[microsound-announce] murmerings ::: 2012.02 ::: birds, reflections, seasons

[. m u r m e r .]

murmerings 2012.02 ::: tartu, estonia

::: murmerings is an occasional update on the comings and goings of 
sound, radio and performance artist patrick mcginley, aka murmer ::: to 
be added to or removed from this mailing list drop a note to 
murmer at murmerings.com :::

my template for this occasional announcement mail still says 2010 on it, 
which means it's been an appallingly long time since i wrote anything to 
you. the website is horrifically out of date, many works need finishing, 
and i need a shave. i've been hermiting away here in tartu, 
concentrating a lot on building up framework, building a home, and 
building a studio. communication has been missing, however, although 
hopefully that will be changing in 2012.

things to tell you about now: two new murmer releases, several more 
upcoming, the new(ish) series of framework compilations, travel plans, 
and an estonian folk-music sideproject...

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::: lind, raud, aastaajad, 2cd on invisible birds :::

the long-in-the-making double cd with yannick dauby and john grzinich 
has now been released on the invisible birds label, and copies are 
available directly from me, from the label, or from your favorite 
retailer. more info and sound samples on the label's site:

http://invisiblebirds.org/catalogue/ib005.html

the release features one disc of yannick's own field recordings from his 
time here in estonia of birds and found metal structures, and one disc 
of compositions my john and me (two each) using our own recordings and 
electronic sounds provided by yannick. here are some words from 
yannick's liner notes:

"Four years later, I listen back to my recordings, and the transparent 
light of the Baltic Spring is still vivid. What attracted me in Estonia 
were the accounts of my friends, the quality of silence, the colours of 
the seasons, the absence of frontier between day and night, the beauty 
of the language. Right now I can barely imagine that such place exists: 
I am living in the most opposite environment, in a noisy and crowded 
city, on a sub-tropical island filled with greenness all year long. 
Estonia was just like a wide open mental space. I came too late to 
really observe the traces of soviet activities, the country was slowly 
transforming. In the places I visited, the strongest presences were 
those of the birds of June, and the metal structures vibrating under the 
wind.

Patrick was the one who convinced me to visit this inspiring territory, 
his eyes and smiles and moustaches were all telling me to go and listen 
and watch. John was my guide in this area: not only driving me around 
but introducing his most precious locations, in which he becomes an 
instrument for the landscape. Four years later, following the enthusiasm 
of Invisible Birds, Diane and Matthew, the publication of my field 
recordings was a pretext to invite John and Patrick to make me listen to 
their subjective seasons of Estonia." -Yannick Dauby, 16.05.2011

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::: specular reflection (liquid solid redux 2000-2010), mini-cdr on 
taâlem :::

another work long in the making - again, i have copies, or you can get 
them directly from taâlem. info and sounds:

http://www.taalem.com/alm82.htm

from the liner notes: "liquid solid was originally composed in 2000, 
released by absurd records on the album definition in 2003. the source 
recordings were made on minidisc and reworked on an old cassette 
4-track. in 2010, as a sort of game, or perhaps exercise in 
concentration, i decided to recreate the piece as closely as possible 
using the original source material and the computer techniques i hadn't 
had 10 years previous. this is the result. this piece is dedicated to 
gordon."

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::: framework seasonal, fundraising compilations :::

since i last wrote framework has expanded greatly, and is now 
broadcasting on 7 radio stations around the world, the most recent 
addition being the great radio marš in maribor, slovenia. of course, we 
are always interested in being able to broadcast in new places, so if 
you know of a radio station that might be interested in adding the 
program to its schedule, please put us in touch!

meanwhile, in the autumn of last year the new series of framework radio 
fundraising compilations, framework seasonal, finally saw the light of 
day. these will be released 2 to 4 times a year, and will feature new 
and unreleased works from the field recording community, donated by 
their creators in support of framework. they are packaged in locally 
printed sleeves made of locally produced paper, and are slow burned onto 
the highest quality taiyo yuden cdrs. they are available only directly 
from framework in exchange for a donation in support of the program.

the first edition, autumn 2011, features new works from artists such as 
marc behrens, lee patterson, ernst karel, and many more. more 
information on the series and the first edition here:

http://www.frameworkradio.net/seasonal
http://www.frameworkradio.net/seasonal/autumn2011

please show your support for framework radio and donate!

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::: ütsiotsõ cd release :::

also released this past year is the great first album by my good 
friends, the estonian traditional vocal group ütsiotsõ. for this 
document they group and their record label decided that they preferred 
the idea of recording their songs in real spaces, the kinds of spaces in 
which the songs may originally have been sung or which had inspired 
their writing, to the idea of recording them in a studio, so they 
invited me to join the project. together we traveled around southern 
estonia, recording in forests, old meeting halls, swamps, cabins, 
churches, capturing real acoustics and the natural resonances of these 
ancient songs. they were even keen to let me include a few tracks of 
field recordings made during our travels in the final master. more 
information (in estonian) and some sounds on the label's website here:

http://hakihely.blogspot.com

the album is available directly from me, or is now available in the u.s. 
(along, most likely, with everything else in this mail) from the great 
aquarius records:

http://www.aquariusrecords.org

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::: and furthermore :::

after having no new releases since 2008's revenant:topolo cd (aside from 
my contribution to the russian-produced range compilation last year) 
this seems like a lot already, but there's more to come this year: a 
double cd on the malaysian herbal international label, and another 
release on jim hayne's great helen scarsdale agency in san francisco. 
i'm also looking for a home for another murmer work-in-progress, and am 
interested in finding more ways to disseminate work from the 
revenant:sound project. in you know a publisher that might be interested 
in either of these projects please let me know!

this year should see travels to slovenia, croatia, belgium, poland, the 
u.s. and taiwan, as well as some new projects here in estonia and 
further work with MoKS centre for art and social practice 
(http://moks.ee). also a new website and some stronger channels for 
communication. so you'll be hearing more from me soon!

best,
patrick

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