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The Mire

The Wire Salon: We Hear A New World: Microphony, Technology & The Rise Of Sound Art

At the turn of the century sound art reached a new level of visibility with a cluster of high-profile shows and countless below-the-radar initiatives. Meanwhile, new thinking about sound has led to an extraordinary proliferation of practices, and in recent years a phalanx of sound recordists and sonic artists has emerged to stage a revolutionary coup on behalf of sound, demanding its right to exist both in and of itself, free of the competing agendas of music or the visual arts. The emergence of this new world of audio was accelerated by the dual technologies of microphony and digital processing, and can be heard in the examples of acoustic ecology and anthropology; desktop synthesis; the form-destroying praxes of Noise makers; Reductionism's amplification of previously occult sound events; frequency experiments with waveforms and pure tones; and more. A cluster of recent books on this area has showcased the range of thinking behind...

The Mire

Volatile Frequencies: call for papers

Volatile Frequencies: Topologies of Authority, Technology and Production in Contemporary Middle Eastern Music Practices : call for papers and performances NB: Due to request, the deadline for the submission of abstracts has been extended to 1 October 2010 and for full paper submissions to 1 November 2010 The Volatile Frequencies conference seeks to collate research that translates, mediates and frames practices specific to sonic disciplines (music, sound art, musicology) arising in relation to the Middle East and North Africa, and to critically connect with wider academic currents. It will emphasise current post-graduate research and scholarly approaches to new sonic practices, prioritising practice that favours experimental and exploratory approaches. Volatile Frequencies will be in conjunction with the first edition of the MazaJ Festival of Experimental Middle Eastern Music and is co-produced by Zenith Foundation, Sound And...

The Mire

The Outer Church: Position Normal

The man (men?) in the marshes above is performing a very rare Position Normal live date at The Outer Church tonight: well worth checking out I'd say – their self-titled last album, originally released on tape, was one of The Wire's Top 50 Records of 2009. Our own Joseph Stannard will be DJing, and best of all, it's free. And a small competition: if you can identify where the photo in the great Lila Hunnisett flyer above was taken, email myself at The Wire, and you'll get some on-the-hoof field recordings done by myself at an appropriate location.

Interview

Chicks On Speed

August 2010

Read an unedited transcript of Louise Gray's interview with Chicks On Speed, Dundee Contemporary Arts, 4–5 June, 2010.

The Mire

John Wall on Glossolalia

Tune into to Resonance FM tonight, 9 August, at 23:00 to catch the latest edition of Glossolalia , a show which, according to presenter Oliver Fay, is "produced with the intention of exploring the outer limits of composition, searching for those still thrashing uncomfortably around the perimeters of genre, the outsiders of the experimental music/sonic art frameworks." Tonight's edition features an hour long collaboration between digital composer-improvisor John Wall and poet Alex Rogers, both of whom fit Fay's brief for the show to a tee. John's last CD release was 2005's Cpohn , which contained just 20 minutes of material, and his live performances, while they have been growing more frequent in recent years, are still relatively few and far between, so this is a rare opportunity to hear one of the most unique and advanced (non-)musicians we have. As Helena Gough put it in The Wire 318: "His...

The Mire

The Wire Salon: Electric Eden

Our monthly salon series continues with a talk by The Wire ’s Editor-at-Large Rob Young based on his history of folk, folk rock, psychedelia and the British imagination, Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain’s Visionary Music (published by Faber And Faber, 5 August 2010.). The talk will be illustrated with film and audio clips and will be followed by a discussion of the book’s central themes; plus DJ Jonny Trunk will be in attendance spinning the sounds of wyrd and wired Britain. London Café Oto, 5 August, 8pm, £4. • Read: The Incredible String Band and The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter . Extract from Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music by Rob Young • Read: Into The Woods . "Across folk, classical, pop and exploratory music, the sense of exile from Eden is key to the progress of British music...

The Mire

Monolake in Romanian

For all Romanian Techno and Ableton heads, you can now check out Derek Walmsley's interview transcript with Robert Henke/Monolake in Romanian on this excellent blog: http://boingbumchakro.blogspot.com/2010/07/interviu-robert-henke-aka-monolake.html .