SESSION NINE: At Home With Rose

Lazy lazy. Here's this weeks tracklist. I'll fill in the gaps later. Hope this is not the beginning of me slipping! No links as yet. If ever. Partly cobled together from my third show, but actually did a major overhaul once I listened to my third show and found it lacking.

First three tracks might make yr ears bleed slightly, but then the tracks further down the line will heal them and really, you'll be a better person for it. Truly. Trust me.

Podcast of show here

Crude, yr the blaster (you got the rights), Faux
Neoteric Sound Research Unit No. 0001, Dread The Future (Take One), unreleased
RST, Adrift, Axes, Last Visible Dog
RST, Return to the Stars, Axes, Last Visible Dog
1/3 Octave Band, Dominion, The Tone of the Universe
Omit, The Crossover, Transmogrification
With Throats as Fine as Needles, Track 4, With Throats as Fine as Needles
Rosy Parlane, Part 1, Iris
White Winged Moth, Untitled 1, I Can See Inside Your House, Poon Village
Seht, Make the Baby Jesus Cry Some More, The Voice of the Taniwha, Last Visible Dog
White Winged Moth, Untitled 1, Silo Blanket
Lovely Midget, Dolphin, North Head
Greg Malcolm, Lonely Woman, Homesick for Nowhere
Antony Milton, And Where The Colored Planes Are Rafts, Sirens/And Where The Coloured Planes Are Rafts
Swung, Shuf, Voice and Key
Birchville Cat Motel, Love Thy Hatred Down, Our Love Will Destroy the World
Alistair Galbraith, Lull and Make it Snow, Cry
Robert Scott, Laid to Rest, Runner
Roy Montgomery, E.N.D., 324 E. 13th Street #7

Crossing over

My son has moved out. The final kid to leave the nest. It's good and it's bad. It's the end of the biggest part of my life so far - child rearing. So that's sad. But it's the beginning of a whole new way of life - no kids in the house. No more "what's for dinner?", "where are my socks?" and "mum, can you turn your music down, it's 1 a.m.". Truly, the latter happened recently and I felt quite bad.

Anyway, the upshot of all this is that today we moved into my son's old room.I had given him the biggest bedroom because he was studying and needed the space. The room is really light with a bay window. It has a wardrobe! D and I have been sharing a tiny wardrobe only fit for one person. Luckily I don't have a lot of clothes. But now we have the luxury of a wardrobe, and heaps of cupboard space, plus lots of room to move around. My laptop is usually sitting on the dining room table, but tonight I'm preparing my show from my bed. It's luxury, I tell ya!

I'm taking the easy route with my show this week and using an earlier one. The main reason, though, is that my early shows were never archived, so I've decided to just play them again so that I can archive them for podcasting. I'm playing Session Three again this Tuesday night. Next time I'll play Session One again.

The Vegetable Markets

I went out to the vege markets in Lower Hutt this morning. It's so very much cheaper than getting your veg at the supermarket. Cheaper, fresher, and more variety. Plus, because there are so many producers there, you can shop around from stall to stall to get even better prices. I would say I would spend half or less on veg and fruit out there. Plus I can pick up organic eggs, fresh bread and hunt through old records and CDs too. But the thing I like about it most is that I feel like I'm in real New Zealand, not white-bread Wellington. In the midst of so many cultures, I can appreciate that we are part of the South Pacific, that we are a Pacific nation, not some little European outreach. Today I picked up some celeriac, fresh rice noodles, a big bag of limes, and some fennel bulbs, amongst lots of other stuff. There's always heaps of Asian herbs and veg that I wish I knew more about. Yes, it takes a whole Saturday morning to get out there, do my shopping, and get back, but I love the experience, and when I look at my fridge full of goodies it's a grand feeling.

Session 8 podcast

Download podcast for Session 8

Old photos

I've been looking through old photos on my computer. I had a gut-dropping moment when I thought I had deleted all my photos. Fortunately I was wrong. Amongst them are scans from a bunch of old slides. My dad always shot on transparency and a while ago my sister organised getting some of them digitised. I always get a bit teary looking at these old photos. Here's one of me when I was about 5 or 6, holding my favourite "Clowny" who I never cast off entirely till I was about 14.

SESSION EIGHT: At Home With Rose

It's only a month to go now until the launch of Radio23. All very exciting. Each time I go through the live webcast process I seem to do something wrong. I'm really hanging out for the day when it all goes off without a hitch. Perhaps this week will be the day! Of course, I'm not yet doing a live voice-over with my new mic. I don't have a room to broadcast from yet and there's always noise around, so it'll be cool soon when I have a dedicated spot in the house and I can blither away to my heart's content.

Here's my tracklist for Tuesday night. Links still to be added.

Highlights for me are the two Roy Montgomery tracks at the end.

Never Tire of Looking at the Stars, The Skeptics, Amalgam, Flying Nun Records. (2:22)
australopithecus afarensis, Evil Ocean, unreleased. (7:51)
Tapper Flex, Omit, Tracer, Helen Scarsdale Agency. (8:53)
Blame the Speakers, Disasteradio. (1:16)
The Wave with Red Stain Running, Gydja, Umbilicus Marinus, Mystery Sea. (6:52)
despoiler pt. 1, Seht, Application Antarctica Download Form, Celebrate Psi Phenomenon. (4:44)
despoiler pt. 2, Seht, Application Antarctica Download Form, Celebrate Psi Phenomenon. (6:48)
despoiler pt. 3, Seht, Application Antarctica Download Form, Celebrate Psi Phenomenon. (2:35)
A, eso steel, two ways, Drone Records. (5:33)
magnetic south, 1/3 octave band, navigation by light, celebrate psi phenomenon. (7:08)
uneaten stars duo, birchville cat motel, invisible pyramid: elegy box set, Visible Last Dog. (17:29)
Primitive Atmosphere, RST, Axes, Last Visible Dog. (5:39)
Atlantis, Rosy Parlane, Touch 25, Touch. (4:03)
Adrift at 30,000 Ft., Peter Wright, Desolation, Beauty, Violence, Foxglove. (9:44)
Untitled 7, White Winged Moth, I Can See Inside Your House, Poon Village. (3:08)
Coast Road, Blowfly Saint, The Need For A Crossing: A New New Zealand, Vol. 1, Xeric. (4:37)
Bold-Old, Pumice, The Need For A Crossing: A New New Zealand, Vol. 1, Xeric. (3:06)
Unknown Rembetika, Geg Malcolm, The Need For A Crossing: A New New Zealand, Vol. 1, Xeric. (5:27)
Left Turns Right, This Kind of Punishment, In the Same Room, Flying Nun Records. (4:03)
Innerstate, Sandra Bell, Dreams of Falling, Turbulence Records. (2:59)
Intertidal, Roy Montgomery, 324 E. 13th Street #7, Drunken Fish. (3:49)
Film As A Subversive Art, Roy Montgomery, 324 E. 13th Street #7, Drunken Fish. (2:49)

SESSION SEVEN: AT HOME WITH ROSE

Playlist for transmission: 17 March 2009 8-10 pm NZ time (midnight Pacific time)

Podcast: to Feedburner

I just saw Seht perform as part of a fantastic line-up at Happy in the weekend. Seht, then Pumice, then Grouper (Portland, OR). A great night. Seht played live remixes of his divine Christian Jesus, I Will Determine A Suicide which I have decided to play here in it's entirety. Why? Cos I can! Those first strands of sound that gradually billow out of the gloom floor me every time. I find Seht's music very filmic and visual. It conjures up looming entities from clouds of inky smoke. It's the music Brian Eno would make if he were a ghost.

Last week I had a really bad time with my show. The playlist and the podcast don't match up 'cos I had serious technical hitches. Never mind. Hopefully this show is going to go without a hitch. I sitll don't have mic-overs, but maybe next time. It's all coming together as I get my head round the technology and the necessary software. Learning new stuff is fun!

Also the time slot will help matters. Getting outta bed at 6.15am and into the technical aspects of the show by 6.45 are not conducive to a hitch-free session. Even though I do consider myself a morning person.

Line In Tail Out, Peter Jefferies, Closed Circuit, Emperor Jones. (0.21)
Gin Over Sour Milk, Autistic Daughters, Uneasy Flowers, Kranky. (5:06)
Green Dream, Alistair Galbraith, Cry, Emperor Jones. (0:43)
Whenua, Isle Park, unreleased, 3:36
Untitled 3, White Winged Moth, I Can See Inside Your House, Poon Village. (1:06)
Oh and From the Beach, Wreck Small Speakers on Expensive Stereos, River Falling Love, Ajax Records. (2:11)
Midnight at Mangawhai Beach (Skeleton), Claypipe, Jewelled Antler Library Vol. 8: Wayside, Jewelled Antler. (5:03)
~~~, Claypipe, Jewelled Antler Library Vol. 8: Wayside, Jewelled Antler. (1:44)
Thoar, Alistair Galbraith, Runner compilation, Next Best Way. (1:16)
Depresso Guitar, Greg Malcolm, Homesick For Nowhere, Corpus Hermeticum. (7:27)
untitled, eso steel, two ways, Drone. (4:52)
Decayer, Omit, Tracer, Helen Scarsdale Agency. (3:01)
PI.Quad.15.1, Gate, My Dear Sweet Reluctant Sweetheart, Hell's Half Halo. (5:47)
the i it is chosen the soldiers i, Seht, Christian Jesus, I Will Determine A Suicide, Foxglove. (29:09)
and metal beets, Seht, Christian Jesus, I Will Determine A Suicide, Foxglove. (11:14)
Red Hut, Lovely Midget, Self Titled, Corpus Hermeticum. (3:18)
The Tone The Charm, Crude, Syringes and Insects, Open Source Audio. (8:47)
Pretty Mushroom Clouds, Peter Wright, Pretty Mushroom Clouds, Archive Recordings. (5:21)
Forest Flower, Alistair Galbraith, Cry, Emperor Jones. (3:11)
Untitled, Parmentier, Luxsound, Sigma Editions. (12:33)
North Head, Lovely Midget, North Head, Family Vineyard. (4:58)

Live footage: Autistic Daughters - Gin Over Sour Milk

Shows are now podcast

Okay, I'm being lazy because I really need to put some permanent links in the sidebar, but just letting everyone know that my radio show is now being podcast here.

At Home With Rose timeslot change

Due to daylight saving in the US, I've decided to change my timeslot. It wasn't worth getting up at 4.15am. Not for anything. That is sleeping time. Especially when I have work that day.

The new time is Tuesday nights from 8 to 10pm, New Zealand time. I think that makes it around 3am in New York where the show uploads to.

www.radio23.org

SESSION SIX: AT HOME WITH ROSE

Pushing the genre out a bit with some lofi niceness.

I have discovered Autistic Daughters and I am in love. Sweet sweetness.

My fave track today is a new unreleased track from a demo sent to me by Stephen Clover (Seht) pictured. When I listen to it I feel like I'm in a David Lynch film. And that's a good thing.

111 Taranaki, Sophie Moleta, Runner compilation, Next Best Way
Lull, Swung, Key and Voice, PseudoArcana
Still Rain, Lovely Midget, Self Titled, Corpus Hermeticum
Rehana's theme, Autistic Daughters, Uneasy Flowers, Kranky
Twilight Conversation, Roy Montgomery, Scenes From The South Island, Drunken Fish
Florence Crown, Last Replay, Autistic Daughters, Jealousy and Diamond, Kranky
Clear by Morning, Peter Jefferies, Electricity, Ajax Records
Shield, Surface of the Earth, Interference, Corpus Hermeticum
Exhibition 1, Peter Gutteridge, Pure, Xpressway
Fires Thereof, Glory Fckn Sun, Vision Scorched, PseudoArcana
Move Objects, Surface of the Earth, Interference, Corpus Hermeticum
UNGH, Seht, HRRT, unreleased
The Face and Detached, Dean Roberts, Tempo Technik Teamwork compilation, Staubgold
Costume, Tim Coster, Mornings, PseudoArcana
Sea Goose, Nigel Bunn, Runner compilation, Next Best Way
Beat Tactique, Crude, Faux, free release online
Syringes and Insects, Crude, Syringes and Insects, free release online

Record Store Day in April

A day to celebrate music - April 18, 2009. According to the website, Slowboat is the only participating record store in New Zealand. Go Slowboat!

SESSION FIVE: At Home With Rose

I've decided to stick to my noise/drone/lo-fi genre in the future. While Radio23 is still in Beta, I'll possibly do another couple of shows of indie/pop/folkish tunes, but it suits to keep to relative genres since the station will be splitting into various genre-based channels.

I've been addressing copyright issues and contacting artists where I can. If you are on my playlist and I haven't yet contacted you - I'm sorry. I do intend to make sure I receive permission from all artists. Gotta do the right thing!

Thanks to Andy McLeod for sending through a track at the last minute. Very very pleased to include new track from new Auckland sludgy metal fiends, Evil Ocean.

Finish with two tracks from one of my all-time favourite bands, The Skeptics. I saw them play in Timaru so many years ago. They opened my ears and my eyes.

Playlist for tomorrow morning's show on Radio 23:

Tonight the Kids Sleep in the Car, gFrenzy, A Lowtide's Rising, 1:36
The Soul Quietens, Roy Montgomery, Kranky Kompilation, 3:10
phone order, Seht, Application Antarctica Download, 7:55
Moonlit Air, RST, Axes, 6:55
paul johns, Lovely Midget, Self Titled, 10:32
Lords of Space, RST, Axes, 4:23
shining with the wrong kind of light, Lovely Midget, Self Titled, 8:52
buckling metal snowflakes, Birchville Cat Motel, Chi Vampires, 28:52
Disturbing the Quiet, i.ryoko., 8:46
Force the Rusty Hinges, i.ryoko, 6:20
Entombed Alive, Black Boned Angel, Eternal Hunger, 20:34
australopithecus afarensis, Evil Ocean, 7:51
All Sum Nul, The Skeptics, Amalgam, 3:48
Blue, The Skeptics, Skeptics Collection, 3:21

PHOTO: Black Boned Angel

SESSION FOUR: At Home with Rose

Playlist for At Home with Rose for Wednesday 25 February, 2009 on Radio23.

My favourite track for today is Whenua by Isle Park. Strange and beautiful.

Thanks heaps to Chelsea from Teacups for sending me tracks for the show. Also to Reuben from Emerald Citeies for Mull Pasha, the new single from their forthcoming release Circa Scaria due out on 6 April.

Subatomic Pop, Bachelorette, Isolation Loops, 2006
Harajuku, Grayson Gilmour, Phantom Limbs, 2005
Electro Rock Power, Disasteradio, Disasteradio, 2002
Glib, Phelps & Munro, A Low Hum (Disc 2), 2004
Poppacino, Bachelorette, Isolation Loops, 2006
Outsleep The Day, Collapsing Cities, Collapsing Cities EP, 2007
mull pasha, An Emerald City
Do You Feel Loathesome?, Grayson Gilmour, Phantom Limbs, 2005
Hotel Azteca, Salon Kingsadore, Hotel Azteca, 2006
Whenua, Isle Park
Blue Penguin, Ruby Suns, Sea Lion, 2008
Moon in a Jar, The Wicks, Why Do People Walk, 2008
Yellow, Fang, A Low Hum (Disc 2), 2004
Pretty (Brimea Mix), Cloudboy, Flying Way Too High, Arclife Records
Zapped, Bailter Space, Wammo
i Dot Heart, Actor slash model
Walk Along, Cloudboy, Cloudboy
Picture You, Tawhiri, Flying Way Too High, Arclife Records
Boatsong, Rosy Tin Teacaddy, Blind Leading the Blind, 2007
Four Eyed Bird Watcher, Teacups
Sea Shanty, Ragamuffin Children, Werecat Lullabies, 2007
Throwing Stones, Sneaky Feelings, Tuatara: A Flying Nun Compilation, 1991
Made Up In Blue, The Bats, Daddy's Highway, 1987
Magic, Teacups
Sophie, The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, A Little Bit Wonderful, 2008
There Are Birds, Ruby Suns, Sea Lion, 2008
I Hope The Pope Makes You A Saint, Lawrence Arabia, Lawrence Arabia, 2006
Ballad, Teacups
Princess Chelsea, Your Woman (White Town Cover)
Princess Chelsea, Monkey Eats Bananas

Go away, girls

Dave and I just watched the first episode of Go Girls. What the fuck?! What a dreadful piece of TV that was. Outrageous Fortune of the North Shore? Sorry, Listener, I don't think so. Don't piggyback on that, you plonkers.

SESSION THREE: At Home with Rose

It's that time of the week again. Thanks to i.ryoko (Thomas) for dropping off some tracks for the show.

My favourite track from the show is Alistair Galbraith's sublime “Lull and Make it Snow”.

Listen to the show 7 till 9am on www.radio23.org

Playlist for Thursday 18 February:

Dreamy Flying (Live), Kahu, Flying Way Too High, 496 secs, 2000, Arclife Records
Cut Too Short for Contentment, i.ryoko, 235 secs, 2008
Part 1, Rosy Parlane, Iris, 1149 secs, 2004, Touch
We saw it all through the 20th Century, In the Interest of the Convoy, 416 secs, 2008
Beginning of Compression Amplified by Dislocation, Omit, Transmogrification, 100 secs, 1993, self-released cassette
Return To The Stars, RST, Axes, 294 secs, 2007, Last Visible Dog
Hik, Swung, Voice and Key 1996-2006, 182 secs, 2006, Pseudo Arcana
Laburnum, Jakob, Cale:drew, 470 secs, 2003, Midium Records
The Crossover, Omit, Transmogrification, 461 secs, 1993, self-released cassette
Lull and make it snow, Alistair Galbraith, Cry, 67 secs, Emperor Jones
Untitled 1, White Winged Moth, I Can See Inside Your House, 373 secs, 1995, Poon Village
Shuf, Swung, Voice and Key 1996-2006, 310 secs, 2006, Pseudo Arcana
Track 04, With Throats As Fine As Needles, With Throats As Fine As Needles, 337 secs, 2006, Digitalis Industries / Students of Decay
all quiet on howth now, seht, dronemusic, 268 secs, 2001, Celebrate Psi Phenomenom
Adrift, RST, Axes, 386 secs, 2007, Last Visible Dog
Untitled 1, White Winged Moth, Silo Blanket, 503 secs, 1997, Formacentric
Make The Baby Jesus Cry Some More, Seht, The Voice Of The Taniwha, 404 secs, 2003, Last Visible Dog
Pulsing, Antony Milton, Sirens/And Where The Coloured Planes Are Rafts, 225 secs, 2005, Last Visible Dog
Lonely Woman, Greg Malcolm, Homesick For Nowhere, 415 secs, 2002, Corpus Hermeticum
Lay Thy Hatred Down, Birchville Cat Motel, Our love will destroy the world, 198 secs, 2006, Pseudo Arcana

SESSION TWO: At Home with Rose

It's my non-noise week for my radio show, so a mix of old and new of mixed genre. Okay, Ladyhawke is totally pop, but I love "Paris is Burning". I can't justify it – I just like it.

I'm hoping I can eventually play my show completely live without having to plan ahead, but for now I'm having to do it this way. Been a bit lazy with the links - might add some more in if I have time. I seem to be having a very busy week.

Included are three of my all-time favourite NZ songs - Tall Dwarf's "Nothing's Gonna Happen" (felt like my teenage theme song at the age of 15), The Chills' "Pink Frost" and "Down in Splendour" by Straightjacket Fits. I always did prefer Andrew Brough's voice to Shayne Carter's.

www.radio23.org from 7 to 9 in the morning.

Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!, The Mint Chicks, Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!, 2006
No Plans, Collapsing Cities, Collapsing Cities EP, 2007
Paris Is Burning, Ladyhawke, Ladyhawke, 2008
Holding Back One, Bachelorette, Isolation Loops, 2006
And The Earth Knew Absence, Bachelorette, Isolation Loops, 2006
Bockaw, Leila Adu, Cherry Pie
Memory Bells, John White, Mogwash, 2004
Sailor's Song, John White, Mogwash, 2004
It's Mwangi In Front Of Me, Ruby Suns, Sea Lion, 2008
Afternoon in Bed, The Bats, Thousands of Tiny Luminous Spheres
Eyes Rarely Meet, Age Pryor, A Low Hum (Disc 2), 2004
Somewhere Over The Moon, Mëstar, Shut The Squizwot Factories Down, 2007
Float On A Feather, John White, Balloon Adventure
The Mystery Lair, Lawrence Arabia, Lawrence Arabia, 2006
The Thinnest Air, Lawrence Arabia, Lawrence Arabia, 2006
I Don't Mind (Lawrence Arabia Remix), Dudley Benson, The Orders, Medals & Decorations EP, 2006
Pink Frost, The Chills, Tuatara - A Flying Nun Compilation, 1991
Dirge, The Verlaines, You're Just Too Obscure For Me
Slow Sad Love Song, The Verlaines, You're Just Too Obscure For Me
One More Reason, Bailter Space, Tanker
Down In Splendor, Straitjacket Fits, Topless Women Talk About Their Lives compilation
In My Craft Or Sullen Art, Mink, For My Mink, 1996
Freeways, The Reduction Agents, The Dance Reduction Agents, 2006
The Pool, The Reduction Agents, The Dance Reduction Agents, 2006
Elmira Vs The Latchkey Kid, Grayson Gilmour, Phantom Limbs, 2005
Stonesthrow, Grayson Gilmour, Phantom Limbs, 2005
Telephone Senor Kleeno, Disasteradio, Disasteradio, 2002
Casiotone Video Lesson, Disasteradio, Disasteradio, 2002
Sleeping During The Day, The Mint Chicks, Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!, 2006
If My Arm Was A Mic Stand, Would You Hold My Hand?, The Mint Chicks, Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!, 2006
Ole Rinka, Ruby Suns, Sea Lion, 2008
Fear Of Opening My Mouth, Collapsing Cities, Fear Of Opening My Mouth, 2008
Skeleton Dance, So So Modern, Real Groove Presents...Awesome Feeling, 2007
How Am I Not Myself?, Shocking Pinks, Shocking Pinks, 2007
Hands, Barge, Barge By Name Barge By Nature, 2007
Any Any, Skeptics, If I Will I Can, 1990
Nothings Gonna Happen, The Tall Dwarfs, It's Bigger Than Both Of Us compilation

Humour at home

David called me a witch (I was trying very hard to annoy him at the time, and succeeding). Then he said “I think I offended a woman at work when I called her a witch [pause for effect]… I think she's a fundamentalist christian.”

SESSION ONE: At Home With Rose

As a preamble to my show tomorrow morning, I want to quote part of a review of PseudoArcana's compilation, The Tone of the Universe (= The Tone of the Earth) on Pitchfork:

“Drone is liturgy. Since its mid-century installation in the repertoire of experimental music, drone has been coded with naked aspirations: people looking to the holy East; people looking to the archaic; people looking into deep space, into the pure machine, into the stranger mind. Drone has always been enamored of the faraway. The sacred, as always, must be imported from there.

“Its devotees are few but fervent. But the faith has always seemed strangely incommunicable: It doesn't seem to get many converts, just initiates and infidels and no commerce between them. Missionary work is a slog. Those who have made stabs at evangelization know the response is usually incredulity rather than hostility. Minimalist classics have been returned to me with a blankness bordering on incomprehension, as if I'd handed out videotapes of television snow and demanded an assessment of character arcs.”

Drone is not to everyone’s taste - that's a given. When I first listened to drone and noise, I found I could only take it in bursts. Sometimes there was some that I just didn't “get” in the least. It's taken a while to get to the stage where I can happily listen to a couple of hours of back-to-back noise and drone. I think that what drone has done for me has helped me find the “music” in the everyday. The sound around us everywhere. The divine noise of life. Listen to the words used in the quote: liturgy, fervent, converts. I went to see the final performance of Birchville Cat Motel in Christchurch and there's such a hush, such a feeling of communion, that you could feel you were in a church. There’s a feeling of reverence at a noise gig. Noise and drone have opened up my aural appreciation, my aural senses. It's helped me to “listen” and it has a meditative quality. Pauline Oliveros uses a term “deep listening” that I rather like.

My playlist is (and will be every week) solely New Zealand. Every other week I'll be playing other NZ music – a mix of genres, but generally away from the mainstream. Radio23 is international, so I want to get some NZ music out there that I'd like people to hear.

I hope it all works according to plan because the station is still in Beta mode and this is a test run for me.

Tracklist for my first session:

‘Metal Feathers Can Fly’, Peter Wright, Invisible Pyramid: Elegy Box , 277 seconds, 2005, Last Visible Dog
‘Lull’, Swung, Voice and Key, 130 seconds, 2006, Pseudo Arcana
‘Junkshop Rainbow Superserpent’, Birchville Cat Motel, Second Curved Surface Destroyer (Disc 2), 1739 seconds, 2008, Celebrate Psi Phenomenon
‘Hong Kong Abracadabra’, Birchville Cat Motel, Second Curved Surface Destroyer (Disc 2), 1189 seconds, 2008, Celebrate Psi Phenomenon
‘Use’, 1/3 octave band, Sub Lumina, 870 seconds, 2006, Humbug
‘Antarctica Download (Edit)’, Seht, The Tone Of The Universe (=The Tone of the Earth), 421 seconds, 2005, Pseudo Arcana
‘Mem’, Swung, Voice and Key, 137 seconds, 2006, Pseudo Arcana
‘And Where The Colored Planes Are Rafts’, Antony Milton, Sirens/And Where The Coloured Planes Are Rafts, 252 seconds, 2005, Last Visible Dog
‘Amber Eyed’, The Nether Dawn, The Tone Of The Universe (=The Tone of the Earth), 212 seconds, 2005, PseudoArcana
‘Catchpool 01’, Seht, Invisible Pyramid: Elegy Box , 815 seconds, 2005, Last Visible Dog
‘Requiem For John Fahey’, Seht, The Voice Of The Taniwha, 657 seconds, 2003, Last Visible Dog
‘Dudi’, Swung, Voice and Key, 265 seconds, 2006, Pseudo Arcana

Radio23.org

I'm doing a weekly radio show for Radio23 - live tomorrow morning from 7-9am NZ time - called At Home With Rose (of course). NZ noise-drone-ambient. Radio23 is still on test drive. Hope it all goes according to plan!

It's going to be a weekly show. Kinda exciting cos I've never done anything like this before.

I'll post the playlist here in the morning.

http://radiotwentythree.wordpress.com
http://radio23.org
http://www.myspace.com/radiotwentythree
http://twitter.com/radio23

Old School and Proud

Listening to: Nouns, No Age

There's something incredibly wholesome going on in my house. I've taken up the fine art of preserving, and here's the results of my efforts. Well, not the entire results, cos we've eaten some already, and it was delicious, I tell you. I remember helping my Mum to do bottling and I did some years ago, but I've had to resort to the old Edmonds book to job my memory. So far I've made tomato relish, pasta sauce and bottled apricots. I think the apricots are best - they look great and taste better. I rang a few orchards in Central Otago because that's where the best stone fruit comes from. Got a pretty good deal and bought about 18kg of fruit, so I have to get busy and bottle them before they get too ripe. There's something about living in this cottage that makes me want to get back to basics. Yesterday I made a massive pot of vegetable stock that is now in the freezer. Fuck, I feel so bloody virtuous! Next I'll be knocking up a little calico dress soon out of flour sacks! Nyah hahahahaha!

Dr Eugene Chadbourne @ Happy

My friend asked me along to see a touring US performer last night - Dr Eugene Chadbourne – who was playing at Happy. Dan Beban was playing his electric cake-tin guitar first, and that was a very nice and apt leadup to Eugene's performance. Dan's guitar looks very rudimentary, but the sounds that emanate are nothing but. The mesmerising and uplifting big big sound that came out of that baby were fantastic. I'm keen to see him play again. He had started off on the banjo and that was cool too, but that cake-tin blew me away. I could see he had some pedals on the go, so I guess he had some looping and delay going on which helped build up some gorgeous sonic layers. Sweet!

I didn't know much at all about Chadbourne. I had seen some info about him because of the tour, so all I really knew was about his innovation and experimentation with instruments, the electric rake being the most intriguing. I never got to see the electric rake, and although a bit disappointed at the time, in retrospect I don't really care, because the innate beauty and humanity that eminated from Chadbourne's music had little to do with his home-built instruments. Rather, he was the instrument of all this. I'm interested now to listen to some of his recorded music. I wonder if any of his playful grimaces and laughing, amused delivery will be apparent through recorded sound. He was a joy to watch - he had a complete lack of self-conciousness or guile. His songs talked about real-sounding people, and reminded me a lot of Daniel Johnson's songs, both in delivery and content. I hate that word ‘quirky’ but it seems to fit here. His banjo playing was playful and he makes it all look so easy. Obviously it's not! Most of his songs forced me into a constant smile, and, on more than one occasion, I laughed out loud. I couldn't take my eyes off his constant change of facial expression.

To say he doesn't run with the mainstream would be an understatement. Now I've read some more about him, his list of collaborations reads like an A-list of outsider experimental musicians.

The solo stuff was fantastic, and I wish I could go again (well, I could cos he's playing again tonight, again at Happy, but I have other things planned). He then went on to some noodly improv with the usual Wellington Happy crew, which wasn't really my cuppa tea. Dunno why, but improvisation never really does it for me.

If I had to describe Chadbourne with a quick phrase, it would be "Daniel Johnston reincarnated as an experimental bluegrass jazz freak". Perhaps without the afflictions that Daniel lives with.

Me and the man

I've just been scrolling through old pics on my phone. I used to have my laptop at work which was very handy - I could bluetooth them across to my laptop straight from my mobile. But without that I'm a bit stuck. I just tried emailing a pic from my phone to my desktop computer, which doesn't have bluetooth. Annoyingly, the images are now only 16k! But usually they are a decent size. Anyway, I thought this was a nice photo of me and Dave. Grainy, but in a good way.

Yes, yes, this is my first blog for a VERY long time. Recently I have been wasting a great deal of time on Facebook. And now I have discovered Twitter, and that’s even worse. They are both rather stupid. They are far too distracting from the work I should be doing.

I think I would rather upkeep my blog. It's far more enjoyable. And not quite as distracting.

The Legendary Newtown Dots

Listening to: Themselves, The No Sound

Have you seen the dots. I love the dots. Come and put some on the lampposts on my street. Go on.

I took the dog for a big old walk to the zoo and back last weekend and snapped these.

Another couple of pics

Some more views of the living area. Still some boxes to unpack, but we are fully settled in. Next step: purchase some DIY books!

Home Owner at Last

Dave and I have bought a turn-of-the-century cottage. We moved in just over a month ago and we are very happy indeed. Feeling right at home.

My cat has been typing secret messages

I left my keyboard unattended, and came back to find this entered into a dialogue box: ''''uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuCVUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU8999mmmmm7cccc----ccccccccoyyy oo fd p[--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------v o9b vvvv0

Is my cat sending me secret messages? Can anyone decode this?

Perhaps it's : "If you've gone to the supermarket, you better come back with some bloody catfood!"

Wild Combination

I've just seen a wonderful wonderful film. And I know I'm going to spend the next while seeking out the music of Arthur Russell. Cos he's amazing. And so is this poster.

80s day at the office

We're having an 80s theme day at the office!

Explanation of Absence

Okay, back to mid-2007: here I was happily engaged with my design business, Parlour. Self-employed for over 5 years. Sharing an office with two friends. I get an offer from one of my print suppliers, totally out of the blue, to come and work for him as creative director of a small design company he owned. My immediate reaction was “no way”, but I started thinking about is his offer, and after about a month’s worth of negotiations, and a month or two of getting Parlour sorted, I moved across, winding up Parlour and taking my clients with me. I made a pretty sweet deal and am now on a pretty substantial salary.

But there are some BUTs - I miss working for myself. I've given up a great deal of autonomy. It feels different - I don't feel the ownership I used to feel about my work. But there are some pluses for sure. The people here are great - it's fun to work in a team environment again. It's nice to hand work over to my designers when I get really busy. I'm looking forward to taking holidays (in fact, I'm heading off in a week's time to my first proper holiday in 6 years). It's good to know there are sick days there when I need to take them. I don't have to deal with the stinky IRD any more (big big plus!). The cashflow is easier, of course. Salary paid weekly. Nice.

So, life is quite different these days. I only have one kid left at home - my two girls have moved out and are now in the adult world, working and flatting. My son is at university and has a girlfriend so I don't see much of him. Dave and I are together (for those that don't know) but we live apart now - seems to work for us. All in all, things are pretty smooth. I work some silly hours still, but then, I always have. It's part of me, and I recognise it's of my own making. I probably need to change this. I will. In time. Right now, I need to make this new job work, and to make this design studio a success. It's a bit daunting really. Design and print are competitive industries, and I'm pretty much left to my own devices. Fingers crossed I can make this work.

Oh, and I'm hoping to buy my own house by the end of the year. Sick of renting. Time to grow put down some roots.

Surprise Post

Well hello there. I have not died. No. I've just had my life taken over by my new job which I started back in August '07. About the time I stopped blogging.

Okay, this is just to say that I'm alive.

Next instalment soon. Very soon.

Watch this space.

Feeling special

Yes, I'm feeling special. I just won a design award, which is a very nice thing. Indeed. The award I won was for the Best Educational Book category. Yay me.

Here's the press release:

Graphic Design : 2007 Spectrum Print Book Design Awards winners announced

Eagle's Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand, written and illustrated by Audrey Eagle and published by Te Papa Press, swooped away with half of the awards on offer in the 2007 Spectrum Print Book Design Awards. "The judges unanimously agreed that this magnificent two-volume set easily met, and indeed surpassed, the criteria by which the entries had to be judged," said convenor of judges Denis Welch.

Designers Neil Pardington (Base Two) and Robyn Sivewright (Afineline) won Best Illustrated Book, Best Cover, and Best Book overall for their work on this landmark publication. This is Pardington's third consecutive win.

Audrey Eagle's botanical drawings were first published in 1975 by William Collins (New Zealand) Ltd; with a second volume following in 1983. As well as all of the artwork from the previous two volumes, the new volumes contain over 170 new paintings and drawings by Eagle, and showcase every presently known tree and shrub in New Zealand.

The treatment of Eagle's Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand by Pardington (covers) and Sivewright (interiors) has also helped to earn Audrey Eagle and Te Papa Press a nomination for Best Illustrated Book at the Montana Book Awards.

Brief Lives (Auckland University Press) won designers Sarah Maxey and Katrina Duncan, along with artist Brendan O'Brien, the Best Non-Illustrated category of the awards.

The other winners were Cheryl Rowe, awarded Best Children's Book for Legends of Ngatoro-i-rangi (Reed Publishing), and Rose Miller, awarded Best Educational Book for Te Kete Kupu (Huia Publishers) – the first children’s dictionary completely in te reo Māori.

"The high overall standard of the entries indicates a publishing industry in remarkably good shape," said Welch, who was joined on the panel by bookseller Beth Davies and William Chen, founding Art Director of Metro and Art Director of Cuisine.

The book design awards have been run annually since 1997 by the Book Publishers Association of New Zealand.

30/7/07

Notes on the Festival

We're fortunate to have some intelligent filmwriting on the Festival - see Lumière Reader. It has excellent reviews throughout the year, but during the months of June and July it devotes itself to the New Zealand Film Festivals screenings. Good on them.

Triple bill

First up today: Tuli , a film by Philippines director Auraeus Solito, who's debut feature The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros screened at last year's Festival (I think it was last year's but the years get a bit mixed up!). Anyway, this was a strange and sweet film about a girl in a Filipino village, growing up as the daughter of the local village circumciser, who is also a drunk and generally a real asshole. The film includes views of simple village life and the story plays out to a happy ending. I'm looking forward to seeing more from this filmmaker. I really enjoy his storytelling.

Secondly was These Girls, quite a short documentary focusing on the life of a bunch of girls living on the streets of Cairo. These are different to our streetkids though - vastly different. The law does nothing to protect the girls from rape and kidnapping - the local guys make a habit of this and leave the girls scarred on their faces as a sign they have been “marked”. The girls bring up their babies on the streets. It was pretty grim, but getting to hear the girls’ stories made you realise that life on the streets is preferable to being beaten by their fathers back home.




Lastly, experimental film by Leighton Peirce. Explorations of Folded Time is a collection of painterly domestic macro-moments – slices of small moments of beauty, slowed down and repeated and lush with emotion. His children are observed in small detail - hands in water, small gaudy indistinct figures running down the back stairs. Sound is amplified and detailed. I smiled often during this screening, with the sweetness and beauty of the unfolding images. Just gorgeous. Quite a few people walked out. Why do people go to experimental cinema and not know what they are in for?!

Phew - pretty tired now. A few hours of work now then off to bed. Three films tomorrow.

Battles

Just had to share this: Battles with 'Atlas' off their album Mirrored.

Film Festival madness (again)

It's that time of year again. The Film Festival started today. The big gala opening was last night, with Taika Waititi's Eagle vs Shark. Jury's out on this one. Some fun moments, but left me with nothing. I think I was expecting so much more after his quite beautiful short films, Two Cars One Night and Tama Tu. Oh well. Hope he does better next time. The Americans are not saying very nice things about it. Redeeming feature: the soundtrack. I guess mentioning Napoleon Dynamite to Taika might get him a little riled right now.

Tonight I saw A Mighty Heart, Michael Winterbottom's latest (starring Angelina Jolie as Mariane Pearl, wife of murdered journalist, Daniel Pearl), then Head, the Monkees film from 1968. Apparently it was a box office flop at the time. It was really fucking funny. Loved every minute. Here's something I just read: Rumors abound that the title was chosen in case a sequel was made. The advertisements would supposedly have read: "From the people who gave you Head." Now that's funny, huh? I loved the Monkees when I was a kid. Of course, I never got the drug references. I guess they were there in the series - they certainly abound in the film.

A Mighty Heart was pretty affecting – the streets scenes in Karachi, the very believable Jolie as Pearl's wife, the fantastic cast - it all added up to a great film. I missed Road to Guantanamo last year, but have seen plenty of Winterbottom's films before. It was great to follow this with Head. I was feeling a bit emotionally wrung out.

I have three films tomorrow and a meeting at 9 am, so I'd better get to bed.

Oh, and just thought I'd add that Battles are coming. Fucking A, mate! I'm over the moon. 22 September at San Fran.

Watch this space

Listening to: Bramble Radio download. Highly recommended. My friend's online music show - find some new tunes.

Well, life has taken some funny turns of late. I found out a wee while ago that I had been shortlisted for a design award. Freaky deaky. I'm planning to head up to Auckland for the awards dinner and see if I'm a winner. That would be strange. Just being shortlisted is a bit of a buzz.

Another odd turn is that I have been offered a fulltime job. I should still be able to retain my current clients under this new regime, but essentially I won't be working for myself anymore, which means no more irritating tax compliance (goodbye, paperwork!) and a solid stable income. Not that it's been financially tricky too often, but this way it's far more likely that I'll be able to buy a house. That will be pretty cool. And there's some new challenges in the job too - some of them a bit scary, but I think it's time to bring some new things into my life. Can't have things getting too comfortable!

I've been doing my usual Film Fesitval stint (my ninth and, probably, final year). There's some great films this year, including a bunch of 70s films made by US maverick filmmakers. Most of them seem to be starring a young (and rather attractive) Jack Nicholson.

So. Watch this space. I'll fill you all in on this new job when I know more about what the hell I'm gonna be doing.

The Dark

Okay, so the show went okay. It was kinda fun actually, and I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. Here's how it looked on the gallery wall on the opening night. Had a few wines, went out for dinner… the usual drill.

Here's my artist statement:
"I’ve been photographing light for a while now. I’ve always loved the dancing reflections of light on walls and ceilings. Capturing it seemed a fun thing to do, especially on my new digital camera - the results were instant. I ended up with a collection of abstract forms. I thought about light and shadow. About how delightful the play of light bouncing off a shiny object onto a ceiling could be. And then about how, as a child, dark shadows in my bedroom at night could be so menacing. I tried putting the two of these things together. The dark. The light. My light/shadow creatures were born. They’re not scary. But they have a slighly dark side."

I'm in my first show.

Yes, I'm about to be in a show. I'm part of the group exhibition – Vent – at Thermostat Gallery in Palmerston North. I'm nervous. I'm excited.

No preview of my work I'm afraid. I'll be uploading some images after the show. It opens on Saturday 30 June at 5pm.

Last of the sunshine

Autumn is pretty much my favourite time of year. The air has a certain soft mellow feel that I love, and when the evening chill sets in I'm lighting an open fire but it's not so cold that I'm swearing and cursing while outside cutting the kindling to get the fire going.

It was still warm enough last week to go and lay around on the grass at Waitangi Park. This park has become our walking place - where we go when we are feeling a bit cooped up in the office. A quick jaunt around the park, or a quiet meander, depending on the mood. Mostly the latter really. For me anyway. Meandering is a good thing. Anyway, here's my office buddy laying around on the grass. Is that grass really green, or what?

Further silliness

Need a new middle name? Try this one...

My new name under Kurt Vonnegut's Lonesome No More! scheme is:-

Rosemary Alligator-4 Miller

Enter your full name to find out if you're part of my family:-

Surreal

This is a bit of fun...

We can't stop here. This is Rose country.

Which movie was this quote from?

Get your own quotes:

Sorted. Well, kinda...

I'm going through this weird transition at the moment. I'm trying to morph from spendthrift to scrooge, and it's a painful process. It's also a very necessary process. My business has done well, but I've dipped into the old business account far too often and haven't left enough to pay the government their share of my earnings. This has left me with a massive debt and the only way I can pay it off is to change the way I've been living and cut back my expenses. It's been nice having money (when my kids were little I was really really poor) and I've been a little irresponsible. It's taken a while to come to the realisation that I have to change my attitude towards money and become responsible. Oh hell, am I finally becoming a proper grown-up?

The first step was to meet with my accountants and establish the debt - how much was owed. Then I worked out a realistic budget for myself. I used a really great website to do this - www.sorted.org.nz. I loaded in the actual amounts I've been spending. It exceeded the amount I'm meant to be paying myself from the business by more than I'm going to divulge here. It's embrarrassing to see how much I was spending. Then I plugged in some realistic targets. The next step is to set up an electronic budget so I can track everything and see how much I can spend.

I thought this process was going to be scary and unpleasant, as well as difficult, but now I have my head around it, it's actually quite fun.

I now have three to five years ahead of me to get my financial situation back to a healthier situtation. Yikes!

Phallic or vulval?

My office mate has started a blog concerning vulval design in the world around us. It's fun. It will make you see the world in a different way. Is it phallic? Is it vulval? Maybe that building down the road is closer to hermaphrodite... Oh my. You can see how much fun life in my office is. Tra la la.

what i've been up to...

Listening to: Colossal Youth, Young Marble Giants

I urge you all to revisit this album!!

I've got a new way of living going on that means, unfortunately, less blogging. Now that I'm working from an office I'm living a bit more like the rest of the population, but that means leaving my Mac at work and doing things in the evening that do not involve the computer. I realised that I had been filling in the empty evenings since Dave left with work work work. NO more! I'm now being much more efficient with my time. This does, however, mean that blogging is happening less and less often. So be it. My life is a lot healthier these days since my decision to leave the computer behind at the end of the day.

I've been to some fun gigs lately. Hightlights have been twee pop Glaswegians Camera Obscura, pysch rockers Comets on Fire (supported in the most wonderful way by our own Birchville Cat Motel - I couldn't believe how magnificent this was), old school Flying Nun boys The Clean and noise legends, Dead C (see them here on YouTube).

On the movie front, World Cinema Showcase has just started and I have managed three films in the past week. The best so far has been Rampage, a doco about life in the "war zones" of Miami, focusing on the lives of a family stuck in the midst of gang warfare in "Brown Sub". Pretty shocking and depressing but so worth seeing. All I can say is, US gun laws are really really stupid.

On eccentricty

Eccentricity has always abounded where and when strength of character has abounded: and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigour and moral courage it contained. That so few dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of the time.

John Stuart Mill