the forest, the future

i drove through the old forests of the south west on my way to talk to some people about a renewable energy project on thursday.

through a cloud of summer drizzle, out the window at 120 km/h, i saw a camp on the edge of the forest protesting against logging.

this made me question how the current global economic downturn is going to effect the big environmental issues ; climate change and sustainablility. these two issues are going to have a bigger impact on world economy than the current credit crisis, yet I am hearing business people say that right now survival is more important than green spending. its pretty obvious we need a shift in thinking. we can have both if we really thinnk about it.

i hope climate change and sustainability dont get pushed to one side this year. I like Obama's idea of starting a green energy sector, why cant Australia do the same?

current listening ; taylor deupree - Live:Mapping ; Amplifier Machine - Her mouth is an outlaw ; Morton Feldman - For Bunita Marcus

2008 in review

with the end of 2008 looming i thought i would post my thoughts on the year.

2008 saw a year of new creative directions for me. I spent a lot of time recording new pieces that will hopefully be released in 2009. the recordings feature greg taw and adam trainer on a variety of different instruments. Both Greg and Adams influence has been huge on me, they have made me turn my attention away from DSP for a while to focus on acoustic sounds. I feel as if I have come full circle, back to where it all started - guitar!

the best live show i did all year was at the bakery on Oct 29. Greg and I played a set that was from a performance perspective perfect - it felt like it went for 5 minutes but in reality it was 45 mins - transcendence...those sorts of performances dont happen often - lets hope that 2009 brings more moments like this.

the best live gigs i saw were : Oren Ambarchi, Lawrence English and Pivot. I saw lots of young musicians from Perth doing a lot of interesting new music. Cameron Rothenbury and Craig Mchillney are the stand outs for me.

the best releases of the year - Koen Holtkamp - Field Rituals, Alexander Wendt - Unreleased Music for Visualisers, Jasper Leyland - Carbon Series Vol 5, Lawrence English - kiri no oto, Oren Ambarchi - Destinationless Desire.

discoveries of the year - the music of Morton Feldman, painting, and mountain biking. returning to surfing after 10 years was also a major revelation.


so to 2009 :

Budhism, Lumenode, new records, positive government action on climate change and poverty guitars and more time outdoors.

hope you all have a safe and healthy 2009.

clouds

I took this photo the other day at sunset from my backyard using the camera on my phone. i like the grainy texture. it was nice to be at home and to see the day turn to night.

touch the earth lightly

i built a compost heap in our backyard from some old pallets and wooden stakes. its inspired by Nina Tolstrup and my grandads organic ethos. hope to get some good mulch out of it for our garden and whilst at the same time doing our bit to stop green waste going to landfill.

Fields

tonight i was driving to the city through the fields. i realised that spring is coming... the smell, the colours waking us up from the winter. i hope the spring can unleash a burst of creativity energy and clarity of thought.

greg taw and i start work on our new record/s this weekend. will post some photos of the rcording process over the next few weeks.

today I downloaded a copy of koen holtkamps new record, field rituals. koen runs apestaartje and is half of mountains. field rituals is his first solo record. i was listening to it whilst driving in the fields, easily the best record i have heard in a long time. please check it out.

Spartak Support

next wednesday, 24 september 2008, i will be playing at hyde park hotel supporting canberra band spartak. also on the bill is ghost of 29 megacycles.

spartak have a new record out - tales from the colony room. its out on hellosquare recordings and has been getting a fair bit of airplay on perths rtrfm.

greg taw will be joining me again for this show and i will return the favour by playing guitar/percussion during the ghosts set.

studio mama

earlier this year dwell magazine featured nina tolstrup's design firm studio mama. her designs have been inspiring, especially her re-purposing of old pallets into chairs and lamps. you can download the simple instructions are make these objects yourself.

since reading the dwell article, i have been inspired by Ninas approach to design. hopefully some this is showing up in my new works. i like the openness and homespum feel, its far removed from the mass produced designs that we are constantly bombarded with.

see

www.studiomama.com