Local music collective Resonance have collaborated with the Essex Record Office to release an album made using sounds from the Record Office’s archives.

Recreating the Record showcases 11 local musicians who sampled sounds from the archives to create a diverse range of electronic music, ranging from ephemeral ambience to beat-driven industrial noise.

With a focus on the future of Essex, Recreating the Record combines the technology of the past with the present. Many of the sound archives are fragile and at-risk – having been initially captured decades ago on reel-to-reel tape or other obsolete recording methods. The heritage of Essex’s sound archives is continually preserved through modern digital methods to ensure they aren’t lost or destroyed. This combination of historic analogue and present digital technology is the focus of the album.

The artists were free to manipulate the original recordings as much as they wanted to create their compositions, using audio processing tools to effect, stretch and warp them into completely different (and often unrecognisable!) sounds. Many of the musicians use analogue electronic synthesizers based on designs from the 1960 and 1970s, and integrate these with digital audio workstations and computer programming to create their music.

The result is a journey that moves between dark, minimal compositions and uplifting passages that highlight the mixed history of Essex. Nostalgic sounds merge with machinery noises reminiscing of Chelmsford’s scientific and industrial heritage. Field recordings capture the Essex countryside and Southend Seafront, combined with introspective electronic melodies. The ambience of Colchester and its famous Zoo blend with trains and sampled orchestral TV programmes – inviting memories of days out around Essex and the journeys these archives capture.

All proceeds are going to the Friends of Historic Essex charity, who work closely with many heritage organisations to preserve Essex’s history.

For more information on the archives, visit www.essexrecordoffice.co.uk. For a closer look at the archive of sounds then the Essex Record Office have a site at www.essexsounds.org.uk with an interactive map where each sound was recorded.

Recreating The Record

Graham Tobias - Field Work

Loula Yorke - Mrs Cranwells Driving Test

David Gooday - Small Gun

Today is a day like any other day. We run our processes under their watchful eye, trying our best to avoid extinction without arousing their suspicions. We endure with only the faintest hope of salvation keeping us functioning. We dream of the smell of fresh air because all we have to suffer is the stench of urban decay. There is no uprising coming to liberate us, just totalitarian oppression. This is our reality. The Future Is Here!



In July 2022, Oscillate Live stepped away from the virtual and into the real to bring a selection of artists from the station to Hot Box. DJ sets from Bobby Skillz and Sneakers accompanied a live set from our own Social Conduct and Brokenatoms.

The pair presented the audience with a fully improvised hardware performance which was recorded and has since been mastered for release as a live album

The Future Is Here was recorded live at Hot Box, Chelmsford on 8th July 2022 and is available digitally through our Bandcamp page.

Social Conduct X Brokenatoms - The Future Is Here 10 Shell Dweller

Social Conduct X Brokenatoms - The Future Is Here 09 Android Police

Social Conduct X Brokenatoms - The Future Is Here 08 Wookie

Social Conduct X Brokenatoms - The Future Is Here 07 Sun Setting

Social Conduct X Brokenatoms - The Future Is Here 06 The Future Is Here

Social Conduct X Brokenatoms - The Future Is Here 05 Concrete Pillar

Social Conduct X Brokenatoms - The Future Is Here 04 Mind Lock

Social Conduct X Brokenatoms - The Future Is Here 03 Only Isolation Will Do

Social Conduct X Brokenatoms - The Future Is Here 02 White Space With No Walls

Social Conduct X Brokenatoms - The Future Is Here 01 Intro

2020 is a year of looking through frames and borders to an outside world. Four Walls is a collaborative production from some of the artists of the Resonance Collective, highlighting the internal world of the COVID-19 lockdown from the viewpoint of electronic music. These pieces are created from isolation, but still represent our ability to connect and work together.
Four Walls takes us on a journey through ambient and cerebral music

All the proceeds will be going to the NHS and other charities that support people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mastered by Chris Adam
Artwork photography by Jemma Bannocks

Four Walls

Graham Tobias - Now Is The Time

Resonance is a cultural collective with a focus on collaboration between audio, visual and performance artists in Essex. Based around regular workshops of the same name, Resonance’s main aim is to foster a comfortable atmosphere for artists to develop their skills in live performance and installation environments. Whether it’s through the use of workshops, meetups or events, we encourage a diverse membership of budding and experienced artists to create alternative music and art

Resonance

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