Two Open Ears

Two Open Ears on Central Station

2010-02-01T14:01:00.002Z

For the month of February, Two Open Ears will be writing a blog for the design community Central Station as part of their 'Month of Sound'.

Our first post starts the debate here's a link

http://community.thisiscentralstation.com/_Two-Open-Ears-OUT-OF-TUNE/blog/1782538/126249.html

Open Ear November Music Updates

2009-11-04T11:53:00.003Z

November Music Update

Little Dragon - Machine Dreams (Peacefrog)

Gothenburg's Little Dragan are back after two years with their sensually essential second album. A beautiful concoction of digi-funk, down-temp rhythms and twitchy electronica, this has been a regular on the office CD player.

LISTEN:

Machine Dreams

Marco Di Marco - Quartet in New York (Arision)

Classically trained Italian pianist Di Marco is the master of exquisite, complex, intense and touching jazz and this release demostrates that just perfectly.

LISTEN:

Camparenda

Leisure Society - A Product of the Ego Drain (Full Time Hobby)

Beautiful pastoral Beach Boy-isms from the Burton-on-Trent seven piece, who's members used to include Shane Meadows and Paddy Considine. This will delight fans of the Beta Band, Leonard Cohen and the Fence label.
LISTEN:

The Sleeper & A Product Of The Ego Drain

Sufjan Stevens - The BQE (Asthmatic Kitty)

Inspired by New York's Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, Sufjan Stevens' latest opus is a cinematic, idiosyncratic romaticized choreography of movement and gridlock. Built in thirteen parts and borrowing phrases from Wagner, it's unlikely anybody will ever pay such tribute to the M8.

LISTEN:

The B.Q.E.

Fink - See it all (Ninja Tune)

Ninja Tune's Fink returns from his REM support slot at New York's Carnegie hall with added piano, lo-fi beats and vocal breaks. This tune paints a perfect picture of the NY skyline, and seems more than appropriate for these dark nights.

LISTEN:

See It All

Micah P. Hinson- All Dressed Up and Smelling of Strangers (Full Time Hobby)

Another record perfect for the time of year! Cosy fire-side vibes aplenty on this double album of cover versions- Hinson takes us through a country-tinged selection including his versions of tracks by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Leadbelly and Roy Orbison.

LISTEN:

All Dressed Up And Smelling Of Strangers

Shafiq - En' A-Free Ka EP (Plug Research)

We love this! Shafiq Husayn of Sa-Ra here, on a limited edition Plug Research/HHV.DE release. Composed with an armoury of outboard gear, effects, synthesizers, electric guitars, strings, horns, a lot of modulation and a lot of weird stuff. Listen out for the Flying Lotus and J-Rocc remixes!

LISTEN:

En' A-Free Ka EP

George Demure - Boomtown Medallion (Musiqware)

Moody, cool, leftfield electro-indie from the uprooted Scotsman who clearly has an obsessive love of music. Drawing inspiration from a massive amount of genres, it is clear why Demure has been such a hit at Glastonbury and Sonar.

LISTEN:

Boomtown Medallion

New Music - Open Ear on Ten Tracks

2009-05-28T12:26:00.002+01:00

For this months Ten Tracks Open Ear have teamed up with ace Berlin label powerhouse Morr Music to put together this bundle of new and yet-to-be-released music from a selection of our associated labels such as Type, City Centre Offices, Monika Industries, Pony Recs, Italic, Karaoke Kalk and Morr themselves.

Check it out here -
http://www.tentracks.co.uk/channel/open-ear/open-ear-may-09

Track list

Sin Fang Bous - Catch The Light
Gudrun Gut - Monika In Polen
Ritornell - Golden Solitude Part 1
Masha Qrella - I´m A Stranger Here Myself
The Seasons - Out There
Ursula Bogner - Begleitung für Tuba
Antonelli - Acid Oscillations
Miwon - Round And Round
Sylvain Chauveau - Et Peu À Peu Les Flots Respiraient Comme On Pleur
Dakota Suite - One Day Without Harming You

we're really happy with this selection. hope you like it too!

http://www.openearmusic.com

Animals now need a music license!!

2009-04-02T09:50:00.003+01:00

I was sent this article in today's Telegraph newspaper about how a woman who runs a stables in England was told that she must pay for a license to be able to continue her practice of playing ClassicFm to sooth her horses which she has been doing for over 20 years! The PRS (performing rights society) have deemed this a public performance meaning she qualifies for a mandatory annual music license costing £99!!

This is further evidence of the current PRS crackdown on unlicensed premises playing music. Unfortunately, as they have no way of properly accounting with the specific performers played, it is more than likely that if this woman does end up paying, the money will filter down to pop performers such as Girls Aloud or Take That rather than the artists who's music she actually plays. And they say the banking crisis is a scandal!

From China - Music for Museums

2009-02-25T15:10:00.002Z

Music for Museums' creates a soundtrack for museums using the history of the muzak corporation in the tradition of composer Erik Satie's proposal in 1917 that music fit specific rooms and architecture in the way that furniture is designed. Featuring Beijing-based musicians 718, Yan Jun and Zafka as well as UK-based musician Isambard Khroustaliov and duo ISAN, each track was developed for a specific functional area within gallery and museum spaces. Addressing the existing cultural and commercial typologies of the museum, 'Music for Museums' reconsiders these spaces of 'neutrality' to stimulate a critical engagement as places of production.

http://www.farwest.cn

Limiters in Clubs - NO!

2009-01-20T14:51:00.002Z

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/NoNoiseControl/

At Open Ear we hate noise where they shouldn't be noise but like noise where there should be. Clubs and live music venues should be allowed to play music at a volume where the music has maximum impact - it should be a physical experience as well as aural.

So, the governments move to ban music in clubs comes a big disappointment and distress to us.. please sign the above petition to the prime minister so the ban is not implemented!
now a ban of music too loud in shops, bars, and other public spaces is fine by us!

Music for airports Report by Martha Hawley

2009-01-16T11:53:00.005Z

This month, we've invited Dutch based writer Martha Hawley to contribute a special report on Music used in Airports (inspired, no doubt, by Brian Eno). In a new feature on the blog, you can now listen and purchase the music mentioned in this article on using Amazon Mp3. Enjoy..

An early morning train ride between Barcelona and its airport (so early that I can’t remember whether I was arriving or departing) offered a tender tableau: male passengers, who were possibly factory workers (the dress was not corporate), leaning against the wall of the train or onto a nearby shoulder, fast asleep. No conversation accented the setting, no metallic traces of sound seeped out of earbuds - there was only a soft blanket of classical music floating out of the loudspeakers. The train chugged along past concrete blocks stacked in supply yards, rubble in bleak empty lots and junk heaps. Inside, we dozed on in dignity.

Across the ocean, another scene with sleeping passengers, but now: in a transit lounge at a Colombian regional airport. The waiting area was spacious and clean, but how anyone managed to sleep in the rows of hard plastic chairs has me stymied to this day. Not because of the chairs, but because raw meringues blasted in video clips from the many overhead TV monitors. My first thought was: how hyped up can these people be, if over-amplified rapid-fire Caribbean dance music works as a lullaby? Either that or the stuff of dreams. When a sweeter ballad, Estrellitas y Duendes by Juan Luis Guerra, took over the air waves, a few people stirred and began to yawn. Go figure.

Speaking of airports: Brian Eno’s album Music for Airports (helping travellers to ‘check their emotional baggage,’ see Chris Richards in the Washington Post) may have inspired more musicians than airport sound system planners when it was released nearly thirty years ago. Have airports reciprocated with support for musicians? It does happen.

The concept of “audio enrichment” is changing ideas about ambient sound at Bristol Airport in the UK, where local musicians are being hired for live performances inside the terminals, to promote development of local arts and to advertise regional diversity! Concerts are held at the Wellington, New Zealand Airport, where the slogan is ‘Wild at heart.’ Wellington even released a compilation CD featuring artists who had performed there. At Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas, in the USA, before post-9/11 security measures set in, non-passengers would go to the airport and elbow past security to hear the live performances at a stage inside the terminal.

Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport sporadically schedules special live music programs to promote an opening at a major Dutch museum, for example, but other than that, live music is heard twice a week only for one hour in the morning, when a pianist plays light classics for an audience of strollers in transit. The pianist picked up where a Friday jazz ensemble left off, at some point in the past. That’s it. Wat niet is kan nog komen, which means: it’s not happening, but it could. Let’s do it.

Other airports highlight heritage and name the whole operation after revered national figures. Antonio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim, better known as Tom, who gave the world The Girl from Ipanema, was posthumously honored by Brazil when the name of Rio de Janeiro’s airport was doubled in size to “International Airport Galeão - Antonio Carlos Jobim.”

Liverpool has its “John Lennon Airport”, and Hurricane Katrina did not break Louisiana’s “Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.” In 2001, Warsaw renamed its airport in honor of Frederic Chopin, arguably Poland’s most famous musician on a worldwide scale. Some Poles compare his stature within European cultural history to Poland’s recent entrance into the European Union. For others, the symbolism is less important than the fact that Chopin’s name is easy for non-Poles to pronounce. Definitely something to keep in mind when Dutch transport hubs decide to hone their musical potential.

http://www.renfe.es/rse/index.html

http://www.guavaberry.net/playlist.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/31/AR2007083100166.html

http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/at_the_airport/sense_of_place.aspx

http://www.jobim.com.br/e.index.html

Torture Season: Xmas Muzik

2008-11-26T10:04:00.005Z

I was in Starbucks a few weeks ago (Early November) and couldn't believe that they were already pumping in christmas music! Jumping the gun a bit are they not? I wondered if anyone could tell me who actually enjoys hearing the same old christmas tunes year upon year in EVERY bar, restaurant, shop that they go to for a whole month!! TORTURE!! Are all businesses following their neighbours without thinking about the consequences?

I suppose the people who suffer the most is the staff. Music Psychologist Prof Adrian North was quoted in an article in the Scotsman as saying

"Shops would be better steering away from the Christmas pop tunes and opting for something a little calmer, like sleigh bells," he adds.

"It's festive and it's gentle. And who wants to listen to Merry Christmas by Slade over and over again?"

I agree, but i also think there needs to be a balance where places can use music to create a festive atmosphere but not play the same played out christmas pop tunes we've all heard a millions times before. So, i took a browse through Open Ear's music library and came up with a few 'wintery' suggestions -

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

1. Max Richter - From 553 W Elm Street. Logan Illinois (Snow)
2. Vashti Bunyan - Coldest Night of the Year
3. Blockhead - The First Snowfall
4. Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
5. Frightened Rabbit - It's Xmas so we'll stop
6. Roots Manuva - Too Cold
7. Peter Broderick - A Snowflake
8. Casiotone for the painfully alone - Cold White Christmas
9. Mogwai - Christmas Song
10. Readymade FC feat Feist - Snow Lion

come on, be inventive! Anyone else got some selections? please post some up!

Ten Tracks for a pound

2008-11-11T12:43:00.002Z

In the sea of new business models that attempt to find the best way in which music can be sold to consumers so that the everyone involves benefits, Ten Tracks is making a mark. Already featured in the Guardian in only it's second month, Ten tracks allows users to download ten tracks for only a pound. You have to buy the bundle, meaning you get exposed to new music and all the artists benefit by receiving 50% of the sales.. We think it's great and were flattered when Ten Tracks asked us to curate November's selection.
We went down the electronic mutant-disco route, with tracks from Neil Landstrumm (Planet Mu), Ali Renault (Heartbreak) and Alex Smoke (with a Various Production remix).

Check it and the other selections out at Ten Tracks and please download at least one selection - at 10p a track, what have you got to lose?!

Event: NO MUSIC DAY

2008-10-02T11:22:00.002+01:00

Ever wonder what you do after burning a million pounds of your own money?
Well Bill Drummond, formerly of early 90's subversive pop ravers the KLF, famed for burning most of their pop career earnings in 1994 has resurfaced over a decade later with his manifesto for No Music Day - a five year project which aims to eliminate the world of music on one day each year. The day - November 21st - is the day before St Cecilia's day who is the patron saint of music.

Music is so ubiquitous in our lives it is a rare experience for us to actually pause and actively listen to it. Having said that, the power of music is impossible to escape. Whilst we may not consciously be able to recall individual track played during a trip to a bar, restaurant or club it will always affect us - It works away at our subconscious and influences our mood and overall experience.

With studies showing that on average we listen to between 3-5 hours of music a day, it is certainly an interesting prospect to have music turned off for a whole day. Will this help us to enjoy hearing music even more when it floods back into our lives on St Cecilia's day? I hope so. At the very least, if No Music Day can draw our attention to the music that we all experience and connect with on an everyday basis, i think it will have done it's job.

Website

David Byrne and Daniel Levitin on music

2008-09-02T18:59:00.004+01:00

This is a fascinating discussion between former Talking Heads singer and all round musical pioneer David Byrne (who we mentioned a few months ago) and Daniel Levitin a former musician, music neurologist and author of 'This is your Brain on Music', a fantastic book on music and the mind which acts as a great companion to Oliver Sacks 'Musicophilia' released around the same time last year.

Particularly interesting is the chat about 'mirror neurons' about how we experience a musical performance by neurologically mimicking the musician on stage. In other words - we are all air guitar enthusiasts !!.

Check out the video interview at Seed Magazine

Hidden Radio

2008-09-02T18:12:00.002+01:00

I like the look of this. Designed by San Francisco based John Van Den Nieuwenhuizen it's basically a nicely design radio. The coolest thing is the volume control: to increase the volume you lift the top part to reveal more of the speaker allowing it to emit more sound - i.e. revealing more 'hidden' sound.

check it out at John's site

Dreams Kaimin: Music and the Science of Sleep

2008-07-30T10:42:00.004+01:00

A mass experiment with around 1500 participants took place in Japan recently to investigate the power of music to help people sleep. Not a new phenomenon, but the experiment was unique in that it was presented as a concert playing a selection of music designed to help send people into slumber. The event was called Dreams Kaimin (translated as 'good sleep') and organised by Dr Takuro Endo who is a neurologist and a music designer for sleep, selling CDs that help induce slumber.

Quite what the point of the mass experiment was, i'm not sure. Taking 1500 into a mass arena that surely excites the senses akin to a night out is surely an unusual way to recreate a setting that most would find themselves in when trying to catch some Zzzz's. However, maybe that was the point - if the music was so powerful as to override the other senses and event signifiers, Endo would surely be onto a winner!

But, with a few exceptions, most of the audience were wide awake at the end. Feedback questioned the choice of music as being too 'popular', therefore triggering opinion-based memories amongst listeners keeping them awake. I would suggest that instrumental, soothing, repetitive, minimalist, slow music from one of two artists (so the style is similar throughout) such as James Blackshaw or Arvo Part or even the wonderful buddha machine (pictured - portable playing soothing loops of instrumental sound) would be better choices than Endo's mixture of Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Mary Hopkins and Japanese pop...

or maybe the point was to try and sell a few more of his sleep CDs?!

N.B. i personally don't listen music to help me sleep as i listen to so much during the day, at night i like natural ambience to help me drift off..

if this article didn't send you to sleep, feel free to post your sleepy tunes below!

Event: Dialogues of Wind and Bamboo

2008-07-07T16:30:00.003+01:00

I was a bit slow on the uptake on this interesting event taking place in Edinburgh right now. It features one of our fave bands Found, with installations and performances from Chinese acts and composers. I've copied and pasted info below -

Welcome to Dialogues of Wind and Bamboo. This is the story of a journey exploring themes inspired by the connection between plants and people. For Kimho Ip, a composer and musician from Hong Kong working in Edinburgh, wind symbolises change while bamboo represents traditional Chinese culture but it also stands for constant renewal.

In the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh on June 21, Midsummer night, the audience will be invited to join the journey, following different artists as they explore themes of change and continuity through music, art, dance and song. Click here for full details about the performance.

As we travel from the Palm House to the Chinese Hillside we will move from the ‘reality’ of the technological modern world to an idealised view of traditional Chinese culture at the T’ing. What we discover there is likely to be different for every member of the audience but Kimho hopes that as we return to the Palm House we can bring a memory of the ‘ideal’ to reconnect us with an understanding of nature in the ‘reality’ of the modern world.

Website

Sound Art: David Byrne - Playing the Building

2008-06-10T13:39:00.002+01:00

Former Talking Heads singer and all round musical legend David Byrne has unveiled his new installation at The Battery Martime Museum in New York. The building is kitted out with various devices attached to a variety of different parts of the building itself. These devices are used to make sound through striking wind or vibration and channeled into a customised keyboard allowing you to 'play the building'.

Reminds me of an arty version of Barry Blesser's 'Spaces Speak' book we talked about here.

check out the pics and vids at DavidByrne.com

Sweet Child of Wine

2008-06-03T09:43:00.004+01:00

Research commissioned by Chilean wine producer Aurelio Montes (pictured) by Dr Adrian North of Heriot Watt University has discovered that music plays a big influence on how we perceive taste in food and drink. When they played Gun n Roses "Sweet Child Of Mine" to people drinking cabernet sauvignon, they thought that the wine tasted 60% more robust than they did when no music was playing.

This is rooted in cognitive priming theory which we've talked about before and again goes to prove the powerful effect that music has on our behaviour. The article in the Times prompts that this could be an end to piped music in restaurants as more places seeks to nulify music's effect. However, i don't quite go along with this - why don't the restaurants take advantage of this effect by focusing more on the music design in their spaces to have a positive influence of taste and perception of the food such as the "Sound of The Sea" experiment by Heston Blumenthal

It is also significant that during any restaurant experience we are being primed by mixture of factors including the visual decor, lighting, service etc not just the music - and it is only by getting all these factors correct in combination can the restaurant really make proper use of this priming effect.

Times Article by Melanie Reid

Event: Tree Listening @ Atmospheres 2

2008-05-07T17:01:00.002+01:00

The fantatsic Touch records (Fennesz, Philip Jeck etc) have collaborated with the Museum of Garden History to present the Atmospheres festival in London from tomorrow till Sunday. Focusing on the sounds of the natural world the thing that caught my ear was an installation from recent RCA design graduate Alex Metcalf called Tree Listening. Metcalf has designed an ear trumpet that can be used to listen to the microscopic sounds that trees make as they carry out their daily routine - mostly drinking water and creaking!
Apparently the trumpet filters out low frequency tones emitted from the earth to leave a clicking sound which is actually the tree drinking water and distributing it to it's branches.

Alex Metcalf Web

Atmosphere2 / Touch Music Web

Run to the music

2008-05-01T09:48:00.003+01:00

Following years of research at Brunel University, Dr Costas Karageorghis has launched Run to the Beat, a half marathon where you run accompanied by live music strategically placed around the route, and designed to help ease the torture of pounding concrete for a couple of hours. Of course, readers of this blog will know that this 'music design' phenomenon that Karageorghis has spent the last two decades on is nothing new and is found in many other aspects of our life, dating as far back as the 1920's with the Muzak corporation's experiments on music and 'stimulus progression' of worker's in factories in America (There are undoubtedly even earlier examples, but that, to the best of my knowledge, was the first time music was turned into a 'science').

Anyways, Karageorghis ambitious project has exposed the benefits of music to a wider audience and the whole thing looks like a bit of fun rather than a huge devious experiment disguised as a charity run.. My concern is that by using pop bands whose music most will be familiar with and either love or completely resent, there's bound to be an element of

'oh- here's my fave tune by my fave band, i'll slow down to listen'
OR
'awww- i can't stand this song, i'd better speed up to get away from it'...
thereby making the whole thing a bit of a farce..

Especially when looking at the tunes that are talked about in the science

The half marathon will take place on the 5th of October this year. We'd better get training - dubstep for the snailpaced anyone?

runtothebeat.co.uk

Sound Art: Beneath and Beyond by Stephen Hurrel

2008-04-14T10:47:00.004+01:00

Beneath and Beyond is an audio visual installation by Stephen Hurrel at Glasgow's Tranway as part of the annual GI festival for Visual Art. The installation presents a realtime feed of seismic shifts recorded from data of 100 of so seismic monitoring stations around the Earth. We are presented with the sound of the various vibrations going on within the Earth's core at that very moment. We also see two visual screens showing graphical displays of particularly large tectonic shifts or events at that one time.

We went to this on Saturday and were totally blown away. The work has been two years in the making following Hurrel being awarded the prestigious Creative Scotland award in 2005, but the hard work has paid off - we could have sat there all day just listening to the sound of the Earth grinding away.

Highly recommended!

Stephen Hurrel - Beneath and Beyond

The birds take on radio

2008-04-08T10:49:00.002+01:00

A digital radio station which plays the sound of bird song from an English country garden is causing quite a chatter by swooping up over half a million listeners. There is now a campaign to keep the station on the air before a commercial station takes over it's frequency range..

I love the idea of this - we have all come to accept that mainstream radio represents annoying 'personality djs', offensive adverts and playlisting formats which limits diversity of music being played. The fact that so many listeners would choose to listen to bird song instead should acts as a wake up call to radio producers.. tweet tweet

listen to birdsong radio

Sound Art: Encounters by Katie Paterson

2008-04-04T19:57:00.004+01:00

Saw this advertised in the Sunday Times last week - Sound installation by Katie Paterson at the Modern Art Oxford from the 2nd April to 1st June 2008. You are confronted by a telephone which connects you to the Vatnajökull glacier in Iceland where you can hear the sound of the glacier melting.

Sounds interesting and obviously a topical subject to pick, what with constant stream of global warming debates dominating the news. But does the Sunday Times really need to give us ANOTHER history of 'Sound art' - brian eno, cage et al?? Surely, there must come a point where audiences can accept the concept of using sound as a medium for art - how hard can that be to grasp?!

Link

What it sounds like for a boy/girl ? or How i started to file her under misc, a tragedy in 12" 7" and cdvd formats

2008-02-22T11:14:00.008Z

Men are from.... ? women are from.......?

It's easy: women dance around handbags, men can't.

...and now to add to the gender definition industry.

How we listen!

How do we listen?

According to Lesley Douglas, BBC6 head of music and a crack team of pointer-outers with super eyes, it boils down into two main camps -

MEN: Nerding over the producers suicide halfway through recording, compulsively collecting every last 7 inch where the word "bless" is used, etc. That is to say that men enjoy the overall stuff around a song and get enjoyment from the trivia. Reminds me of Losing My Edge by LCD Soundsystem - you know the one with the green label and the lightning bolt and Tim Sweeney and Yoko Ono kissing dogs in the background..... shit! I did it again.

WOMEN: Being swept into floods of tears by Tori Amos then swung into a Lambrini induced hysteria by um...Take That, Tom Jones, Girls Aloud (well you never know)... Emotional creatures at the mercy of cruel musicians who take them to the edge of ecstasy only for Stuart McConie to talk over the final seconds. Who enjoy each song without the baggage of whether they died in a plane or once supported their family by selling crack.

So for your own gender labeling please take a minute to take our test.

Are you a man or a women eh?

1) Kraftwerk or Joni Mitchell

2) Bannanarama or Nick Kershaw?

3) Debussy or Wagner

Now, bearing in mind you may not prefer either or like both. In this case i advise a peek down your front. Answers in the comment section.

As ever thanks to the Laura Barton at the Guardian for the article which inspired this little experiment.

Priming

2008-02-13T13:51:00.007Z

"Priming in psychology refers to activating parts of particular representations or associations in memory just before carrying out an action or task. It is considered to be one of the manifestations of implicit memory. A property of priming is that the remembered item is remembered best in the form in which it was originally encountered. If a priming list is given in an auditory mode, then an auditory cue produces better performance than a visual cue."

so thinking about the applications of this.... hmmm... trade?

A person walks into a cafe which is playing just the same tune granny used to have on as she tucked them into bed. That person now feels warm and comfortable and at ease and ripe for selling lattes, muffins or Vashti Bunyan cd's. poor sod:

This person has been primed.

Last nights horizon was focused on choices and how they aren't ever really yours. (half shite talk from men in blazers or prescient future imagining Gibson readers) but also half scary Harvard business school graduates that will be making a killing, and worst of all you will ask them too.

Yes their example was of a warm drink and a cold drink but I'm more interested, of course, by music as a priming mechanism.

What's interesting is that we self medicate with music to prime ourselves all the time - think of the couple getting the mood right for a romantic dinner tomorrow night only to put on Goblin, Earth or Sunno))).

It won't happen! Or, if it does I can only expect that one of the participants will be dinner. No actually try it.

Funnily, there is a discussion knocks around my flat about what everyone will play at my funeral. Why mine i can't really say, but what seems to come to the fore is music which will either bring people into the correct level of Georgian maudlin black mood or the opposite and bittersweet the ceremony with all the fun I used to have. This sport has some real winners (I'm not telling) but what I want to know is - will I hear the Pointer Sisters one day as i approach the counter to buy a coffee only to corpse it???

So just watch when you're next in a shop and you start humming along - you're already beat.

Two Open Ears @ Instal 08

2008-02-13T12:53:00.002Z

We've been asked by our good friends at Radio Magnetic (www.radiomagnetic.com) to report on the wonderful annual Instal festival taking place in Glasgow this weekend. One of the leading experimental music festival's in the world, Instal brings together local, national and international artists, critics and curators to present a fascinating and varied insight into the music that has no boundaries. What we like about it is the way it's presented in such as way that can be enjoyed by the most hardened critic and uninitiated musical novice in equal measure - if you have an open mind and want to experience something different, challenging, and inspirational this festival is for you.
Basically, we're looking forward to it very much!

We'll post interviews, sets and other stuff we get our hands on after the event.. watch this space.

check - Instal - Arika webpage

Sonic Deterrent infringes on your human rights

2008-02-11T17:03:00.000Z

Claims made by Al Aynsley-Green the government Children's rights representative last week have called for the ban of the controversial 'Mosquito' sonic deterrent that is placed outside shopping centres and other public spaces to stop gangs of neds hanging out and being a general nuisance to law abiding citizens who want to shop in peace.

I've talked about it in an earlier blog post here -
Sonic Chav Deterrent on Two Open Ears
MosquitoByteam website

The deterrent works by emitting high frequency pulses or tones that are only picked up by young people who have more sensitive hearing than adults (especially in the higher frequency ranges). The tones help to stop the children loitering for too long..

I guess it's the subliminal effect that Aynsley-Green doesn't like, even though I think her 'infringes on human rights' argument is ludicrous. her main point focuses on how these alarms may effect young children and babies who have done nothing wrong. I would say that she should look at the bigger picture and tackle the larger issues - Noise Pollution and unsociable behaviour in our cities.

The sonic deterrent isn't the only source of noise that may have an adverse effect on infants - any machine that creates noise will do - cars, coffee machine, pneumatic drills, TV, etc etc! For example, imagine raising a baby if you live underneath a flight path or on a busy street with bars or clubs creating noise after 10pm- surely the terrible effect this could have on a babies ability to get a good nights rest is a much more severe issue than the 5 seconds or so they might experience the Mosquito alarm as they go in and out of a shop?

Aynsley-Green should try and tackle the problem that these alarms are helping to combat - unsocialable behaviour by gangs outside public places. Surely this in itself is a bigger infringement on everyone's basic human rights?

Music tastes: where are YOU from?

2008-02-07T10:58:00.000Z

This article in the G2 section of the Guardian yesterday explores musical tastes as being defined by the location you live in. On first glance this seems to have a lot of truth in it - just look at the amount of music sub genres that are linked to a city -

Detroit Techno
Chicago House
Miami Bass
Baltimore
London Grime
West Coast Hip Hop
etc
and more recently the sounds of Sheffield Bassline.

Does location create the music or music create the location?

Is the listener able to appreciate the music more because they can visualise an image of the particular location and imagine a 'scene' where everyone in that city is influenced by the sound of the music created? It seems to me a bit of a generalisation as most of the time the music linked to that location is only related to one (normally tiny) demographic.

On the other hand, the majority of musicians are influenced by their surroundings. The city they live in and the people they meet will be reflected in the music they make.

One interesting thing is that in a more globalised musical world, can this trend continue or will musicians become more influenced by global rather than local stimuli? Do musicians create music, consciously or subconsciously, to create an identity which represents their city? I would go so far to say that a city's very essence (culture, identity, economy) can be enhanced significantly by having a musical scene intrinsically attached to it, even if the reality is that the scene is generated by a minority band of locals. Usually this is centred around a single record label or collective (e.g. Underground Resistance records and Detroit - techno or Fence Collective and Fife - folk)

if cities do not have this musical identity, they are lacking a soul.

Laura Barton Guardian Article

Positive Soundscapes: Re-evaluation of Environmental Sound

2008-02-06T11:23:00.000Z

This looks like an extremely interesting and worthwhile multi disciplinary project based in Manchester.
Here is some info from their website:

In the acoustics community, sound in the environment, especially that made by other people, has overwhelmingly been considered in negative terms, as both intrusive and undesirable. The strong focus of traditional engineering acoustics on reducing noise level ignores the many possibilities for characterising positive aspects of the soundscapes around us. Desirable aspects of the soundscape have been investigated in the past, mainly by artists and social scientists. This work has had little impact on quantitative engineering acoustics, however, perhaps because of barriers to communication across different disciplines.

The team behind this project comes from a very wide range of disciplines – social science, physiological acoustics, sound art, acoustic ecology, psychoacoustics, product perception and room acoustics. They will apply their breadth of experience to investigate soundscapes from many aspects and produce a more nuanced and complete picture of listener response than has so far been achieved.

The aims of the project are:

To acknowledge the relevance of positive soundscapes, to move away from a focus on negative noise and to identify a means whereby the concept of positive soundscapes can effectively be incorporated into planning; and
The evaluation of the relationship between the acoustic/auditory environment and the responses and behavioural characteristics of people living within it

Check out their site for more info -
Positive Soundscapes Web

Blog: La Blogotheque

2008-02-06T11:07:00.000Z

Check this French site out - La blogotheque.net Takeaway Away Shows. They get a band such as Caribou, Animal Collective, The Kooks etc and get them to perform ad hoc in random out door or interesting locations. They film and record it and you can watch the finished versions on the site.
My particular favourite is Caribou and the mad frantic run by main man Dan Snaith to get to his drums which are positioned around the block in time to perform his drum solo.
This is interesting, site specific music with environmental sounds kept in the mix to enhance the experience. Plus, surprisingly good recordings in general.

La Blogotheque

Book: Musicophilia

2007-11-12T15:43:00.000Z

Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion. It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat. But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of our brain than language does--humans are a musical species.

Oliver Sacks's compassionate, compelling tales of people struggling to adapt to different neurological conditions have fundamentally changed the way we think of our own brains, and of the human experience. In Musicophilia, he examines the powers of music through the individual experiences of patients, musicians, and everyday people--from a man who is struck by lightning and suddenly inspired to become a pianist at the age of forty-two, to an entire group of children with Williams syndrome who are hypermusical from birth; from people with "amusia," to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans, to a man whose memory spans only seven seconds--for everything but music.

Our exquisite sensitivity to music can sometimes go wrong: Sacks explores how catchy tunes can subject us to hours of mental replay, and how a surprising number of people acquire nonstop musical hallucinations that assault them night and day. Yet far more frequently, music goes right: Sacks describes how music can animate people with Parkinson's disease who cannot otherwise move, give words to stroke patients who cannot otherwise speak, and calm and organize people whose memories are ravaged by Alzheimer's or amnesia.

Music is irresistible, haunting, and unforgettable, and in Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks tells us why.

source -
http://musicophilia.com/

New York Marathon turns blind eye to music

2007-11-12T15:39:00.000Z

Headphones and portable audio players were banned this year by USA Track & Field, the national governing body for running, from all official races. However, it was decided not to police the runners on the 26.2-mile New York course -- which is set to be run Sunday -- because organizers have no surefire way to enforce the rule, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The decision follows threats from organizers of the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington last week to disqualify runners who violated the headphones ban. The organizers didn't follow through on the threat and no one was disqualified.

"To ban them outright is just stupid and if they want to disqualify me, they can," Jennifer Lamkins, a Long Beach, Calif., teacher, before running the Marine Corps Marathon, told the Times. "If they are banning them because we can't hear directions, does that mean they should ban deaf people, too?"

Some runners said the rule is pointless, as music players are available in tiny sizes that are easy to conceal.

"They can ban iPods all they want but how do you think they are going to enforce that when those things have gotten so small?" said Richie Sais, a participant in the Marine Corps race.

"I dare them to find the iPod on me," he said.

source - http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Quirks/2007/11/01/new_york_marathon_turns_blind_eye_to_music/7180/

Book: This is your brain on music by Daniel Levitin

2007-09-24T16:16:00.001+01:00

This book is about the science of music, from the perspective of cognitive neuroscience - the field that is at the intersection of psychology and neurology. Levitin discusses some of his own and the latest studies researchers in our field have conducted on music, musical meaning, and musical pleasure. They offer new insights into profound questions. If all of us hear music differently, how can we account for pieces that seem to move so many people - Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, or Don McLean's "Vincent (Starry Starry Night (Vincent)" for example? On the other hand, if we all hear music in the same way, how can we account for wide differences in musical preference - why is it that one man's Mozart is another man's Madonna?

The mind has been opened up in the last few years by the exploding field of neuroscience and the new approaches in psychology due to new brain imaging technologies, drugs able to manipulate neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, and plain old scientific pursuit. Less well known are the extraordinary advances we have been able to make in modeling how our neurons network thanks to the continuing revolution in computer technology. We are coming to understand computational systems in our head like never before. Language now seems to be substantially hardwired into our brains. Even consciousness itself is no longer hopelessly shrouded in a mystical fog, but is rather something that emerges from observable physical systems. But no-one until now has taken all this new work together and used it to elucidate what is for me the most beautiful human obsession. Your brain on music is a way to understand the deepest mysteries of human nature.

By better understanding what music is and where it comes from, we may be able to better understand our motives, fears, desires, memories, and even communication in the broadest sense. Is music listening more like eating when you're hungry and thus satisfying an urge? Or is it more like seeing a beautiful sunset or getting a backrub, and thus triggering sensory pleasure systems in the brain? Why do people seem to get stuck in their musical tastes as they grow older and cease experimenting with new music? This is the story of how brains and music co-evolved - what music can teach us about the brain, what the brain can teach us about music, and what both can teach us about ourselves.

Your Brain On Music Website

Noise of modern life blamed for thousands of heart deaths

2007-08-24T10:51:00.000+01:00

Thousands of people in Britain and around the world are dying prematurely from heart disease triggered by long-term exposure to excessive noise, according to research by the World Health Organisation. Coronary heart disease caused 101,000 deaths in the UK in 2006, and the study suggests that 3,030 of these are caused by chronic noise exposure, including to daytime traffic.

Deepak Prasher, professor of audiology at University College London, told the New Scientist magazine: "The new data provide the link showing there are earlier deaths because of noise. Until now, noise has been the Cinderella form of pollution and people haven't been aware that it has an impact on their health."

The WHO's working group on the Noise Environmental Burden on Disease began work on the health effects of noise in Europe in 2003. In addition to the heart disease link, it found that 2% of Europeans suffer severely disturbed sleep because of noise pollution and 15% can suffer severe annoyance. Chronic exposure to loud traffic noise causes 3% of tinnitus cases, in which people constantly hear a noise in their ears.

Research published in recent years has shown that noise can increase the levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenalin in the body, even during sleep. The longer these hormones stay in circulation around the bloodstream, the more likely they are to cause life-threatening physiological problems. High stress levels can lead to heart failure, strokes, high blood pressure and immune problems.

"All this is happening imperceptibly," said Prof Prasher. "Even when you think you are used to the noise, these physiological changes are still happening."

The WHO came to its figures by comparing households with abnormally high exposure to noise with those in quieter homes. It also studied people with problems such as coronary heart disease and tried to work out if high noise levels had been a factor in developing the condition. This data was then combined with maps showing the noisiest European cities.

According to the WHO guidelines, the noise threshold for cardiovascular problems is chronic night-time exposure of 50 decibels (dB) or above - the noise of light traffic. For sleep disturbance, the threshold is 42dB, for general annoyance it is 35dB, the sound of a whisper.

Ellen Mason, a cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Our world is undoubtedly getting busier and noisier. Some people find noise pollution more stressful to live with than others do. Noise cannot directly kill us, but it may add to our stress. Occasionally, stressful events can trigger a heart attack in someone with underlying heart disease. We know that stressed people are more likely to eat unhealthily, exercise less and smoke more, and these can increase the risk of developing heart disease in the first place."

Mary Stevens, policy officer at the National Society for Clean Air, said of the study's results: "We welcome this because one of the problems with noise is that it's one of the areas that local authorities get most complaints about and it's a big draw on their resources. But, unlike air quality, it hasn't been taken that seriously policy-wise because there [wasn't] the link between noise and health."

Ms Stevens said that there were many options for reducing noise. Traffic could be quietened if more cars used low-noise tyres and councils installed low-noise road surfaces, for example. And coordinating roadworks by utility companies would also prevent the proliferation of potholes, another source of noisy traffic.

The EU has already issued a directive that obligates European cities with populations greater than 250,000 to produce digitised noise maps showing where traffic noise and volume is greatest. "[The research] all supports work going on at the moment to manage traffic noise, which is driven by the environmental noise directive," said Ms Stevens.

Music vibes as good as sex and food

2007-07-26T11:18:00.000+01:00

Listening to music releases the same "feelgood" chemicals as eating and having sex, researchers have found.

The neuroscientist and former rock music producer Prof Daniel Levitin said music activates the brain area responsible for feeling pleasure, excitement and satisfaction. Research shows that music has specific effects on the body's physiology Prof Levitin, an associate professor of psychology at the McGill University in Montreal, Canada, suggests that understanding how different types of music affects the body can help people choose songs or bands that could help them achieve tasks or goals. He found the brain of someone listening to music reacts in a similar way to that of a gambler when winning a bet, a skydiver about to leap out of a plane or someone who has just taken drugs.

Someone listening to songs or tunes they enjoy experiences a release of dopamine, the hormone linked to reward and happiness. This association has led Prof Levitin, who worked with Stevie Wonder and the Grateful Dead, to claim to have discovered the "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" centre of the brain after collating research to be published this year.

He said: "The sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll scenario proves that music is at the heart of creating moods and reactions. Research shows that music has specific effects on the body's physiology, including heart rate, respiration, sweating, and mental activity. Music is effective at moderating arousal levels, concentration, and helping to regulate mood through its action on the brain's natural chemistry. People who can have music follow them around during their daily lives can use these properties of music effectively, to form a soundtrack for their day and their lives."

Music has been shown to cause activity in brain circuits associated with physical reactions, such as sweating, sexual arousal, and "shivers down the spine".Researchers used a variety of methods to measure the effect of music on the body, including heart rate, blood pressure, sweat response, breathing and brain wave activity. Scanning techniques have allowed scientists to look at changes in specific parts of the brain.

Dr Levitin found instrumental music such as classical, jazz, techno or bluegrass were better for people studying text to avoid becoming distracted. Energetic tunes with a tempo above 96 beats per minute were best for those cooking, cleaning or doing household chores.
Article

LOUD MUSIC CULTURE CREATING HEARING LOSS TIMEBOMB

2007-07-03T14:47:00.000+01:00

70% of clubbers, 68% of gig goers, and 44% of those who hang out in pubs with loud sound systems, display symptoms of hearing damage after a night out - including that irritating ringing in the ears and a dullness of hearing. Those stats, based on a survey of 1000 young music fans, come from the Royal National Institute For The Deaf, who are trying to raise awareness of the long term damage to hearing that can be caused by consuming excessively loud music.

RNID CEO Dr John Low told reporters this week: "We're all familiar with messages about practising safe sex and using suncream - but the lack of any guidance on loud music means this generation of music lovers could be facing a hearing loss timebomb. Our research shows most young people have experienced the first signs of permanent hearing damage after a night out, yet have no idea how to prevent it. With regular exposure to music at high volumes in clubs, gigs and bars, it's only too easy to clock up noise doses that could damage their hearing forever.

He continued: "Young people who love music need to be educated so they can make choices about the risk of exposure to loud noise and protect their hearing from premature damage. RNID is calling on the government to establish a recommended noise exposure level for audiences attending music venues and events, and to educate young people about noise as a public
health risk".

CMU Music News

Hear the World Initiative

2007-07-03T12:15:00.000+01:00

Music is the universal language of mankind.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-82), American poet

Our ears give us access to the wonderful world of sounds. Hearing is crucial and connects people all over the world. Hearing enables us to communicate with other people and enjoy social activities. The ability to hear is such an integral part of life that most people take it for granted. Hearing is a gift, but do we place enough value on it?

What is Hear the World?
Hear the World is an initiative by the Phonak Group that aims to raise awareness of the topic of hearing and hearing loss and to promote good hearing all over the world. The goal of the Hear the World Initiative is to educate the general public about the importance of hearing, the social and emotional impacts of hearing loss and the benefits of available solutions for those with hearing impairment.

In addition to a long term communication program that targets opinion leaders and the general public, the initiative will support charitable organizations and projects focused on helping hearing impaired people.

To help people “hear the world”, Phonak created the Hear the World Foundation. Recognizing that quality of hearing significantly impacts quality of life, the foundation is committed to improving the well-being of people with hearing defects and to advancing measures towards the prevention of hearing loss.

Hear the World partners with musicians and music events to help the public appreciate their sense of hearing and provide the most innovative hearing solutions on the market.

This sound like a fantastic project. check the web site www.hear-the-world.com for more details.

Taylor Dupree and Christopher Willits - Listening Garden

2007-06-30T10:10:00.000+01:00

Listening Garden was developed as a sonic alteration of two quiet indoor/outdoor tea spaces installed at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media in Yamaguchi, Japan in June of 2004. The audio installation was designed to heighten visitor's senses and alter the sonic space as they sat, read, or had quiet conversation amonst the trees. Taylor Deupree and Christopher Willits composed a number of short, randomly sequenced multi-channel soundworks using guitar and electronics. The fragments of sounds, while both gentle and subtly rich, are intentionally weathered, eroded and understated, generating a sonic bridge between the digital world of sound and the audiosphere of nature.

The audio on this CD is built from location recordings taken in the garden over the course of a week during the exhibit. The environmental and incidental sounds played a large part of the physical work and are captured and utilized in the recording. Listening Garden is meant to enhance the experience of simply sitting and enjoying one's place in time.

This CD is best heard in a similar situation and at a low background level. Headphones are not recommended.

LineRecords

Hockney: The ipod has turned people off art

2007-06-29T09:04:00.000+01:00

David Hockney's claim is that the young generation's involvement with auditory stimulae - as represented by the iPod - results in a decline in their understanding and appreciation of visual art. "We are not in a very visual age," he said. "I think it's all about sound. People plug in their ears and don't look much, whereas for me my eyes are the biggest pleasure. You notice that on buses. People don't look out of the window, they are plugged in and listening to something."

The proliferation of portable listening devices cannot, of course, be denied. But I see no evidence that Hockney is right in suggesting that, if the iPoddists weren't listening, they'd be gazing around in some meaningful way that increased their sensitivity towards the visual arts. They might be reading instead or, more likely, staring vacantly around, absorbing nothing. Besides, why does it have to be an either-or? Who is to say that the youth on the bus listening intently to his plugged-in tunes will not, later in the day, be looking at something that stimulates his visual senses? I know many under-30s whose enthusiastic adoption of earphone music has not in the least interfered with their enjoyment of other arts.

from the Guardian 13.06.07
Full Article

Shadowed Spaces Tour, Scotland July 2007

2007-06-21T13:44:00.000+01:00

There are places in the towns and cities where you live that exist not by planned design, but by circumstance. Their elusive ambience attracts those with nowhere else to go, and those who wish to go elsewhere.

overlooked bypassed unwatched detached unconsidered shadowed

They offer respites from society and routine. They are found by necessity, by those driven by desire, more than destination. Shadowed Spaces is a tour of nooks and crannies like these, in your towns and cities: forgotten steps that lead nowhere, alleyways, old railway tunnels. We’ll place musical performances in these spaces that will hopefully help us to think about the continued need for a sense of privacy in public.

http://www.arika.org.uk/shadowedspaces/2007/about/

Pecha Kucha Vol 3 Glasgow

2007-05-30T09:30:00.000+01:00

I will be talking at this event as part of the Six Cities design festival. Should be good, watch out for those awkward silences!

01 June 2007, 6pm - LATE
Gallery 5, The Lighthouse

Pecha Kucha presents 12 creatives showing 20 slides for 20 seconds each, taking the audience on an exhilarating high speed journey through a kaleidoscope of inspirations, ideas and work. Music, drinking and conversation combine to create an essential date for any creatives diary.

Pecha Kucha Vol 3 Glasgow will be held in conjunction with the Six Cities Design Festival.

The speakers we have chosen will motivate and excite you, energise and inspire you.

Speakers:

Rufus Spiller (Designer – Good Creative)

Brian Harvey (Music Designer – Open Ear)

Rolf Roscher (Landscape Architect – erz Ltd)

Doug Pritchard (Head of Visualisation @ GSA)

Ewan Imrie (Architect – Collective Architecture)

Simon Harlow (Interior Designer)

Daffyd Burne Jones (Director, Scottish Opera)

Krista Blake (Shop/Events – Hitherto)

Gordon Murray (Architect – GM+AD Architects)

Keith Dodd (Designer – D8)

Neil Wallace & David Freer (o street – design agency)

Brian Hartley (artist/designer

Save Internet Radio!

2007-05-02T10:05:00.000+01:00

This is a massive issue in the USA right now, but if they think they have it bad, royalty payments for web radio and music providers online are much worse in the UK. The result of this bill being passed will see thousands of indepedent raido stations going out of business to the detriment of diversity and variety of music, and freedom to listen to music outside of the main stream. The only radio stations who can afford this, will be the big players and this is wrong. Sign the petition today!

On March 2, 2007 the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), which oversees sound recording royalties paid by Internet radio services, increased Internet radio's royalty burden between 300 and 1200 percent and thereby jeopardized the industry’s future.

At the request of the Recording Industry Association of America, the CRB ignored the fact that Internet radio royalties were already double what satellite radio pays, and multiplied the royalties even further. The 2005 royalty rate was 7/100 of a penny per song streamed; the 2010 rate will be 19/100 of a penny per song streamed. And for small webcasters that were able to calculate royalties as a percentage of revenue in 2005 – that option was quashed by the CRB, so small webcasters’ royalties will grow exponentially!

Before this ruling was handed down, the vast majority of webcasters were barely making ends meet as Internet radio advertising revenue is just beginning to develop. Without a doubt most Internet radio services will go bankrupt and cease webcasting if this royalty rate is not reversed by the Congress, and webcasters’ demise will mean a great loss of creative and diverse radio. Surviving webcasters will need sweetheart licenses that major record labels will be only too happy to offer, so long as the webcaster permits the major label to control the programming and playlist. Is that the Internet radio you care to hear?

As you know, the wonderful diversity of Internet radio is enjoyed by tens of millions of Americans and provides promotional and royalty opportunities to independent labels and artists that are not available to them on broadcast radio. What you may not know is that in just the last year Internet radio listening jumped dramatically, from 45 million listeners per month to 72 million listeners each month. Internet radio is already popular and it is already benefiting thousands of artists who are finding new fans online every day.

Action must be taken to stop this faulty ruling from destroying the future of Internet radio that so many millions of listeners depend on each day. Instead of relying on lawyers filing appeals in the CRB and the courts, the SaveNetRadio Coalition has been formed to represent every webcaster, every Net Radio listener, and every artist who enjoys and benefits from this medium. Please join our fight for the preservation of Internet radio.

Save Net Radio.org

Music to enhance taste of the sea

2007-04-24T10:04:00.000+01:00

Heston Blumenthal is celebrated for creating increasingly unusual dishes
Diners have been given MP3 players at a top restaurant to enhance a dish.
Chef Heston Blumenthal, famous for his scientific approach to food, said the recording of breaking waves heightened the flavour of dish "Sound of the Sea".

The owner of award-winning Fat Duck restaurant in Berkshire, said research carried out with Oxford University revealed sound can boost taste.

"We ate an oyster while listening to the sea and it tasted stronger and saltier", Mr Blumenthal said.

Mr Blumenthal told Square Meal magazine that the tests carried out with Charles Spence at Oxford University "revealed that sound can really enhance the sense of taste".

Sound of the Sea, on the menu of the three-Michelin-starred Fat Duck restaurant, features seafood and edible seaweed on a bed of sand-like tapioca - all washed down with the sound of breaking waves.

Ruth Penycate, who sampled the dish as part of the restaurant's taster menu, said she was not expecting the musical accompaniment.

She said: "The people on the next table must have had the same menu - I'd just thought the guy was being incredibly rude listening to his iPod through the meal.

"The waiting staff bring iPod shuffles and invite you to put them on, and after a couple of minutes bring in the dish, which looks like a seashore and even smells briny.

"It definitely adds to the experience - the whole thing sets your senses going."

The restaurant has also planned whiskey flavour sweet gums served on a map of Scotland and edible crystallised rose petals adorning a silver rosebush sculpture for its menu.

Source: BBC.co.uk

Sonic Chav Deterrent

2007-04-20T13:12:00.000+01:00

An oldie, but worth a post.

The Mosquito ultrasonic teenage deterrent is the solution to the eternal problem of unwanted gatherings of youths and teenagers in shopping areas, housing estates, car parks and anywhere else they are causing problems. The presence of these teenagers discourages genuine customers from going into shops, affecting turnover and profits. Anti-social behavior has become the biggest threat to private property over the last decade and there has been no effective deterrent until now.

Police and local authorities have hailed the device as the most effective tool in the fight against teenage anti-social behaviour, and those who have tested and bought the device have reported that police call outs to trouble spots were reduced by 80-100%.
MosquitoByteam website

Music as torture

2007-04-12T13:48:00.000+01:00

Report by Suzanne G Cusick

Abstract
One of the most startling aspects of musical culture in the post-Cold War United States is the systematic use of music as a weapon of war. First coming to mainstream attention in 1989, when US troops blared loud music in an effort to induce Panamanian president Manuel Norriega’s surrender, the use of “acoustic bombardment” has become standard practice on the battlefields of Iraq, and specifically musical bombardment has joined sensory deprivation and sexual humiliation as among the non-lethal means by which prisoners from Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo may be coerced to yield their secrets without violating US law.

The very idea that music could be an instrument of torture confronts us with a novel—and disturbing—perspective on contemporary musicality in the United States. What is it that we in the United States might know about ourselves by contemplating this perspective? What does our government’s use of music in the “war on terror” tell us (and our antagonists) about ourselves?

This paper is a first attempt to understand the military and cultural logics on which the contemporary use of music as a weapon in torture and war is based. After briefly tracing the development of acoustic weapons in the late 20th century, and their deployment at the second battle of Falluja in November, 2004, I summarize what can be known about the theory and practice of using music to torture detainees in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo. I contemplate some aspects of late 20th-century musical culture in the civilian US that resonate with the US security community’s conception of music as a weapon, and survey the way musical torture is discussed in the virtual world known as the blogosphere. Finally, I sketch some questions for further research and analysis.

Source/more info: Cusick's article

Clamor by Allora & Calzadilla

2007-04-12T13:45:00.000+01:00

Clamor, 2006, a new work by leading artists Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla exploring the relationship between sound, music and war, has its European premiere at the Serpentine Gallery.

A large sculptural chamber, which the artists have described as ‘resembling a bunker, a ruin, a cave, and a sound booth’, hosts live performance events from a musical archive of moments when music has been used in military and political conflict.

For the live performances, held during the opening evening and regularly throughout the course of the exhibition, duelling musicians hidden inside the work itself will play historic military songs creating a monstrous montage of war music, somewhere between a symphony and cacophony.

The artists have created a pre-recorded 40-minute soundtrack, which will be broadcast from within Clamor during the course of the exhibition. It samples music from the Janissary bands of the Ottoman Empire, the resistance hymns of the Viet Cong, the ballads of the October Revolution, as well as contemporary popular music such as Twisted Sister’s ‘We’re not gonna take it’ used by American forces during the Panama invasion in 1989. Clamor stages a musical and corporeal investigation into the nature of these songs in the context of today’s global wars.

Allora & Calzadilla have been collaborating since 1995 and their photographs, videos, sculptures, installations and performative works address the challenging and conflicting effects of globalisation. The artists live in Puerto Rico.

Source: http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2007/01/forthcoming_allora_calzadilla_1.html

Your Experiences Part 2

2007-03-12T15:02:00.000Z

Thanks for all the posts on the 'Your Experiences' section of this blog. It has now been six weeks since my initial post and there has been a really good response. However, 25 posts is not enough and I am still looking for more comments from you!

We all experience musical environments for at least 3 hours of our day.. that means you all must encounter good and badly designed music on a daily basis. Take a moment to think what sounds you heard today, and the effect they might have had on you..
and please post a comment! If you need some inspiration, the previous 'Your Experiences' section is here:
Your Experiences Part 1
Some really interesting, funny and disturbing comments so far..
thanks!

Spaces Speak by Barry Blesser & Linda-Ruth Salter

2007-03-12T13:33:00.000Z

This is a great book recently released by MIT press. It covers a wide range of topics on the subject of Aural Architecture..Here is an excerpt.

We experience spaces not only by seeing but also by listening. We can navigate a room in the dark, and "hear" the emptiness of a house without furniture. Our experience of music in a concert hall depends on whether we sit in the front row or under the balcony. The unique acoustics of religious spaces acquire symbolic meaning. Social relationships are strongly influenced by the way that space changes sound. In Spaces Speak, Are You Listening?, Barry Blesser and Linda-Ruth Salter examine auditory spatial awareness: experiencing space by attentive listening. Every environment has an aural architecture.

Social Spatiality
When we think of architecture, we immediately visualize the properties of the space that can be seen, especially boundaries that influence movement and the legal rights of access. Walls and surfaces are tangible and readily apparent. In contrast, because sound flows through even the smallest opening, aural architecture has aural boundaries. Hogarth, in the picture below, portrays the dismay of a musician who finds that his private music room and the hubbub of the street are in fact a single aural space. The open window destroys the aural boundary because sound flows freely through it. Opening the window changes the aural architecture, and the person who opened the window was an aural architect.

Hogarth's Enraged Musician.
Courtesy of Graphic Arts Collection, Princeton University.

other major components of aural architecture include musical, navigations, aesthetic, and symbolic. From these, I would say that the easiest to manipulate in existing spaces would be their 'musical spatiality' and therefore by implementing a process of 'musical design', we can create better aural architecture in our built environments.
The source for this article, more information and how to purchase the book can be found at www.SpacesSpeak.com
Thanks to Barry Blesser for his previous comments to Two Open Ears!

Live Noise!

2007-03-12T13:10:00.001Z

“Modern man is beginning to inhabit a world with an acoustic environment radically different from any he has previously known. These new sounds, which differ in quality and intensity from those in the past alert us to the indiscriminate and imperialistic spread of more and larger sounds into every corner of man’s life.
Noise pollution is now a world problem.
The world soundscape has reached an apex of vulgarity in our time…. Universal deafness is the ultimate consequence.”
R. Murray Schafer, The Soundscape, 1977.

NOISES 2 min demo video

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This is a live audio visual performance that I am working on in collaboration with visual artist and film maker Ling Lee. We will hopefully be touring around the UK with this show in 2007/8. I will post more when I have details, in the meantime you can watch out 2 min promo video above. Any comments welcome, here is a bit of background -

Sound designer and music producer Brian Harvey (stage name Brian d’Souza) in collaboration with visual artist and filmmaker Ling Lee present ‘Noises’, an improvised audiovisual performance. Using a mixture of live found sound recording, instrumentation, innovative visuals and cross media improvisation techniques, the performance highlights the exponential rise of auditory and visual noise in our world today.

More info at Underkonstrukt or Noises Myspace

New York plans iPod ban on city streets

2007-02-18T17:18:00.000Z

New Yorkers who blithely cross the street listening to an iPod or talking on a cell phone could soon face a $100 fine.
New York State Senator Carl Kruger says he will introduce a new legislation to ban the use of gadgets such as iPod, PSP, and Blackberry devices while crossing the street in major New York cities, such as New York City, Buffalo, and Albany.

"Government has an obligation to protect its citizenry. This electronic gadgetry is reaching the point where it's becoming not only endemic but it's creating an atmosphere where we have a major public safety crisis at hand," Kruger told Reuters. "If you're so involved in your electronic device that you can't see or hear a car coming, this is indicative of a larger problem that requires some sort of enforcement beyond the application of common sense," he added.

Kruger, who represents the 27th district of New York, says that three pedestrians in his Brooklyn district have been killed since September upon stepping into traffic while distracted by an electronic device, including a case where a 23-year-old man was run down because he ignored warnings not to cross while listening to his iPod.
Noah Budnick, deputy director of advocacy for transportation alternatives in New York City, has come out against the proposal. He said that that iPods don't kill pedestrians; reckless driving does. So...

source: http://www.filter27.com/archives/2007/02/new_york_plans_ipod_ban.php#more

Brian Eno pioneering audiovisual innovation in retail

2007-02-06T14:19:00.000Z

Luminous is Brian Eno’s first large-scale installation of 77 Million Paintings in Selfridges, London and is his latest work from over 30 years as a visual artist.

It uses multiple monitors to display a constantly evolving painting, generated from handmade images, randomly combined by computers, creating an ever-changing ‘painting’ consisting of hand-made elements that evolve into almost countless variations.

Watch all 77 million possibilities and listen as layers if this trademark ambient audio mean that you never hear the same thing twice. This is a true marriage of sound and image.

Exhibition takes place on 27 January - 11 March in the Ultra Lounge - Lower Ground Floor - Oxford Street.

This exhibit shows how Selfridges are leading the way for how retail can use audio and visual to create immersive experiences for their customers. The ability to create sensory experiences will be the main way in which the high-street can compete with internet shopping sites.

Your Experiences

2007-01-31T11:50:00.000Z

I am starting to compile a comprehensive guide to places and spaces with good or bad 'music design'. We have all been in places which sound totally awful, with bad music played at loud volumes or the clatter of cutlery ruining our experience. Likewise, we have been in places which sound good, where we feel relaxed and comfortable. If you have any memories or comments from such experiences and would like to share them, please post them below and we can build a guide to musical environments around the world.

Please post the following details:
Name of Location,
Place of Location,
Your experience - good or bad music design, what it made you do, how it could be better.

Music Design: The Definition

2007-01-10T11:50:00.000Z

I have been trying to formulate the definition for what exactly 'music design' is. So here goes -

Music Design is the selection of music to fit in with the characteristics of a particular space in which it is played. The process of music design occurs when the activity of listening to music is considered to be secondary behind a more important task being done at that time. This is a relatively new phenomena introduced with the popularity of recording media and the ubiquityu of music through loudspeakers several decades ago. Before this time, music design did not really exist as music was heard either in concert halls (symphonies for the privileged few) or as part of a live communication within sections of society (tribal music, folk music) where 'listening' was always the primary activity.

There are lots of examples of music design in our world today, such as:

1. Music design for a car journey (e.g. music selected as 'driving music' which fits the journey and passengers, but is secondary to the primary activity of driving the car'.)
2. Music design for a dinner party (e.g. background music to fit the primary activity of eating and socialising that fits the type of guest attending).
3. Music design for background music in a commerical premises (e.g. Muzak, in-store radio, Open Ear where music is secondary to shopping, eating or drinking).
4. Music design for film (selection of existing music tracks to fit the environment created by scenes in the film)
5. Music design for advertisments. i.e. selection of existing music to fit a TV or radio advert
6. Music design for bars usually selected by a DJ but always secondary to drinking and socialising (NB. this is not the same as listening to a DJ in a club which I would class as being the primary activity of a club-goer and in the last 20 years has been accepted as a 'performance'.)
7. Listening to music on a walkman or iPod (although a bit of a grey area). The best example of this at the moment is LCD soundsystems composition of a track designed to be used for Joggers with Nike shoes and an iPod.

This is NOT to be confused with these which are not music design
1. As stated above, DJs in a club
2. Listening to music at home (primary activity is listening)
3. Going to a concert
4. Sometimes listening to music on a walkman or iPod

The reason I believe the term 'music design' must be accepted as a credible practice is because it is an extremely valuable skill for those who are good at it. In much the same way as interior designers gain credit for their ability to create inhabitable spaces, 'music designers' should exist and be given credit for their ability to expertly design music to fit in with its surroundings, including the style and visual design of the space, the people who use the space and the brand or business which owns the space. The same can be said of 'music designers' in film and TV who are not composers or producers, but rather use different skills altogether to source and select existing music which fits perfectly with a scene or represents a product perfectly.

Good music design for commerical premises can helped generate much more business for that space by helping create an atmosphere that makes people stay longer, enjoy the experience, spend more and be more likely to return. On a much more personal level, good music design for activities such as jogging can help keep one more motivated, and good music design at a dinner party can make conversation easier as the atmosphere is more relaxed. Bad music design has the opposite effect and has a serious detrimental effect on mood, behaviour and motivation.

One of the reasons I feel that music design is not properly valued at this point is because of the overwhelming preference we have for visual stimuli in our lives. Sound is much more of a subconscious thing and not immediately obvious unless you train yourself to focus on aural stimuli. However, many studies show just how important sound is in effecting our behaviour, mood and mental health.

To take a parallel example, film studies always explains that sound is of equal importance to visuals. This is one of the reasons the cinema industry still exists as one has the opportunity to experience hi-fidelity sound on a 10.2 (or larger) surround sound set up. When asked, your average cinema goer would attribute their love of cinema down to the larger screen, but I believe it is an equal combination of the large screen and sound which creates the experience and makes going to the cinema attractive.

To sum up, I believe the ability to design music to fit in with a certain activity or space is a very important and much undervalued skill. With the term 'music design', I hope to introduce to a wider audience the importance of good music design in the aural environments that we all live.

Bad to Good Music Design

2007-01-10T11:40:00.000Z

Ok, I have been extremely busy and been unable to post in the blog. However, I will endeavour in 2007 to post on a weekly basis. I have been continuing my search to find places and spaces with good music design. With my company Open Ear, we have been doing a trial at Chow Restaurant in Glasgow. This was a modern, young, hip and sophisticated Chinese restaurant located in the heart of the trendy Westend of Glasgow which was characterised by extremely poor music design. Music such as the greatest hits of those loveable divas Shania Twain, Mariah Carey and Britney Spears created a musical identity more akin to McDonalds than to a trendy restaurant.

With Open Ear, we trialed a new music design for Chow which has been working to great effect. We compiled music ranging from cutting edge folk/electronica, understated jazz and authentic oriental music from South Korea to create an atmosphere that was most conducive to its surroundings. Direct from the assistant managers mouth - "Using music selected by Open Ear has helped us create a more relaxed and welcoming environment that fits perfectly in our surroundings. We immediately noticed that customers have been more likely to stay for a coffee at the end of their meal, which has to be a good thing."

Good Music Design

2006-09-08T10:50:00.000+01:00

I am starting a new series of spaces that I have experienced that have especially good or especially bad music design - either by accident or design. If you are reading this and want to add your experience of good or bad music design please post a comment!

1. CCA Restaurant, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow.
I know they play CDs that are selected by the staff, but in my experience the music affords a certain elegance and escapism to a great space. Although quite a difficult space acoustically, with high ceilings and hard surfaces everywhere, they tend to play music at a suitable volume and of suitable style that helps create a perfect ambience for the clientele. Typical music I have heard here include Vashti Bunyan's latest album 'Lookingafter' and Susumu Yokota's classic Sakura album. The usual problems of using CDs creates the problem of pauses between albums, not much variation and a potentially random music selection, but in my experience the CCA is a fitting example of good music design.

Into Great Silence.

2006-08-14T10:48:00.000+01:00

A new film is being screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival called Into Great Silence. It is a soundless film by Philip Groening focusing on life at one of the strictest monastic orders in Christendom. It exists in true contrast to the noise filled environments of our cities. These monk only talk when absolutely necessary and seem all the better for that. It is being screened on Sunday 20th August (2pm) and Tuesday August 22nd (8.30pm) at Cineworld, Dundee Street, Edinburgh.

http://www.diegrossestille.de/english/
from the website:
"The Grande Chartreuse, the mother house of the legendary Carthusian Order, is based in the French Alps. “Into Great Silence” will be the first film ever about life inside the Grande Chartreuse.

Silence. Repitition. Rhythm. The film is an austere, next to silent meditation on monastic life in a very pure form. No music except the chants in the monastery, no interviews, no commentaries, no extra material.

Changing of time, seasons, and the ever repeated elements of the day, of the prayer. A film to become a monastery, rather than depict one. A film about awareness, absolute presence, and the life of men who devoted their lifetimes to god in the purest form. Contemplation.
An object in time."

Lord Beaumont direct response to Open Ear

2006-08-14T10:40:00.000+01:00

Lord Beaumont got back to my letter that addressed his proposed 'Ban on Public Music Bill'. I advocate a better music design in public spaces to help people be conscious of the noise we create, rather than a total ban of music in public. Beaumont however, does not agree as he stated in his letter:
"Thank you for your interesting letter. My Bill will get through the Lords and then die for want of government support and time in this session. I am however hoping to introduce it again early in the next session, but in a truncated form, concentrating only on health issues. And in so far as our paths cross I am concerned only that listening to broadcast music be a strictly voluntary affair, no matter how well chosen and well-intentioned. Wishing you well on your endeavours."
I appreciate the reply and accpet his view point. I too believe that music should be a voluntary affair. However, in this day and age, it is completely unfeasible considering the amount of music that is currently played. This is the main reason for my viewpoint that if we can't ban background music altogether, it should at least be more tailored to the environment and space that it can be heard in.

Music Design for Life

2006-07-04T11:53:00.000+01:00

Lord Beaumont’s recent proposed Bill to the House of Lords (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/5086054.stm) suggesting that piped music should be banned in hospitals and public transport raises serious questions about the amount of sound, music and noise we are subjected to on a daily basis. Our world is saturated with music, and Beaumont thinks that the solution to this would be to simply ban it from these public places.

We live in a visual culture, but studies show our aural stimulation is equally important, effecting both our mood and behaviour. We are subjected to music at least 25% of our wakeful lives - in our homes, cars, workplaces and shops. Businesses use music without knowing how to harness it’s unique potential for creating a stimulating and positive environment. This constant misuse of music is a significant factor for Lord Beaumont’s criticisms and concerns contained in the bill and to ban music would be the ultimate consequence of this misuse. However, it is important to realise that if music playlists were designed in a noise conscious manner, and designed specifically for their target audience the perceived levels of noise pollution would dramatically decrease and this problem can be avoided.

Open Ear™ is an exciting new company set up to help offer innovative solutions to businesses using music, offering them enhanced customer experience, improved staff motivation, and better brand differentiation. Open Ear introduces the practice of ‘Music Design’ to the marketplace, utilising the disciplines of psychology, architecture, music and marketing. We know that companies use music, we know that all brands can have a ‘musical identity’, however, such is the powerful and subjective nature of music, many brands use music wrongly and this contributes to the perceived levels of noise pollution in our environment.

Open Ear suggests that greater emphasis on the design of the musical environment is crucial in today’s experience based economy. We offer a holistic service that helps provide music that fits perfectly with its context. It appeals to the customer, makes staff feel more comfortable and give s the brand a unique soundtrack that moves it ahead of it’s competitors.

Think of all the negative connotations that background music or ‘muzak’ conjure in most peoples minds. Then think of the positive effect that hearing your favourite piece or music can have on your mood. It is this subjectivity that makes Open Ear’s expert ‘music design’ service such a necessity for our built environment.
Public music has this bad reputation because it is unregulated, generic and uninspired. Every place sounds the same, but of course every place is most definitely not the same – they have different, customers with different tastes, styles and opinions.

The increasing popularity of digital music has helped diversify individuals musical taste by offering increasing amounts of choice. An example of the effect of this is the demise of Top of the Pops on BBC1. Once it was the only way people could have access to new music, now everyone has a myspace or a favourite internet download site, where they have access to millions of new releases. Public or piped music has an opportunity to embrace the digital age and reflect the new diversity in musical choice at the benefit of all parties involved.

Our overwhelmingly visual culture is reflected in the popularity of interior design in such places. The lighting, décor and layout are all immaculately designed to appeal to a particular client base. Why then, is the ‘music design’ so poor?

Open Ear is all about the right music, for the right place, at the right time. Twenty years ago, we would not expect interior designers to design everything we see but now this practice is commonplace. In the 21st century, we need Open Ear’s expert ‘music design’ team to help design music for the lives of everyone who experiences it.

25% of our wakeful lives

2006-06-20T11:54:00.000+01:00

We are subjected to music for 25% of our wakeful lives. This is obviously a rough estimate, but I would argue that the actual percentage is far greater. Think about your daily routine: Wake up to a radio alarm (Music!), Turn the TV on whilst you have breakfast (Music!), Get in your car to go to work (Music!), At work there is a background music system (Music!), Go for a walk round the shops at lunch (Music, Music, Music), and what do you do to relax at home (no prizes for guessing the answer to this...).

We are obsessed with the visual nature of our culture, but sound plays a massive part too. It is definitely more of a subconscious phenomenon, but can have an equally powerful effect on our behavior and mood.

The marketplace is crying out for better 'Music Design'

2006-06-20T11:38:00.000+01:00

Music Design is the process of designing the aural environment in specific spaces to suit the people who inhabit them. The process is comparable to the way that interior designers manipulate the decor, lighting and layout of a space to suit the visual aesthetic. If we assume that most public spaces have a music system in them, it is therefore critical that a better music design process is implemented. Most businesses accept that they need music, but do not understand that if they merely put on any type of music at any volume it will have a massively detrimental effect on theor customers, staff and brand image.

Open Your Ears

2006-06-20T11:14:00.000+01:00

We live in a world saturated with sound. Music, new technologies and traffic all contribute to our daily soundscape which is getting louder year upon year. Open Your Ears is a forum set up for the good of your ears.