The "Ode", from "For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon

Some binaural recordings from the time I went on holiday to Tokyo.  I stayed in Sangubashi from the 15th of December 2013 until the 14th of January 2014.   Recordings mostly done in and around Sangubashi, Yoyogi, Ueno, Meguro, and Shinjuki.  Recorded with DIY binaural mics and a Sony PCM-D50 sound recorder. 

11-Bird watchers at Yoyogi park

16-Meanwhile, in Meguro, some birds are spooked by a passing car

“My favourite Australian band, they have a raw Australian bush sound.”
- Brian Ritchie, Violet Femmes

After headlining the Forum and selling out consecutive Hi Fi shows in Melbourne, getting the coveted audience-approved Golden Boot at Meredith Music Festival, playing to inmates in a prison, touring the world and then having some redneck write a song about how they ruined Tamworth, in a lot of ways the band felt they accomplished more than they set out to do.

Then someone wrote a song.

The band reconvened to inhabit a studio space. More songs came quickly and they walked away from the desk with a new record and realisation that when they were writing, recording and putting on some of the finest live shows around, they were unstoppable.

That reinforcement is tattooed on record opener, lead single and title track, ‘Takes One To Know One’. It encaspsulates both a childish insult and a driving sound of classic Graveyard Train. Repeated listens of the entire LP reveals gems and oddities buried in a sublime, sometimes tortured marriage of country music, stoner rock, classic Graveyard gang vocals, haunting storytelling and the stellar musicianship that dyed-in-the-wool fans of the band have come to expect.

With their new record under their arm, and their own label, Black Hat Rackets, GT have paired up with revered European label Cargo Records to release the new record to a worldwide audience ahead of a national run of dates, dovetailing into a month-long European tour.

Graveyard Train - better than ever, shaking dust from the chains .

OUT NOW THROUGH - Black Hat Rackets
http://www.blackhatrackets.com/

WATCH LEAD SINGLE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-8J2GMRQRg

THE PARASITE

Applause!

Having a cup of coffee on my deck with the sounds of the birds. This is a binaural recording - best enjoyed with headphones / earbuds.

24May2014 Morning Coffee On Deck

Biebrza Marshes 23.5.2002
Returning from recording aquatic warblers at nightfall one evening I caught the faintest whisper of a pixie party happening somewhere out over the flood meadows. Surely not - an elusive great snipe lek, unknown to the official birding parties scavenging for rarities and spectacles? I approached cautiously to try to get a closer fix on its location - difficult in the vast undifferentiated expanse of low sedges and grasses, and the disappearing light. But it seemed to be in the vicinity of a small patch that appeared whiter in the gloom, maybe a colony of some lighter-coloured plant. I took a trig from some distant silhouetted landmarks and headed back to base over a mile away.

I discussed it with my local contact, who happened to own this land; sure enough this was an unknown lek and yes he was happy for me to have a go at recording it when conditions were good. For a while the wind blew. Then a few days later at the end of a hot afternoon, with the breeze dropping to negligible, I decided to go for it. I headed out a couple of hours before dusk to put the mics in place and got a disheartening shock when I flushed a few of the birds - early arrivals waiting for dusk. And no sign of my white patch. But there was an area with a concentration of dandelion stalks; so just maybe the whiter area had been the seed heads, now blown off in the last few days winds. So I set my mics up there, ran a 100m cable off to a peaty gulley and headed off to the river to wait for twilight.

I wasn’t sure what I’d find when I returned cautiously. Put on the headphones and wow, they were right there. They put on a good show - purely for my ears, as I couldn’t see them. But I was very happy. The mosquitoes were bad that balmy night, but I was well insulated. No blood donations.

Many thanks to Colin Bradshaw for use of his photo.


Great Snipe Lek

Recorded as Binaural but speaker playback works well also.
Recorded in a Returned & Services League (RSL) Club in Australia. Every evening club members & guests are asked to stop what they are doing, stand and observe silence as the Last Post is played followed by the "Ode". The Ode is the 4th stanza from Laurence Binyon's poem "For the Fallen". This mark of respect for fallen soldiers is observed by every RSL Club in the country. 

Australian R.S.L. - Last Post & "the Ode"

Recorded mid-2011 outside my home in Brisbane using a pair of Roland CS10-EM binaural mics plugged straight into a Sony PCM M-10


Rain & Thunder - Roland CS10-EM

Recorded mid 2011 at Neurum Creek in the D'aguilar National Park near Brisbane in Queensland, Australia.
Recorded just after Sunrise and a night of heavy rain.


Early Morning Forest after Rain

In October 2011 I was invited to participate in the 6th Annual Mamori Sound Project, a residency for composers and sound artists on Mamori Lake, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. The expedition is designed as an intensive immersion into the sonic environments of the rainforest and involves field work and theoretical workshops with a focus on creative field recording and the exploration of natural sound environments.

The Mamori Sound Project is conceived and directed by Francisco López, internationally recognised as one of the major figures of the sound art and experimental music scene. Unlike similar residencies, Lopez avoids a technical focus and directs the process towards the realisation of a collective project with the interaction of all participating composers. All these activities are organised in a daily schedule according to the changing rhythms and sonic environments of the rainforest.

The Amazon Jungle, commonly referred to as the lungs of the world, is the largest and most bio-diverse rainforest on earth. The ecosystem of Mamori Lake is a lowland tropical rainforest with lush vegetation and abundant wildlife. The rich diversity of insects and birdlife provide a constant soundscape, while the Amazon river dolphins and elusive howler monkeys add rich layers to this captivating sonic environment.

The journey to Mamori Lake was an adventure in itself, multiple boats and buses interspersed with heavy rainstorms and balancing acts with recording equipment. The intensive schedule meant we were often working until 2am and sometimes up at 4am to travel to another location for a dawn recording session. Combine this with intensive heat and malaria pills, and the days quickly began to blur together. Despite this, I can easily say this was one of the most pivotal experiences for me as a composer, not just in the incredible sound material I collected (over fifteen hours), but in my approach to listening and creatively responding to the natural environment.

I was particularly interested in recording the Amazon river dolphin, a creature with sophisticated echolocation that navigates the dark waters of the river with sound. This experience alone would be one of my most memorable recording sessions, sitting in small boats in the middle of the night with hydrophones draped over the edge listening intently to the enthralling soundscape of dolphins deep below. I distinctly remember sliding my headphones off and being just as captivated by the soundscape above the water; sparse silence broken by dolphins breaching and blowing water.

This field recording, and many more from the trip, is a perfectly orchestrated sonic experience, a sophisticated composition from the natural environment.

Field recording is an opportunity to open our ears to the infinite possibilities of sound and develop an acute auditory awareness of our sonic surroundings, which we often ignore in a visually dominant society. Just the simple process of listening to the natural environment can teach us so much about music and how to solve compositional problems. We have much to learn from the rhythms of the natural world and the Amazon is certainly a profound sonic experience like no other. 

This composition is the first sketch in a new series of works resulting from this field trip. It also sits within a larger research project exploring the creative possibilities of acoustic ecology. 

Central Amazon Biosphere Reserve: Mamori Lake

Early morning at The Gantry, day use area, Mount Mee, D'Aguilar National Park, Queensland.

Zoom F6, Clippy mic pair, spaced with baffles as shown in the photo.

Birds include: Eastern Whipbird, Golden Whistler, Pied Currawong, Torresian Crow (vocalisations, wingbeats, and footsteps on a tin roof), Lewin's Honeyeater, Crimson Rosella, Scrub Turkey (vocalisations and footsteps), Paradise Riflebird, Australian Magpie, and lots of little twittery things.

Mt Mee Dawn 2020-08-14

I think that as we grow & and fall into the repetition of work & routine our perception of the world vignettes and we loose our sense of wonder and amazement- at least, that's my experience.
Recording the sounds around me forces me to listen to my world objectively which I find reveals some of the inherent beauty in life.


Australian R.S.L. - Last Post & "the Ode"

Binaural Brisbane

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