The sound of music
TIMELINE: 2008 . 2007 . 2006 . 2005 . 2004 . 2003 . 2002 . 2001 . 2000 . 1999 . 1998 . 1997 . 1996 . 1985-95
2008
Wevie Stonder at Fusion Festival
26th-29th June 2008 – Lärz, Germany
Just back from playing with them Wevies at this festival on a former Russian military airfield in “the middle of nowhere” in the fields of northern Germany. Beautiful work Harry ...
New album 'The Bucket' coming soon
23rd January 2008: Just the day before I jetted off to warmer climes for the winter, that most venerable of gentlemen – Itchy Genius – got me in to play me clarinet on a couple of tracks for Wevie's next album. I'll let you know if I hear any mixes ...
2007
How Green Can Your Home Be?
Life Recycled: Tour an Eco-Home
Interactive designer Guy Holbrow invited me to collaborate with him on the sound design for Channel 4's recent feature on recycling called Life Recycled. The result is a lovely interactive Flash microsite, described on the Channel 4 website like so:
The Jazzvibe
Brighton-based double bass player Nigel Thomas has been putting on jazz gigs upstairs at The Prince Albert (just below Brighton Station) for some time now under the name The Jazzvibe, for which I've made some posters which you can have a closer look at by clicking on the images below.
Soundwaves Festival June 19th 2007
The Soundwaves Festival was a small festival of contemporary music that was held for the first time in Brighton this June, with a couple of nights given over to free improvisation. Many thanks to 'J'm Black for inviting me along to play at the Red Roaster in Kemptown as support for InSand.
The band featured 'J'm Black (guitar/electronics), Monty Oxy Moron (piano/percussion/toys), Alistair Strachan (cornet/electronics) and myself on clarinet. 'J'm has posted a video excerpt of the performance on YouTube.
Safehouse On The Edge
On The Edge is a monthly performance night where The Safehouse Collective bring in well known musicians and groups who have an emphasis on improvisation in their work. They precede the headliner with an established local musician or group. The night is always opened with the Safehouse "Wildcard" quartet, which is made up of names that have been picked out of a hat at the preceding Safehouse open session.
Click below for a better look at this series of li'l posters wot I made:
A Feather and A Stone
23rd May 2007: A year has passed since we last met up, and it was a pleasure when percussionist and composer Julian Franks invited me to lay down some clarinets on a track called A Feather and A Stone which will hopefully end up on his new album ...
Many thanks again to Julian Tardo at Church Road Studios for making it all so easy peasy lemon squeezy.
SndWallah
Okay okay I admit it, I do have a fledgling MySpace page for the sketches I'm working on. Just don't tell anyone ... 
Air Conditioned April 4th 2007
Here's a recording from a very enjoyable free improvised Safehouse session featuring Alistair Strachan on cornet; the inspiring Dr. Vibes on air conditioning unit, vibes and wall; Richard Padley on guitar; and myself on clarinet.
AIR CONDITIONED.MP3 [12.2 Mb]
Nosferatu Remixes January 2007
Earlier this year Adrian Shephard of Testcard invited several people to do remixes of our 2001 soundtrack to F.W. Murnau's classic horror film Nosferatu for a radio show that went out, to among other places, the South Pole!!! I'll post more details of this as I get them, but in the meantime, here's my remix ...
A SHIP REMIXED.MP3 [4.2 Mb]
2006
Freefarm
Simon Pyke of Freefarm fame invited me to lay down some bass clarinet for an audio/video project he's working on. It was recorded on the 31st October 2006 in Hove (actually), and I've heard that there is a video in progress to go with it for a DVD that's coming out ...
FREEFARM.MP3 [7.2 Mb]
The interview project
These interviews are transcripts of informal conversations with some of the great musicians and artists I've had the pleasure of meeting. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I've enjoyed recording them.
1. Simon Robinson Piano
2. Geoff Hearn Saxophones
3. Franc O'Shea Electric bass
The Doppelganger Sessions
A couple of dates in Berlin, with Adrian Shephard on laptop, theremin and sampling; Lepke B on the amazing Pioneer CDJ; myself on piano, clarinet and shortwave radios; and featuring cassette artist Rinus Van Alebeek of Salon Bruit.
Tuesday September 5th (11pm - late) at Antje Öklesund, Berlin (SamariterStraße U5).
Monday September 11th (11pm - late) at BrunnenStraße 183, Berlin (Rosenthaler Platz U8).
Lost Shadows
I've been invited to collaborate with Testcard at Lost Shadows - a three day festival of "confrontational sounds and installations" at Factory Berlin, Schöneweide, in East Berlin over the weekend of June 2nd, 3rd and 4th 2006.
We'll be performing some of the music from our 2001 soundtrack to F.W. Murnau's classic horror film Nosferatu, as well as bringing out The Brain Machine - an active biofeedback 'soft' machine installation where "people can experience the effect of synchronising the brain within a group situation". On Sunday the 4th I'll also be doing an extended solo clarinet set as a prelude to a "car alarm frenzy" by Urbanis Vulgaris.
Looks like an exciting few days with video art, installations, live music performances, radio art, and all kinds of interesting people flying in from around the world. More info here ...
Wevie Stonder in session
25th May 2006: Wevieness explodes on to the airwaves with us all in a studio doing a live session for BBC Radio 3's Mixing It. What a pleasure of an afternoon it was - many thanks to all the boys for having me along for a tootle 'n' parp - and especially to all the great people up at Maida Vale for their endless patience, enthusiasm and help ...
The show went out on Friday 2nd June 2006 and is available below for your listening pleasure ...
MIXINGIT.MP3 [20 Mb]
Wevie Stonder: Confusion (2.56); Handbag Nut (2.52); Gypsy Chimp (3.54); Gagged and Bound (4.47); Boiled Egg (4.28)
Alan Boorman (turntable/laptop/electric guitar/ukulele); Chris Umney aka Henry Music aka The Admiral (vocals/sampler); Henry Sargeant aka Mr Vast (vocals/timpani/cuica/North African goatskin bagpipes); Nadir Al-Badri aka The Vice President (bass/piano/trumpet/celeste); Matt Grey (clarinet/bass clarinet/harmonica/wooden flute).
Session on
25th May 2006: Percussionist and composer Julian Franks invited me to lay down some clarinets on the first track of his new album. It was a lovely early morning session and I can hardly wait to hear the finished piece. If you'd like to check out Julian's first album, click here ...
13th May 2006: A huge thankyou to my good friend Tim 'The Tenor' Wood and Australian guitarist/composer Mike Fullerton for inviting me along to play some clarinet on Mike's new album. It was a great little session, and I'm really looking forward to see what comes of it ...
Many thanks to engineer Julian Tardo at Church Road Studios for making both recordings such a pleasurable experience.
Vermilion Souls by Masaki Iwana
28th April 2006: We've just had it confirmed that acclaimed Butoh dancer Masaki Iwana [pic] has included some of the music from 'a b cd' for the soundtrack to his feature-length film Vermilion Souls, a preview of which was shown last October at the New York Butoh Festival, with the final cut scheduled for release sometime later this year ...
![[pic]](img/iwana.jpg){kind=link}
2005
Safehouse
This year most of my musical activity has been with an inspiring group of musicians who have re-kindled my interest in the joys of free improvising and spontaneous composition. Thanks to all the very special people I've had the pleasure of meeting and working with, you know who you are ...
After an incredible day of playing at the Unsafe Festival in Poole in Dorset on the 12th November 2005, we'll be playing at the Pavilion Theatre in Brighton on Thursday 24th November 2005, supporting ZAUM. Doors open at 7.30pm, and tickets are available from here ...
Check out Gordon Humphrey's photo of me and Steve Harris playing in Brighton.
Lung - BreatheMe
Bill Fairhall, Thor Magnusson and myself have started collaborating on a part composed, part improvised project called BreatheMe, with Bill on sound sculptures and found sounds, Thor on laptop and live sampling, and myself playing clarinets, flutes and percussion. We'll be playing at The Pool in Shoreditch in London on Thursday 3rd November 2005 as part of the next SuperUsers event.
BREATHEME.MP3 [6.4 Mb]
Shakuhachi Yuu
Geoff Hearn has finally talked me in to taking up the shakuhachi. He sent me a link to Mary Lu Brandwein's inspiring essay Sound is a Door... ¿To Where?, so I've gone ahead and acquired a Shakuhachi Yuu. As the koan has it, I want to live forever; I must die ... Thankyou Geoff. #:)
The Wooden Horse of Troy
The sessions that I recorded with Wevie Stonder last year have been released under the title The Wooden Horse of Troy, available from Skam Records for the very reasonable price of £10 GBP. The album has already had rave reviews and I can honestly say that they're not wrong when they say "it's more original than a five-legged otter in a pith helmet" ... Truly inspired stuff!
2004
Wevie Stonder
10th July 2004: I had a great time today (after an insane all-night party) playing the clarinets and flutes for Wevie's next album. Watch this space for further details as it becomes clear just exactly what they do with what I did ...
2003
Transmit II
An active biofeedback 'soft' machine installation where people can experience the effect of the waves of the human mind by entering a space vibrating to the beats of a single person's thought patterns. 'Transmit' explores the fluctuating conscious and the effect of synchronising the brain within a group situation ... [pic]
Performance in collaboration with Testcard, featuring Scotty, Malcolm B. Dick and Lepke B in Brighton, England on July 19th 2003 as part of the Occulture Festival.
Floating Atop the Hesitant Heart
Music from 'a b cd' performed live for Masaki Iwana's solo dance 'Floating Atop the Hesitant Heart', at Jacksons Lane Theatre, London, on April 3rd 2003 as part of the Butoh Dancing on the Borderline festival ... [pic]
2002
Finally Something To Replace Bowling
Asaurus Records kindly included one of the tracks from 'a b cd' on their compilation 'Finally Something To Replace Bowling', which is for sale at the stupendously cheap price of $5 ...
Transmit I
An active biofeedback 'soft' machine installation where people can experience the effect of the waves of the human mind by entering a space vibrating to the beats of a single person's thought patterns. 'Transmit' explores the fluctuating conscious and the effect of synchronising the brain within a group situation.
Performance in collaboration with Testcard at Kyiv Fortress Museum, Hospital'na 24a, Kyiv, Ukraine on Friday 18th Oct. 2002 at 2100h, as part of the Kyiv International Media Art Festival. Click here for further details about the project, and click here to see excerpts from the performance ...
Yangchen
5th October 2002: Session recording on the ole bass clarinet for Tibetan singer/songwriter Soname Yangchen's second album.
Mechanical Contamination
Soundtrack and live performance in collaboration with Testcard as part of the Helden der Arbeit Festival in East Berlin, on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th Sept. 2002.
A B CD
To celebrate the release of 'a b cd', b performed at the Sallis Benney Theatre in Brighton, UK on Friday 6th Sept. 2002. Click here to read more ...
A B CD SAMPLE
The Feature Creature
Sound design for a multimedia performance/installation by HexenKessel and Testcard in the main Turbine Hall of Tate Modern, as part of 'Unzip your Lips' for World Book Day 2002 on Thursday 14th March 2002 (1030h - 1500h). The event coincided with the Tate's Andy Warhol exhibition.
The Voice Phenomenon Project
The Voice Phenomenon Project was part of 'Sensuous Structures' - an exhibition of artists and architects work on show from January 16th 2002 for four weeks at the Herron Gallery, London. In collaboration with Testcard.
The participants also included Bucholz/McEvoy, Cassion Castle TCA, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Balkrishna Doshi, Durbach/Block, Neville Gabie, Herman Hertzberger, Susanne Hofmann, Steven Holl, Mecanoo, Martin Moller, Juhani Pallasmaa, Michael Sorkin, Allan Schwarz, Ushida Findlay, and CiCi Blumstein.
2001
Nosferatu
Soundtrack for the 1922 film by F.W. Murnau, in collaboration with Testcard.
Shown at Brighton Cinemathéque on Halloween night, and subsequently played on Radio4A :: 107.8 FM on the 11th November 2001.
The OneMinute Hour
An invitation to sixty people to contribute a sixty second piece of sound or music. Please send your submissions in .mp3 format, or get in touch for further details.
Mirror - Anatomy of Attack
Consultant for Testcard's Year of the Artist installation at Lewes All Saints Centre, Sussex on the 28th May 2001.
Trigpoint
26th April 2001: Plans are hatched with RandomAttention and BigEars, with half an eye on the anti-fest ...
Wevie Stonder
Valentine's Day 2001: Session recording on the ole clarinet for those fine purveyors of cack, Wevie Stonder. Take a listen to the rough-as-old-rope pre-release 'Kenwood Mix' [#;o] below. The final cut is now available as 'Shredni Vashtar' on the latest Wevie Stonder album 'Drawing on other people's heads' released by Skam Records. Also check out Wevie's first album 'Eat Your Own Ears' recorded way back then in 1999.
KENWOOD.MP3 [3.4 Mb]
VeryNice
6th February 2001: A very nice [#;ø] night with JohnnyB. and Ricardo and a quick mix for your listening pleasure ...
VERYNICE.MP3 [2.4 Mb]
Dreadnought Wharf
Soundtrack for a dance film by Dominique Rivoal. First shown on the 14th January 2001 at The Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts, Middlesex University, and subsequently on the 28th April 2001 at the Dance Film Forum at Chisenhale Dance Space, London.
2000
The Misuse of Power
A sonic experiment especially for radio in collaboration with Testcard. First broadcast on Radio4A :: 107.8 FM on the 12th November 2000.
Emersion
Sound design for the Japanese adventure games for Sony Playstation Europe. Developed in partnership with forma.
Habibi
Theme tune for The Mint Club in collaboration with Argy. Premiered at The Roundhouse, Camden, London on the 6th April 2000.
1999
Yanomani
Sound design for a project investigating the world of the Brazilian Yanomani tribe, integrating 3D, video, sound and animation to create a powerful active learning resource. Nominated for 2 BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards in November 2000, and the Enhancement of Linear Media Award for the design and development of a broadband education service for BBC Interactive Geography.
Developed in partnership with okupi, the project is now offline.
@rtHype
Sound design for Shockwave agents feeding dynamic and personalised content online [plus promotional cd-rom]. Developed in partnership with okupi.
1998
CreateCell
An interactive 3D environment based on a simple artificial life model. As the audience enters a pitch black room they each trigger a cell to appear in a deep virtual well. As more cells are created, the likelihood that they will breed increases ...
The installation was featured on BSkyB's "Global Village", broadcast in October 1998. First shown at Digital Underground, Aldwych Tube Station, London between 18th - 22nd September 1998.
PauseForBreath
An immersive interactive installation using projections and sound that asks the audience to contemplate stillness and a sense of balance in a darkened room, and to work with others to achieve this ...
Group project collaboration first shown at LoveBytes International Digital Arts Festival, Sheffield, Yorkshire between 23rd - 25th April 1998.
Re: A Pier
Sound design for a cd-rom about Brighton's West Pier, UK.
1997
Site Unseen
Sound design for a cd-rom about the history of Brighton Dome, UK.
Fall of the House of Usher
Soundtrack for the 1928 film by Webber & Watson, in collaboration with Testcard. First shown at Brighton Cinemathéque in April 1997.
1996
Destiny
Soundtrack for the 1921 film by Fritz Lang, in collaboration with Testcard. First shown at Brighton Cinemathéque in December 1996.
The Secret Agreement with Matter (Busshitsu tono Mitsuyaku)
Soundtrack for the butoh dancer Masaki Iwana. Premiered at The Transmutations Festival of Live Art, The Zap Club, Brighton in May 1996. Performance and documentary video. Masaki went on to perform this piece in Paris, Tokyo and London.
Dance for Dummies
Soundtrack for the dance performance by Dominique Rivoal. Premiered at The Corn Exchange, Brighton in May 1996. Performance, documentary video and 2-way video conference event distributed in Minneapolis USA, by Minnesota Cable.
Chandalay Quor
Performed both as a bass singer with Chandalay Quor (Juliet Russell's fantastic tribal choir that gave birth to the even more fantastic Vocal Explosion) and a musician performing contemporary Taizé meditations as part of the Brighton Festival.
1985-1995
The good old days
Back then I worked as a composer and musician for various theatre shows, dance performances and independent films including Jouissance and Schism by Jov Larenty. Had the great honour and pleasure of working and playing with numerous musicians including Geoff Hearn, Simon and Joe Robinson, Gary Cove, Steve Ali Labib, Franc O'Shea, Tristan Banks, Byron Wallen, Richard Padley, Mark Pearson, Tony Kenyon, Steven Cragg, John Bedford, Phil Naylor, Robin Jones, Richard Miles, Monty Oxy Moron, Steve Wrigley, Julian Nicholas, Ben Paley, Gareth McGahan, Per Villez, Tom Zunk, Luke Cresswell, the infamous People With Instruments (who eventually became an All Star Big Band!), Saxophony (a radical saxophone quartet), The Now Band, The Basement Blues Band, The Wayne Foundation (memorably supporting Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers at Brighton Jazz Bop), a superb reggae band called Children of I, the very wonderful Poets of the Apocalypse (starring Alec Streeter, Aaron Williamson, Yvo Luna and others), Situation Cinema, The SN Ensemble, Camino Select, Fishing For Clouds ... and numerous others ... way back when when the Zap Club was just a baby and it was like it was ours.
Recorded several albums. Performed at numerous venues and festivals around the south east of England including Brighton Jazz Festival, Brighton Fringe Festival, Crawley Jazz Festival, the Zap On Tour and others. Travelled all around Europe and spent extended periods of time in Asia. Had a great time. Those were the days ...
NOTE: This is not an exhaustive list, although I would really like it to be, because I'm trying to remember so many sessions from those 10 years of intense musical activity. If you think your name should be here, or if you'd prefer if it wasn't, please let me know! I'd love to hear from you.