Singapore Face-Off

Farmer G here - sitting in Singapore - vibing up the senile man - MAAAANNN .. this week (ok make that 2 weeks) mostly finds me facilitating 10 artists in the making of new work in materials made out of all things conductive-processed-cut-pasted and spewed out of speakers monitors and other visual-audio-emitting-devices... Fun to be had - but for now slowly getting used to the time-shift (if only they damn well sorted out a time-warp-thang to stop me having to sit for 13 hours next to sullen types on crap KLM air-ways I wouild be uber-glad) ...

Anyhows - work starts next Monday - so down-time allows me to drink-beer ("oooh you are nothing but a lad . tch tch") - yep thanks mum - lay by the pool and generally do nadder...

Highlight - or perhaps maybe a low-point for the unsuspecting masses that will witness the spectacle - will be when me and Simon Poulter are permitted to play the opening gig of the newly refurbished Substation gardens - on the 10th - come along and catch the world premier of .......

'Budha Bling' (a piece for Laptop Computer, Guitar and whatever else gets thrown into the mix).

Sooo, if anyone is in Singapore during until the 12th July - and wants to share a Nasi Lemak - I know just the street stall to go - and if mum aint watching - a beer or 8 to wash it down .... we are working at Spell 7 in Little India all week - Paper-Masalas our speciality ...!

Interactive Personality Test

Going through the PVA archives in preparation for our 2 week trip to Singapore starting next Monday - we will be working with artists: Harman Bin Hussin, Lim Woan Wen, Paul Rozario, Michael Tan, Choy Ka Fai, Jason Lim, Tan Bee Thiam, Jaynthi Siva and Yeo Shi Yun on a one week program to produce new work - the results being shown at the Substation gallery from July 6th onwards.... The PVA team will include: the Farmer here, Ming Wong, Simon Poulter, Lucy Harris and Julie Penfold - local support coming from Audrey Wong, George Chua and Khairuddin Hori. A whole load of fun in the sun awaits ....

Anyway - deep in the bowls of the PVA website, I stumbled upon the following from Dane Watkins - click and suss out just who the hell you are:

South Petherton Green Fair - pictures ......

Reaction to the excellent El Dopa set last Sunday afternoon ..



OK OK - I lie - pic reminds me of those old Spiral Tribe parties .... those were the summers hey ...

For tha real (and somewhat tamer and perhaps lamer) GF pics - go ...here.

Ripster

Auction over ...

Seven hundred quid for Bolans stained pants - well fuck me !!



Guess I need to find a different way to be this towns Cosmic Dancer ..

Oh yeah - forgot to say - Farmer Glitch presents a teenage obsession with T-Rex - scap book stylee - is just about ready for blog-serialisation - lock up your daughters - shut your pets inside - things might get messy !!

Signed picture of Jesus ...

Too good an offer to miss - go bid now - or forever regret it (and whilst regretting - for sure you will all burn in hell) ..

Jesus - signed by the bic-biro o tha lord

Sounds Like Trouble.

A week of non-stop audio - leaves me somewhat frazzled ..... to recap:

Monday 13th
Watershed, Bristol - facilitated part of a one-day workshop (Up to Speed The Potential of Broadband as a New Space for Research, Development and Production) for an invited audiance consisting of various artists/technology types .... producing small-file-size audio content and mobile-phone films for use with the Visitors Studio platform - hosted by Marc and Ruth over at Furtherfield... go check it out and join the fun...

Tuesday 14th - Friday 17th
Stroud Valleys ArtSpace, Stroud - 4 day stint up in Stroud working with 4 visual artists to produce new audio work - think sounds of rioting, bats flying, sub-harmonic throbbing and vocal-screaming - add a degree of exhaustion from 160 mile round trip daily comute and you may sort of get the picture ...

Friday 17th (8.30pm till far too late ...!)
Resound - Sounds Like Trouble - techy/front-of-house audio abusive behaviour (Adrian Sherwood taught me all I know about this stuff - and my ears will never be the same again)...! This was an stonker of a gig - take 10 or so audio artists - one 30,000 pound suround sound system - seat 50 people inbetween the 10,000 Watt system and bombard them with various at times extreme variations on a theme of sound-art... Highligt by far being the a recording of the destruction of a building by Duncan Whitley - he sums up this work as follows:

"In the recordings of the demolition of Rachel and Rathbone towers in East London, 2004, all sounds within the microphone's range become indicators of acoustic space – the helicopter passing overhead, voices on the wind, the chatter of birds arcing through space. I work with diverse recording techniques to recreate acoustic space, from binaural sound (designed for playback through headphones), to multi-microphone arrangements designed to record an ‘event' from multiple perspectives."

Picture me and Duncan - some 20 foot above the heads of the audiance below - me on live-mix and Duncan firing off sound clips into the system via a laptop PC - Duncan gives some sign language requesting we should crank the volume up somewhat - now the afore-mentioned surround-rig has only 2 controls - volume-up and volume-down - so I press the up button - to what can only be guessed at will be an ok level (there being no level indicators on the supa-hi-fi box of tricks) - there is the sound of flying helicopters - the one-minute warning flare is fired - screaming alerts echo - and then the loudest explosion I have actualy ever witnessed is thrown from the monstoruous speakers onto the unsuspecting audiance - it was so loud we are still discussing wether we actually saw or imagined a flash of light in the almost pitch-black room - both me and Duncan look at each other mouths open in amazment at what occured - below - a stunned and visably shocked audiance slowly regain some control - and applaud - trust me - when you have had the chance of performing audio on a system like that - there aint no turning back.... bloody fantastic !!

Sunday 19th (all day long)
South Somerset Green Fair - for the second year I ran the music tent (Ok last year we did not actuall use a tent but a village hall - ok not really a hall more a converted church, but I am sure ya get the picture -yep, nope , what the heck) - yesterday was a blistering 30 degrees if not more all day long - out in the sun for over 12 hours - downing cider, toking on weed and having a grand old time as it goes - Kid Shirt, his good lady, Kid Kid Shirt and indeed Kid Kid Kid Shirt all came forthe fun - music highligts being the excellent El Dopa the Ska Punk joys offered by Dyslecsick - but outstanding festival award - and thrill to boys and girls alike must go to the 9 gals - who for 10 minutes performed a routine of belly dancing that will be remebered and indeed played over in the minds of all that saw for many years to come - nice one girls !!

This week I am on holiday - no-one is allowed to play anything remotly loud, musical,non-musical or indeed speak to me - as I am looking for some PEACE AND QUIET --- Thank you ....

Hysteria ...

Man - still recovering from last Friday and the sonic-warfare assault waged upon us by the Mafia .... for those of you not lucky (or indeed now Deaf) enough to have witnessed this once in a decade (count it) event - then are you not the lucky ones .... seems the whole concert will be broadcast on Resonance FM in London in its entirety next monday 13th between 8:30pm and 10pm you can listen to it live on the web- it will also be repeated at 8am on the friday -

get a stream from
www.resonancefm.com

and a rare Mark Stewart remix from a Japan only release back in 2000 on Toys Factory ...

Silent Poets - Prisons (Mark Stewart remix) ..... lovely stuff - no less !!

PAIN STATION..

No - this is not the review of last Friday - when me and Kid Shirt endured an evening of the best death-metal-funk-n-grind - dished out by Mark Stewart and the Mafia - mixed past pain-thresholds by none other than Adrian Sherwood - ears ripped and torn to shreds - - an evening of extreme excellence... tha Kid reviews the events better than I can recall - too much Red Stripe and skunk me thinks (or not) - so go read tha kid

meanwhile - back to the post - from the newly setup Database of Virtual Art

A whole new twist to an old classic game ....

PAIN STATION



PainStation comprises a box structure housing a horizontal screen over which the two players face each other. The software is based on Pong, an early computer game. Players use their right hands to control a bat on screen, and must keep their left hand on the console's "pain execution unit". Removing your hand means breaking the circuit - game over. During play, if your screen bat misses a ball, your left hand suffers the consequences through the application of heat, electric shocks or a quick whipping on the back of your hand. "It's amazing how players get engrossed in the game to avoid being hurt", says Reiff, "and how audiences behave. The combination of the PainStation's sound effects, the behaviour of the players and onlookers makes the game an experience for the audience as much as the players." Many players have ended up with red, bruised hands - although not for long.

JVS - Man - Bass - in the place !!

IT NERDS - there ya have it - official confirmation at last !!

KL Update posting 3 - Digital Dudes ???? whatever ...

Another tale of 'Enjoyable Electronica' - yeah right - funny thing is after this gig there was a hotel-room band-smoking session and discussion where dare I say it - I was accused of scaring the shit out of the Malaysian crowd with the slabs of dirty-dark-industrial-ambiance that at times were layed on top of the otherwise funky(ish) beatz ..... "if you are going to go down that route - why not go the whole way and scare the shit out of them..." - I did try and indicate that we were not really trying to compete with the classic Hawkwind first album - which for those of you who have ever expereinced 'Paranoia parts 1, 2, and 3, whilst under the influence of trip-out substances, will know is the ultimate in fear, but as none of my fellow band-mates had even heard a Hawkwind track before I guess 'dark-and-scary' is very much a cultural thing - and as I am the only Brit aboard the DCL-love-boat, then I can only blame the english weather for my taste in 'the darker side of electro-funk...!!"

seems however that 'dirty-dark-industrial-ambience' equates to enjoyment for the KL massive ..



For those of you out there who are dying to experience a bit of what it was like to be at Bliss, Kuala Lumpa - and taste a 1 second loop of the show - then download the following baby - load it up into QuickTime Player - set the movie to LOOP and press play - it is only 300 K - comes with no health warnings - and is guaranteed not to scare you (even if you are allergic to industrial-funk!!) ...

Re.Cord - review from Staalplaat

Recieved a couple copies of the Re.Cord DVD/CD combo from Toby at Cocosolidciti - and a very nicely presented package it is indeed - as I have a somewhat vested interest in this (being invloved as one of the contributing artists, I shall refrain from slapping my own back) .... but will instead reprint the following review from the guys at Staalplaat ..........

BATTERY OPERATED - RE.CORD (CD+DVD by Cocosolidciti)
To fully understand what this is all about, the best thing is to start with the DVD part of it. It has ten tracks from ten artists around the world, who received a black box, in which they had to put their favorite conspiracy theory in sonic, visual and written form. Once that was completed, it was send back to Battery Operated, who initiated the project, who in return made an audio and visual remix of the material. The ten tracks, spanning most continents and each dealing with their favorite conspiracy theory, is a well-varied bunch. From the surprisingly rocky opening by BCD, one of Richard H. Kirk's nicknames to the ambient pieces of Kurt Ralske and Mathias Delplanque, tribal rhythms from Kim Ki-Chul and trip-hop breakbeats from Digital Cutup Lounge, to the more experimental outings of Gate and Freiband and the peeps Sachiko M, this is goes all over the musical place and should offer more than excellent reworkings for Battery Operated.
The audio remix of the material by Battery Operated brings the material back to quite experimental techno beats and crackling static hiss. It's hard to recognize any of the original material in there, but that makes it altogether much more exciting. The remix as a tool is a real expansive one, as once again is proven by Battery Operated. On the DVD part there is also the entire film they made for this work, which is a likewise hallucinatory work of camera's, both in and out of control. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cocosolidciti.com

Dug Out ...

"Every musical history of cities has a club that became emblematic of the developing scene – the Wag Club, The Torch, Erics, Shoom, The Hacienda; Bristol had the Dug Out."

My own personal memories of the Dug Out club - Park row, Bristol - sometime-1980s - stoned, drunk (sometimes dare I admit even tripping!), and up for some punk-funk-mashups .... carpet-uber-sticky .... - upstairs-room-skin-up-area - woodstock-videos - funny at the time it was one of those places you just ended up for a late night session of good music and non-threatening-vibes ... now - a place of urban-tales and long-missed-moments.. and now - a web-site - setup as part of the ongoing Electric Pavilion initiative, run out of the Watershed, Bristol ... click to relive those heady post-punk-neo-funk-DUG OUT dayz.....

KL Update posting 2 - Wong Faye - NOT TO WED

There is a story that goes with this photo (snapped from New Straits Times during a big breakfast session at the Shangri La hotel) - but can't be bothered to attach it to the photo .... so said story shall be replaced by the caption :::

Looking good Faye - looking good.......

KL Update posting 1 - the news that matters...

Farmer glitch - your man in the hot spots of Asia - reporting the news you need to know mostest - fastest - and soonest --- yawn !!

From the Malaysia New Straits Times....



A casual stroll to McDonalds near Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpa, cuased me to lose hard-earned RM30. Apparantly if you are male, you're the target of VCD peddlers who promote the latest in pornography. A peddler approached me and as usual I declined. He tugged at my sleeve annd drew me to a discreet location and went into a 10 minute hard sell of his goods at "best possible value". I made a number of excuses from being broke to saying I had plenty of pornography at home! He was unmoved. I saw no end and decided to part with some money because he was getting on my nerves. Another mistake. I had only RM50 note in my wallet and seeing the amount he persuaded me to part with more for "value for money" goods. I told him I owed my mother RM30 and needed to pay hew back urgently. He said it was better to owe my mother than a loan shark! Although I retrieved RM20, I lost my mood for lunch. Now I am guilty of supporting pornography and piracy. I vow never to set foot in Petaling Street again. Ever.
KY
Kuala Lumpa.

Singapore Wasted

Farmer here is at this moment standing on stage at Gotham club - Clarke Quay Singapore (Laaaahhhh ...) - goddam smoke-machine filling the DCL collection of laptops and assorted high-end electronics to the gills with friggin grey-matter .... arrived here lah this afternoon lah - somewhat worse for wear after an event-filled 3 days in Kuala Lumpa ..... photos and onsite roports (at least those I can recall) to follow (probably...) .....

now for the gig !!

Zipster

Seems Bolan has his pants for sale - not too sure how or why this transaction seems to be taking place - but alas - his threads are for sale - never seen the poster above before - but it sorts of leads nicely into the planned publication of the Farmer Glitch - T-Rex Scrap Book - yes - that 1970s Post Office issue kid scrap book (they still sell them in the local post office here - which says bottles-worth-of-info regarding the type of town I reside in!).... anyway - my T-Rex scrap book is more than ace - it is teenage-obsessive-glam - BEAT THAT KIDZ... it has (as you will be forced to witness - or indeed ignore) - numerous press-cuttings, hand-written-pop-chart-stats, hand-written-copied-direct-from-first-release-sleeve-lyrics, and much-much-much-more... wanna see some scan - .... no - well fine - here are more pics of his trousers -- please note - stain - they were always there !!



and to back-up the stain-claim ..... from the original release ...

Own a genuine piece of Marc Bolan history ~ Marc's famous Trousers

They are ivory coloured satin with an oriental style embroidered stripe down the outside of each leg. They are flared and have a turn up and are labelled "Alkasura Clothing Ltd, 304 Kings Rd, London SW3" - One of Marc's favourite clothes shops. They were recently valued by Bonhams at £1500 - £1800. Originally purchased in the early 80's from Sotherby's, the trousers come complete with a letter of provenance and the two pictures shown with Marc wearing them, (1.) A Diana double page spread (belt not included!) and (2.) A copy of the famous T.V picture. The trousers are in excellent condition for 30 years old except the button hole is not intact and they have some discoloration marks (as they had when they were purchased) which may well come out with cleaning if you wanted to risk that! They are an ultimate collectable for any Marc fan and are probably one of the few items of Marcs clothing which span 2 totally different eras (1974 and 1977) and would look absolutely brilliant framed.


Framed - Framed - bugger that man - I am selling my original copy of Electric Warrior (including poster) - OK this was the first record I ever bought - and to this day, it, makes me remember discussing with my Dad (I was 10 in 71) - "hey Dad - what is all that stuff at the end of "Rip Off" about ..???.. you know that 3 or 4 minutes of classical-drones-do you think there is something strange with the record ???? - ??? " - he never supplied an answer - I still ponder on this question (DAILY) ...... YOU SEE THIS IS AN IMPORTANT RECORD FOR ME ... but damn - the trousers - the trousers - I can see me now - local co-op - 5.00pm - ivory coloured satin with an oriental style embroidered stripe - man-oh-man - will I be tha-zip-gun-boogie-meista !

baby - you are so damn CRASS...

Exeter - Phoenix Theatre - 12th May 2005

Years after hiding in fear during the heady days of Stonehenge Festival - when the bikers from hell decided (through normal cider-ed up logic) to assault any spikey-topped-yoof they could locate - I am again in close proximity with the remainders of Crass..... whilst my buddy in poetic crime and myself play a Respray early evening set in the Black Box at the Phoenix Theater in Exeter .. later the same night in the main hall will be :::

THE CRASS AGENDA
The Beginning & The Word
9pm / £8 (£6) A performance for vocalists, Eve Libertine and Penny Rimbaud, who were both members of the seminal anarcho-punk band CRASS accompanied by Louise Elliot, Ricardo Dos Santos, Gene Calderazzo and the fabulous saxophonist, Ingrid Laubrock of the London cutting-edge jazz community. Set and projections by Gee Vaucher, (ex-Crass)

Shame to miss this one ......

Hack a Day.. Introducing the 'Hamster Midi Controller'.

Having much fun expoloring this site.... in fact it is getting in the way of production and resulting in far too much thinking time ...... always a danger for slacker-glitch here .... but lets face it any site giving you a solution to that long-sought-after midi controller - THE HAMSTER ... has gotta be worth exploring ....



Or..... if you aint got no Hamster .... howz about making a DJ Turntable from a Mouse...

Enjoy ..

Wanna speak like the Daleks ...

Well - you will have to trust me on this one - and unless like me you were sad enough (and indeed lazy enough) to be watching day-time-telly yesterday - Richard and Judy no less (the shame the shame .. I know) - you will not have seen the voice of the Daleks (ok I know it is somewhat difficult to SEE a voice- but trust me - you did) ... and it comprises of 2 things ...

Thing 1 - some guy who is the voice-talent (yep thats what they are called) who is especially good at saying things like 'EXTERRRMMMIINNNAAATEEE ... EEEEXXXXTTTTEEERRRMINAAAAATTTEEE... "

Thing 2 - A MOOGERFOOGER Ring Modulator - for yes it is indeed thanks to good old Bob Moog that they sound the way they do ..... now as the Moogerfoogers did not exist during the original Dr. Who series .... it begs the question - "how the hell did they do that ..."

sooo .. for all the techno-lust guyz-n-gals out there - here is said mooger-fooger - what a bute hey !!



and for the kidz in the audiance - one of those pesky dalek thangs ....

The Usual Suspects.....

Venn Festival Bristol...

Lay down - deep breaths and run for cover - a sonic assault is brewing in Bristol..

The second Venn Festival is happenning between June 3rd and 5th and this year finds something rather special - ok - supa-fuckin-hot... might better describe this babe !!

MARK STEWART with DOUG WIMBISH, SKIP McDONALD and KEITH LE BLANC

Plus ADRIAN SHERWOOD on live mix and DJ.
ACID MOTHER TEMPLE
GRAVENHURST

MALCOLM X CENTRE / Fri 3rd June / 8pm till late / £14

Not too sure what to comment on this news - apart from - YES - OH YES !! The joys of being back in the UK ...!!!

More news here from the Venn Festival Site

Sign up for GOD - he needs you ....

This just through from the BISHOP OF THE CHURCH .... seems somewhat urgent - so if you need 10 grand and want to support a good cause (and give all your personal details away) - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE sign up !!

GOD LOVES US CHURCH THE CHOSEN ONES

THIS IS FROM THE BISHOP OF THE CHURCH ,THIS IS AN IMPORTANT PROGRAMME WHICH WILL BE HOLD IN SIX GOOD COUNTRYS ,WHICH ARE ----1,CHINA ,2, LONDON 3,JAPAN 4,ISEARL 5,NIGERIA 6,SOUTH AFRICAN.YOURS FIGHT TICKET

IS FREE OF CHARGE ,FOR THE LUCK ONES WHO WILL FILL THE FORM ALL SUMIT IT IN TIME THERE IS NOTHING LIKE CHURCH MEMBER ONLY EVERY BODY IS INVITED,EVERY LETTER OR MAIL

WILL BE SEND TO MY PASTOR . PASTOR WILLAMS KINGS FRANK.THERE WILL BE THINGS FOR WINNERS OF ANY PARTPIANT LIKE DANCEING,SINGING, DRAMERS EACH MINISTER OF GOD COMING THERE WILL BE PAYED 10,000$ EACH HOTEL

ACCOMODTION WILL BE HANDLED BY MY MANAGER THE MANAGER OF THE HOTELS WE WILL BE USING OK.


THIS IS THE FORM .

FULL NAMES-_________________
DATE OF BIRTH_______________
LOCATIONS___________________
AGE_________________________
MARITAL STATUES_______________
SEX___________________________
OCCUPATION___________________
RELIGION____________________
NAME OF CHURCH_______________
PASTORS NAME_________________
PHONE NUMBERS_________________
FAX NUMBERS________________
TWO PASSPORT SCAN______________

COME AND SEE SIGNS AND WONUDERS.