C÷M (which includes me as C & https://soundcloud.com/allopenelectrics as M) performed live shows as part of the Greater Manchester Fringe Festival in September 2021 (at the Empty Space, Salford). 

Further details and videos : https://craigwinstanley.online/from-where-to-here/

Versions of the songs included in this playlist were performed, not always exactly as they sound here...better!

For a review of the show, see https://thegmreviewer.com/2021/09/18/c-div-m-from-where-to-here/

From Where? to Here

The music was composed to accompany a video made from collages of photographs, creating striking alien landscapes.
Download from: https://craigwinstanley.bandcamp.com/track/sunrises
Video: https://youtu.be/W5xSth6-j50
Live version: https://youtu.be/tf89UmzgRF0

Sunrises

Not so much shanty as ranty...

Hark, the roar of the silenced boys
Filling the air with deafening noise
Hark, the cancelled women complain
Again and again and again and again

Random bores and media whores
Bravely fighting phantom wars
Bravely battling for billionaires
Brave generals in brave armchairs
Bravely signalling virtue-free
Peddling fantasy history
Bravely following the people’s clown
Saluting the flag hung upside down

Whistling warriors call their pack
Lighting gas for the snark attack
Money makes the merry-go-round
Sell fake England by the pound

Brave Trombone by Jonathan Ogara (https://soundcloud.com/allopenelectrics)

Whistling Warriors

Birth was played as part of C÷M appearing at the Greater Manchester Fringe Festival (Sept. 2021).  See live video: https://youtu.be/cSlwPqf8e1U

The track includes recycled lyrics.  I always put my recycled lyrics out on a Thursday...

(previously used in https://soundcloud.com/craig-winstanley-1/imposter)

Birth (a C÷M  track)

Music to accompany a video made from more than 100 photographs taken from the same position over the period of a year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIIjNoyC0gQ

Walk Through a Pandemic #1

Music composed to accompany a video showing >100 photographs of the same view taken over the course of a year:
https://youtu.be/CL6ahmqruE8

Walk Through a Pandemic #2

A recording of C÷M performing ‘Forgotten Conversations’ at the Empty Space, Salford (25th September 2021) as part of the show "From Where? To Here".  For video see https://youtu.be/S55q6Gqge1I
Forgotten conversations: Recordings of voices reciting the phonetic alphabet, scrambled and reimagined.  Bubbles of turbulent communication; Incorporating The Curve: musings on past, present and future; It takes all your nerve to flatten the area under the curve.

C: myself
M: Jon Ogara (@allopenelectrics)
(see https://craigwinstanley.online/from-where-to-here/ for further information)
For a review of the show, see https://thegmreviewer.com/2021/09/18/c-div-m-from-where-to-here/

Forgotten Conversations (performed live by C÷M)

Free Download available from :
http://winstanley477.wix.com/craig-winstanley

Quorum sensing is a communication system that enables bacteria to ask a simple question: are we few or are we many? The bacteria do this by secreting a chemical signal molecule into the surrounding area and then measuring its concentration. If they are few, then the concentration will be low. If they are many, then the concentration will pass a threshold value triggering a coordinated response from all the bacteria simultaneously. For example, Pseudomonas aeruginosa switch on the production of multiple virulence factors that can damage the host during an infection.  Vibrio fischeri switch on genes for luminescence, making fish light up.

In the track, the chemical signal molecule is represented by single high pitched notes against a repetitive background.  As the bacteria replicate, the quantity of signal builds until reaching the threshold, when a wall of noise represents the coordinated response and the switching on of multiple clusters of genes.

Quorum Sensing (lasR mix)

"I've been bothered about time generally and our tripartite division of time into past, present, and future. I think I know what the past is, and I think I know what future is, but I'm really not comfortable with the notion of present."
 Martin Seligman

Tripartate

What are words worth?

Time and tide and Slime and slide and Crime and cried and
Dream and died and Scream inside and Gleam and glide and
Mime and mired and Prime and pride and Rhyme and ride and
Vine and vired and Wine and wired and Shrine and shade 
Fear and fade and Line and lied and Spine and spied and
Time and tide

Much admired and Acts inspired and
Lost inside and Totally wired and
Petrified 
Events conspired and
Odds defied
Paternal pride 
Reluctant bride 
Secrets confide and Warm inside
False override
Gentrified
Personified
Occupied and
Time and tide

Withering looks
Dithering minds

Won’t somebody think of the children?

Time & Tide

A diversion into acoustic folk-land, covering the entire history of human communication and reaching the inescapable conclusion that we are not very good at it.

I contributed words, guitar playing, unsatisfactory voices and keyboard bits.
Musings on the flautistic spectrum were contributed by Jonathan OGara (https://soundcloud.com/allopenelectrics).

The lyrics goeth thus:

In the beginning was a scream… it was quite obscene
And then the word was heard… it was quite absurd
Then the night and the light had to fight for the right.. to be seen and heard
And the day had to wait for the night to be done.. and the light had won

And the void was annoyed to be deployed.. before the humanoid
And the man did what he can … for the master plan
And you see only what you want to see, And you hear only what you want to hear
And you fear only what you want to fear
And you believe, what you want to believe
(me too)

(WARNING: this song contains references to an annoyed void, a thing best to avoid)

Echo Chamber

a continuation of https://soundcloud.com/craig-winstanley-1/ambient-3-taming-chaos
but with added ranting:

Sifting through the wreckage of the aftermath
For the truth diluted out by the homeopath
What a laugh

The jokers play the ancient game of shifting the blame
It’s always the same when there’s chaos to tame
What a shame

The misinformation superhighway
And antisocial media
Make it hard to avoid
Ranting into the void

People might call me a misanthrope
I hate them for that
I hate all of them for that, all of them
I hate all them for that

Chaos (Ranting Into The Void)

Understand (video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ1ADA7lNy8)

In the land where they bury their heads in the sand, understand
In a place where you can’t look a man in the face, understand
In a time when compassion is viewed as a crime, understand
In the mind of the sociopatholog kind, understand

Where you can’t abstain from causing pain, understand
It wasn’t planned

The climate of change is unerringly strange, understand
It wasn’t planned

(an instrumental version of this track has been posted before, as "Stationary Phase")

Understand

The older I get the less I know
But the shysters are thriving in the latest shitshow
Now they’re rebranding understanding

The bar is set too low for intelligence to flow 
As the shysters bob and weave in the latest shitshow
But they cannot serve both God and gammon

(a somewhat prematurely ejaculated version thereof)

Shy - Stirs (a version thereof)

New norm, Art form, Wavestorm

Time trial, Speed dial, Loose end, Press send, Wavestorm

Late night, Stage fright, Mind game, Time frame, Wavestorm

A C÷M collaborative venture.
https://soundcloud.com/cdividebym

Tune composition and flute allures Jonathan O'Gara (https://soundcloud.com/allopenelectrics)
Words, voice and musical arrangements Craig Winstanley

Artwork Jonathan O'Gara

WaveStorm (a C÷M track)

Proggish repetitions in roughly three parts.

Percussive discursive patternity of the third kind.

From Fear To Patternity (v1)

Are you inside the bubble, or outside causing trouble?

From circus and bread to Facebook instead.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK5RktP0j84

Glorious sax appeal supplied by Jonathan Ogara (Open All Electrics): https://soundcloud.com/allopenelectrics

This wasn't written about COVID-19 self-isolation, but it could have been.

Inside The Bubble

perfectly timed for when nobody can go out, a dance track for you delectation, with accompanying rant

thunderous sax courtesy of Jonathan Ogara (https://soundcloud.com/allopenelectrics)

They won’t be voting for the cause 
You’ll have to settle for applause
A charity sing-song day
Is your substitute for pay
The biggest thank-you yet
Is worth more than a safety net
They won’t be voting for the cause
You’ll have to settle for applause

They can grandstand and preen
Be robust as they please
But bravado won’t protect them
From this insolent disease

They measure worth and quality 
By the size of your salary
Behind the claps and bonhomie
Lie contempt and hypocrisy
As they smile and they pledge
Your left to wriggle on a knife’s edge
And as they lie and they blunder
Hold on tight to your silent thunder

Silent Thunder (this insolent disease)

Music and Words by Jonathan Ogara (@allopenelectrics)

Guitar and backing voice - Jonathan Ogara
Guitar, voice, programs and arrangement jiggery-pokery - Craig Winstanley

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5DNZZYj0RM

So Far:

A gentle soft heart
Hidden in her hills
Her life deep lived
Lost in her dreams

She would sing long songs
She would tell those tales
She would right those wrongs
And dance through dales

She finds the sun, she finds the sun

Wherever she is, she will find the sun
Wherever she is, she will find the sun
We were so near, we were so far
We were this close, we were this clear

She would walk on hot coals
And take the holy ghost
She could breathe through souls
And fix buttonholes

And She would ask us
“where is love?”
And our eyes would dance
And our hearts would run

She finds the sun, she finds the sun

Wherever she is, we find the sun
Wherever she is, we find the sun
We were so near, we were so far
We were this close, we were this clear

So Far (a C÷M track)

a track remixed, reimagined, regurgitated...

with sensual sax by Jonathan O'Gara (https://soundcloud.com/allopenelectrics)

if/when C÷M ever get around to playing live, it will sound like this...

Quorum Sensing (2020 Vision)

with added sax-olation provided by Jonathan Ogara (https://soundcloud.com/allopenelectrics)
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBoFZMDydk4

Shivers down the spine 
The spine of the book
The book of the film
The film of the day
Day or night-time
Time to shine
Shine the light
Light the scene

Scene-set the place 
Place the order
Order the treat
Treat the cause
Cause the ruin
Ruin the play
Play the song
Sing the fear
Fear and isolation
Isolate the source
Source the space
Fear and isolation
Fear and isolation

Isolation

Curvaceous saxophone courtesy of Jonathan Ogara (https://soundcloud.com/allopenelectrics)
Video: https://youtu.be/vNYwDHQgydM

You wake, with senses opaque, to the fuse of your muse, confused by the shape of things that have gone, departed, confined, but with saccharine grief left behind, and the certainty that you find in the memory banks of the past, you contrast with the doubts and the fear of what horrors are yet to appear, but the now and the here is a shape that you cannot control, and it shifts and it squirms as you grasp to try and make sense of the present tense

And it takes all your nerve to flatten the area under the curve
And it takes all your nerve to flatten the area under the curve

The Curve

featuring reflective sax by Jonathan Ogara (https://soundcloud.com/allopenelectrics)
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWeJ6iSJlmI
For more photographs visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ1ADA7lNy8

The path of least resistance
The certainty of doubt
Reflections in a mirrored cage
The withs who are without
The burden of conformity
The illusion of choice
The silence of defiance to the inner voice

Waking up, coming home
Waking up, coming home

The safety in compliance
Shielding from the light
The appliance of the science
The truth that’s never right
So many years to drift the drift
The winding lane of fate
Released for good behaviour
It’s nevermore too late

Waking up, coming home
Waking up, coming home
(Following the path of least resistance)

The actor leaves the stage

Reflections

a C÷M song (collaboration with https://soundcloud.com/allopenelectrics)

Space – you never told me ‘bout the pastures in your head
Face – you never told me ‘bout the actor's life you led

Walking through the silent timeline

Time – you never told me ‘bout the time it takes to learn
Crime – you never told me ‘bout the wasted time you burn
Hate – you never told me ‘bout the need to let it go
Wait –you never told me ‘bout the rustic lies you know 

Walking through the silent timeline

In your imagination, the fields and the sky, the wind  in your hair, in your mind’s eye
With nature your soul-mate, your bountiful friend, your loyal companion, love without end
A life without worries, anxiety free, a life without danger, a life without me
But that’s just a dream, a construction, in vain
The cruel rustic silence would crush you again

Rustic Silence (by C÷M )

Shifting sax and floaty flute played by Jonathan Ogara (https://soundcloud.com/allopenelectrics)
For a solo, live, acoustic version see: https://youtu.be/IPTSFz0ap1c

It’s a time of the sighs and the lies on the radio
Dumbing down
It’s a sign of the times and the crimes of the bully boys
Lost in all that noise, with their dangerous toys
Shifting sands, shifting sands, camouflage guilty hands
Do the straw man, law man, flag man, bogey man
Fooling fools
Salesmen, pale men, stale mediocrities
Riding the wave of faith, nothing’s safe

Strive all your life, take the long road to understand
Knowledge base
You can search and research, learn the lessons from the history
They believe the mouth instead
The mouth in the empty head

Shifting Sands (a C÷M track)

To mark 5 years on SoundCloud, this is a repost of the track that has had the most likes (with some minor changes)
For video, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiNS5SmiOCQ
Download from https://craigwinstanley.bandcamp.com/track/a-thin-slice-of-reality

A Thin Slice of Reality (2020)

Round and round the endless road, repetition overload, 
The circus of life
Why don’t they see, why do they refuse to see?

Blinkered and bound
More lost than found
Why don’t they see, why do they refuse to see?
Perpetual game, conceptual shame
Why don’t they see, why do they refuse to see?

Collective mass amnesia, wilful anaesthesia
Fire and furious reaction
Why don’t they see, why do they refuse to see?
The actors and the faces change, storylines remain the same
Blame it on the scapegoat faction
Why don’t they see, why do they refuse to see?

Blinkered and bound
More lost than found
Why don’t they see, why do they refuse to see?
Perpetual game, conceptual shame
Why don’t they see, why do they refuse to see?

None So Blind

A philosophical treatise on the perception of being (possibly)

Momentous sax by Jon Ogara (https://soundcloud.com/allopenelectrics)

All moments pass, not yours to choose
Which to keep and which to lose
Which to save for a rainy day
Which to bury far away

For more photographs see 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNYwDHQgydM and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ1ADA7lNy8

Moments (a C÷M track)

A C÷M track. Blue saxophone courtesy of Jonathan Ogara (@allopenelectrics)
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daSERd3MmoA&t=113s

The silence of the scams, The bursting of the dams
The glitching of the time, The stitching of the crime
The rising of the few, The taming of the blue

The speaking of the ill, The creaking of the will
In sickness and in wealth, The quasi-rational health
The rising of the few, The taming of the blue 

The dotting of the I, The lowest of the high
The ticking of the box, The changing of the mocks
The rising of the few, The taming of the blue 

The linking of the weak, The evil pseudo-speak
The storming of the calm, The fire in the alarm
The rising of the few, The taming of the blue

The Blue

There was a time when this track had a lot of words. I removed some, then deleted more, then rejected almost all of the rest, leaving the meaning incomprehensible, just like real life.

Subfuscian sax contributed by Jonathan Ogara (@allopenelectrics)

Subfuscian dialogue eviscerated

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3elFiLg1DY
Download available: https://craigwinstanley.bandcamp.com/track/water-tower
Water Tower is a work that combines ambient music and a collage of overlapping images.  
Further information about the water tower can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Hill_Water_Tower

Water Tower

The flute on this little ditty was played by Jonathan Ogara (@allopenelectrics) 
Still waiting...

The here that’s always wrong
The now that’s much too long
Waiting for you, still waiting

The day remains unseized
The crowd remains unpleased
Waiting for you, still waiting

The time that’s never called
The action plan forestalled
Waiting for you, still waiting

The target never reached
Destination unimpeached
Waiting for you, still waiting

The curtain never raised
The mission reappraised
Waiting for you, still waiting for you

Waiting For You

A combination of bemused rantings into the disinterested void & ambient doodling. Visit https://craigwinstanley.online I would like to create dark impenetrable experimental music, but I'm too fond of melody...
Bandcamp: https://cdividebym1.bandcamp.com/

Also see collaboration with Jonathan Ogara (https://soundcloud.com/allopenelectrics)
https://soundcloud.com/cdividebym

Other collaborations with the wonderful Augenmerk (https://soundcloud.com/augenmerk; https://soundcloud.com/augenmerk/from-the-inside-of-being_craif-winstanley-augenmerk) and Lemonade: https://soundcloud.com/lemonadelove/red-queen-by-craig-winstanley-ft-lemonade-1

Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kakGLRTbV9o

MintFam community: https://soundcloud.com/mintfam.
Exclusive track (Smoothing the Wrinkled Front): https://soundcloud.com/mintfam/craig-winstanley-craig-smoothing-the-wrinkled-front

All tracks created using guitars, keyboard (midi) and Presonus Studio One Artist software.  Oh, and sometimes a microphone.

On here since October 2015.  

I've never really understood musical "genres".

Craig Winstanley

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