Monthly archives: November 2011

Taster of my new talk on the Pod Delusion

Posted 10 November 2011 by admin in Talks

The Pod Delusion is a fine, weekly podcast about science, skepticism and other interesting things. And this week, I’ve contributed a short piece on the phonograph – a taster of my talk at the Fortean Times Unconvention. You can hear it on the Pod Delusion site from Friday morning (11 November 2011).

The 7 minute piece starts with some curious words used by Florence Nightingale as she laid down her voice on a wax cylinder for the first time in 1890.

Tags: early sound recording, Florence Nightingale, Fortean Times Unconvention, phonograph, Pod Delusion, Skepticism

New album: Juice for the Baby

Posted 10 November 2011 by admin in Sounds

Exciting news! After several years playing exclusively live, Spacedog are releasing our first album. It’s called Juice for the Baby and it’ll be available as a download and on CD from mid-December 2011.

Do come to our gigs at the Marlborough Theatre, Brighton, on Friday 9 December, and the Horse Hospital, London, on Wednesday 14 December, and help us celebrate the launch.

Tags: album, Juice for the Baby, Spacedog, theremin

News: March 2012

I'm performing live at the Lovebytes Festival, Sheffield, QEDCon, Manchester, and the Catalyst Club, Brighton, and composing music for CE3K-inspired Electronic Encounters and some other forthcoming collaborations (stay tuned for news). I'm also hard at work, re-engineering some Spacedog robots, and selecting films for Rocket Lolly, Spacedog's two-hander with Project Moonbase at the Edinburgh Science Festival in April.

News: January 2012

Juice for the Baby, Spacedog's debut album, is here! I'm ducking out of the Kinetica Art Faire this year but am huddled indoors, writing, sleuthing (investigating a recording in the archives) and devising a new biologically-inspired musical instrument - all will be revealed soon.

News: December 2011

Juice for the Baby, Spacedog's debut album, launches in mid-December. Join us for the launch gigs at the Marlborough, Brighton, on 9 December and the Horse Hospital, London, on 14 December.

News: November 2011

A busy month writing and editing the forthcoming Spacedog album - stay tuned for news.

News: October 2011

I'm focusing on my writing this month (so am quite the hermit) but I'm squeezing in the occasional live performance here and there.

I'm looking forward to working with Helen Keen in her Spacetacular on 20th. I'm writing a code-based work for the new label Chordpunch and some owlish music for that fine wordsmith Professor Elemental.

Spacedog are booked into the studio at the end of the month to complete work on our album.

News: September 2011

A busy month writing, preparing a get-together of maker musicians for the Brighton Maker Faire After-show party. I've also been electrifying a teapot for the Chi-Tek - an exhibition by MzTek of female tech artists at the V&A. And with my fellow Spacedog Stephen Hisock, I made an appearance on the 10th Anniversary edition of BBC Click.

News: August 2011

The Spacedog song For Laika is now available on iTunes (and the album is on its way). Meanwhile, we've been busy preparing our set for Green Man, including the first outing of our torch song for Tommy Cooper.

I'm procrastinating over a teapot which I'm going to electrify for a MzTek event at the Victoria and Albert Museum in September.

I took a short trip to a very rainy Edinburgh Fringe where I played at an event for Edinburgh Skeptics in the Royal Observatory and made some plans for a Spacedog show next summer.

Apart from that, I've been busy writing. More news on that shortly, I hope...

News: July 2011

I'm interviewed by Leila Johnston in this month's Wired UK magazine and will be appearing with my fellow Spacedogs at a Wired: The Future of Music on 20 July.

I've rounded up a bumper crop of links and soundclips for my BBC Radio 4 doc The Bird Fancyer's Delight, which is broadcast on 5 and 9 July and is also available on Listen Again. Thanks for all your cheery emails about the doc, to ProjectMoonbase for mentioning it in their podcast PMB038 and for the many national papers who gave the documentary such lovely reviews - I'm glad people enjoyed it! On Sunday 10 July, the doc was featured on Graham Seed's Pick of the Week (Radio 4). A good week!

My latest collaboration with Richard Wiseman is a free and fun magic trick for your iPhone. It's called Paranormality and it's been put together for the launch of his book by the same name in the US. Thanks to Phillis on Derrren Brown's blog for giving the app a mention - thousands of people have now downloaded it and are busy bamboozling their friends.

News: June 2011

Playing theremin for Louise Colborne's homage to Loie Fuller (pioneering cybernetic dancer c1900) and composing sounds for Sonus, an homage to the analogue age with Spacedog, ArtHertz, Rushes Soho Shorts Festival and Ridley Scott Associates. Discovering how easy (or difficult) it is to publicise events in 2011 without Twitter - will report back!

Getting ready for BEAM - a brand new festival of electronics and music at Brunel University (24-26 June). I'll be speaking, running a workshop on optical flow and performing live with my fellow Spacedogs. I'll also be playing a short theremin set at the Speaky Spokey, a new arts salon in Brighton (Wed 22 June).

Putting the finishing touches to a sonic-themed BBC Radio 4 documentary, with producer Neil McCarthy, due for transmission on 5 July 2011.

Playing a short set at the the Absinthe Ball, Lewes, 17 June, and highlights of our Televisor set at Richard Strange's legendary Cabaret Futura, 20 June.

Presenting a workshop for Hack Circus at Interesting, in the Conway Hall, London, 18 June, and performing theremin at a family day at the Science Museum, 19 June.

The Bird Fancyer's Delight

Listen to this BBC Radio 4 documentary about teaching birds to sing human music. Read my research notes.

TEDx Talk: Loving the Machine

Watch this talk and read about my salon talks for adults, featuring phonographs, theremins and other delights.

Meet the robots

View Hugo, the Ealing Feeder and other robots I've created for my music group Spacedog.

iPhone apps

Try these magic apps which I've created for the iPhone in partnership with Richard Wiseman.

Infrasonic: haunted music?

Read about my world renowned collaboration, exploring the strange psychological effects of extreme bass sound.

Televisor

View clips and read reviews of this award winning show featuring human and robot performers.

Play the saw in six weeks

A free tutorial on how to play this ethereal, European skiffle instrument.

Rocket Lolly

Find out about this night of rare vintage science clips, some of which are accompanied by live music.