Spent a bit of time re-organising my Documents folder. This folder has been growing new content since 1995. So sorting it out was much like going into the shed you haven't opened the door of for a year or two. Ultimate spring cleaning.
I found a whole bunch of HTML stuff I did whilst at college and uni, not just web dev, but writing, graphics, everything. Some of the UEA crew may remember Marionville :-). In many ways this site today is just the latest part of an evolving low level creativity that I've been indulging since I wasn't a kid anymore. It's wierd looking back at the old stuff and seeing clear threads that lead into who I am today. Embarrasing as it is, I would like to put some of it live. I've been thinking this site needs a redesign as it goes, but I've just been soo busy with Cohack, Moblog, freelance, Resident Evil, Live-rockin' and everything else I've kind of run out of time to just piss about. Which is a real shame.
Early new year's resolution: get back on the random acts of creativity tip.
Plus, I've been blogging for 4.5 years! If only I blogged a bit more, that might be interesting :-).
11:44, Thursday October 13th, 2005 • feeling relaxed • no comments
Interesting Ars Technica review of OSS audio editing software. I've been using Audacity on OS X as my only wave editor for a while and it's at least as good as the limited selection of commercial editors I've played with. It's very stable which is the nice thing. After reading the article I think I'll have to check out Ardour and SND some time, though Ardour is X11 on OS X which is annoying.
3:26, Thursday October 6th, 2005 • feeling reflective • no comments
An interesting interview with Marius Watz, a generative artist, about the state of generative art and of the show that he has put together in Oslo. I'd love to go, but it's a bit short notice (10 days left!).
4:16, Thursday September 29th, 2005 • feeling thoughtful • no comments
I've never been a big fan of photography, I find it dull and repetitive mostly. It's a difficult form in which to distinguish yourself I think. On a trip to New York a few years ago I came across a work by Andreas Gursky, Schiphol. A work of hyper-realism and amazing technique. Then last year at the Affordable Art Fair in Regent's Park I saw a piece by Vanessa Beecroft (check out VB48 and VB50). Though Beecroft's art is in the performance rather than the photographs of it. At the beginning of the summer Louise and I went to see the Frida Kahlo exhibition at the Tate Modern and while waiting for our slot (it was busy!) we browsed their poster collection. There was a really nice photograph by Damien Hirst, Pharmacy. In the V&A exhibition Between Past And Future I saw some stuff I really liked, particularly Wang Qingsong's Night Revels of Lao Li and the untitled signature image by An Hong - "'Buddha' may be the monarch who blesses and protects our paths toward a life of kitsch." The big hyperreal tableaux is an image I've seen a few times recently and I really like it. I like an image you can wallow in for a while, appreciating every part of the form. I'm not big on representational art and for me these images offer much beauty.
Moblog are running a competition "The soundtrack to your life" in conjunction with Sony Ericsson. It's a musical theme to promote the sexay W800i walkman phone. I entered a piece of what might be broadly termed photojournalism. I went to my favourite record shop, Rough Trade, and to a crazy shop that sells synths and music production tech and interviewed the people there, chatted about music and then pulled it all together into a brief piece exploring my interaction with music. You can find the entry split into four parts on the site: 1, 2, 3, 4.
As part of the piece I talked about music making with Live, Reason and Max. I felt I needed something to do with my suddenly moderately sized pool of free time (work is slim since I went away for 2 weeks and came back), aside that is from writing an automatic-illustrating programme, playing chess, mixing, riding my bike around London and reading Gödel Escher Bach. So over the weekend I watched a few of Ableton's Live videos and played around connecting Reason and Live via Rewire and MIDI. It was cool and I managed to make some fairly cool stuff, nothing special, just an improvement on the music I've created so far. Live allows you to record MIDI snapshots and tinker with them really quickly. You can be in the mix and say I want a little off-beat melody here and just play one in, quantize it and set it going. It makes it very easy to express music as it develops in your head. I find myself tapping or humming companion melodies and rhythms as I listen to tracks, I can use that to my advantage.
Then I downloaded a Reaktor 5 demo. Damn that is the sweetest piece of software ever. I don't understand it at all really, only in a superficial way, but it's so cool. Just the demo instruments and ensembles hint at a world of such great coolness that it makes me drool almost. I want to dedicate my life to it, like some kind of Reaktor-monk, shut away in a mountain monastery with just my laptop and that one piece of software.
But my main problem still is not my understanding of or ability with the software, but my lack of basic musical skills. I have been thinking that the way to resolve this is to just learn to play the piano. The idea being that by playing other people's music I can bridge the gap between tune in my head and how that tune is played. Transforming the musical portions of my brain into a recordable form. So I've been contemplating splashing out on a nice MIDI/USB keyboard. But would I ever actually play it, or would I just go back to my Gamecube, or reading, or Illustrant (illustration generator program)? It's £65 for the keyboard I've got my eye on, so it's enough to make me weigh the decision carefully.
What I'd like to do is advance my musical "career". Start gigging, probably at the Foundry again, get in with other musicians. I'd really like to collaborate and share ideas, but at the moment it would be embarrassing! I'd just like to produce good music and share it really.
