CHRISTIAN STADSGAARD (VANITY PRODUCTIONS) HAS BEEN PRODUCING CONTEMPORY AMBIENT MUSIC FOR THE LAST 15 YEARS OUT OF DENMARK COPENHAGEN. OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH ANALOGUE PROCESSING AND GRAND SOUNDSCAPES, HIS MUSIC SEEMS TO TRAVEL, EVOLVE AND BUILD IN A VERY ORGANIC WAY. OFTEN USING CLASSICAL ELEMENTS SUCH A STRINGS AND ORGAN MUSIC AND RUNNING THEM THROUGH HUGE REVERB AND GRANULAR PROCESSES TO EXPAND SOUNDS THAT PAN SPACE IN AN OMNIPOTENT STYLE. THE DELAYED AND REVERB EFFECTS USED ON SIMPLISTIC ELEMENTS CREATE COMPLEX LAYERS AND HARMONIES ENRICHING THE MUSIC. THERE’S A FEELING OF CONVERSATION BETWEEN EACH LAYER OF SOUND IN CHRISTIANS MUSIC MAKING IT ACOUSTICALLY APPROPRIATE FOR LARGE SPACES LIKE CHURCHES AND OTHER INTERESTING PLACES OF ARCHITECTURE ENABLING THE SPATIAL PROCESS TO EXPAND EVEN FURTHER.
MY INITIAL IDEA CAME FROM THE IDEA OF DISCONNECTION FROM HOME AND THE IDEA OF RECONNECTING THROUGH A PIECE OF WRITING WRITTEN TO FAMILY BUT READ TO ONESELF. ONCE COMPLETE THE LETTER WILL BE BURNED AS AN EFFIGY. PRODUCTION IDEAS WOULD BE USING AMBIENCE AND SPATIALITY AS WAY OF TRANSPORTING THE WORDS THROUGH VIBRATION INTO THE WORLD AND SERVING AS A WAY OF HEALING YOURSELF. THIS IDEA CAME FROM THERAPY TECHNIQUES IVE EXPERIENCED IN THE PAST.
THIS IDEA IS INSPIRED BY A NEW FRIENDSHIP WITH A FILMMAKER FROM HONG KONG CALLED ETIENNE. THIS CONCEPT WILL HOPEFULLY HELP WITH A FEELING OF CONNECTION TO OUR ROOTS EVEN WHEN WE ARE THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY. OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH OUR FAMILIES CAN BE COMPLEX, OFTEN WE CANNOT EXPRESS OURSELVES EVEN TO THOSE WHO CREATED AND NURTURED US. THIS METHOD I HOPE WIll FURTHER MY EXPLORATION INTO ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF THERAPY AND SERVE AS WAY OF HELPING ETIENNE TO RECONNECT AND HEAL FRACURES OF TRAUMA.
I LIKE IDEA OF REDEFINING WHAT AN EFFIGY USUALLY MEANS (IN CONTEXT OF PROTEST) – IN A RELIGIOUS CONTEXT AND EFFIGY CAN BE A SYMBOL OF REMEMBERENCE AND VENERATION (GREAT RESPECT). ALSO FOCUSING ON SPACE AS FUNDAMENTAL FACTOR OF THE RECORDING PROCESS THAT CORRELATES WITH ELEMENTS OF PRODUCTION. SOUNDS THAT EVOKE A FEELINGS OF DEVOTION/ RELIGIOUS AWE/ CONTEMPLATIVE AMBIENCE HEARD IN SPACES OF WORSHIP.
HERE I HAVE DOCUMENTED THE PROCESS OF WRITING, RECORDING AND THE CEREMONIAL ACT OF BURNING THE EFFIGY WITH MY RICOH GR CAMERA.
AM KANNGIESER DESCRIBES THEIR CONFLICT OF THOUGHT WHEN IT COMES TO SOUND AND ITS SHORT LIVED NATURE. EVEN WITH THEIR INTEREST IN SOUND, THE DISCIPLINES ITS CLOSELY RELATED TO DON’T ALWAYS CLOSELY RELATE WITH GEOGRAPHY WHICH IS THEIR MAIN FOCUS POINT OF STUDY.
‘’ DESPITE THIS GROWING INTEREST IN SOUND – BECAUSE OF ITS EPHEMERALITY, IN A SENSE – WHILE GEOGRAPHY IS OPEN TO OPEN INTERDISCIPLINARITY, I THINK IT FEELS A BIT TOO HARD SINCE IT MEANS GOING INTO DISCIPLINES THAT ARE NOT CLOSE TO GEOGRAPHY ‘’
SOUND ARTS NOW BY CATHY LANE & ANGUS CARLYE – AM KANNGIESER – MARCH 26 2021 – P.24
Spanish electronic artist Juan Rico (Reeko) usually operates in the sphere of textural, forward thinking techno music. Active since 1997, releasing on a plethora of well respected record labels, Reeko’s approach to sound design peaks among a sea of ever growing producers. Over the last 5 years I’ve really taken an interest in his take on breakbeat/DnB under the Samurai Records label. Known for their innovative approach to breakbeat, Reeko here the on Confront The Serpent track (and Ep) delivers a deep listening experience that feels organic in its growth. The gradual but steady developing percussive elements and morphing bass design creates an atmosphere and distinct timbre not always present in modern Drum and Bass. There are a range of emotions and a use of space in this track that creating a feeling of unpredictability. The spectral movements throughout create a visual image of dissonance and cohesion. Background fuzz and texture closely move closer to forefront helping to drive the sense warping organic sound design and serving to create a marriage between atmosphere and percussion. By the middle of the track, all the elements are working in harmonious mixture of dynamic shifts, tribal reminiscent rhythm and cinematic tone.
IVE RECENTLY BEEN RUMINATING ON THE IDEAS OF THERAPY THROUGH SOUND. SOUND AS A FORM OF THERAPY. A CATALYST FOR DEEP INTROSPECTION INTO THE PSYCHE. A SEQUENCE SET TO TRIGGER A RELEASE IN AN INDIVIDUAL THROUGH A SPECIFIC SET OF QUESTIONS, MOTIFS, EFFIGIES, LIGHT STIMULI AND CEREMONY.
THROUGH RECOMMENDATION OF A FRIEND AND REFERENCES USED IN TERENECE MCKENNA’S SEMINARS POSTED ON YOUTUBE FROM THE EARLY 200’S IVE STARTED TO READ PRACTICAL QABALAH MAGICK BY DAVID RANKINE AND SORITA D’ESTE. A REVISION AND TRANSLATON OF THE ANCIENT JEWISH MYSTIC TEXT OF THE QABALAH. FROM WHAT IVE READ SO FAR ITS AN INDEX OF SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES AND PRACTICES USED TO ALLIGN ONESELF WITH THE ORDER OF THE SEPHIROTH, THE ELEMENTS OF THE TREE OF LIFE THAT COEXIST AND INFLUENCE EACH OTHER LIKE CELLS OF ONE BODY.
MY GOAL OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS IS TO RESEARCH AND ANALYSE THESE ANCIENT PRACTISES AND HOW THEY CAN CORRELATE TO MY PHILOSOPHY OF EMOTIONAL RELEASE THROUGH SOUND SOUND THERAPY. THE VIBRATORY FORMULA OF THE QABALAH FOCUSES BREATH AND VOICE. THE ACT OF SPEAKING THE ANCIENT NAMES OF THE SERAPHIM INTO EXISTENCE AS A VIBRATION FORCE , A MANTRA OF SORTS, A CALL TO PRAYER, A WAY OF IGNITING BODY AND MIND IN UNISON, A FIRE LIT INSIDE.
TO VIBRATE A WORD YOU NEED TO BREATHE FROM YOUR DIAPHRAGM AND PROLONG THE DURATION OF SYLLABLES. YOU WILL KNOW WHEN YOU HAVE FOUND THE RIGHT PITCH FOR YOUR VIBRATIONS, AS YOU WILL LITERALLY FEEL YOUR RIBCAGE AND POSSIBLY THE REST OF YOUR BODY, VIBRATE THE POWER OF THE WORD YOU ARE UTTERING.
JEM FINERS LONGPLAYER INVITES THE LISTENER INTO A PASSAGE IN TIME. CONSTRUCTED OF 234 TIBETAN SINGING BOWLS, ARRANGED IN 6 CONCENTRIC RINGS, LONGPLAYER IS A CONVERSATION OF RESONANCE, A MESSAGE OF TRANQUILITY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS AND A QUESTION ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FUTURE WHILE REFLECTING THE PAST. THE PRIMAUDIAL SINGING OF LONGPLAYER ACTS AS A CATALYST OF REMEMBERING OUR PAST, THE IMPORTANCE OF ARCHAIC VALUES AND THE ECHO OF TIME WE HEAR THROUGH MUSIC AND SOUND. THIS TRANSPORTIVE PIECE OF MUSIC IN WHICH ITS CREATOR JEM FINER, CREATED TO LAST ONE THOUSANDS YEARS, IT’S HOME ON THE DIGITAL ETHER ALLOWS FOR THIS PIECE OF MUSIC TO BE HEARD BY ANYONE AND EVERYONE AT ANY GIVEN TIME.
CURRENTLY HOUSED IN CANNING TOWN, MY FIRST EXPERIENCE OF LONGPLAYER WAS OF SOLITUDE. AS A LIFE LONG FAN OF DRONE AND AMBIENT, LONGPLAYER STARTING TO WORK AS A CANVAS FOR IDEAS, IT ALLOWS SPACE FOR DEEP MEDATIVE THINKING, DISASSOCIATION AND INTROSPECTION. ITS ARRANGEMENT IS CYCLICAL, MIRRORING THE NATURE OF LIFE, AN AUDIBLE OUROBOROS EXPERIENCE OF GENTLE REMINDERS OF THE FRAGILITY OF LIFE YET THE SEEMINGLY INFINITE AND PERMANENT STATE OF THE UNIVERSE, EVER GROWING EVER CHANGING, EVER PERMEATING.
NOW PASSED DOWN THROUGH A LINEAGE OF RESPONSIBILITY THE DAUGHTERS OF JEM FINER ACTS AS ITS AMBASSADORS CARETAKERS. EVEN THOUGH LONGFORM EXISTS PREDOMINANTLY ON THE DIGITAL PLAIN, ITS MESSAGE STILL NEEDS TO BE PRESERVED AND SHARED WITH FUTURE GENERATIONS OF THOSE WILLING TO TUNE INTO ITS NETWORK OF PEACEGIVING REMEMBRANCE. THE IDEA OF CREATING SOMETHING THAT OUTLIVES YOU AND PRESERVES A MESSAGE FOR FUTURE BEINGS HAS ALWAYS FASCINATED ME. IT REMINDED ME OF THE SPIKE FIELD, A CONCEPT CREATED BY SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES AND THE HUMAN INTERFERENCE TASK FORCE OF THE U.S GOVERNMENT. THE IDEA WAS TO CONCEPTUALISE DETERRENTS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS FROM DIGGING UP DEEP BURIED NUCLEAR WASTE THAT WOULD POISON THE PLANET, A MESSAGE FROM THE PAST TO PRESERVE THE FUTURE. MONOLITHS OF EVERY RECORDED LANGUAGE AND GIANT SPIKES OF CONCRETE ERECTED FROM THE EARTH WERE CONCEPTUALISED TO WARN THOSE OF THE FUTURE. LONGPLAYER HAS THESE QUALITIES OF A DEEPER MEANING, SURE IT COULD BE CONSIDERED JUST A ROTATING AND MORPHING PIECE OF MUSIC THAT SOUNDS PLEASANT AND INSPIRES MINDFULNESS BUT ITS ETHOS IS DEEPER WITHIN THE SOUND.
LONGPLAYER IS A REMINDER OF OUR OFTEN LOST AND MISINTERPRETED ANCESTRY, IT TALKS TO THE INNATE PARTS OF US THAT UNDERSTANDS WITHOUT WORDS. IT RELATES TERRENCE MCKENNA’S NOTES ON ‘’’ARCHAIC VALUES’’ MEANING THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY, PRESERVING LIFE AND GAIA AND GIVING BACK INTO SOMETHING THAS GIFTED YOU LIFE ITSELF. WE LIVE IN A DIGITAL FLOOD OF MISINFORMATION AND FEEDBACK, AND WITH THE RISE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, THE TRUTH BECOMES A LOT HARDER TO FIND. THERES A PURITY AND TRUTH TO LONGPLAYER THAT WE ARE LACKING DUE TO THE MUDDYING OF THE WATER BY SOCIAL MEDIA, MISINFORMATION AND IMPENDING DOOM OF POTENTIAL WAR.
LONGPLAYER INVITES SOMEONE TO TUNE OUT OF THE MADNESS FOR A MOMENT AND HEAR TRUTH AND CLARITY, TO ASK THE EXISTENTIAL QUESTIONS THAT MATTER, TO HEAR THE INNER CHILD AND TO GREET THE SHADOW. A MOMENT TO HEAR THE PAST AND THE FUTURE SIMULTANEOUSLY.
Over the last few years within my art practice, I’ve come to the conclusion that less is always more. The idea of endless possibilities within anything has always made me anxious. Through an inspiration completely unrelated to music—a friend of mine, a PhD graduate and published author—I found a parallel. His room contains only what is necessary for his practice: books, a bed, and a laptop. The idea of cutting away circuitry to clear the path ahead resonates deeply with me.
This reductionist approach has helped me hone in on concepts amidst the mess of everyday ideas. When it comes to patching and programming any form of musical gear, it can be a drowning experience—endless wires, endless possibilities, and endless questions: Which goes where? Will it fit on the table at the show?
Watching Dominick Fernow (Vatican Shadow) deliver a highlight performance in New York reaffirmed to me that less is more. With a simplified arrangement—a CDJ mixer, one launch pad, and a microphone—Fernow executed a one-hour set of brutal electronics spanning fifteen years. No fancy tactics, no tricks, no complex displays of mixing technique—just an honest delivery of cold, rhythmic industrial technoscapes.
In my own practice, the idea of using only what’s chosen has taken shape in the planning of my next album. It will be created using four pieces of analogue gear: the Sonicware Ambient Liven, the Magnetar Black Distortion Unit, and two echo and reverb pedals by Death By Audio. By allowing only the possibilities within these machines to define the sound of the album, I aim to clear the path ahead—to focus, refine, and push both the limits of the machines and my own creative mind.
“The punk rockers said, ‘Learn three chords and form a band.’ And we thought, ‘Why learn any chords?’ We wanted to make music like Ford made cars on the industrial belt. Industrial music for industrial people.” – GENESIS P ORRIDGE OF THROBBING GRISTLE & PSYCHIC TV
1969, Hull, England — COUM Transmissions, an art collective founded by Genesis P-Orridge (Neil Megson) and Cosey Fanni Tutti, inspired by Dadaist art and the transgressive writings of William Burroughs, They took to the streets with an absurdist and subversive approach, they sought to break the mold of stagnation and challenge the social norms embedded in the stiff upper lip of the British psyche.
Through artistic provocation and a confrontational approach to performance, COUM was built to explore social taboos and ask fundamental questions about the potential artist in all of us — and, in my opinion, to face the shadow, a concept written about extensively by Carl Jung and many other esoteric philosophers.
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” — Carl Jung, Collected Works, Vol. 13 (Alchemical Studies)
The infamous Prostitution show, held at London’s ICA, combined collage work and physical artefacts from COUM member Cosey Fanni Tutti’s pornographic ventures through modelling for sex magazines. This put COUM on the radar of both aspiring artists and the powers that be. Their unwillingness to conform laid the groundwork for an imminent artistic revolution — the philosophy of DIY culture, the “do it yourself” ethos upon which industrial music and art would be defined
24 August 1983 — Air Gallery, London, UK. John Balance (Coil), Peter Christopherson (Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, Coil), Zos Kia and Marc Almond (Soft Cell) present How to Destroy Angels – A Slow Fade to Total Transparency, a live performance combining tape electronics and ritualistic actions inspired by the Thelemic occult work of Aleister Crowley. The piece incorporated self-immolation imagery and served as both a statement of philosophy and sonic identity.
With atonal elements of percussion, synthesisers and tape loops, this ritual noise work explored the ecstatic and violent nature of man, as well as the transformative qualities of performance and esoteric ritual. Occult inquiry has often been a central theme for many industrial bands such as Psychic TV, creating a kind of satire of the cultism found in both religion and high society. In effect, these performances act as a mirror to ourselves, reflecting the often deplorable nature of mankind.
Many attendees of the performance were appalled and left soon after acts of defecation and bloodletting began. The recording was later remastered and released by the U.S. label Cold Spring, and it is now regarded as a key moment in the history of industrial music and performance art.
DIY – DO IT YOURSELF
The idea of musicianship has often been relative to the idea of skill, the fundamental understanding of chord structure, melody and a technical proficiency to create sound of a palatable nature. An essential fact of industrial music history is none of the artists of the early years had any musical “ability” per se, but a desire to create, an innate calling to push the inside outwards into reality, not creating to please the concert hall but to artistically “do it yourself” by any means necessary. Not to say through years of practice they don’t learn more technical skill, but the action is not from the essence of classical training or conventional understanding. This breathes new life into art and rewires our approach to music and art which will always be of us the people. This Modernist approach to art and music has inspired multiple generations of ” Wreckers of Civilisation ” to further break the stagnation of formulaic approaches to artistic practises, always posing the questions to further challenge our understanding of ourselves and the ultimate journey of self expression.
“We must break out of this limited circle of sounds and conquer the infinite variety of noise-sounds.” Luigi Russolo – The Art of Noises 1913
” I want the releases and even the performances to be rooms much more than narratives, so that the music becomes an invitation to go into that room and do whatever you want in there. It’s architecture, and I would like for it to be a very emotional and loving piece of architecture ” – LOKE RAHBEK OF DAMIAN DUBROVNIK
Arrow 5, from Damian Dubrovnik’s sixth studio album released under the Copenhagen label Posh Isolation, has remained one of the most poignant tracks in my life. The collaboration between Loke Rahbek and Christian Stadsgaard explores poetry, sublime dissonance, fragility, and grief — all delicately balanced between power electronics and contemporary classical/electroacoustic music.
The juxtapositions in Arrow 5 — consisting of minor chord drone melodies, atonal string work, recognizable tropes of melancholia, and the use of reversed sounds to create dissonance — guide the listener through a slow procession of tragedy and beauty. The textural quality evokes both nature and the machine: reeds, chains, metal, and wood are balanced together to form a unique harmony of emotion and sound.
Loke’s vocals progressively become more direct and forceful; through distortion and overdrive, the poetry transforms into immolation. The careful balancing of the familiar and the unfamiliar creates a powerful sense of duality — pain and pleasure, grief and awe, anguish and relief.
Arrow 5 is, ultimately, an expression of duality in sound: a push and pull, heartbreak and romance, glory and disgust.
That morning Great many arrows Formed a flight And I formed A cage With my fingers To hold you in
This will be the first post of a three-year exploration into sound arts and experimental music at UAL. My interest in music and sound has always felt very innate. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to sources of sound that have a physical and spiritual effect on my body and mind.
As a child, I was blessed with a mother who had eclectic tastes. She introduced me to a world of sound, always reminding me to “listen without prejudice” — a reference to George Michael’s seminal masterpiece of soul. An average Sunday would consist of records ranging from Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, to Slipmatt’s SMD hardcore cuts from the ’94 era, to Otis Redding’s live performance at Monterey.
I was exposed to left-field, deep-cut, underground music from such a young age that it rapidly became an obsession. Since then, the study, search, and analysis of music and sound have consumed my life in a profound way.
After years of struggling to find my place in artistic practice — due to the effects of PTSD and autism — I felt unable to translate what was in my mind and body into a tangible, audible, and physical reality. During the pandemic, after a crisis of faith, I decided to channel that anguish onto paper. Around this time, I was reading the works of William Burroughs, Genesis P-Orridge, Aleister Crowley, and Terence McKenna. Their ideas helped me worry less about the product and more about the act itself — the action of art.
This shift eventually led me to a successful career working with artists and record labels around the world who shared a similar philosophy: an industrial, DIY approach to art. Even if you have nothing, it’s the work that matters and speaks the truth. I naturally gravitated toward DIY, noise, and industrial labels, as I felt I could express my spiritual turmoil through collage techniques and an analogue approach — something industrial music reflects both poignantly and beautifully.
After a few years of still feeling technically inept, I eventually found a group of artists with broad academic and creative backgrounds squatting in a disused bookshop in London. I had finally found a home — a community of people who shared my artistic and philosophical beliefs. Since then, we’ve been running what feels like the last bastion of underground industrial music and performance culture under the event name Chronic Illness.
In parallel to this, I created two separate aliases for my creative output: Sin of the Father for my visual design work and Hands of Providence for my audio projects. Over the years, I’ve felt increasingly compelled to understand why catharsis through sound feels like such a necessary act — and whether it can be used therapeutically to help others who live with autism and PTSD. Hands of Providence is, for me, a way to realign myself spiritually through sound and vibration, and hopefully, through further research and education, to find ways to support others.
The title of this post, What Was Sown Into History, references an album by Internazionale that first sparked my interest in ambient music. It led me to look more deeply into the history of music and sound — and how it has always acted as a catalyst for something deeply innate and spiritual within us all. I hope you enjoy the album.
