Isotopica

a dark test

ISOTOPICA 12-04-2020 a step by step glide through psychogeography Jimmy Lux whose feet we listen to in this broadcast, on a shared derive en Paris avec moi a classic psychogeographer Psychogeography was defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals." It has also been defined as "a total dissolution of boundaries between art and life From lockdown we take a phantom stroll with Jimmy Fox, inspired by Walter Benjamin, who, drawing on the poetry of Baudelaire, made the Flâneur an emblematic archetype of the modern urban experience. The Flâneur of course evolved  into the psychogeographer via Guy debord  and his theory of the derive In a dérive one or more persons during a certain period drop their usual motives for movement and action, their relations, their work and leisure activities, and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there… But the dérive includes both this letting go and its necessary contradiction: the domination of psychogeographical variations by the knowledge and calculation of their possibilities. Iain Sinclair Peter Ackroyd Patrick Keiller. Walter Benjamin,  J. G. Ballard,  Nicholas Hawksmoor. Will self Thomas de Quincey. 

walking nowhere thinking everything

It’s now always a late 1970’s Sunday afternoon in the in the days of the contemporary Pest A mechanical timer prised from a discarded kitchen in a Bruxelles back street, provides an analogue rhythm around which we build today’s program.  Camus provides some words, we tune in to some intercultural networked improvised music from The Ethernet Orchestra, sample a new livestream sound work from Matthew Olden,…Read the postIs it that time already?

Is it that time already?

The Train Rolls On Chris Marker Le Train En Marche (1971) First the eye, then the cinema, which prints the look…. A stunned episodepost tory election landslide,in which we listen simultaneously,to both the French and English soundtracks,of Chris Marker'sLe Train En Marche,in an attemptperhaps,to revisit,and evenfind a route back to,the utopiandreamsand projectsof both early and latetwentieth century cultural marxism. …the train of revolution, the train of…Read the postPlays For Horses

Plays For Horses

Performed by humans, Produced by birds. An international phone conversation, London to Berlin, with Elo Masing representing Berlin based WIG (improvisational trio), and Simon Tyszko in London, discussing the world’s first musical transcription produced by birds, Music For Birds  by WIG, and It’s genesis within the glamorous and rarefied world of cross species art with avian tandem Kakaduu.Agapornis Fischeri, better known by the artist name Kakaduu,Read the postMusic For Birds

Music For Birds

From Chile to Chatham both haunted and alive. Some field recordings and ambient sounds from summer 2019. A zoom recorder balanced just below the pendulum of an ancient yet working grandfather clock in a central room of a venerable Kent House, picks up the steady yet illusory passage of time along with snippets of family life and conversations. We feature the story of a piano inRead the postUnprepared Piano stories

Unprepared Piano stories

A Radio impression of VOCALIS, an irregular performance event at the delicious Beaconsfield Gallery Vauxhall London. VOCALIS places emphasis on giving voice in many forms; sharing ideas, drawing on collective memory and Beaconsfield’s long engagement with text, time-based/live art, performance and sound. Informal and open, Vocalis happens in Beaconsfield’s intimate cafe space – where food and fluids mix with electrical impulses and vocalised concepts.   Jeroen van Dooren explores dividedRead the postVoiced, spoken, said, uttered, expressed, articulated, oral, by mouth.

Voiced, spoken, said, uttered, expressed, articulated, oral, by mouth.

99.7% scientific consensus 414 parts of CO2 per million, the highest in earths history. Once in a lifetime weather events every week. Mass extinction and loss of natural habitat happening now. Short term profits in place of life as we know it. We are facing an unprecedented global emergency. Life on Earth is in crisis: scientists agree we have entered a period of abrupt climate breakdown,Read the postextinction or rebellion, rebellion or extinction….THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

extinction or rebellion, rebellion or extinction….THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

A play on words Zoe Zarkovsi and Simon Tyszko engage in Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) being a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phonetic mix-ups such as spoonerisms, obscure words and meanings, clever rhetorical excursions, oddly formed…Read the postMultilingual, multifaceted, Intended, Multiplex, Zoe Zakovski

Multilingual, multifaceted, Intended, Multiplex, Zoe Zakovski

This particular episode revolves around a trip to the vet with Idoru the cat, during which we share a delightful conversation around topics of the day. This chat sets the scene for a program interspersing transspecies musing with tracks from a new album called ‘Crane Cries’, which revolves around a live recording emulating the sounds and intentions of cranes through string improvisation and unusual techniques, by the…Read the postA convivial conversation with a cat on a bike as the crane cries

A convivial conversation with a cat on a bike as the crane cries

Ken Livingstone ……is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office in 2000 until 2008. He also served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent East from 1987 to 2001.  Born in Lambeth, South London, to a working-class family,…Read the postKen Livingstone’s London. Red, Red, and very very missed

Ken Livingstone’s London. Red, Red, and very very missed

The song Mr Dante Fontanna, comes from the 1966 film Fumo Di Londra a vehicle for Alberto Sordi and was composed by Piero Piccioni who was in turn pianist, organist, conductor, composer, and architect, he was also the prolific author of more than 300 film soundtracks. He played for the first time on radio in 1938 with his “013” Big Band, to return on air only after the…Read the postMr Dante fontana and some Free Jazz, as political lens, or mirror?

Mr Dante fontana and some Free Jazz, as political lens, or mirror?

oday on Isotopica we are in conversation with co-founder of Extinction Rebellion Roger Hallam.Read the postExtinction or Rebellion. Our only choice now?

Extinction or Rebellion. Our only choice now?

"As part of the UCL psychedelic research team, Iv’e been legally administered LSD, Psilocybin, DMT, ketamine, and MDMA in the past ten years " (by Professor David Nutt no less).Read the postDr Ben Sessa and Eye

Dr Ben Sessa, Psychedelic research, and Simon Tyszko

Ingredients. An impending anniversary of revolution, one of the great films of the 20C, an assembled group of musicians, some professional, some not, a beautifully restored 150yr old cinema, a mastermind or two. Mix the ingredients without any rehearsal or predetermination (in the style of Cardew‘s scratch Orchestra), screen the film and improvise (with collaboration from the audience). Enjoy. Today we listen to an edited recording from this…Read the postPotemkin and an improvised score

Potemkin and an improvised score

A Sonic Cultural Feed from the Studios of Simon Tyszko

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Isotopica

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