Resonance Extra broadcast – 22 December 2022

Summer 2022’s monumental Radio Art Zone allowed me the opportunity to work with the best actor of his generation, Steffan Cennydd, who I’d seen on the tv a few times and who luckily was free for a day to record a whole bunch of pieces. These are presented in a sequence on Thursday 22 December 2022 on Resonance Extra at 1pm to just after 3pm.

Four are in English and one in his native Welsh. The idea in each is not to attempt a traditional radio play nor to produce a classic dramatic monologue. Rather each of these pieces tries to create a psychological object. They are all deliberately elliptical, fragmentary, allusive, but share some underlying themes (obsessions perhaps) and, inevitably, language. Ultimately it’s the actor’s voice that makes them work – you’ll hear that, I think. – Ed Baxter

Esch2022 Radio Art Zone broadcast on 29 August 2022

RRO’s Ed Baxter is one of the 100 commissioned artists who are contributing to Radio Art Zone as part of Esch2022 European Capital of Culture.

Monday 29 August through to Tuesday 30 August 2022:
Monday 1pm My Life as Doug Yule. Voice: Steffan Cennydd. Recording engineer: Michael Umney. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter. Additional recording by Trilby Baxter.
1.25pm Music without Precedent or Consequence, episode 1. Recordings direct to cassette, 1981-84, by Food & Sport. Series compiled and edited by Ed Baxter. Announcer: Piers Gibbon.
1.55pm First Sketch for Larry Shipping (The DCI). Voice: Willie Carr. Recording engineer: Diarmuid McIntyre. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter.
2.25pm Music without Precedent or Consequence, episode 2.
2.55pm Cinquième esquisse pour l’ascension et la descente (Fifth Sketch for Ascent and Descent). Voice and recording: Jean-Philippe Renoult. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter. French translation: Henriette Gillerot.
3.30pm Music without Precedent or Consequence, episode 3.
4pm Ar y Mynydd (On the Mountain). Voice: Steffan Cennydd. Recording engineer: Michael Umney. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter. Welsh translation: Ffion Emyr.
4.20pm Music without Precedent or Consequence, episode 4.
4.50pm Heart Like a Duck part 1 (The Devil’s Gift). Voice: Willie Carr. Recording engineer: Diarmuid McIntyre. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter.
5.10pm Music without Precedent or Consequence, episode 5.
5.40pm Birdbrain. Voice: Steffan Cennydd. Baby’s voice: Ivor Forsyth-Lanceley. Recording engineer: Michael Umney. Additional recording by Peter Lanceley. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter. Contains the word “shit” – apologies.
6.05pm Music without Precedent or Consequence, episode 6.
6.35pm Heart like a Duck part 2 (The Ghost of Prehen House). Voice: Willie Carr. Recording engineer: Diarmuid McIntyre. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter.
7pm Music without Precedent or Consequence, episode 7.
7.30pm The Deserter. Voice: Steffan Cennydd. Recording engineer: Michael Umney. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter.
8pm Music without Precedent or Consequence, episode 8.
8.30pm Heart like a Duck part 3 (Butch Cassidy in Paris). Voice: Steffan Cennydd. Recording engineer: Michael Umney. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter.
9pm Sitzprobe. A thriller in 44 chapters. Written by Dave Milton. Adapted for the radio and edited by Ed Baxter. Read (through the night) and recorded by Tam Dean Burn. Contains material some listeners may find distasteful or offensive.
Tuesday
3.45am Music without Precedent or Consequence. Compendium edition. Selected musical works of Food & Sport, recorded direct to cassette, 1981-84. Announcer: Piers Gibbon. Compiled and edited by Ed Baxter.
7.05am Birdbrain. Voice: Steffan Cennydd. Baby’s voice: Ivor Forsyth-Lanceley. Recording engineer: Michael Umney. Additional recording by Peter Lanceley. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter. Contains the word “shit” – apologies.
7.30am Heart Like a Duck part 1 (The Devil’s Gift) Voice: Willie Carr. Recording engineer: Diarmuid McIntyre. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter.
7.50am Heart like a Duck part 3 (Butch Cassidy in Paris). Voice: Steffan Cennydd. Recording engineer: Michael Umney. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter.
8.20am Heart like a Duck part 2 (The Ghost of Prehen House). Voice: Willie Carr. Recording engineer: Diarmuid McIntyre. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter.
8.50am Ar y Mynydd (On the Mountain). Voice: Steffan Cennydd. Recording engineer: Michael Umney. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter. Welsh translation: Ffion Emyr.
9.10am Cinquième esquisse pour l’ascension et la descente (Fifth Sketch for Ascent and Descent). Voice and recording: Jean-Philippe Renoult. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter. French translation: Henriette Gillerot.
9.40am The Deserter. Voice: Steffan Cennydd. Recording engineer: Michael Umney. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter.
10.05am First Sketch for Larry Shipping (The DCI). Voice: Willie Carr. Recording engineer: Diarmuid McIntyre. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter.
10.35am My Life as Doug Yule. Voice: Steffan Cennydd. Recording engineer: Michael Umney. Text, sound design, montage etc: Ed Baxter. Additional recording by Trilby Baxter.

Many thanks to all involved in these collaborations, as indicated above; to Knut, Sarah, Mathilde, Necef and Natalie at RAZ; to Daniela Gargiulo; and, for their encouragement, Milo Thesiger-Meacham, Anthony Moore and Jim Whelton.

Art of Noises Centenary Souvenir Supplement digital edition

Keen observers may recall the 2014 intonarumori concerts our spin-off group, the Luigi Russolo Memorial Ensemble, for which a special edition of Resonance magazine was published in newspaper format, limited to 300 copies. Now Dan Wilson has prepared a digital edition, available here for all scholars of 20th century music. It contains everything we could gather about the actual “Grand Futurist Art of Noises” performances realised at the Coliseum in London in 1914, just before the outbreak of the First World War: newspaper clippings, photographs, programme notes etc. Download it here.

Radio Art Zone at Esch2022

At last some news, after a period of enforced inactivity. RRO’s Ed Baxter is one of the commissioned artists who will contribute to Radio Art Zone as part of Esch2022 European Capital of Culture.

The slogan of Esch2022 is “Remix Culture” but Ed hopes to produce new work to fill the 22 hours on offer. Details as they emerge… At the time of writing (July 2020) it’s early days, with a search for collaborators and a prayer that the muse may emerge in due course, bringing some funding too. Working title: Forty Four Folk Tales.

Also in the Zone are RRO pals Milo Thesiger-Meacham and Mark Vernon, alongside friends from Radia including Anna Friz, Dinah Bird, Paulo Raposo – as well as instigators, curators and producers Knut Aufermann and Sarah Washington of Mobile Radio.

A Shot in the Dark

A Shot in the Dark approaches. It’s being realised this week at Exeter Phoenix – on Thursday 18 October 2018 at 8pm. Admission is £8 (£5 students, concessions & under 18s). Tickets here.
In total darkness, diverse groups of musicians – drawn from Exeter’s classical, jazz, folk, noise and student ensembles – interpret a musical score burned into their retinas via a series of digital flashguns. Conceived by RRO’s Ed Baxter and arranged in collaboration with curator-composer Emma Welton, A Shot in the Dark is commissioned by University of Exeter Arts & Culture as part of Exeter Sound Context. Performers include: Martha Dunster (flute), Deborah Hamilton (viola), Alex Wilson (violin), Emma Welton (violin), Matt Lord (saxophone), Bruce McClure (bass), Helen Kean (keyboard), Henrique Rosário (keyboard), Tom Hyde (guitar), Michael Umney (guitar), Ramiz Ahmed-Man (guitar), Alex Rafael Rose (harp), Oliver Kadouchkine (mandolin), Matt Smith (sampler), Tika Osborne (synth), Dan Norman (synth), Tony Whitehead (objects), Dan Cray (glass, effects), Simon Egan (electric kazoo), Kordian Tektov (percussion), Alex Frost (drums), Steve Milton (cajon, cymbal), Stan Glendinning (drums), and David Sawyer (sound sculpture). Wow.

Simon King RIP

We share the sad news that our dear friend and esteemed RRO performer Simon King died last weekend. A great musician (seen here during the rehearsal of The Death Of Kodak – photo by Second Movement) and a great human being. Please contribute to this JustGiving campaign to pay for his funeral and a celebration. Simon enhanced every situation in which he played. His role in the Radio Orchestra was just one of his many musical activities which in recent years included The Windsors, Swordfish, Homelife, Murphy No Geisha, performances with Atsuko Kamura, Forkbeard Fantasy and Chris Cornetto, and the Hauntological Orchestra – formed to raise funds for victims of the Fukushima disaster. He regularly organised benefit concerts for Resonance FM, even when his own circumstances were dire and deserving of support. It was typical of Simon to be far-sighted in his generosity – he was naturally altruistic and practically caring. His original approach to the guitar was marked by a profound grasp of rhythm, an encyclopedic knowledge of music of all kinds, and an ability to both direct and effortlessly empathise with other performers. He will be sorely missed.

A special acousmatic concert

A Shot in the Dark
Exeter Phoenix, Thursday 18 October 2018 at 8pm. £8 (£5 students, concessions & under 18s). Tickets here.
In total darkness, diverse groups of musicians – drawn from Exeter’s classical, jazz, folk, noise and student ensembles – interpret a musical score burned into their retinas via a series of digital flashguns. Their eyes shut, the score at first seems clear enough, allowing for deeply musical coherence. But as the afterimage decays, the sounds threaten to dissolve into din. Gradually the unseen instrumentation becomes clear and patterns form, only to fragment when some new and unexpected performer enters the acousmatic picture. Conceived by BASCA award winning sound artist Ed Baxter (Resonance Radio Orchestra, Japanorama, Turntable Hell, Feedback: Order from Noise) and arranged in collaboration with curator-composer Emma Welton (A Quiet Night In, Icebreaker), A Shot in the Dark is commissioned by University of Exeter Arts & Culture as part of Exeter Sound Context.
Be there!

A blast from the past

Just found this short movie from AV08. And this even shorter movie from last year’s Radiophrenia. (For research purposes only.)

Radiophrenia Commission

Here is the text which forms the basis of our Radiophrenia commission, Gaddafi in Hythe, realised on 16 November 2017 at CCA, Glasgow. Supported by Creative Scotland, CCA and Outset Scotland. Thanks to Barry Burns and Mark Vernon.

Radiophrenia

The Resonance Radio Orchestra will present a new piece – Gaddafi in Hythe – commissioned by Radiophrenia on 16 November 2017 at CCA, Glasgow. Featuring Ed Baxter (electronics, effects, text), Tam Dean Burn (voice), Peter Lanceley (guitar, voice) and Milo Thesiger-Meacham (electronics). RRO appears on a rather blokish triple bill with Espen Sommer Eide (Norway) and Ben Knight & Tom White (Manchester/London). We’re hoping Kim Moore might join us, but have to wait and see.