Music

"all incense and dream catchers" :

MG7 (2002)
Music for the film 'Chakrenreisen'by the digital artist Michael Guzei.
The original brief was for seven Chakra videos, each about ten minutes long with 21 x 24 second morphs. Each piece of music should be based around one pitch which rises by step through the seven films. Of course this changed during the production but the basics
remained. Using a colour to pitch/key relationship chart I first
designed for 'Rothko' (1982) I came up with the following:
colour/pitches original brief

#1 - red = B maj. (1 pitch, B) - low frequency / slow beating / earth - stability [linked to #3]

#2 - orange (+red) = Db maj. (2 pitches (3), Db,Ab, / +B for red) - water / sexual energy [linked to #4]

#3 - yellow = Eb maj. (3 pitches, Eb,G,Bb) - sun / solar plexus / center of things [linked to #1]

#4 - green (+pink) = F maj. (4 pitches, F,A,C,E / incl. E for pink) - heart / love [linked to #2]

#5 - blue = G maj. (5 pitches, G,B,D,F#,A) - communication / self expression [linked to #6/#7]

#6 - violet = A maj. (6 pitches, A,C#,E,G#,B,D) - third eye /
intuition / dreams [linked to #5/#7]

#7 - white/ultra-violet = A# min.(C# maj.) (7 pitches,
A#,C#,F,G#,C,D#,F#) - out of body [linked to #5/#6]

The first showing of 'Chakrenreisen' was in Vienna on 24 Oct. 2002.
I first worked with Michael Guzei on the short film "Sprache des Wassers" in 1997.

"all incense and dream catchers"
RW-1-03-007

MG 7

01 MG#1 red (part 1) 5'00"
02 MG#1 red (part 2) 5'32"
03 MG#2 orange 9'20"
04 MG#3 yellow (part 1) 5'08"
05 MG#3 yellow (part 2) 5'24"
06 MG#4 green (part 1) 5'04"
07 MG#4 green (part 2) 5'23"
08 MG#5 blue (part 1) 5'10"
09 MG#5 blue (part 2) 5'11"
10 MG#6 violet 7'24"
11 MG#7 white 7'38

all compositions for 'Tape' by Mel
Total time 72:48

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Chaos and the Wasp :

Persian Rug
16 Jan.'88 - Breck's Nook, York. (originally for quad. tape)

The last third or so is based on a weaving pattern, the rest is a frayed edge running towards it. The score has an insert: 'The realisation of this piece was unfortunately at a slightly slower rate than in the score, therefore the time-space notation should be considered approximate.' Oh well, Persian rugs are never perfect.

Juno Variations II
13 Oct.'98 - Pyhra. (for two simultaneous 'looped' CDs)
A stereo mix-down of the first cycle of the piece, it uses 'Gradual Juno' ('92) as the background. The wasp's nest was recorded in the summer of '96 at the Rookery, Westcott, and includes an accidental James Woodrow practising guitar in the room behind the nest.

Folded Currents
Feb.'82 (original 30 minute version) 18 Mar.'93 - Dorking.
Inspired by the painter Robert Rauschenberg's collage
"Currents" (1970). Most of the compositional 'structure' of the
piece is in the actual content of the news reports, all recorded from
various radio stations on 19 Feb.'82.

Chaos and the Wasp
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01 Persian Rug (part 1) 9'48"
02 Persian Rug (part 2) 8'35"

03 Juno Variations II (part 1) 8'04"
04 Juno Variations II (part 2) 8'02"
05 Juno Variations II (part 3) 8'00"
06 Juno Variations II (part 4) 7'59"
07 Juno Variations II (part 5) 7'58"

08 Folded Currents (part 1) 7'31"
09 Folded Currents (part 2) 7'49"

all compositions for 'Tape' by Mel
Total time 72:48

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Floating Stones :

Stoned Moon II
3 Sept.'98 - Pyhra.
Inspired by the painter Robert Rauschenberg's silk-screen
"Tracks" ('70) from his Stoned Moon Series. This is a remake of the
original 'Stoned Moon' which was composed to be part of
'Rauschenberg' ('82) but it never quite fit and was shelved.

Gradual Juno (folded)
15 Feb.'92 (original 91 minute piece), 9 Sept.'98 - Pyhra (CD remix).
This was recorded using a borrowed Roland Juno 6, hence the name,
this was later returned to it's owner and then given away (lost in a bet). Too late I realised that for some reason the final written information for this piece was on the actual keys of the synth (the 'score' was a series of numbers). Juno is also an asteroid with a solar orbit of 4.36 years.

Floating Stones
RW-1-03-009

01 Stoned Moon II 03'08"

02 Gradual Juno (part 1) 09’10“
03 Gradual Juno (part 2) 09’15“
04 Gradual Juno (part 3) 09’00“
05 Gradual Juno (part 4) 09’12“
06 Gradual Juno (part 5) 09’05“
07 Gradual Juno (part 6) 08’45“
08 Gradual Juno (part 7) 08’04“
09 Gradual Juno (part 8) 08’00“

Total time 74’16“

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Mobile Vermin:

This is dedicated to James Poke as (amongst other reasons) he is the only friend I know of who actively likes Drive.

Drive My Car
9 Oct.'88 (original piece) 15 Mar.'94 - Westcott.
This version is a remix of a two part piece, each of about 40
minutes. I've always been interested in very (very) slow change, listening to this is similar to watching grass grow, you know it's changing but... (but I have to admit, the change in the remix is more obvious)

Party Rat
15 Mar.'94 - Westcott.
This piece includes two 'samples', Party and Rat. Both Rat and the source for 'Drive My Car' are examples of early primitive sampling, the record got stuck and I recorded it.

Mobile Vermin
RW-1-03-010

01 Drive My Car (part 1) 09'54"
02 Drive My Car (part 2) 09'53"
03 Drive My Car (part 3) 09'52"
04 Drive My Car (part 4) 09'51"
05 Drive My Car (part 5) 09'50"
06 Drive My Car (part 6) 09'49"
07 Drive My Car (part 7) 09'48"

08 Party Rat 04'54"“

Total time 73’56“

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Of Buffalos & Other Gods :

Sleepless Buffalo
24 Sept.'95 - Westcott. (for unreal orchestra*)
The first three parts of 'Why Buffalo?', started on the living room floor of the Gilmore family home while staying in Devon in '94. I was under the mistaken impression that the name of their street was Springfield, to remind myself I remembered the band Buffalo Springfield. A few days later, having started work, the name Buffalo kept coming up, but why Buffalo? The notes are based on a Schumann fragment found decorating the clock face in that living room,translated into 20-note per octave micro-tuning (fine-tuned by James Poke). The 'twittering' towards the end is in fact the sibilants from a hypno-tape for insomniacs.

wHolE
18 Jul.'96 - Westcott.
Inspired by the work of painter Andy Warhol, a reworking of 'RDC I. 2' ('93). The title is from the intro bit to the track 'Andy Warhol' on the David Bowie album "Hunky Dory".

Lying Gods II
6 Jun.'96 - Westcott.
The original Lying Gods was created for 'Brush Work' ('93) from an early study for 'Telling Fibs ('96) and 'Cold Gods' (an unfinished piece last worked on in '95) but went unused. This is a re-voiced return to the scene of the crime.

Sticky Buffalo
13 Jun.'96 - Westcott. (for unreal percussion*)
A reworking of 'Why Buffalo' material. When asked about writing a percussion piece I produced this, dipping my toe into the sound world of bangs and crashes.

Buffaloqqall
28 Oct.'98 - Pyhra.
A shameless CD filler (I like to fill up CDs). It uses excerpts from 'Sleepless Buffalo' and 'Powaqqall' a study for 'Fall' ('92).

A musical work exploring a 20-note per octave micro-tuning. A work inspired by Andy Warhol and a study in percussion

Of Buffalos & Other Gods
RW-1-03-011

01 Sleepless Buffalo (part 1) 9'15"
02 Sleepless Buffalo (part 2) 9'09"
03 Sleepless Buffalo (part 3) 8'50"
04 Sleepless Buffalo (part 4) 8'15"
05 Sleepless Buffalo (part 5) 8'11"

06 wHolE 9'50"

07 Lying Gods II (part 1) 5'27"
08 Lying Gods II (part 2) 5'13"

09 Sticky Buffalo 7'31"

10 Buffaloqqall 2'29"

Total time 74'27"

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