either proved too juvenile, obscure or complex to form a decent basis for a writing system and as such I started looking at the culture of Witch House, a musical genre which was born and almost entirely sustained via a network of internet blogs, forums and myspace pages.  


As a genre title Witch House is in its self something of a meme, as explained in this interview with Travis Egedy of the group Pictureplane - "Different people started posting about it on blogs, and it sort of became an internet meme. And someone attached the name witch house to the sounds that bands like Salem were making—the slowed down, spooky, Goth juke kind of stuff." "...But, at the time, when I said witch house, it didn’t even really exist...".


Despite coming under criticism as a loose and poorly defined genre, there is a unified asthetic of typographic and visual trends that have become intrinsically linked to the genre, in particular, the use of obscure keyboard symbols as band names, e.g;  †‡†, †▲βU∩∩Y▲† and GL▲SS †33†H.  As the genre title might suggest, these aesthetics are all linked to themes of the occult and have also inspired a slew of beautifully LO FI videos and animated giffs from fans and musicians a like, some favorites I have posted below

Despite only really gaining recognition fairly recently, this genre is now (by internet standards at least) old news and the buzz around it has dissipated, its attempts at exclusivity and uber underground aesthetic the source of a fair amount of ridicule.  What really interests me about all this however, is that this genre is a perfect example of memetics working to produce something artistic and creative and perhaps most importantly, the use of typography as a meme.

Call to prayer - Self initiated project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnjY0AO1gI

Very much hoping to capture some sounds like this from the mosque on Kingsland road for my project. Beautiful and unusual.

Psychogeography Sound Map - Self Initiated Project research

http://www.ryanraffa.com/parsons/blog/883/psychogeographic-maps-sound-prototype-1/

Another interesting piece of work concerning sound and mapping.  This project is very closely related to my own, in that it incorporates is based on the concepts of psychogeography and uses the recorded data of a journey to compose music.  Very nice though a little too avant garde for easy listening.

London Orbital - Self initiated project research

As a child enduring torturously long car journeys to visit my father, I would contemplate the dismal scenery of the motorways and fields our journey traversed with a sense of suspended animation. The relentless repetition of identical features - fledgling trees in there plastic supports, grey concrete overpasses, the rhythmic flitting of the of the central barrier, amount to a kind of purgatory, a never-ending slide show of mundane images, like the moving backgrounds of a cartoon chase scene, passing the same house again and again and again.


Its no wonder then, that I would resort to playing mind games, where an imagined character would run along side our car, effortlessly leaping over obstructions, jumping from bonnet to bonnet or perhaps a lazer beam, stretching far into the distance and slicing everything we passed in twain.  More often still these games were an effort to distract myself from the travel sickness that dogged these early journeys.


This desire to discover narrative in the bleak expanses of man-made traveling systems is at the heart of Iain Sinclair's book and Chris Petit's film of the same name; London Orbital, an exploration of the M25 that not only succeeds in capturing the road in all its banal glory but in revealing a multitude of unexpectedly related themes.  To watch a preview, please visit the link below - 


http://www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/filmstobuy/category/6/product/8/london_orbital.html 

This is a fascinating piece of work and undoubtably related to my current project, in that it deals with the atmospheres and themes of traveling in a space that is essentially a means to an end - the road.  Much as with the train track, these places are not designed to entertain us.  They are functional, practical testaments to the demands of our society.  Yet anyone who has spent any time on a motorway or the train, will recognise that these journeys are not devoid of thought, indeed for many they are times of reflection and meditation and it is this aspect of road travel that London Orbital so brilliantly, if at times unsettlingly records.

Spare Ass Annie

Rather perturbingly, this would have been ideally suited to the concept of combining themes from hip hop and beat generation culture I had initially entertained and subsequently dropped for my self initiated project.

Though now unrelated to my work, it is interesting none the less to discover that I was thinking down a path already trodden.

I am not a fan of the track, though this may have much to do with the negative light in which it was portrayed in the Will Self essay that lead to my discovering it.  Still, an interesting idea, perhaps one to bookmark for the future.

Ostgut Ton - the sound of Berghain - Self Initiated Project

The discovery of this project a little while back is probably the greatest inspiration for my current self initiated project..  A brilliant idea to create music from a place that is host to some of the greatest electronic music in the world - The Berghain nightclub in Berlin.  This project uses samples from the building itself in the production of each track.  Listen to some sample tracks here - 

http://www.beatportal.com/feed/item/emika-ostgut-ton-and-the-sound-of-berghain/

Dead Drops - another location based creative piece - Self initiated project research

http://datenform.de/blog/dead-drops-preview/

Another fascinating piece of work that I have stumbled across while researching for my self initiated project.  These so called "Dead Drops" are a series of USB data keys physically installed in a number of locations across New York to act as anonymous, information deposits that allow users to share files and digital information outside of the internet.  Very cool.  


This also reminds me of a modern day version of Letterboxing, an orienteering based pass-time that involves participants hunting for a number of physical deposit boxes hidden in various locations, inside which is a stamp that can then be added to the participants collection as proof of their discovery.

Sonic Graffiti - Self initiated project research

http://www.mrunderwood.co.uk/news/sonic-graffiti/

Another interesting piece that combines themes of sound and location, this time with physical installations.

Hackney Hear - Location based radio - Self initiated project

http://www.hackneyhear.com/

This fascinating new App is an extension of the Hackney Podcast, a series of freely downloadable programmes dedicated to exploring the many faces of the borough.  Now, with the addition of the App, the service has been awarded a new dimension in the form of location bassed content -

"Triggering audio via GPS-location, Hackney Hear provides an innovative way to explore and rediscover London Fields through the stories of residents, local writers and musicians."


This is a concept that I had already considered for my own work and it is interesting to see someting like this is already in existence.  

Self initiated Project - Music Mapping - The Makara Movement

http://soundcloud.com/the-makara-movement/tracks


Something I came across a while back whilst researching my Self initiated music mapping project, but which I just realised is done little justice when simply mentioned in a sketch book.  Instead, I invite you to take a look and a listen to the recorrdings of this group of east London residents, who describe their work as - 

"A collective of friends, artists, sound designers, composers, engineers collaborating to provide original material, edits, recorded samples, field recordings and a few live performances of all of the above. A platform for all advocating freeform thought and individualism"


I also managed to get in contact with one of the members of the group, Ben, who gave me some invaluable info on making my own field recordings and introduced me to this, similar project entitled Under The Rose Bush -


http://soundcloud.com/aboutfacemusik/living-beneath-the-rosebush


Very interesting work, totally in line with what I am currently doing.  

A history of the world in 100 seconds

http://vimeo.com/19088241

Yet another fascinating piece of work here that concerns the themes of mapping and data visualisation that I am currently most interested in.  This well executed project cross references the geographical and historical information provided in Wikipedia articles to provide a stunning, animated time line / global event map.

Despite currently working on two mapping projects, this piece has inspired me to take an entirely new direction with my Unknown Alphabets project from earlier this year.  The results of which should be on here within the next few months.

Audio Mapping

http://datavisualization.ch/showcases/sound-mapping-in-new-york-city/

Just discovered an excellent piece of work that ties in beautifully with the audio mapping themes I am exploring in my current, self directed project.

"This work was created by Mark Edward Campos, an Architecture student at California College of the Arts in San Francisco."


Perhaps something like this would be a good direction in which to develop my work..

A couple of short interviews with independent record shop staff in London's Lucky Seven and Eldica Records. Some pretty interesting stuff in there. Video clips are from Lucky Seven, Eldica and Flash Back; record shops in north London. 

Apologies for the poor quality and dodgy editing.


Part of the research for my current mapping project

Record store interviews - Haggle Vinyl

Part of my current project that aims to map record stores in London, this is an interesting (if not entirely sensible) interview with the proprietor of Haggle Vinyl in Angel. 
Despite predominantly off topic responses to my questions the interview manages to prove both entertaining and insightful.  The notoriously rude proprietor, Lynn Alexander, has built up a quite reputation for himself but despite a few off-the-cuff racist remarks that seemed entirely tongue in cheek considering the multi-ethnicity of his staff, my experience in Haggle was an enjoyable one.  Enjoy

Windows

Just a quick post to share some photographs that I took today whilst researching my self directed brief.  Windows in Dalston.  Really enjoy the colours and textures of these.

Life Drawings

Its been a while since I've done any drawing and as such I was quite pleased with these, especially the figures in the second picture.  Going to try and go to as many life drawing clases as I can some should be more of these in the future.

Vintage Blues posters

Been getting some inspiration form these beautifully simple Blues posters for a printed artifact I am creating to accompany my Tiny Orchestra project from last year.  I will upload the finished piece once Im done.  More greate examples of these vintage posters can be found at - http://www.postercentral.com/blues.htm

NMC Competition Finals

After a long and varied process of development for this project, I was finally forced to settle on some designs to present for the final hand in.  Below are the images I chose.

The final design shown here (above) was selected by the judges as won on 12 winning cover designs and earned me £250 prize money (plus royalties)!  In all honesty, it isn't my favourite of the lot, but this brief taught me the importance of understanding the client and trying to actually create what they want to see, rather then just something you personally like the best.  The design was based on one of the original crystal collages shown in my previous post with some paint patterns overlaid and blended using photoshop.  

NMC Competition

This is my first post to this new blog, hopefully I will be a little more regular from now on.  First of all, a project that took up a lot of time over the past few months but has been ultimately worth it was the album cover competition for contemporary classical music label NMC.  

My concept was based around the processes of layering in the construction of music, which I achieved by creating collages of natural objects (as with the crystals above), mimicking the layering processes discovered in nature.  

After the initial crit, I was encouraged to looking into using other natural products  in my collages.  I created numerous designs in the development of this project, a couple of which are shown above.