D​​​ō​​​ch​​​ū​​​ki: Recordings from a Pair of Bloodied Socks - 4/12/24

 

I had always intended to return to Japan after hiking the Tokaido: It's a truly magical country and I enjoyed my adventure so much I planned to hike the other four 'Gokaido' routes leading from Tokyo as part of a series of albums. The question was when it might happen - money is an obvious concern (especially when I gave up on forging a career in the arts) and if I go too frequently I risk becoming "that guy who just records hikes in Japan" like I'm some weeaboo with no other ideas (although, admittedly, that might still be the case). Eventually, I got a sort of sign which motivated me to double down on research (I've continued to read Japanese travel literature ever since my Tokaido trip) and get back over there.

The recordings from my first album 'Dochuki: Recordings from a Soggy Sleeping Bag' have been used in other people's creative projects several times - I'm not unused to that request now. But one day I received an email from a musician I've previously collaborated with who made the same request due specifically to a supposed thematic connection to his project inspired by Matsuo Basho's travel writing. I responded by pointing out that those recordings had been kind of overused by now and instead suggested I make similar recordings following Basho's actual route and recording the sounds and soundscapes he describes in his diary. He never really got back to me about that idea which was somewhat disheartening but I figured if people were going to keep asking to use my recordings from Japan (noone ever asks about my other recordings for some reason) I might as well restock with new material.

So here we are with another album of recordings of an historic Japanese road, but the finished product is a lot shorter than previously: Soggy Sleeping Bag consisted of 55 recordings spanning 53 minutes whereas 'Bloodied Socks' is almost half that length with only 16 tracks (would have been 71 tracks if I had maintained the same rules as last time). In short, a major flaw of 'Soggy Sleeping Bag' is that after having adhered to a strict overarching form - one recording for each post station - it is fair to say that not every track is particularly remarkable. Even though I had found quotes and references to cover the entire route - and made many more recordings than the ones presented here - I didn't particularly care to retread old sonic ground; I got my fill of birds, rivers, and the wind through trees last time. Of course, some of that stuff is still in there, it's just not fucking 71 tracks of the shite. Basically, it is my hope that this release is a bit more killer and less filler while still maintaining the spirit of the original concept.

I have no current plans to produce a physical edition of this album (although if any label is interested do get in touch).

Hurstpierpoint - 13/6/23

Recorded in three days while dogsitting in the countryside.

Chase Lynn: zither, recordings, bells.
Andy Tuersley: guitar, bells, zither, electronics, art.

Dockside - 2/3/22

My day job is as a dock worker which involves operating some heavy machinery to allow boats of all sizes in and out. These machines make some cool sounds, so I recorded some of them.

'Bridgelift Blue' was recorded with a Rode nt4 from inside a single-leaf bascule bridge, 'Without Warning' was recorded with a pair of DPA 4060s dangled down into the inner body of one of the sluices of the lock. Both recordings have been substantially abridged.

Photograph by my colleague Robbie Stuart (who, incidentally, also operated the gates and sluices while I was recording - I can't recall who lifted the bridge).

Water Wheel - 27/7/20

 

This is my contribution to Audio Obscura's '20x20 Project' where every twenty days a new micro-album of twenty tracks - each of which are twenty seconds long - is released.

Water Wheel consists of fragments from improvisations on a variety of Western fretless zithers. I've been an improviser for years but have always considered that practice more suitable for live performance rather than a recorded album. I also usually improvise with others rather than by myself. These factors - as well as the unique theme and the limitations it imposes - made this project quite an interesting experiment.

Thank you Neil (https://audioobscura.bandcamp.com/) for inviting me to participate, and David (dbarrington.com) for the gorgeous artwork.

Other releases from the project can be found at 20x20project.bandcamp.com

Offkuts - 25/5/20

I spent a month in Seoul with the aims of producing a short ethnographic documentary about Korean shamanism. The project has since been shelved due to a number of reasons and, though the footage may materialise in some fashion eventually, I didn't want the entire trip to have gone to waste.

These recordings were made during a private 'kut' ceremony that was held to help the patron's relationship with her boyfriend. The noisy drumming is designed to attract good spirits while simultaneously frightening away less desirable ones. 'Muga' are sang as entertainment for the spirits but are not considered to have any more spiritual or religious value than other songs; there is no canonical repertoire and the shamans and/or gods are free to sing whatever they'd like.

Flat B - 30/4/20

During the coronavirus lockdown I wasn't able to go out and make recordings or play music with others, so I went back to making noisy ambient sound collages like I did when I first started experimenting with music.

There is one track for every room of my flat, composed entirely of objects found in it - musical or otherwise.

Souvenirs - 22/7/19

After a year of producing my podcast 'Field Trips', I found myself with over four hours of material of varying quality. I can't reasonably expect anyone to listen to all of that, so this album is meant as a "best of" compilation - my favourite recordings from the series.

Whereas previous projects of mine have been more thematically consistent with a pre-planned concept to work from, with this album I instead adopted a more curatorial mindset, the results of which I found quite interesting. There's no overarching theme here, but I do recognise an aesthetic continuity or "style" in the recordings I've selected. It's not something I had previously been consciously aware of, but I seem to gravitate to crowded places with a more explicitly musical element to them, or otherwise I enjoy quieter places by the water. There's also less emphasis on ambiences and more of a focus on scenes, events, happenings, etc. - moments with a bit more of a narrative to follow.

The main benefit to this process is that the recordings haven't been in any way restricted or forced by any concept: Taking my album Dochuki for comparison, while hiking along the Tokaido road I would sometimes not find anything of interest to record but still had to make a recording for the sake of thematic consistency (one track for each post-station on the road), but sometimes I also came across several interesting sounds/capes in the same area but had to pick only one for the same reason. As a result I have mixed thoughts on that album: On the one hand it contains some of my best recordings, on the other hand there are some dull segments. I don't feel the same way about this album - The recordings may be arbitrary, but what I hope is that a higher standard is maintained throughout in regards to both technical quality as well as substance.