Spiritualized

its in the news!


31.08.06 | Silent Sound

A very limited amount of free tickets will be available for this show for those interested in attending.

More details to come in the next day or so... check back tomorrow.

http://www.silentsound.info


Silent Sound is a uniquely immersive experience exploring the potential for the minds acceptance of subliminal suggestion, created by artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard.

In 1865 on the stage of St. George's Hall, Liverpool, Victorian entertainers The Davenport Brothers performed, inside their Spirit Cabinet, a sÈance to an audience desperately searching for a bridge between the living and the dead. Closed for 20 years, the Small Concert Hall will reopen its doors to host Silent Sound on Thursday 14th September 2006 for an invited audience, performed on the stage originally used by The Davenport Brothers.

Introduced by Dr. Ciarn O'Keeffe, the event will feature a specially commissioned new composition, written and performed by J. Spaceman (Spiritualized). A limited edition CD of the live recording will be available.

An exhibition of the project will open to the public at Greenland Street, 67 Greenland Street, Liverpool from 15th September - 26th November 2006 as part of the Liverpool Biennial.

Web site launches 1st September 2006

I sense a Guitar Loops part 2 on the horizon.

Maybe we can get another debate going between the Just-Don't-Get-It Numpty Philistines and the ArtWank Appreciation Society.

Handbags at the ready...




"You're going home in a fucking ambience"

More info here: http://www.iainandjane.com/work/silentsound/

"The artists have joined forces with two uniquely talented collaborators. Jason Pierce, leader of the critically acclaimed band Spiritualized, has written the musical composition and will perform the piece on the night with a string quartet and supporting musicians."

"A live CD will be presented to each audience member minutes after the performance and will also be available to buy as a limited edition. There will also be a DVD featuring footage from the performance, a short documentary and interviews released in 2007."

Have a read of the safety warning on the invitation....

Here's an email address for anyone salivating for an invite:

"The Silent Sound performance will take place on Thursday 14th September at 8pm and places will be strictly limited. If you would like to register your interest in attending this ground breaking event, please email mailto:kerenzah@afoundation.org.uk"
http://www.afoundation.org.uk/greenland ... .php?id=11

Nice finds Jebus Sabes


sigh. i would love to attend this show. or even get a copy of the cd.i hope someone from this list will attend this show and give us a nice recap.

i think this type of art installation is great. sounds quite impressive to be honest. the mix of frequency with lights has always gotten my attention.

we my wife and i created a floor when stepped on trigered lights and samples from slowdive.


cheers,

mark

01.09.06 | Silent Sound

Silent Sound, by artists Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard, begins life as a live performance at St. George's Hall in Liverpool on Thursday 14th September.

J. Spaceman has written a new original score for the project, which he will perform live at the event in front of an invited audience of just 300.

We have ten pairs of tickets to give away. Send an email with your name, address and phone number and 'SPIRITUALIZED' as the subject line to tickets@silentsound.info.

A pair of tickets will go to the first ten people to email. Tickets are not transferrable so please make sure before you email that you are able to attend, you will need to make your own arrangements for travel and accommodation.

For more information on the project visit http://www.silentsound.info

thanks Ro. Really hope I can get tickets for this - seems only fair since I live only 10 minutes away!

I live several time zones away .
I hope you can too- let us know how it is!

did anyone here request tickets? And has anyone heard anything?

My inbox is still depressingly short of free ticket invites.

If anyone knows of any other way to get hold of tickets...please let me know.

yeh ...
i requested tickets and haven't heard anything. there's a message just up that says 'free tickets have now gone'; if it means that they've just gone then we should be o k, but if it's just to stop people mailing in days later then who knows. i really wanna go.

It will be a tense wait to get home so I can access my gmail. damn work web page blocking.

despite waiting all day on Friday for the update about tickets It wasn't there by the time I left work, so I didn't spot it until midday saturday...don't fancy my chances.

I didn't see the offer until Monday 8am - sent my email, but no word yet. Hopefully someone from the board will get there...

clewsr wrote:It will be a tense wait to get home so I can access my gmail. damn work web page blocking.

You can set up a forwarding thingy for gmail you know. Too late now I guess, but.

MODLAB wrote: Introduced by Dr. Ciarn O'Keeffe

This guy has appeared on the 'Most Haunted' tv programme here in the UK, where paranormal 'researchers' walk around in the dark in old buildings, and then when they get spooked, claim it's paranormal activity. Ciaran also did an interview with the Mirror paper, describing the tactics used by the TV crew and Derek Acorah (used to be the show's resident 'medium') to create the spooky effects. Interview here.

Ciaran also famously set-up Derek Acorah, by planting the name 'Kreed Kafer' with a TV crew member, saying Kafer was a South African prisoner previously held at Bodmin gaol, the location for TV filming. Derek subsequently managed to 'channel' the spirit of this dead prisoner. The character 'Kreed Kafer' was made-up by Ciaran, and is an anagram of 'Derek faker'. Story here.

I can't go..... I got an email back from them saying I wasn't one of the first ten selected for an invite.

TEN!!!

How small is the venue?

when did you get your email from them? Was it from Spiritualized or from the other email address in this thread? I got nothing from spz last night, but the other email address replied and said I would be put on the list, but there were no guarantees.

more importantly - when did you email spiritualized?

I emailed them at 5.30pm friday, and recieved a reply from the same email address at about 1.58am this morning (wednesday) saying i had won one of the pairs of tickets, and they will be posted out towards the end of the week. Also said in the email where it was taking place, start time, how long the event should last, hotel/travel info, etc.

As i understand it is a very small venue (invited audience of 300), but i'm guessing as it is more of an art exhibition that the majority of the tickets have been issued by the artists/their agents. Also presume they just offered Jason Spaceman 20 tickets as good will or part of the deal or something - hence only ten pairs being available to us lot.

Have i read somewhere that Spaceman's score written for the show will be available to buy on CD at the event...or did i dream it?

Good news. There is something about a CD being availalbe after the show.

my email came from the silent sound people. that's who I contacted.

I got an email this morning at 1.58am also saying that I had two tickets so i'm assuming you will know by now if you're getting them.

It makes the wait for the Acoustic Mainlines tour that little bit easier I have to say.

Hey. I got tickets! Sweet.

Clewsy/anyone else going...

..are any of you up for taking orders and picking up some disks at the show for those of us who can't make it or get tickets?

I guess it depends what stock they have. Would be up for taking orders, but would also be up for circulating copies after, assuming they are not sold anywhere else. Depending on what is actually on this cd, it wouldn't surprise me if a few were sold in the pharmacy.

I presume the CD being talked about is the live recording of the music Spaceman will be performing? I presumed it would be recorded during the event - as it is advertised as a live recording. So i'm guessing it will be on sale to anyone after the event in certain retailers.

F***!!! Argh, the one week I'm away from my computer and all this is going on! I would have loved to be able to go to this...

Congratulations to all of you who got tickets!

I got a pre order in. Says there available to buy inline from the 18th. wonder what its going to sound like? mentions vibrations in the story on the silent sound website. could be a lot of drone action.

so did anyone make it? What was it like?

I'm so pleased I got tickets for this. The venue, the music, the artists chanting away in the sound proof box, the deep bass vibrations, all made it a bit special.

The hall was this magnificent chamber, only just been restored. They let everyone in at around 8, and deliberately sat people away from their friends to try to make people feel disjointed. Everyone got settled, and suddenly the chatter gave way to silence, it took me a minute or two to figure out why, because nothing seemed to be happening...then I picked up this low down hum, and could feel a slightly strange sensation in my chest... the frequencies had literally silenced the audience. The hum you could barely hear, but it was clearly messing with you somehow.

The musicians came in, a full string section, piano player, and French horns dotted around the upper balcony. Behind them was set this silver cabinet that looked pretty impressive, perhaps like a time machine. After the introduction the artists turned on their machine and climbed into the cabinet. All the while the extreme frequencies were making me feel a little dizzy, disorientated.

The music started a beautiful slow repetitive melody, - not a guitar loop in sight - this was a piece of music, with 3 distinct sections, I think the middle piece was bookend by a similar melody at the start and then end. Think a ladies and gents era instrumental. The sound swirled around and did seem to be coming from every direction. the horns came and went and finally seemed to reach something of a crescendo, all the while the artists could be seen trying to get their message across, repeating it over and over. The music ebbed away, the artists got out, turned the machine of and left, and the musicians departed. It took a while for the spell to break and audience to break into a round of applause.

We were debriefed and asked to wait in silence for a few minutes, as the machines would down - this worked really well and nearly all the audience stayed in their seats, apparently lost in the sound they couldn't hear. And then it was over.

My only disappointment was that it was over so fast. I thought it was going to be longer, maybe a 60 minute performance, but the music lasted just over 20 minutes. I could quite happily have sat there for much longer. My girlfriend didn't really notice the extreme frequencies and just enjoyed the music. It did have an effect on me though, at the end I was woozy and light-headed. It was uplifting and left me feeling kind of refreshed. However neither of us picked up the message though - I'm intruiged to know what it was they were saying.

not jealous, me. no way.

Clewsr is now programed to kill. Pierce mind control Voodoo madness.

set phasers to stun

Yep, colour me jealous too.

So, didya get a CD or wot?

The Jig wrote:If you aren't going to the show next week but would like a CD then go onto the silent sound website, pre orders are being taken. It says a limited edition of 1000 signed CD's are available and given the audience is just 300 don't hang around. Plus there is a mention of a DVD being released in 2007.

i couldn't see that they were pre-orders. there's nothing on the page except a flash image

On the silent sound sight there is a flash image in the home page but if you click on it you get into a whole load of content, including the option to buy.

Yes, they did give out CD afterwards. Very impressed at the technology of bulk burning a CD so quickly after a performance. Imagine the possbilities. I'm suprised no one has got onto this as a money making idea - buy a quality cd of the show you have just seen for £10. - Jason - take note for the Accoustic shows!

Many acts have already done this Clewsy. i believe the Pixies did it on alot of their recent tour.

I have been in touch with the Silent Sound people. If you have reserved one via their site (there is a link in the scrolling news section at the top) then they have your details and you have "reserved a place to buy one when they come out". Not sure why they use this wording but there you are.

that shows I'm out of touch really doesn't it.

now this tinternet thingy, I bet there's some way to make money on that. How about on line shopping, or perhaps somewhere you can auction things? I might call it http://www.aplaceontheinternetnetwhereyoucanflogcrapyoudon'twantanymorelike.com

catchy. next year i'll be a millionaire.

Found this on the BBC Radio 4 Front Row website:

Hidden Messages in Music
Can messages be hidden in music? Dominic Streatfield, author of 'Brainwash: the Secret History of Mind Control' looks back at past examples, and artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard discuss their experiment with subliminal messaging in music, and their installation 'Silent Sound', which opened today at Greenland Street, 67 Greenland Street, Liverpool L1 OBY


The programme was broadcast last Friday 15th Septmeber and can be heard again up to this Friday by the'Listen Again ' link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/frontr ... mmes.shtml

I'm going to try and record it in case anyone misses it.

Got this e-mail today:

Hello

Thanks very much for reserving the recording of Iain Forsyth & Jane
Pollard's "Silent Sound" performance, featuring an original score by J.
Spaceman. The CD was recorded live at St. George's Hall, Liverpool on
Thursday 14th September. It sounds and looks beautiful, professionally
recorded by Live Here Now and designed by Chris Bigg and Vaughan Oliver at
V23.

We were a little optimistic in hoping the CDs would be able to be signed
over the weekend and available from today. Sorry. Unfortunately it is going
to take a little longer to get them all signed, and although we are still
planning to be able to take orders starting this week it will be a little
bit longer before orders are able to be shipped. We sincerely apologise for
any inconvenience or disappointment this may cause.

On a more positive note, as there is a delay caused by the signing we have
decided to factory press the CDs rather than use the CDR media used at the
event. This will provide a much more stable, durable recording.

Many thanks for your patience and understanding. Your order is recorded and
reservation guaranteed. We'll email you again very soon with details about
how to confirm and pay for your order and clear information regarding when
CDs will be dispatched.

In the meantime, you can hear a very short excerpt from the recording on the
BBC Radio 4 web site as part of an interview with Iain & Jane for Front Row.
Just use the 'Listen Again' feature to hear the programme from last Friday:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/frontrow/


With all good wishes,

The Silent Sound team

Hey, I'll gladly wait for a pressed disc! ...

Peace.

So I got to go to this event thanks to Gimperella. Cheers!!! I thought it was excellent. Don't know how to improve on clewsr's review because it describes it perfectly.

I'm slightly puzzled by the fact that I could hear the low frequency hum, which I was told was a 10Hz tone. I thought human hearing doesn't go below 20Hz? I'm wondering whether I was just picking up some sort of harmonics or maybe just the motor/electronic noise of the oscillator?! Either way, it definitively had an emotional effect and the ionizers did too. Someone mentioned the feeling you get before thunder... The actual concert hall was beautiful too. In fact everything was, down to the CD recording and packaging they gave you when you left the show.

Musically I enjoyed it too. I liked the whole piece Jason wrote and I also had my own favourite bits. The opening piano theme, the fact that the horns were on the 2nd floor playing melody lines coming from different directions of the room. I really liked some the high string parts towards the end and I absolutely loved the moments of weird timing in the horns- according to Jason that was a mistake!!! Haha, but that was my favourite bit....

There was a good party afterwards too, at an art gallery warehouse space (thanks Juleiette for letting me know). Free drinks and all that... I had too much rum as usual. As coincidence would have it, one of the exhibiting artists, who was from Newcastle turned out to be friends with the band I have been mixing for lately. It's a small world...

rameses wrote:Found this on the BBC Radio 4 Front Row website:

Hidden Messages in Music
Can messages be hidden in music? Dominic Streatfield, author of 'Brainwash: the Secret History of Mind Control' looks back at past examples, and artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard discuss their experiment with subliminal messaging in music, and their installation 'Silent Sound', which opened today at Greenland Street, 67 Greenland Street, Liverpool L1 OBY


The programme was broadcast last Friday 15th Septmeber and can be heard again up to this Friday by the'Listen Again ' link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/frontr ... mmes.shtml

I'm going to try and record it in case anyone misses it.

Unfortuantely due to a technical hitch I have been unable to record the aforementioned BBC radio show. The BBC Radio player insists that Real player is installed and it kept crashing my PC.

Sorry.

I've just recieved an email from Silent Sound advising that the CDs should be available from Monday 30th October.

Hopefully prior reservation requests will still stand.

I've just recieved an email from Silent Sound advising that the CDs should be available from Monday 30th October.

Hopefully prior reservation requests will still stand.

Yeah dont worry I got an email saying if you pre-ordered one you'll get one.
Fear not!

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/musi ... 847509.ece

"By this time, groups were putting in messages for fun. Pink Floyd were serial offenders, with the line "That was pretty avant garde, wasn't it?" "

I got mine! I'm pretty excited. This isn't going to be like Guitar Loops, is it?

Review please...?

Oh, I'm sorry to tease you. I just ordered mine and paid for it. I'll give a review in a couple of weeks. Everyone that was there says that it sounded great.

flamingrev wrote:Everyone that was there says that it sounded great.

...as opposed to guitar loops!!

To be there, with the lighting, the soul, the room, the positioning of the orchestra, being able to see and watch forsyth & pollard - watching their lips, and with spaceman out the corner of my eye occasionally shaking his head or passing comment to those next to him...i wonder how well this event will actually transcribe to cd for those that weren't there. It was an artistic experiment, spaceman just happened to write the score, and its important people who weren't there should remember that. Whenever i've listened to the recording since - as my memory has faded it has become more and more like a piece of music - but that wasn't really what it was about.

That said, it is beautiful though. It needs an open mind (but not in the same sense as guitar loops). It needs to be listened to in complete silence from start to finish - no distractions. I'm looking forward to receiving this cd, but i'm looking forawrd to the dvd more.

You don't need an open mind for Guitar Loops, you just need your mind split wide open [thanks Lou].

Ok, maybe its just me but if you can stomach prime-time Sun-Ra, or a lot of 'Cop shoot cop...' , surely Guitar Loops can't be too far out?

Stuff like Brotzmann, Metal Machine Music, or Girls Aloud...now that is some heavy shit.

And the sleeve for Silent Sound looks good... like the bit about the subliminal recorded voices - wonder what they were saying?

And Gimparella...I remember nothing.

Just in case people haven't spotted it, the Silent Sound CD is now available in the Pharmacy.

Anyone know where there are sound samples, pls? To be honest, I thought Guitar Loops was rubbish. Don't want to fork out and be disappointed again

Am I right in my reading of it that J Spaceman's bit is only 20 minutes long?

Just got it in the mail. Listening to it... the first track is a lotta blah blah blah paranormal blah blah hooey, about 6 minutes long. Some guy introducing what's going to happen, but it doesn't really tell the listener who wasn't there what is going on.

The second track, which is the performance, starts off with piano. A pretty, halting melody, like it's tip-toeing. Some strings come in around 1:30. More strings come in, at 4:00 there are several different layers of the same melody and a bell or something like that starts to chime. At 5:30 everything drops out except for some violins that are playing something which sounds kind of similar to what would be stressful background music in an Alfred Hitchcock film, in a sharp back and forth rhythm. At 6:30 this slows and strings start to layer again, although they keep up that back and forth thing, just slower. Melodies drift and strings come and go until around 11:00, when the strings keep doing their thing but some horns come in. They are not obtrusive or blaring, they actually kind of drift along with the strings. Xylaphone accents come in around 14:00. All of the instruments blend in to one sound very well, nothing stands out too much. At 16:20 it becomes less moody sounding and becomes prettier, similar to the beginning. At 18:45 it starts to get joyful sounding, very jaunty and happy. I haven't noticed any subliminal stuff. I guess because it's subliminal.... 20:00 it goes back to the solo piano with the tentative melody and ends at 20:30. Some silence, mechanical hum and moving about on the stage sounds last until 21:and change.

This is nothing in the world like Guitar Loops. There is nothing abrasive about it whatsoever. You all need this and you will regret not owning it if you don't buy it, assuming that you like the non-rock side of Spiritualized. I would be perfectly happy if Spaceman made nothing but this kind of music for the rest of his days. It may be one of the most beautiful things he has recorded. At times it does sound like background music for a movie, but anything instrumental and moody sounding is going to evoke that. I got #79 out of 1000.

I haven't noticed any subliminal stuff. I guess because it's subliminal....

haha.
thanks for that; i absolumont can't afford to buy this at the moment, but it's nice to know it's good ...

i forget, is this the live recording or is it a studio recording of the score?

It's recorded live, at the show, although there are no audience noises. The recording is very good.

Just as a point of interest, Jason mentioned after the show that although he thought it went 'alright' and that the conductor did well, he personally would've conducted the orchestra quite differently in a couple of places. I wonder just how he would've changed it, and how it'd sound if it was his choice.

ash wrote:

flamingrev wrote:Everyone that was there says that it sounded great.

...as opposed to guitar loops!!

I stuck Guitar Loops on for only the third time earlier today. I was feeling tired and thought I'd stick this on the headphones and lay down (rock n roll).

Dark room with just an old Mathmos lamp on.

I was just drifting into that woozy dreamy feeling, listening to the album - then at about 12 minutes it scared the living daylights outta me!

My eyes nearly popped out of my head.

Back on the shelf with you.

Fuzzhead wrote:

ash wrote:

flamingrev wrote:Everyone that was there says that it sounded great.

...as opposed to guitar loops!!

I stuck Guitar Loops on for only the third time earlier today. I was feeling tired and thought I'd stick this on the headphones and lay down (rock n roll).

Dark room with just an old Mathmos lamp on.

I was just drifting into that woozy dreamy feeling, listening to the album - then at about 12 minutes it scared the living daylights outta me!

My eyes nearly popped out of my head.

Back on the shelf with you.

Silent Sound was far more pretty than I thought it would be, especially the opening and closing sections. Comparable to some of the instrumental b-sides.

Not sure I'm that convinced about the artists concept though. "Daft" is as charitable as I can be.

I quite like the more orchestral stuff of Spiz, like Let It Come Down, and i was wondering if Silent Sound would be my bag? is it new songs, or just orchestral pieces?

It's one orchestral piece about 20mins long.

flamingrev wrote:
This is nothing in the world like Guitar Loops. There is nothing abrasive about it whatsoever. You all need this and you will regret not owning it if you don't buy it

Is that the subliminal message?

it's only £18 if you buy it from the silentsound website, thats a whole pound cheaper!

very fast delivery! well done!

mad props to the pharmacy!!!!!!! Ordered this on Thursday and received it here in the States on MONDAY. WOW! Thanks much!

Listened to it yesterday - in anticipation, headphones on - but I was pretty disappointed.

I detached myself from the whole subliminal message concept (needed to be there I suppose) and concentrated on the music.

Jason's arrangement was really nice but I felt it could have been played with a little more soul/freedom. I can't put my finger on it - but it just felt like there could have been more from the orchestra. It felt restricted. There was nothing really moving in it for me - it was predictable.

Listen to how Jason arranges the orchestra on Let It Come Down and maybe you'll get what I mean.