As good as it gets...

'Beautiful' was the word that first came to mind when I first heard Some Hollow Lullabies, the third release from UK dark ambient outfit emptywhale. Subsequent listens have not changed my mind. The most integrated album to date shows this enigmatic artist at the height of his powers, defying classifications, and composing and producing a work of sublime beauty and intelligence. Meticulously crafted from start to finish it is quite simply 'as good as it gets'.

From the opening transportation of 'The Boy Who Could Hear Colours', the surprising introduction of melodic keyboard, to the closing fade and hints of where it all began we are left transfixed. Astute listeners may find it an interesting challenge to figure out these influences, but ultimately knowing this will not add to the appreciation because the emptywhale concept is precisely about the mystery. And the mystery ends up being what we (the listeners) experience as we listen...

I have said in the past that I find great humanism in the music of emptywhale. Here we have a man wandering through the British (if not world) landscape acutely aware of history and society and where the technological revolution had taken us, and the impact it has had on interpersonal communications (or lack thereof) . If there is 'darkness' in these soundscapes it is in this aspect of our lives that it is manifest...not through any contrived attempt at being different or trendy.

I must admit I have been critical of the ambient genre at times, finding the lack of individualism frustrating, but emptywhale takes it to a new level. At times orchestral, choral, hints of punk, even prog rock, sinister crackles, there are so many things happening here one is left in awe at the power of the meditative mix.

A track by track analysis is pointless in such a complete creation. All I can say is take 40 minutes out of your life and marvel and enjoy and wonder and appreciate that there are people in the world doing this for free...

And if you do feel compelled to part with some money emptywhale asks that you donate to cancer research...

An essential and permanent part of the collection of anyone seriously interested in contemporary music. The great Duke Ellington, once asked in interview about his composing methods, said "If it sounds good, it is good". Some Hollow Lullabies sounds very, very good...

You can download it here...

emptywhale - Some Hollow Lullabies

An absolutely beautiful work...

Review coming soon when I return to the studio...in the meantime you can enjoy it here...

http://www.weareallghosts.co.uk/

The Implicit Order - Drifters

 
Senseless murder might not be a theme that many musicians would base a work on, but then The Implicit Order (I/O) is not exactly your average concept. Disdaining any attempt at classification I/O is both highly original and constantly defying preconceptions. The most recent album 'Drifters' is dedicated to a young homeless woman called Sherry, who had been befriended by I/O. She ended up being murdered after being picked up by a drifter. So, why put out an album on such a subject?

I/O describes the album as a "cautionary tale to anyone who is down on their luck and looking for a place to belong". Sombre but never morbid the album touches the heartstrings without ever becoming sensationalist. The opening track 'Missing Youth' sets the tone with evocations of children, our children, and then counterpoints with hints of unrest. "Daily Dull Lives" hints at the mentally disturbed among us. Other tracks such as 'Every Year 1000's of Young People Disappear' and 'Small Towns Hold The Biggest Secrets' paint a picture of the darkness inherent in our societies. And the 9 minute 'Sherry (Car Wheels On A Gravel Road)' confronts us with the sadness of the knowledge that all victims leave families behind them. It is their suffering we find it hard to endure...

This is not the sort of music that one would play at a party, it may not even sit comfortably with a second listen, but it certainly is worthy of one serious listen, even if it is to remind ourselves that the world we live in can still be an evil place, and that great art is not just about entertainment, but enlightenment. A courageous, yet sensitive masterwork. Highly recommended...

You can check out The Implicit Order here...

I am no ghost

anonymous waves, Self portrait in Tocumwal, late March 2013, digital photograph

This one is just a little visual joke for some people I know in the ambient music field...

Exhibition coming up...

 

The exhibition is called anonymous waves: bob georgeson - past & present. Runs from Saturday 2nd March - Monday 11th March as part of the 2013 Sculpture on the Edge event. The venue is Shop 7 Art Space upstairs at the Fishermen's Cooperative Bermagui Wharf. Hours 10am til the Horse & Camel Wine Bar closes...

Here's the blurb: Firmly committed to the surrealist aesthetic Bob Georgeson uses subversive, sometimes controversial, and often humorous ideas, images and themes to explore the intersection between reality and desire. From working mainly in photomontage in the past he is now increasingly exploring new technologies, in particular video art, and working primarily and collaboratively online in the public domain.

There will be a floor talk on Wednesday 6th March at 11am called: Art in the digital domain 

 

Adult themes and nudity

Sunk

I like this one that just seemed to evolve from one idea being explored and then another direction becoming apparent through chance encounters. w.out was active on the Archive circa 2004/5 which would make them one of the pioneers. What has happened since then I do not know, but if anyone does know, please let me know because I would be keen to explore new territories with them/him/her/it? And if you are interested in collaboration in the public domain please get in contact by emailing: surrealdada@gmail.com

You can get the HD and downloadable files here...http://archive.org/details/SunkPoem

12 months on...

Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo

I realized the other day that it has been a year since I started this blog. What started out originally as wanting a web presence for my art and thinking that a blog might be marginally more interesting than a static image repository has transformed my whole way of thinking about art and how I want mine to be displayed. With a growing dissatisfaction with exhibiting in the physical world I have learned that there is new world out there of like minded people all pushing the boundaries of not only their own knowledge and skills, but also developing new relationships and interactions for audiences to experience.

So, from small beginnings with no expectations, over 9000 pageviews, 1000 profile views, 130 posts, 10 videos, 882 video views on the Internet Archives and the creation of the anonymous waves Netlabel what am I going to do to celebrate this evolutionary and revelatory year? By having an exhibition in a gallery...What! I kid you not...More on this soon...

PS Thought the photo a nice metaphor for what's going on in my life...

coasts

This one differs from the previous mashups in that it is a meditative piece using my own footage, but again features the atmospheric soundscapes of emptywhale. It is also the first work to be featured on the new anonymous waves netlabel: http://archive.org/details/coasts

The netlabel is evolving into collaborative projects combining art, music, poetry et al by creators who believe in the altruistic if not subversive nature of working in the public domain, and who have the desire to learn, expand and develop creative pursuits and products that present a unique experience for not only themselves but the audience. More on this soon...and if you want to be involved contact us: surrealdada@gmail.com

anonymous waves - new headquarters now open!

 

We are proud to open our new headquarters at 169 Carp Street in Bega. Opening hours are 10am to 4pm Monday to Friday. Homeless persons shelter operates from 7pm until 7am seven days a week. Feel free to drop in and meet the friendly staff. Take a seat at reception and someone will saw you shortly...experience free art, free music, free advice and freedom..

emptywhale and anonymous waves - a collaboration (of sorts)

For the HD version and downloadable files go here...

Apologia: This one represents the closest I (we?) have come to online collaboration, and the first video where I actively tried to work in with the music in terms of the atmosphere it creates, without wishing of course to make a music video per se. Art always comes first! In discussions with emptywhale about process we agree that once a creation is in the public domain one relinquishes control over how it might be used other than the Creative Commons licensing that stipulates it is not to be used for commercial gain, and acknowledges the original source. We agree that collaboration can lead to opening new doors that might not have previously been considered or explored. And there is no approval process in place, although in making this I have been very conscious of what emptywhale will think. Our desire for approval from others is a very strong emotion! The start point is mutual admiration for each other's creativity, and the desire to learn...

So, what exists remains...

anonymous waves comes from a line in the poem "Anecdote" penned by Francis Picabia in 1918. It reads:

You see, I am crazy to imagine it
I am a man with nimble fingers
Who wants to cut the threads of old pains
False folds in my anxious brain
History in arabesques memories
I am only happy on the open sea
Where one goes further
On anonymous waves.

I had done an earlier interactive visual poem with anonymous waves as it's title but have now decided to make this my new pseudonym, and the launch of an umbrella for new projects, including new media, public domain activities, online collaborations, interventions, the creation of a Netlabel and the gradual archiving and replacement of this blog. Time to move on...

Leg Show

Been working on another video lately using soundscapes by emptywhale but this one sort of popped out of the blue yesterday using some older footage that had remained dormant until now...

That Grey Place We Go

Dark ambient outfit emptywhale have just released the second album 'That Grey Place We Go'. You can download it for free (yes, that's right folks, for free!) from the Haze netlabel website here, or if you prefer The Internet Archives here...

A brilliant follow up to 'fearscapes'...six delicious soundscapes of meditative magic that suggest that the 'Grey Place' is not so much a destination but a metaphor for the world we inhabit. Highly recommended if you like your music atmospheric and thoughtful, and with a hint of self-deprecation thrown in to keep you sane...maybe...

emptywhale

emptywhale is a dark ambient outfit from the UK that formed in 2011. The above is the cover to the first album, released into the public domain by the independent and non-commercial netlabel Haze, which is based in Belarus. Haze specialises in experimental, eclectic and avant-garde music...

I came across emptywhale by a chance encounter on the Internet Archives. I had been searching for a soundtrack for a film I had visualised but not yet made. After what seemed like hours of sifting through some pretty weird and wonderful stuff, there was something about the name, title and cover art that drew me to start listening to the tracks. And what a pleasant encounter it has turned out to be. I was particularly drawn to the track 'Suburbs' which I ended up using in the film 'The Lunar Machine', or maybe I should say it used me, for, rather than finding a soundtrack that fitted with existing footage, the soundtrack ended up determining the feel, sequence and continuity of the film. It was a fascinating (to me at least) exercise in process because there was no attempt on my part to 'visualise' the music, nor obviously any attempt by emptywhale to 'auralise' the visuals. It just fitted the feel I had wanted to achieve...an uneasy feeling that all is not quite right...

So, I was more than pleasantly surprised to get an email from emptywhale last weekend saying they liked what I had done with 'Suburbs', and to be privileged to a sneak preview of the new album due out in a few weeks time. We also had some discussion about processes, working in the public domain and possible future collaboration. I am not an expert on the dark ambient genre, but I find these sonic journeys full of humanistic concern for the environment and direction of society. As I wrote to Chris, listening to his music, or soundscapes as he calls them, took me to places that I had never been before. A whole new door has opened for me, and I'm excited! I'm steppin' through!

You can download or stream 'fearscapes' by clicking here...

eye candy

This one is a mashup of footage of 60's glamour model Candy Earle and a documentary about mapping in Australia. Sourced from the Internet Archives (of course). It is the first film I have made using Adobe Premiere Elements (thanks Paulo).

Maud d'Orby by Jean Agelou

Jean Agelou was a Parisian photographer that produced 'risque' postcards around 1900-1917. I came across his work while researching my earlier post on vintage erotic photography. He remains a little unusual in that most of his existing photographs features favoured model 'Fernande'. This is not her...

Maud d'Orby was an operatic soprano that did a few sessions with Agelou. Opera is my least favourite form of music, but if there were more Mauds around I might take an interest...

Thanks to Wikimedia Commons...

People Like Us

People Like Us, video still from The Sound Of The End Of Music, 2010

I always enjoy discovering new things and often feel a kind of comfort when I find that someone has trod a similar path before me. One does not always follow a solitary road. Recently I had been thinking about how Bill Viola did his extreme slow motion videos, and realised that it was a relatively simple effect within the software. (Sorry Bill, I don't want to denigrate the obvious technical expertise that goes into what you do). I also discovered that Brian Eno had also been doing extreme slow motion stuff back in the 70's. And I made and posted a video earlier on this month with my own clunky low-res effort in slow mo.

Which brings me to Vicki Bennett aka People Like Us. Here's the blurb: Since 1991 Vicki has been an influential figure in the field of audio visual collage, through her innovative sampling and appropriating of found footage and archives. Using collage as her main form of expression, she creates audio recordings, A/V performances, films and radio shows that communicate a humorous, dark and often surreal view on life. These collages mix, manipulate and rework original sources from both the experimental and popular worlds of music, film and radio. People Like Us believe in open access to archives for creative use. In 2006 she was the first artist to be given unrestricted access to the entire BBC Archive. People Like Us have previously shown work at Tate Modern, The Barbican, Sydney Opera House, Pompidou Centre, Maxxi in Rome and Sonar, and performed radio sessions for John Peel and Mixing It. Her back catalogue is available for free download and hosted by UbuWeb.

Having written a few posts back about working in the public domain, and the reaction I get from people, it is great to come across Vicki's work and successes. She is a total inspiration, and reminds me of the quote from Max Ernst about the excitement of discovering collage and photomontage back in the early dada days. "It is something like the alchemy of the visual image. The miracle of total transfiguration of beings and objects with or without modification of their physical or anatomical appearance".

Art in the digital domain

Every now and then I feel the need to remind my son, who is 29 years old and knows everything, that it was old farts like me that invented and developed the Internet and WWW, and that the sophistication (and I dare say usefulness) of things like HTML, cascading style sheets, online relational databases etc, are far more interesting and likely to be remembered than the ability to be able to Tweet from your smartphone. Of course pronouncements such as this fall on deaf ears to the Me++ generation who, in an attempt to find relevance in a world where everything of interest has already been done, have formed the spatial ability to arrive at the conclusion that the universe began in 1980, and that anything prior to that is therefore irrelevant.

I mention this in relation to art. When people ask me what kind of art I do, and I respond that I work in photomedia, photomontage, video and predominantly online in the public domain, their eyes glaze over, the bottom lip starts twitching, and the ensuing silence seems interminable. Young artists just stare with incredulity that someone of my age can even mouth these words, while my peers mumble stuff about the tactile nature of art. Unless it hangs in a frame on the wall of a gallery then it can't be taken seriously. I understand their point, for many of them computers are things to be feared and used only under sufferance, and when it's a sunny day in paradise who wants to be inside anyway? And, there is always the question of money...

So, what is it and why do it? Just about every major gallery in the world has an online presence, in some case their entire collections are available, as well as research or commentary. Past criticism of online galleries has been image resolution. The Google Art Project aims to bring together high res pics from major collections. Wikipedia's Arts Portal is worth bookmarking, particularly for more detailed information about creative culture across the ages. In an earlier post I have featured UbuWeb, and I cannot reiterate enough how good this site is for anyone interested in 20th and 21st Century contemporary culture and the avant-garde. It continues to amaze and inspire with every visit...

For the artist two sites deserve mention. First Wikimedia Commons is a vast repository of public domain images, sound files and videos made available through the GNU and Creative Commons licences. And there is The Internet Archives, an equally if not more outstanding resource in the public domain that contains video,  live music, audio and texts. Many artists are now drawing on these resources, and some, like myself choose to work almost entirely within the public domain. Why? Exposure is  the answer. While it is nice to be  a legend in one's own backyard, ultimately not many people get to see your work, let alone participate in thoughts or discussion. Starting this blog and a new way of working this year I had no expectations of what might happen. Now, over 7000 page views, 800 looks at my profile, discussions with artists and organisations around the world later, to go back to the white cube with 20 visitors a day seems a little, well, quiet.

For me working in the public domain is exciting and challenging. I am always learning, or having to learn something new. This is rewarding because, unlike my son, I know very little.