Stray Landings

The title of this discussion comes from Q Bass’ 1991 rave jam, ‘Hardcore Will Never Die’, in which a desperate voice asks the listener: well hardcore did die, so where’s the fucking noise? This is noise not in the sense of noise-music, but as hype, as furore, as a burgeoning cultural movement. In the 90s, the question was asked in earnest, to find the next party, rave, or sound-system. But today, looking for ‘the next big thing’ sounds more like a marketing strategy. Some have argued that ‘hype’ has become an empty signifier for superficial trends and gimmicks: a nightmarish conflation of music and meme. The problem we have now is not so much a scarcity of noise, but an overabundance. The democratising effect of the Internet has enabled a proliferation of new music, and radically new listening practices. So if we want noise, where should we be looking? How can we make sense of it all? Can we find the noise in the ether? To discuss all this and more, Georgie McVicar from Stray Landings will be speaking with

In this episode of Resonance FM, we spoke to Etch and Lucia H Chung about video game music. How many of our earliest experiences of music came from video games? How does that impact our taste on later music making? Is there a romanticisation of 8-bit sounds? What makes video game music distinct from film soundtracks? We discussed all this and more. Tracklist: Legacy Support // Akzidenz The Pulse of Aura // Lucia H Chung & Martin Thompson Lost Methods // ETCH Julia Chang Theme [Tekken 3] // Nobuyoshi Sano Merqury City [SSX Tricky] // John Morgan J-E-N-O-V-A [Final Fantasy 7] // Nobuo Uematsu

On this episode of Stray Landings FM, we spoke to Blue Maignien of Cherche Encore about the role of audiences today, and accessibility (or lack thereof) in music.

In this episode of Stray Landings FM, we spoke to Simon Unwin, also known as Hence Therefore, about the role of sponsorship in music: what are the ethics of branding? What is the role of major corporations in underground music today? What alternatives are available? Listen below.

In this episode of Stray Landings FM, we spoke to Ophelia Aasa of HOLODISC about the nature of creative inspiration, influences, and intertextuality in music.

In this episode of Stray Landings FM, we spoke to Sean Hughes, AKA Rumah, about the housing crisis in London and its impact on music.

**Apologies for the interference at the start of the show** In our final show of the year, we spoke to India Jordan of New Atlantis about the year in the music. Legacy Support // Akzidenz Pierrot // Alex Zhang Hungtai Red Cotton // Shelley Parker Hidden Tropics // Alex Kassian Sangue de Galo // Serpente 1000 Speedboats // Great Dad Trigger Finger // ZULI Police Blow My Wad // Afroman

In this episode of Stray Landings FM, we spoke to MX World and Luba Elliott about generative art: what is it, what generative principles are used in music, and what ethical questions does generative art pose? Tracklist: Legacy Support // Akzidenz Excavating // MX World Information Needed to Create an Entire Body // Caterina Barbieri

In this episode of Stray Landings FM, we talk to Dave Randall about his new book, 'Sound System: The Political Power of Music'. Tracklist: Akzidenz // Legacy Support Drillminister // Political Drilling

In this episode of Stray Landings FM, we spoke to J.Tijn about the role of the author in music: does an artist's intentions matter when evaluating the success of an artwork? Why do musicians use different aliases? What are the reasons for going 'anonymous'? Tracklist: Legacy Support // Akzidenz Jesse Kuyé // All Whey Madvillain // Fancy Clown The Caretaker // The Great Hidden Sea of the Unconscious

In this special episode of Stray Landings FM, we continued our focus on Taiwanese experimental music with Lucia H Chung, speaking with Fujui Wang & Lu Yi of Soundwatch and Tadeo Sendon of Music Hackspace. Tracklist: Akzidenz // Legacy Support Fujui Wang // korner Lu Yi // Demo1_2016 Meuko!Meuko! // The Temple LTY // Salo #620

In this episode of Stray Landings FM, we spoke to Sheryl Cheung, Lucia H Chung and Harry Murdoch (of Music Hackspace) to talk about experimental electronic music from Taiwan. Tracklist: Legacy Support // Akzidenz Earth Crust Quake // Sheryl Cheung Searching for Nature in Machines // Sheryl Cheung before // en creux 206, The Dancing Girl // 张又升 Zhang Yousheng

In this episode of Stray Landings FM, we spoke to Stuart Fowkes (of Cities & Memory) and Maria Ustimenko (of Edited Arts) about the relationship between music and metropolis, space and psychology. What is the sound of London? How does noise pollution change our psychology? What would our ideal city sound like? We discuss all this and more. Tracklist: Akzidenz // Legacy Support Cities & Memory // The Next Station... is Covent Garden Burial // South London Boroughs Steve Reich // New York Counterpoint

In this episode of Stray Landings FM, we talked to Gribs of Tobago Tracks and DJ Space Heater of HMT Hard Cru about the intersection of music and the Internet. How has the Internet changed how we distribute, manufacture and listen to music? What is 'post-internet music'? Will there ever be a priceless MP3? Listen below. Akzidenz // Legacy Support James Ferraro // Adventures In Green Foot Printing SOPHIE // Faceshopping

In this episode of Stray Landings FM, we were joined by Angela Chan of Worm and Moonbow to discuss the relationship between music and nature. We discuss the use of natural sounds in music, how art shapes our understand of climate change, and the politics of naturalism. Tracklist: Akzidenz - Legazy Support Moonbow - [unknown] Colin Stetson - Part of Me Apart from You Animal Collective - Loch Raven Gas - [untitled] (from 'Pop')

In this episode of Stray Landings FM, we are joined by Dr Monique Charles & Hence Therefore as we discuss the relationship between music and the state: how music can resist the state, the impact of state laws and borders on music culture, and the meaning of 'piracy'. Tracklist: Legacy Support // Akzidenz Flutter // Autechre Igloo // Wiley Black Pepper 炎 // Hyph11e Bad Hope // Hence Therefore

Despite its seeming nascence, coded music has a long history. During the slave trade, people in Nigeria and Ghana used drum telegraphy to communicate with each other over long distances. When colonial European intruders came into the jungles, message of their arrival and their intention was often carried through the woods a step in advance. A transmission through drumming could travel at a speed of 100 miles per hour. This ‘coded drumming’ was thus banned by the slave owners, as it functioned as a secret language and a tool for resistance. Musicians as far back as the Baroque period have also included hidden messages (or ‘musical cryptograms’) in their scores. Most notably, Bach included his own signature into his music in an act of bizzare narcissism. Pauline Oliveros even used a C-A-G-E motif for her obituary piece for John Cage, CAGE DEAD. I’ve often thought that someone should do an A-C-A-B motif as a coded message against the police. Musical cryptograms received some unwanted attention in the 80s when f

There’s a received wisdom that visual elements of music production (the artwork, light shows and fashion) are merely auxiliary. Music should be appreciated in an almost Platonic way: wrenched from context and understood in terms of sound only. After all, why should your listening be coloured by a dazzling light-show or a flashy press shot? Indeed, there are some artists who have tried to negate this by ‘anonymising’ themselves: Zomby, Burial, Klaus are famous for it. There are degrees of consistency here, from the near-entire invisibility of Klaus to the pseudo-disguise of Zomby. With Zomby, the anonymity is the look. He is always half-hidden behind a coat or a mask, and dressed in the height of designer clothes. His press-shots both hide his identity and confirm it. Even the man who conceals himself nonetheless reveals himself as a self-concealer. There are also musicians who use visual components as a way of making sound. IDM artists have been using spectrograms to encode secret messages for decades, and

2017 has been another year of political turbulence, social degradation and economic turmoil. This doesn’t look set to change anytime soon. But if you’re looking for a source of momentary escapism, the music mentioned above may be helpful in some way. Optimism can seem foolhardy, London’s community can feel like a forgotten dream, and the financial prospects of musicians and artists at large seem to get bleaker by the month. Yet once again we find ourselves overwhelmed by the endless streams of dynamic and inventive new music from all around. These days it sometimes feels like each person flicking through records in a store or queueing to have their wristband fitted at a festival has their own place in the scene, by virtue of making music themselves, running a night, blog or related project. Rather than rolling our eyes in that “everyone’s a pundit” kind of way, it’s worth considering the transformative effects this widespread involvement can have, and is already having in the world of electronic music. We ar

If we should be thankful for anything from the 90s UK pop culture, it should rave. The rave culture of 90s UK can be a hard one to describe. ‘Rave’ can often hold a broad definition, encircling any and all culture related to nightclubs or to dancing. But there is a specific 90s trend in music culture that ‘rave’ is home to. Inspired by the Ibiza clubs and the development of house and techno in Chicago and Detroit, rave parties and rave records began appearing in the UK at the turn of the decade. They were high-octane, anarchistic, and fuelled by kilos of MDMA. Imagine 20,000 people dancing in a field to repetitive breakbeat on a homemade sound system off the M25. This was the spirit of rave. Although seemingly trivial, this odd historical moment in UK culture sparked an explosion of dance music throughout 90s. The format of rave was ultimately responsible for the development of acid, jungle, speed garage and bassline: some of the UK’s most urgent and innovative music from the past 20 years. One common critic