Something I love is great looking stuff. Obvious I know but as a designer I have a insatiable appetite for all things visual as inspiration.
One that front a new website I’ve found may be of interest called monoscope.
Page upon page of great design (with the odd example of nasty design) both old and new, and all of it fodder for your internal scrapbook.
The Imagined Village EP that includes my latest remix is now available to buy online at womadshop.com and you can listen to my remix after the jump.
This EP brings you a preview track from the forthcoming full length album (due for release on September 10) and three exclusive mixes only available on this special edition.
If you think you know about English folk music, think again. The Imagined Village project, the brainchild of producer and musician Simon Emmerson, has recast age-old traditions in the shape of the twenty-first century. A daring mix of ancient and modern, The Imagined Village fuses fiddles and squeezebox with dub beats and sitars. To do so it has gathered an extraordinary array of talent, including - on this exclusive EP - Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, Sheila Chandra, Billy Bragg, Chris Wood and Simon Emmerson.
EP Track Listing:
1. ‘England Half English Meets John Barleycorn’ was recorded and mixed by producer Simon Emmerson with Billy Bragg featuring Martin Carthy and Eliza Carthy. The spirit of the track, with its meeting of two songs, seemed in perfect keeping with the overall sentiment of The Imagined Village project
2. ‘Acres of Ground (Beats Mix)’ is an original song by Eliza Carthy, based around old traditional counting songs. Created through collaboration between Simon Emmerson and mix engineer Mass in their London Studio and Ben Ivitsky and Eliza in their Scottish studio. Another version of this song which will appear on the final album in a very different guise.
3. ‘Welcome Sailor’, a beautiful atmospheric collaboration between Sheila Chandra and Chris Wood, is a recording based on Lal Waterson’s traditional interpretation of the original folk tune. This track will appear on the forthcoming Imagined Village album.
4. ‘Cold, Hailey, Rainy Night - It’s Turned Out Nice Mix by Stabilizer’ grew out of a challenge set by The Imagined Village project on the Real World Remix website . The idea was to take this track - Transglobal Underground’s interpretation of Martin Carthy’s original track - and re-mix it. This song has been passed down from generation to generation through the oral tradition of folk music. It has now been re-invented in a radical fashion by the mysterious, uniquely- talented Stabilizer!
Tracks 1, 2 and 4 appear exclusively on this EP
It was a fun and unique project to get my teeth into and a new direction in my sound so you could see my remix as a preview to where my music is heading in general.
Taking a short break this week from the daily php grind of building our new shop at work I spent a great few days mixing down the audio for a new documentary called “Lay Down Your Hearts” by a young film maker called John Simpson.
The film tells the story of the Zawose family, Wagogo musicians from Tanzania, focusing Dr Hukwe Zawose and his nephew Charles Zawose and how they came to prominence and the huge void they left after their untimely deaths.
You can see a trailer for the film at petergabriel.com.
They toured the world and released records on many labels including several on Real World Records including the amazing Assembly with Michael Brook.
The Zawose Foundation is an ongoing project by the friends and family of the Zawose’s to promote and support musicians in the Bagamoyo region of Tanzania and the Family Zawose have just released a new album to support the foundation. You can buy it online at Womadshop.com and you can catch them on tour this summer.
The film is to be shown at the Barbican in August, and at this year’s WOMAD Charlton Park Festival and is a moving hour spent learning about these amazing musicians and well worth your time.
Also, for those in the big smoke, there is a special fund raising night at Cargo on the 1st of August with DJ sets from Daddy G from Massive Attack, Zero Seven and Ross Allen. There will be two live performances that night as well from The Family Zawose and Kong Nay
Just as a heads up you can hear my upcoming single, and it’s associated remix by Myagi on my virb profile
Not sure when it’ll be out. I’ll let you know on here when I found out but it’ll be released on Stellar Music and promoed through White Noise.
WOMAD are teaming up with Done And Dusted’s director Hamish Hamilton to create a DVD charting the 25 year history of the festival and are opening up applications for a budget to make five short films about this year’s Charlton Park festival to appear on the DVD.
On July 29 2007 in the English countryside begins the 25th year of the WOMAD Festival. Directors are invited to suggest an idea for a 10 minute film they can make relating to the festival.
Chosen films will be commissioned and delivered to end up on a DVD celebrating 25 years of WOMAD.
Crew will be given passes for WOMAD as necessary access where possible.
We are looking for unique viewpoints and will welcome brilliant ideas that embrace the infinite possibilities of connected stories. WOMAD Festival is about world music, arts and dance.
Directors interested in this project please send treatments and scripts to:
dolly@doneanddusted.com
Every race, age and sex welcome. Ideas by 0900 on the 18 July please.
Films will need to be shot and delivered on DV quality or above.
There is a £4,000 fund to help in the making of each film and a budget for how this is to be spent should also be submitted.
To apply simple send your brief and outline of budget to Dolly at Done And Dusted
