Thoughts on the design of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and its minimalist Doomsday Clock which coldly measured the fluctuating risks to humanity during The Cold War and beyond. A short piece for The Wire Magazine, August 2019.
A short biography of composer Daphne Oram, co-founder of the BBC Radiophonic workshop and inventor of the Oramics ‘drawn sound’ system. For a reprint of her treatise on sound, electronics and metaphysics: An Individual Note of Music, Sound and Electronics.
In The Odditorium (Chambers, 2016) A chapter on the extraordinary life and work of Muriel Howorth, science fiction writer, composer, choreographer and pioneering atomic gardener.
A chapter on musicians’ attitudes towards the first drum machines and samplers, in this book published by the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press (2013).
Published online by Wire Magazine (June 2014), Unheimlich Manoeuvres is a short essay on ventriloquism and the uncanny. It’s illustrated with videos of many fine ventriloquists including Ray Alan, Arthur Worsley and the great Terri Rogers.
A short statement on my work with algorithms and robotics, for The Oxford Handbook of Algorithmic Music. Edited by Roger T Dean and Alex McLean, Oxford University Press 2013.
Writing on The Bird Fancyer’s Delight for Blokflutist Magazine, The Netherlands, Spring 2013. This was the subject of an archival research project and a subsequent BBC Radio 4 documentary.
Some reflections on The Foghorn Requiem (2013), a ceremony marking the end of service of the Souter Lighthouse and the passing of the age of foghorns on the UK coastline. This compelling musical, community ritual was created by artists Lise Autogena and Joshua Portway in collaboration with composer Orlando Gough.
Thoughts on the design of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and its minimalist Doomsday Clock which coldly measured the fluctuating risks to humanity during The Cold War and beyond. A short piece for The Wire Magazine, August 2019.