two archive releases:
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
this remarkable public building was, for a time, derelict and on the verge of being demolished. A team of dedicated volunteers and fundraisers have, along with all the other activities that now take place there, given back to the nation a remarkable listening lens.
every building has its own voice, to which is added chorales of the locale in which it sits. I often spend long periods of time listening to buildings and think of it as a privilege and a rare chance to spend time allowing their voices to become fully audible to me. However, asking others to do this at the same time is, I have to admit, often a big ask. We as a species are happy to sit quietly watching something - a view, a picture, a tv or cinema screen, but to sit and listen, paying as much attention to the audible as we do to the visual in our daily lives is something that remains a challenge or a puzzling idea for lots of people.
in the afternoon our small group were free to explore the entire building, listening to it with our ears and with various microphones and devices. During the afternoon break myself & Rae made a recording with small omni microphones in one of the pool sections (tracks 1 & 3), this included playing back into the space a geophone recoding made earlier. In the evening we invited the public to come and listen to this remarkable space (tracks 2 & 4). Some asked what we were listening to or what for ? most expressed surprise at how much they enjoyed the experience even when they perceived that ‘nothing’ was actually being played in the space. That, it seems to me, was a good outcome indeed.
- jez riley french
tracks 1,2,4,7,8,11: instrument
from the hundreds of pieces for guitar, cello, piano, analogue synthesiser, zithers and other non conventional instruments, these pieces (recorded between 1990 & 2006) focus on work that sits at a distance from my other creative output.
tracks 3,9,10: clear input pieces
i began using clear input methods as a sole improvisatory element in the early 1990‘s and continued experimenting with the technique until the early 2000‘s. similar to ‘no-input’ this involves using no conventional instruments but rather feeding the output of a device, in my case a guitar effects rack, into the input, creating a feedback loop that is then manipulated by using the same devices parameters only.
the numbering system halts in 2006 at piece number 640, recorded in 2004.
tracks 5,12 : field
early field recordings archives will feature on future releases (perhaps). these two pieces represent a meeting point between various music techniques i have used in the past and field recording.
track 6: tape / wax | collage
much of my tape archive is on reel-to-reel tape and yet to be archived. these pieces, again from the 1990’s as far as I can tell, were recorded using cassette tape sources, loops, electronics and turntable.
all tracks have been taken from cdr archives or the original tape / minidisc source.
perhaps only loosely connected to what i was doing with my other creative interests at the time and since, these tracks represent something tangible - an acceptance of process and exploration
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Monday, August 12, 2013
digital reissue of out of print releases, inc. from the 8cm cd reviewed in The Wire:
review from 'The Wire' (December 2008 issue):
'two pieces comprising untreated field recordings of Yorkshire waterways, recorded with the composer's self built hydrophones. He insists that it's not the technical perfection of a location recording that he's after, but a sense of emotional interaction with the landscape. That's not to say that he's slapdash with his methods - both tracks have a fabulously evocative tactile quality that clearly demonstrates the composer's attention to, and delight in the most minute details of sound. The result of such open-hearted diligence is a brief, captivating mini-cd, beautifully packaged (Richard Skelton's work comes to mind), and which reminds us that listening is the most important part of composition' - Keith Keith Moliné
Friday, August 2, 2013
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Saturday, March 2, 2013
now available for free / donate download:
a quiet position - wired lab
this collection of pieces stems from a workshop delivered at the Wired Lab by Jez riley French in September 2012. Those who attended (+ a few other artists with connections to the site) were invited to submit tracks representing discoveries made.
In addition, Jez created one of his ‘scores for listening’ for the Wired Lab and this is reproduced in the pdf artwork.
Chris Watson kindly also submitted a track capturing aspects of ‘rolling stock’, one of the projects that Sarah Last & Dave Burraston of The Wired Lab curate away from the main Wired Lab site.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
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new release:
egcd043
movere (estonia) | jez riley french
a residency at Moks in rural Estonia during spring 2009 came at a time where my thoughts about improvising with field recordings and methods of composition where in flux. they always are of course, but it’s fair to say that during 2009 my work was moving in a series of different directions.
. the simplicity and clarity of placing unprocessed single recordings within durational frames
. the continuing power of hidden sonic elements to create their own compositions
. the energy of textural intuitive playing . the quietude of audible silence
. the stillness of movement contained with photography, for scores and more
some recordings, like those in my ‘instamatic’ series, are immediate and work as documents of listening. others take time and drift in and out of ones view. it is some of these later recordings that form the basis of this new release. they have taken time to appear, time to ‘fit’ and time to be fully formed.
motet: from the latin movere, ("to move"), describing the movement of different voices against one another
movere (estonia) begins a new series of works, centered around the word ‘movere’, that focus on ways that field recordings, including those of in-situ responses, act as choral musics - voices of places, objects and actions working with and against one another towards a, still intuitive, compositional line.
movere (estonia) is released on february 11th as a limited edition taiyo yudon professional cd-r, mounted on A5 recycled card.
3 short extracts from the three 'motets' on the disc can be heard here:
extract from a longer interview by Sabine Verdely:
SV: I read your words about this release and new series of works and I hear in the pieces that they are not as subtle, in a normal meaning of the word, as I expected. There is more density and impact. Can you talk about this ?
JrF: yes, I understand what you mean. I'm working on some more 'movere' works that are very subtle - a step closer to quietude than, say, the 'audible silence' pieces. However the pieces on this release are a kind of cleansing, a way to say that something from the time of their origin was started and has a kind of trailing light that is still visible in the present.
SV: Is it music of a kind that you don't perform now ?
JrF: hmmm, well, live I always perform intuitively so its impossible really to say what is going to happen. I think though that some of the grain in these pieces, especially the third motet which is the earliest, represents an approach to intuitive composition that I was questioning and, in some ways, I have other questions now.
SV: I think I am not alone when saying that I think of your work as always being quiet. I am not talking about volume with this. This release is more like the cd you made with Hankil Ryu, yes ?
JrF: well, both that cd (birdcage wallpaper) and the pieces on this one are quite close in terms of when they were recorded or begun, so yes, i'm sure there are some connections, though on the cd with Hankil I am actually playing very quiet sounds.
SV: I know when you are playing concerts you have used the salt a lot for a long time and also paper, but here you make with them a different type of sounds.
JrF: yes, I think I agree with that. Oddly, I was in rural Estonia and it was very quiet and secluded there. It was unusual for louder sounds or approaches to appear when I was recording. On the second motet though there is a very quiet sound, of fingers, which whilst quite loud volume wise, is actually a very subtle sound. I had the microphones very close to my fingers and so this is perhaps one place where its possible to hear quietness even in something close to the ears so to speak.
SV: I am thinking a lot when I am listening to this cd. I find that some parts are a surprise to me. Did you aim for this ?
JrF: no, not at all. I simply make the music that I like or that seems to arrive. I left these particular recordings alone for a long time. I didn't even have them waiting for a possible release. In fact I was working on another set of pieces and then I decided to listen again to the work from Estonia and I found that the first and third motet now felt 'right' for a release. The second motet was not complete - its actually two recordings and for a long time I didn't know how to connect them. I often find that things find their place in ways that simply just arrive.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Jez riley French - 'instamatic: czech republic'
eg042
6 pieces, recorded during 2 different trips to the czech republic, featuring conventional and contact microphones & listening glasses.
available as a digital download only - free or donate if you would like to contribute - profits will go towards future releases by other artists. thanks.
all engraved glass and . point engraved digital download releases have been re-priced to £4.99 (for standard releases) or free / donate (for archive and a quiet position releases). This decision comes as a result of extensive research and seeking the opinions of folks worldwide - thanks for the input ! all profits go towards future releases....
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