Day Ninety Three

I've been meaning to record the 'natural' phasing of suburban pedestrian lights for some time, but I never think of it when I'm actually at the lights! Today I did, so they're added to the mix, with vibes chords from yesterday. (I only say natural in terms of the rhythmic phasing of the different sensors communicating different information at different times, as opposed to musically construed phasing...).

I realise I've been using quite a few inverted commas in this blog, I guess to humbly offer my thoughts as purely that, my thoughts, and interpretations of my music and the sonic world I inhabit. It's been weighing on my mind though, and I feel it warrants some explanation. In particular I'm referring to the different kinds of sound sources and approaches I've used in this project so far, which ones might be considered real musical instruments, which ones found sounds, and whether field recordings can be called music, with or without digital manipulation. Even though I've stepped into a compositional role in recent times I still call myself a percussionist, first and foremost, because the way I approach a percussion instrument (or kitchen bowl) is the way I approach composition, or sound design. To that end, the way I approach tonal music is the way I approach noise and sound art - it's all music.

Well, it's not quite that simple, but I think what I'm trying to say is that I don't feel the presence of a particular hierarchy in any of these situations. I play with drums, I play with rice, and recordings of traffic lights. They're all awesome.