I got a great deal of enjoyment putting the music together for this show. And listening to other ‘Ambient Focus’ episodes on BBC SOUNDS certainly enhanced my concentration on some visual work I was doing. I don’t usually listen to music while engaged in sketching or painting, for example, preferring audiobooks, but this was different.
Initially, on being asked to do this, I didn’t read the brief as closely as I should have done and went a bit bonkers in my archives, roaming around an immersive universe going back four decades. Was heady!
So much unreleased and forgotten music that I got carried away and presented them with about 9 hours worth. Around 100 pieces. Plus 6 beautiful tracks by my musical compadre and partner in tech James Hockley. More on him in coming weeks as I speak about forthcoming live activity, and another venture that we are launching
But that was not the actual mandate, and the BBC of course seek diversity of content as part of their remit, and cannot just host a freestyling WO-fest. Makes sense.
So, adhering this time to the brief, and in spending a very ambient weekend casting around for the best of what is either out there now, or sitting in a fond place in my iTunes, I branched out. And this is what you hear.
I could do it every week!
I would like to thank James Hockley, @retrostudiotech, and Courtney Clarke, @ccdisco for introducing me to some amazing young ambient talent, such as Slow Coast, Adam Bokesch, Jonny Nash and Leon Vynehall
But no regrets about the ‘lost’ first instance, that first draft, as it has given me a golden moment of realisation that my forthcoming “Strange Cargo X” album could be accompanied by a stripped down ‘ambient’ companion
And in doing the second iteration, involving that range of artists from the genre, how much I could deep dive into this genre more
The titles will all be listed on the BBC SOUNDS page, but here are a few notes on my own contributions, since they have never been commercially released:
Watch this space for more on “Strange Cargo X”, which will be available shortly via CARGO CULT. A brand new entity
And at the foot of this page I will put some notes about that initial draft’s titles. 37 tracks sequenced together from that 100
Notes on the titles
(When you don’t have lyrics, titles in sequence can really flow)
‘Passing through as if a loaf of bread’
Line from '‘Field of the Cloth of Gold”.
About neutrinos, providing extended metaphor
Click image, read down the wiki entry to see about what is known as their “flavours”
'A cubic lightyear made of solid lead’
Line from '‘Field of the Cloth of Gold”. Neutrinos
‘Eccles Beach’ with Rico Conning
Part of my teenage years. on the Norfolk coast. A bell tolls underwater from the lost village church.
The word ‘Eccles’ comes from ‘ecclesiastical’
‘electron.love’
A website under development
‘Moonlight on Planet Vermont’
Well, why not . It’s not related musically to the old song “Moonlight in Vermont”
Or this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZFG1yAxjdQ
(smiling to myself as I consider the result of an imaginary glitch in the system with this airing instead)
‘Shifting Galactic’
https://ascension.bg/en/ascension-en/ascension-more/138-galactic-shift-eng
‘Future Archeologists of Wave’ with James Hockley
Framework for timeline of '‘Field of the Cloth of Gold”
‘The Purest Shore’
This very stripped back "Pure Shores" version has been extracted from a 1 hour mix session in Dolby Atmos that Apple Music will be releasing. More on that when I have an ‘air’ date
‘Mer Girl, the 1996 ballad’
I had this underway as part of a score, set in a drowned world, with this passage reflecting as many time signatures as possible for some deft footwork. But it had a fabulous alternative destiny
Here tabulated are the initial tracks, so that you can see the key signatures
They are in the ‘Album’ column
(‘auto key signature detection’ is in my experience often bollocks)
Deejay mixing can be about moodscapes as well as seamless on-the-beat bangmanship
click image for larger version
I might use “OOMBOOM’ as a rubric
Stands for:
“Out of Mind and Body On Orbit’s Music”
What has got me really jazzed is that some long cherished, but not-officially-ever-put-out-there projects are getting a breath of BBC air
Such as this 3D project I was almost ready to pitch to them in 2005, and from which some of this music comes. The idea was that with everything in the music sequence being in a state of ready fusion, people could listen on separate autonomous devices. This was ’05, so was thinking radio sets, desktop computers, laptops etc. The inherent delay in all these receiving modes coupled with positioning in a given room would create dimensionality
But now. Well. Phones
And with Apple Spatial audio being such a thing, it all weaves together across a flowering of axes
And then my Symphony
Around about the same time I think
It was in nine movements, and was performed with a huge augmented ensemble, The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, with double harp, piano, extra percussion, and choir, at Bridgewater Hall, conducted by Alexander Shelley, as part of that year’s Manchester International Festival, and was recorded by BBC Radio 3. But never broadcast (don’t blame them, it wasn’t really ready as a composition, being my very first foray into this kind of endeavour) and 90 minutes long
But what I have been able to do here is either do ‘ambient’ mixes of some slow passages. or perform them again
‘A Cubic Lightyear Made of Solid Lead’ is the final movement, the 9th, an adagio. Re-performed
And finally, in terms of finally seeing the light of day, my frolicking in fields of pentatonic verse
In particular an iambic epic based on this historical event
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_of_the_Cloth_of_Gold
Synopsis:
A 16th Century English alchemist (me in a way) invents, in a fever of empirical deduction, the first tape recorder, using alloyed spun gold and a ferrous composite, in order to determine of the old enemy, France's House of Valois, their inner rumination, prior to the magnificent soft power expo of the title
Which nearly bankrupted two nations
With the help of his deep asset, a nun and triple agent, the King's favoured confidant, at her spinning wheel of regal embroidery
Of course along with the Tudor espionage, and Francis I’s great artistic patronage, there will be blood, guts and courtly T&A.
I feel blessed to be able to do all these things, and have a roof over my head
Thing is, if I say “I see myself as a Romantic, as in the musical movement, but now”, Or “I see myself as a poet”, or the frequently wanting to say “I paint with sound”, it all sounds so collegiate and earnest. I just cannot bring myself to manifestly go there. But it’s all true
Plus “I see life as one long improv jam”
With my longing to express: “I see myself as a guitarist more than a synth dude”. So much of what is perceived as synth in my soundscapes comes originally from guitar. The most expressive instrument.
If there is a Deity of Creation up there, (in there?) I hope they know how much I appreciate the invention of the electric guitar.
And also, does he/she happen to have run across a chap called Jimi Hendrix?
But back to the music under consideration here. DO TRY LISTENING WITH MULTIPLE DEVICES. I’m so keen on this notion that I will restate it: “Multiple multiple multiple”. This kind of music has often scant discernible rhythmic elements, and in a good sequence flows together in key, in a loose way.
A breeze to set up.
Listen to the same show on phones and laptops around your room, or open space such as a picnic. Maybe launching after a few secs from the prev person
Talk about spatial
So. . . hit me up here on this site if you have comments or thoughts by all means. But it’s actually insta where I get engaged. And if I don’t respond to a message, assuming is of interesting discourse, is because I am on another ‘Code Crunch’. My term for when multiple hard deadlines converge in an inevitable all-nighters, and comms of any kind go out the window.
Despite all the Zuckerberg talking points out there, imho insta is a nice place, a great platform for genuine communication.
And “Code Crunch”. A fave place for me too as it happens, when it’s do or die. In finite time and space.
Time actually slows down.
Titling on the first draft. With ‘Cargo’ considerations stemming from this initial enterprise
‘electron.love’
see above
‘The Glade’
I just like the image conjured up, in this context
‘The Nature of Glass’
Have pondered this chemical paradox, and liquid wonder. Especially living in Venice, Italy
‘Passing through as if a loaf of bread’
see above
‘A cubic lightyear made of solid lead’
see above
'As close to c as night time will elude’
Line from '‘Field of the Cloth of Gold”. Speed of light. Head of SIS
'An arrow through a misty longitude’
Line from '‘Field of the Cloth of Gold” Continuing the theme
‘Butterfly keeps her Vigil’ melodies are my variations from “The Humming Chorus" in Act 2 of Giacomo Puccini’s opera "Madame Butterfly", where Cio-Cio-San waits through the night in vain for her lover US Naval Officer Lieutenant Pinkerton
‘Moonlight on Planet Vermont’
see above
Remembrance of Earth’s Past
Title of a book within a book at the heart of "The Three Body Problem” Trilogy
‘Shifting Galactic’
see above
‘The Prescience of Rotation’
Phrase from "Field of the Cloth of Gold”
‘Dark Matter, No Fear’ James Hockley
James has crafted this around frequencies that can mitigate anxiety
‘Recall’
It always had that title. Reflective of feeling reflective
‘Future Archeologists of Wave’
see above
‘A Spinner in a tower at her loom’
Line from '‘Field of the Cloth of Gold”
‘The Purest Shore’
see above
‘A weaver in a fabric stranded room’
Line from '‘Field of the Cloth of Gold"
‘The Stoned Detective’
The title of my ongoing story series.
'William’s Rule of Threes'
Will explain in due course. It’s my additional take on this in the link below, covering other (WO related) fields. Including decibels
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_three_(writing)
‘Silver sails all out of the West’
From the lullaby/poem “Sweet and Low” by Alfred Lord Tennyson
'My Uncle Ron and his Deep Waves'
In memoriam my recently departed Uncle Ron
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ronald-Ferrari
He was deep into waveforms
https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/news/tributes-paid-to-dr-ron-ferrari-1930-2023/
‘Nano Web’ James Hockley
Loosely based on a scene in the “Three Body Problem” by Liu Cixin (pron ‘loo sirshin’)
He is sometimes known as Cixin Liu
I will be suggesting an alternate reading sequence of chapters, by number, no spoilers, for best enjoyment of this first book in the trilogy, and some separate contextual chapter revision information about the writer and the Chinese censors
‘A Ductile Precious Glow’
Phrase from "Field of the Cloth of Gold”
‘Variation on an Enigma’
Extracted from the middle passage of my version of Edward Elgar’s "Enigma Variations"
‘Star Fields Waving in the Breeze’ James Hockley
Wide cosmic imagery
‘Lightly bring me word’
From the poem "Morte d'Arthur" by Alfred Lord Tennyson
‘CineCosmic’ James Hockley
Says everything about where we want to be
‘The Floating Man’
Have always been drawn to the works of Ibn Sina (in English often spelled Avicenna) from the Arab Renaissance, that pre-dates the Italian/European Renaissance
‘Calling Masha of the Far Federation Border’ Jote
My friend Maria Gruzdeva, referencing her epic Russian Federation border project
(well before the current situation)
‘Princess Dewdrop’
Character from a highly elaborate fairy tale, but will say no more
There is a huge amount of ‘Princess Dewdrop’ Manga out there. (spoiler alert)
’3 Body Solution’ James Hockley
"quantum weirdness and entanglement (faster than speed of light?)"
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/04/science/nobel-prize-physics-winner.html?
+
https://www.science.org/content/article/physicists-discover-whopping-13-new-solutions-three-body-problem
‘Field of the Cloth of Gold’
Title of my historical fiction sci fi-epic pentameter poem as mentioned above
Others not yet on the chart, but available in due course on CARGO CULT include:
‘A Permanence of Glide’
Phrase from '‘Field of the Cloth of Gold"
‘An Impound of Curvature’
Phrase from "Field of the Cloth of Gold"
‘Dandelin Spheres’
Not ‘dandelion’. Is an aspect of Orbital Mechanics
‘G1550’
random file name. And part of a longer work
‘The Spinning Umbrellas of Cherbourg’
There is that film, but the ‘spinning’ aspect of the umbrella comes from the same fairy tale as above
‘Wavetable Inflection’
Sonic nuance
You might notice the odd discrepancy with above list and the chart. Is still in a liquid state, all of this
These links to Wikipedia, A note about that site. It’s like the local library I lived in when should have been in school in the late 60s, working my way A to Z through the adult section science and astronomy book sections, obsessing with orbital mechanics, rocketry, solar chromatics. Everything astro. I knew the name of each launch in the Gemini and nascent Apollo programs
Is why they called me ‘Orbit’ a few years later, in my squat days, as I was so (and still am) obsessed with this field
And am happy to donate a bit to keep wiki going. I hope that everybody who loves it as I do can send at least the price of one actual book to the Wikimedia Foundation
I met Jimmy Wales (he lives in London) when the two of us were on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today Programme’. Discussing rights issues or something like that. I mostly recall the thrill of meeting a person I hugely admire
I would like to thank Rebecca Armstrong, Camilla Pia at the BBC, who made this happen, and to Nicole Logan, Silvia Malnati and Jamie Reform at Reform Radio. I’ve loved working with you guys
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001qvfq
Watch this space for all sorts of more
