Saturday, September 18, 2010

Recycling Music

Organ that recycles sound wins New Music award

The Organ of Corti – which takes sounds from saturated environments and recycles them using sonic crystals – wins £50,000 prize for most innovative idea for a new musical work

New Music Award 2010: liminal's The Organ of Conti


The Organ of Corti, liminal's New Music award-winning idea. Photograph: Colman Getty/PA

A £50,000 award given to the most innovative idea for a new musical work was tonight given to an arts practice that recycles everyday noise whether it is the repetitive drone of motorway traffic or the tumbling rapids of a weir.

The biennial New Music award is one of the most financially lucrative prizes in the arts calendar – more even than the Turner or Mercury – and is given to what is judged the most groundbreaking concept for a new musical work, whatever the genre.

At a ceremony at the Serpentine gallery pavilion, in London, first prize went to an arts practice called liminal led by composer David Prior and architect Frances Crow, for their entry, The Organ of Corti, named after a part of the inner ear.

In essence, the project sculpts sounds. It uses a portable structure resembling a fairground organ to take sounds from saturated environments and recycle them using sonic crystals. One of the project's aims is to encourage people to listen more carefully and be more aware of the sounds around them.

The judging panel was chaired by the Guardian's chief arts writer Charlotte Higgins. She said the decision had been unanimous after "a long, sometimes difficult, and always stimulating debate". She added: "The judges admired the quiet beauty of the idea of 'recycling' sound in a world saturated by noise and overwhelmed by music. In a world obsessed by glitz and glamour of large-scale, bells-and-whistles events, the thoughtful, discreet and gentle idea of the Organ of Corti utterly caught their imagination."

The prize, established in 2005, is funded and organised by the PRS for Music Foundation which funds music across all genres, supporting everything from unsigned bands to composer residencies.

Sally Taylor, the foundation's chair, said the award was "about looking beyond the obvious and the commercial and envisaging the music of the future. All five ideas on this year's shortlist, which ranged from site-specific sound art to African-inspired human beatbox, captured this spirit of adventure and discovery."

The liminal work will now premiere at the City of London festival in July 2011. It was chosen by a judging panel that also included the artist Martin Creed, the singer and DJ Bishi, the pianist and conductor Joanna MacGregor, the composer and pianist Michael Finnissy and the music journalist Paul Morley.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Immortalize Yourself In Music: Have Your Remains Pressed As a Vinyl Record


For those who can't afford to have their ashes sent to space or who may not like the notion of being screwed into the ground post-mortem, here's another solution: have your ashes pressed into a vinyl record and spin for all eternity.

For about $3,000, your cremated remains, parts of your remains, or your pet's remains can be immortalized in a limited-edition run of 30 records. In a 24-minute segment, you can record your final thoughts or your favorite songs, or you can pay extra to have a UK band write a song for you.

The company, And Vinyly, says you can "live on from beyond the groove."

UK record-label founder Jason Leach, who is also part of a couple techno groups, came up with the idea after contemplating his own mortality, according to Wired UK. His mother started working at a funeral home, and he saw a TV program that showed someone in the U.S. putting ashes into fireworks.

The basic package, which costs $3,000, includes standard "Rest In Vinyl" artwork decorating up to 30 albums, with audio provided by you. For extra fees, you can add in exclusive artwork, where UK artist James Hague adds your ash to the paint; original music by artists on Leach's record labels; and even worldwide distribution in record stores.

The Web site is a bit cheeky -- it includes a link to a "raveyard," which simply shows a bunch of headstones splashed in pulsating color.

But it's a unique way to spend eternity once you shuffle off your mortal coil. Hey, you can't do it with an MP3.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-08/immortalize-yourself-vinyl

(right!)