Sunseastar “Portland symphony”
October 7, 2010
More Sunseastar video tracks from the album ‘Fjaerland’
Sunseastar ‘Saccades’
September 28, 2010
Video from the Sunseastar album ‘Fjaerland’
The grand erector
November 10, 2008
Bit late now because it’s sold out – but, Andy Wilson’s (Sunseastar etc) latest audio product is ‘The Grand Erector’ a fancy limited edition (100), 12″ vinyl, ten page booklet type thing which also includes six audio tracks of mixes, distortions and mangling of sounds contributed by members of the Faust mailing list. Can’t vouch for the music as i haven’t heard any of it and don’t have vinyl reading technology – but it probably sounds a bit like this:
The Grand Erector – “Brasov Monkeys”
This and many other ‘fascinating’ releases are available on the Beta Lactam Rrring website – soon with free MP3 downloads!
A sunseatar review
December 14, 2007
Via ‘the Sound Projector’ site. Not exactly favorable but i see what he’s getting at. Being accused of being ‘Boring and tidy’ is a first. Nevertheless, thanks ed.
sunseastar offer a very artistic set of field recordings on their Fjærland CD. The idea is apparently something to do with creating musique concrète out of genuinely chaotic processes found in nature, such as ‘insects moving through grass’. In this endeavour they hope to emulate (or perhaps even go one better than) Xenakis, who used stochastic processes to construct his music. The duo of Andy Wilson (author of the excellent book about Faust) and Simon Crab, both of whom have been associated with Bourbonese Qualk, accordingly travelled to various exciting locations over the last two years, documented what they may, and brought back these eight cuts. All the sounds we hear have been extensively reworked, of course. What’s rather worrying so far that (a) the chosen locations include all the usual suspects already used by everyone from Chris Watson to Disinformation – a pebble beach, glaciers in Norway, a military testing ground, and a nuclear reactor; and (b) how boring and tidy the music sounds, despite their avowed interest in the exciting powers of ‘chaos’. Well, score one for the insects! Still, there is clearly intelligence and research operating here, so I will persevere.
‘Fjærland’-sunseastar CD
November 22, 2007
Today sunseastar release their first record ‘Fjærland’ – the result of a years worth of location recording and intensive audio processing by Andy Wilson and myself. The fruits of this anachronistic endeavor can be can be purchased from Dirter Promotions. More details on the sunseastar website
Excerpt from the sleevenotes
“Crab and I had worked together in his group Bourbonese Qualk before starting sunseastar as a separate project with its own agenda. The idea was inspired by listening to Xenakis and thinking about a physicists’ joke about how uncanny it is that nature can solve differential equations instantaneously. The stochastic processes Xenakis uses to construct his music are all around us anyway. From this thought came the idea of taking a short cut around the hard work Xenakis had to do, and making musique concrete based directly on the sound of chaotic processes – the sound of chains rattling, of rain falling, of a field of sheep sounding their bells together, of the sea crashing on the shore, of insects moving through grass.”
Sounds from memory #1: The MRI Scan
November 19, 2007
The intention of these series of posts is to document sounds that have remained in memory. Not sounds that are particularly pleasant or trigger ‘Proustian Resonance’ but unique sounds that once heard are never forgotten (therefore impossible to reproduce or record). If i get enough – and please add your own – i’ll organise them into a top ten ‘mnemaudio’ chart.
The MRI Scan
Andy (Wilson) and I regularly cite the MRI scanning machine as a prime influence on sunseastar’s music having both been fortunate enough to witness the machines unique timbre up close (…are sunseastar the only group where all members have had brain scan?). The Magnetic Resonance Image Scanner is a medical device used to generate images of the soft tissues of the brain for the diagnosis of illnesses. The unfortunate patient is strapped to a horizontal bed which is introduced slowly into the small cavity of a large metal wheel – a very claustrophobic and alarming experience – you are allowed a view of your feet via a mirror near your head but apart from that you can see nothing. The staff switch the machine on and leave the room with unsettling haste.
The sounds come in a series of about six sequences ( different angles of the scanning device through the head?) of a few minutes each over a total of thirty minutes (in my case). The noise is very impressive due to it’s volume and unexpectedness – It’s very loud and very close and, because you are strapped in to a small space, there’s no way to get away from it:
“Due to the construction of MRI scanners, they are potentially unpleasant to lie in. The part of the body being imaged needs to lie at the center of the magnet (which is often a long, narrow tube). Because scan times may be long (perhaps one hour), people with even mild claustrophobia are often unable to tolerate an MRI scan without management.”
The noise can be described as a high volume grating mechanical ‘GRRRR’ of regular but varying tone on each pass. If this sound came from any other machine it would be an indication that it was about to fail with catastrophic and lethal effect – which is quite alarming considering it is inches from your unprotected face:
“Acoustic noise: Loud noises and vibrations are produced by forces resulting from rapidly switched magnetic gradients interacting with the main magnetic field, in turn causing minute expansions and contractions of the coil itself. This is most marked with high-field machines and rapid-imaging techniques in which sound intensity can reach 130 dB – equivalent to a jet engine at take-off.”
(not) Faust, (not) sunseastar…
November 13, 2007
Last Tuesday I was on the Eurostar heading south to Bruxelles when i was supposed to have been on stage with Andy Wilson as part of sunseastar’s third live outing…which was just as well as it turns out.
Jean-Hervé Peron of Faust (or, NotFaust) was headlining the night but had been deserted by his band. His solution was to imperiously co-opt the support acts into an ad hoc backing group, briefed just before the gig started with precise musical instructions (“in the second part make the sound of an exploding star…”) as a background for his “old hippy songs” (not my description) . At that point i would have gone home. Andy, who is made of sterner stuff saw the set out and said that some of it was “not that bad”.
This is not Faust…
October 23, 2007
The Luminaire presents
ART-ERRORIST / THIS IS NOT FAUST
+ sunseastar
+ DJ Tango-Mango
Doors 7.30
£7 via WeGotTickets | £8 door
Jean-Hervé Peron of Faust, featuring Jean-Hervé Peron and Geraldine Swayne [also of …bender], with sunseastar [Dield Recordings] and DJ Tango-Mango of the Komische Club / Drones Club star in this evening of experimental noise and organic, avant-drone.
“What a night! Totally insane evening beginning with a screening .. then delivering a through extrapolation of what an experimental noise band should sound like. They do not get bogged down in drone, or carried away with electronics. It is the mix of organic sounds and improvised music and theatrics that makes it make sense. Utilizing steel bars, a giant buzz saw blade, a chain saw, an oil drum, a chainsaw, stand up drums, a drill, an angle grinder, a female accordion player and a local knife wielding/sharpening chef. What more do you want?”
As a founder member of Faust, Jean-Hervé Peron was instrumental in doing nothing less than changing the face of rock music.
“Anyone who’s loved the last half-decade’s re-invention of the guitar (Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine et al.) will instantly recognise Faust as a prime ancestor of ‘our’ music. “Faust are essential, not just as a history lesson, but as a living legacy and as a reproach to an underachieving age.” [Melody Maker]
As sunseastar, members of RBE and Bourbonese Qualk, Simon Crab and Andy Wilson have been making electronic music for over 25 years. In their incarnation as sunseastar they create music from computer processed location recordings. sunseastar will release their first album, ‘Fjaerland’, later this year, based on recordings made in Norway and the UK.
DJing is DJ Tango-Mango of The Komische Club and Drones Club. For the last 11 years, the Kosmische Club has established itself as a place to hear some of the most forward-thinking, truly independent and downright amazing music ever made. Cherished by the open-minded, loved by the chronically energetic, and only occasionally visited by old men with beards, the Kosmische club’s remit slowly began to include the best danceable, experimental music, non-chin-strokey electronica, and classic underground tracks.
Another Gig: Sunseastar November 6th 2007
October 10, 2007
Sunseastar at the Drones Club, London. 29-10-2007
art-errorist Jean-Herve Peron (Faust) will play The Luminaire, London on 6th Nov (with Geraldine and James & others, tbc). Support will be from terribly good-looking electro-acousmatic-location pod sunseastar
The Luminaire. 311 High Road, Kilburn. London. NW6 7JR
http://www.theluminaire.co.uk/
tickets will (eventually) be on sale from WeGotTickets:
http://www.wegottickets.com/location/332
stalker 