Wednesday 16 November 2011

Japan times again, getting ready for tour



NAGOYA

hisashibuli

autumn rain and sun

aki no ame to ohisama






AT HOME

uchi

Ichi`s been creating new instruments and I`ve made him a stage apron

Ichi no atalashi gaki to apron desu



My new albums and textiles are ready to go

dekita!


BAGS





BADGES



& CD POUCHES


and the van is tidied, hovered, packed, oiled and ready to take us on our journey

ikimasho!

Thursday 20 October 2011

A shout OUT about NEW stuff

Double A side SINGLE RELEASE 24th October

1.Claw & Tooth
2.Window

3. Animation by Betsy Dadd
4. Cine film by ICHI
5.An original piece of artwork in a badge


This is the second single to be released with these bite of the mountain badges. For previous single Balloon and all other release have a peek in the Broken Sound shop.

The badge comes complete with a download code to get all of the above, and the badge itself is a small part of the album artwork for album Bite the Mountain - a very big stitched mountain I made from old paper (sea charts, old book covers and scrolls from Japan, my scale book from school etc)

watch a film of me making the badges

There is a code to track your very piece. And there is an invitation to join the photo project, the idea being that the squares can be tracked to their next destination. News on the next stage of the project will follow when we've had enough photos sent in snapety-snap

here are the youtube quality versions of the films (you will get them higher quality with the single download)






TOOT TOOT
Also just around the corner is....

Japan Album Release BITE THE MOUNTAIN 5th November

Very excited to be having my album released in Japan. The first 100 purchases from SweetDreamsPress in Japan come with a free cdr of live and home recordings, (but just to warn you this may be an obstacle-course if you can't read Japanese. I'm reasonably computer illiterate so you may well have more luck than me if you're willing to persevere!)

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Tour Adventures Around Europe



G E R M A N Y



HANOVER

making old songs new again at our first date in Hannover with Emma Gatrill

Throughout the tour Emma added a certain magic touch with clarinet, harp, accordion and voice, and played some of her solo harp songs which were beautiful to hear in the many places we played. Chris Lucraft who runs Broken Sound played percussion - a hidden talent if ever I heard one. He also is responsible for many of these photographs (the reason he's not in many in fact). And Ichi played steel drum with me, as well as his own set in which he tried newly build instrument creations
peek at ICHI's cargo session here

Ichi, Chris and Emma
Thank you chaps!



MAGDEBURG

We had time in Magdeburg before 2nd date of the tour, and found a real life Hundert Wasser building to explore which we went on a mission to find after it was spotted from this wall




BERLIN


While in Berlin Dennis of Burning Eagle booking organised a house concert in his home, a cosy event with pumpkin soup to ward off the wind and rain. Thank you Dennis for the street roaming, the trip to the lake, for turning your bedroom into a dormitory. And of course thank you for organising all the lovely shows.


LAKE ON THE OUTSKIRTS

post-swim


LEIPZIG


one of our favourite places on route - Fischbar LEIPZIG, with it's piles of books and checkered floor, table-foot-ball in the next room, and a 3-storey-junk-shop-come-museum to visit the next day, not to mention Madeline and her amazing hot apple juice


One of Emma Gatrill's solo performances on harp,
and below a film of her joining me on Moth in the Motor








P A R I S


BOTANICAL GARDENS and NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM





ICHI'S CARGO SESSION

filmed in Paris with Renaud (the creator of The Cargo Sessions) and his daughter

see ICHI'S cargo sessions here





THE TEXTILE-ART CREATIONS OF AURELIE MATHIGOT


Since getting Aurelie Mathigot's book I've wanted to see her beautiful work up close, and while in Paris she invited us to visit her studio which was a true inspiration. I'm excited about our future swap - an embroidered cardigan for one of her incredible creations - I reckon I'm going to come up trumps


THE MAGIC LANTERN

while staying with Kate and Jesse of This is the Kit we experienced some lucky timing when Jamie of The Magic Lantern arrived to play with them in the Shakespear and Co. book shop in Paris. Usually with an ensemble but this time solo, his performance somehow managed to transport me to some serene far away place. As well as guitar he used kalimber which is a favorite of mine at the moment. The album is very highly recommended **********



T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

Ichi played at two experimental nights in The Netherlands on the final leg of our tour. The first was a regular event Gifgrond, and the second was in Rotterdam. Both nights were shared with a pair from Dresden - Schnaak - who performed some incredibly inventive guitar playing using a chopstick sized stick and some thwacking of drums with a bundle of canes, among other pleasing ear suprises





and finally home to the UK

and a new discovery - the beautiful PANGOLIAN-
Horniman Museum, in London



favourite animal of the month




Wednesday 14 September 2011

Balloon single/badge explained, and why I love Bristol

Before I crack on and tell you why I love Bristol, I want to do a bit of a shout out about my Balloon single, which looks like this:


The badge comes complete with a download code to get Balloon, Sticking in Pins, Balloon video, and the badge itself which is a small part of a very big stitched mountain I made from old paper (sea charts, antique book covers and scrolls from Japan, my scale book from school etc)

There is a code to track your very piece. And there is an invitation to join the photo project, the idea being that the squares can be tracked to their next destination.... hopefully with an exhibition next spring/summer.


This is my submission and below is a short film of the making of this project which describes it better than words


order BALLOON BADGE from www.brokensoundmusic.com


And now I'll give some news of he last few weeks. Lots of inspirational goings on in BRISTOL:

STREET PARTY, EASTON


Impromptu session at our street party, wind section just out of the picture included 3 clarinetists, french horn, sax and a trumpet. ....and all living in the same street would you believe


ICHI'S HUMAN SIZED EARTH XYLAPHONE

getting tips from our neighbour who we met at the street party


FORAGE

A day in Boiling Wells, Bristol, organised by the marvellous Qu Junktions team. A magical array of sound art goings on amongst the foliage

Putting the bike trailer/suitcase to good use


Earth Xylaphone digging action, received lots of "who are you burying" comments







After a short improvisational performance by Ichi, we improvised by getting inside it 1 at a time! Sounded beautiful from within, not claustraphobic but cosy and you could feel the humming vibrations of the wood. Late in the day family of 4 children, youngest just 1 year old, climbed inside all together and stayed there for about 10 minutes. Finally it had to be dismantled. Destroying things is so quick in comparison to creating them! Ichi is already thinking about a new improved design.

Tall James's wind pipe organ creations



as an observer it was hard to understand but I gleaned that all had different instructions coming at them through their headphones. One participant was told to check her e-mails, another was told to ask if anyone wanted anything from the kiosk




APPLE AND MULBERRY PICKING



I went out along the cut in Bristol with a group who look after the wild apple trees. I got involved with a saw and came home with apples for a huge crumble

EXHIBITION by HIENZ JUNKINS (James from OLO Worms) at The Louisiana
with Music from myself, Ichi, Rozi, SJEsau and Found

Ichi in the cellar


Rozi Plain


SJEsau with some incredible projections he's been making


and now for a quick Europe Tour Plug...

EUROPE SEPTEMBER TOUR

me and Ichi are packed and ready

Sep 15th - Feinkostlampe, Hannover, Germany
Sep 16th - Volksbad Buckau, Magdeburg, Germany
Sep 18th - Fischbar, Leipzig, Germany
Sep 20th - Fluc, Vienna, Austria
Sep 22nd - Hafen 2, Offenbach, Germany
Sep 23rd - Kohi, Karlsruhe, Germany
Sep 24th - Oliver Peel Session, Paris, France

Sep 30th - Enuma, Dusseldorf, Germany