Music Monday: A View from a Hill - sounds from Telegraph Hill, Point Hill, Catford, Dulwich and beyond

Hither Green-based experimental/improvisational label Linear Obsessional Recordings has released its annual compilation album. 'A View from a Hill', released on Christmas Eve 2017, includes more than 100 artists from across the world each contributing two minute tracks. It was compiled by David Little, who records as smallhaus. Several of the tracks feature field recordings at South London locations, including the following:


Catford Gyrations - Bandstand
'The track was based around a recording I made while stood under the bandstand in Mountsfield Park, London SE6 – this also happens situated directly under a flight path, but despite the roaring jet planes, I still managed to capture some birdsong and barking dogs.I've also added some guitar, a Farfisa organ and a little bit of brass and Woodwind'

Alison Henning - A View from Point Hill
'Beautiful morning, rise and fall of piccolo sounds inspired by the A2, flight paths, Greenwich below and the early birds'.

Neil Gordon-Orr - Boney on the Hill
'Sound recording December 2017: Telegraph Hill Park, formerly Plow'd Garlick Hill, site of Telegraph during Napoleonic Wars; list of stations on the Admiralty shutter telegraph line (1795–1816), used to send messages between the Channel (Deal) and London; treated mandolin, 'Boney was a Warrior'

Z.AvTes – Le Scelte
'Written by Zuleika AvTes in London, December 2017. Original field recordings: Recorded at West Norwood Cemetery and Dulwich Park. Z.AvTes plays in Glass Isle and lives in South East London'.

Linear Obsessional Festival in Deptford and Hither Green

Hither Green-based experimental/improv label Linear Obsessional Recordings (LOR) has a busy weekend coming up with a two day festival starting out on Saturday (20/5/2017) with a gig at Vinyl Deptford:

'Live Music from 5pm with

Tom Jackson, Daniel Thompson, Jacques Duerinckx & Matthieu Safatly - acoustic free improvisation from this specially assembled Anglo/Belgian quartet - clarinet, guitar,soprano sax and cello. Expect intricate flowing absorbing interaction.

Jo Thomas - astonishing electro-acoustic composer - Her music captures a combination of refined and raw sonic matter, and is utterly absorbing. Her work has won awards and been performed around the world

http://www.jothomas.me/

Stephen Shiell - Sculptor, field-recordist and environmental musician is working on a new album for Linear Obsessional - here's a rare chance to see him perform solo and in a confined space!

http://www.stephenshiell.co.uk/

Ne...t - Net is the project of Finland based composer and electronicist NE.Trethowan whose Linear Obsessional album "Grammostola" recieved extraordinary reviews. This is his UK debut and he will be working with modular synth and samples. He has new release imminent on Whitelabrecs.
http://tvei.eu/net2.htm
https://linearobsessional.bandcamp.com/album/grammostola

James Worse - writer and poet James Worse is a "master of the surreal spoken word" (the Quietus) whose melifluous, extraordinary wordplay is compelling and irrestable.He was invited after his extraordinary contribution to the LinOb "Utterances" compilation-
https://linearobsessional.bandcamp.com/track/purplethrones

Starting the evening- a first performance for a trio of three LinOb artists-
Phil Durrant, Phil S. Maguire and Richard Sanderson
(modular synth, tiny electronics and melodeon respectively) creating an enveloping slowlydeveloping wave of sound.
http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/mdurrant.html
https://philmaguire.com/
http://richardsanderson.weebly.com/

Admission - a donation of £5
Food, Drink, Coffee,Tea Vinyl Reords and Linear Obsessional material available'

Day Two is on Sunday when as part of the Hither Green Festival LOR will be taking over Manor Park from 12:30, starting out with a free event including interactive sound sculptures and an open access al-fresco drone from multiple musicans throughout the park. From 4 pm there will be a gig in the Arts Cafe in the park with Oren Marshall (tuba), Greta Pistaceci (theremin), Ed Lucas and Danile Kordik (sax/electronics) and Me, Claudius (avant noise dub) -£5 donaton for indoor gig in Cafe.

If you want to take part in the drone performance contact Richard Sanderson (bagrec@gmail.com) - virtuosity not required, in fact postively discouraged  - the idea is for the public to wander through a park  enlivened by long, softy played sustained tones on  all kinds of instruments mutating slowly over a two hour period down by the banks of the River Quaggy.

Deptford Sounds Today

A couple of interesting musical events in Deptford this afternoon/evening (Saturday 19  November):

First up from 5 pm at Vinyl Deptford (cafe/record shop at 4 Tanners Hill),  there's a progamme of 'live experimental, electronic and improvised music presented by Hither Green's foremost underground label Linear Obsessional Recordings'

Line up includes:

UNNAMABLE TRIO - A new trio brought together for this show, featuring Oli Barrett (cello/electronics) who records exquisite, halucinatory drone, noise albums as Petrels, Linear Obsessional boss, Richard Sanderson (amplified melodeon) and the singular Irish electro-acoustic explorer Michael Speers

RODDART (Daniel James Ross- Live Electronics, Jake Stoddart - Trumpet) - 'Mind expanding duo... Expect mutations and instant transformations and transfixions'.

PLASTIGLOMERATE - Thomas Tyler - Tape Loops and Electronics 'dense, tangible structures of sculpted noise

SEAN DOWER (Bow Gamelan/Death Magazine 52/Sonofapup) presents new work exploring "intervention into systems of autogeneration"

JAMES O'SULLIVAN 'Probably the most inventive electric guitarist on the scene at the moment, O'Sullivan comes at the guitar from a new angle, with extended techniques and bricolage, he explores the physical weight of the instruments heritage with dynamism and wit' 

Admission is a suggested donation of £5

Deptford Dub Club

Later at the Duke (125 Creek Road SE8) from 8 pm to 12:30, Deptford Dub Club return with regular DJ Soft Wax joined by guest David Katz: 

'David is an internationally renowned author and broadcaster on all things reggaematic; he’s also a wicked selector. He can be relied upon to present upbeat, up tempo selections for your dancing feet. 

They will be joined by the fabulous Laura Trombone, who will be gracing us with her space echo pedal work again...  joined on clarinet by the accomplished Jas. We will also be enjoying the distinctive vocal stylings of Ras Darun and Ant’one Setondji.

David will have some of his excellent books available at a specally reduced price too, he’ll sign and dedicate them as required' 

Linear Obsessional #6 in Manor Park tomorrow

Tomorrow, Sunday April 3rd,  in Manor Park (not to be confused with the nearby Manor House Gardens), Linear Obsessional presents another programme of interesting, experimental and improvised music at the Arts Café:

 

' Four extraordinary acts, performing in a park in Lewisham!

Marlo Eggplant -
From Baltimore - Marlo Eggplant is a prominent figure in a diverse and thriving international scene of female experimental music performers. She will be using amplified autoharp and contact mics.
http://www.corpuscallosumdistro.com/marlo_eggplant.html

Steven Ball -
So-called Avant Songster Steven Ball (who recording the EP "Life of Barrymore" for Linear Obsessional) will play some new songs, some short, one quite long...
http://www.steven-ball.net/

Mike Adcock & Stuart Wilding
Britain's leading improvising accordionist in a scintilating duo with mercurial and witty percussionist Stuart Wilding. As featured on the recent LinOb release... "Accord"
http://mikeadcock.com/


Dirch Blewn & Rahel Kraft
Unique UK live electronics exponent meets Swiss vocals and electronics in a fascinating and unique duo.
http://www.dirchblewn.com/
http://journal.rahelkraft.ch/

Concert starts at 4pm prompt! The ArtsCafe is a lovely heated venue in the middle of Manor Park, Lewisham. It has food, coffee, tea and soft drinks. Feel free to bring a bottle.We usually all go to the pub afterwards, feel free to join us!  Admission £5 suggested donation'.

Open the Window: soundscapes from South London to the World

For the third Christmas Eve in succession, Hither Green-based experimental/improvisational music label Linear Obsessional has released a compilation based on inviting submissions in line with a chosen theme. This year's premise was simple: 'open your window and record two minutes of what you can hear. Interacting with it live if you wish, or editing and processing the recordings later. From this concept has emerged this 85 track, 2 hour 50 minute compilation of extraordinary recordings from all over the world'.

There are many remarkable recordings on this global smorgasbord of soundscapes,  includes several recorded in South London:

Richard Sanderson - Playing - Hither Green features the Linear Obsessional founder playing melodeon over the sounds of children playing outside.

Anthony Osborne - The Story Of A Panic - Ladywell includes some rather scary sounding crows.

Steven Ball - Go From My Window - New Cross - the traditional folk song sung over the sound of the New Cross rain.

Phil Julian - 3 November 2015 - South Norwood - the familar South London sonic sweep of birdsong and airplanes.

Argument Club - Shipping Forecast - Lewisham - traffic noise and radio sounds.

Chris Jones - Drill_Byt - Peckham - processed drill noise.

Sean Dower - Taxi Argument - Bermondsey - the title says it all.

Neil Gordon​-​Orr - Gellatly Road 1940​/​1915 - New Cross - traffic, drone and the names of people killed in the street in World War Two - 'Gellatly Road is a short but busy street in London SE14. 75 years ago, bombs were landing on it. Recalling memories of those terrible times, the sound of today's traffic - usually annoying -appears vaguely heroic: the victory of the everyday over terror and horror'.

Steve Scutt - Somehow Window - Camberwell

Clare and Arthur Wood - Bedtime Background With Oompa Loompa Song- Lewisham




You can download the album, with  62 page booklet, at Linear Obsessional

Rabbit in Hither Green

Following last month's successful first foray into the world of live experimental performance in Hither Green, Linear Obsessional recordings return to promote another early evening session at the Art Cafe in Manor Park SE13. Music this time from Rabbit (David Aylward and Tom Scott-Kendrick, with guest Richard Sanderson) plus Iris Garrelfs and Oren Marsahll.

Linear Obsessional at Lewisham Arts Cafe

From his Hither Green HQ (OK house), Richard Sanderson has quietly and not so quietly been releasing a stream of experimental, improvised and otherwise quirky music on his Linear Obsessional Recordings. But other than his appearances with Blackheath Morris Men he rarely plays out in the Lewisham area.

All that is set to change on Saturday 15 August  (6pm to 8 pm) when Richard is curating an early evening 'concert of improvised and experimental music' at Lewisham Arts Cafe in Manor Park SE13.  Suggested donation £5.

Two Minutes Left

Richard Sanderson of  experimental/improvised music label Linear Obsessional Recordings put out a call recently for tracks for a compilation album with only two rules: 'that the works had to be exactly two minutes long, and that at some point in the recording process a microphone should have been used'.

The outcome is 'Two Minutes Left', a collection of 87 tracks from all over the world, released this week. The tracks, as Richard says, 'are as diverse as it's possible to imagine- from full, immaculately produced studio works to hissy smartphone recordings- and throughout there are things to remind you that you're listening to real people in real places - birdsong, pets, breathing, conversation, and the location recordings run from the electrobabble of a Shanghai cab ride to the near silence of night on the Argentinian Pampas, to the sounds of the pub or a football match. In between are some gloriously recorded musical vignettes by some of the most extraordinary musicians around... it seems to me to be ultimately a celebration of being human, and a celebration of friendship and collaboration'.

'Two Minutes Left' is very much an international collaboration, but it also has its roots in South London, with Richard and the label based in Hither Green, and several of the tracks featuring local sound recordings. Richard's own Hither Green track, recorded in his back garden, is a reminder of the ubiquitous South London aircraft noise as well as capturing bird song. Birds - this time parakeets - also feature in Neil Gordon Orr's '120 Seconds Over Ladywell Fields', based on recordings of running round Ladywell athletics track. A music session in the Ladywell Tavern, with the Mixed Porter band playing Officers' Polka, was recorded by Kayleigh Shepherd on her

phone.

There's a recording of Blackheath Morris Men practicing at St Marks Church Hall in Greenwich, and a track from Brockley-based minimalist guitar ensemble the Broca Ensemble.

You can listen/download the whole thing here