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