Salsa Celtica at the Arts Centre in Aberystwyth, people up and dancing from the very first song. Ecstatic mixture of Latin and Celtic rhythms.
… from about a year ago, with a slightly different lineup.
Virgil and the Accelerators have posted material into MySpace. You can hear clips, see photos and a current list of gigs.
They are truly hot, so if you have the chance to see them, do….and if not, buy their CD. Cheers, guys!
Please see Dan Barbiero’s MySpace page for some very cool improvisational music. He plays double bass, sometimes as ‘prepared bass’ where the sound is altered by the addition of other implements. More information can be found on his webpage. You can hear Dan perform in the Washington DC area.
His music has depth of feeling and intellectual engagement. Hope you enoy!
Bonobo‘s Animal Magic and Dial M for Monkey, often played at the Orangery, is entrancing – Brazilian jungle images, unseen animals playing in cool green leaves overhead while steam floats up from loam on the jungle floor, birds calling back and forth as people dance in the distance. (how I see it, anyway)
Bonobo is headed by Brighton musician, Simon Green. See photos of the band in concert on Flickr. Tracks have been on my last.fm playlist for a while, have a listen.
Computer animation of cowboys in London…don’t ask!
Won music video award.
Description= Bonobo’s life perfomance in Turkey |Source=self-made |Date= 02/02/2008 |Location= Club Babylon Istanbul, Turkey |Author=Umut Işık
Yesterday, my colleague Julian and I went to the second meeting of the Podcasting for Pedagogic Purposes SIG at University of Hertfordshire in St Albans outside London. The SIG is making a significant contribution to the higher education sector by setting up means of sharing resources and examples of good practice in educational podcasting.
Here are some of my initial responses to the event. It was heartening to hear the message stressed that podcasting can be used most effectively for student-centred teaching that goes far beyond just recording lectures and posting them online. A teacher-centred, transmission-style lecture isn’t going to be enhanced by merely posting a one-hour long audio or video file. although some students will still find it somewhat of an aid to revision (reviewing for exams). A typical length for a podcast from the examples given was between 5-10 minutes, no longer.
There are some things you can do to improve a podcast of even this one-way type of lecture – chopping into smaller, logical chunks and providing tags or some way for students to find just the bit they want, using a more dramatic speaking style, etc. Even more exciting, however, are the ways of using podcasting for two-way communication between teacher and students, among students, or even just among several different people who talk to each other ‘talk radio’ style within the podcast. The ‘magazine’ style examples were particularly effective.
A wide range of ideas and, even more importantly, examples were presented that made the case quite strongly. I particularly like the idea of using student-created podcasts for group or individual projects, reflective learning journals, and peer-to-peer mentoring. There was a hilarious video that was a student group project in which those obnoxious solicitor (lawyer) TV adverts were spoofed leading to a scienfitic explanation of rust (don’t ask!). There were also some nice examples of experienced students making podcasts to give incoming students tips on university life.
The materials, examples and ideas presented will make it easy for us to encourage academic staff to use this new technology in interesting, creative, and most importantly effective ways.
Meanwhile, I’m thinking of ideas for my own podcasts…shifting from snapshots to sound bytes. Watch this space!
Takoma Park jazz band brawl: http://takomapark.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=62 Click on ‘Jump to Jazz Band Brawl 12’. A rich quality of life in Takoma Park, a city about the same size as Aber but located just outside of Washington DC.
Right now playing Shakti ‘What need have I for this…’ which is John McLaughlin from the 70’s in his Indian raga mode. These cuts are really nice, especially with the violin played off against the guitar and tabla. Although it is a different era, works well with the chillout stuff.
Other favourite recently is Bonobo’s album ‘Animal Magic’ which I still haven’t been able to acquire but which has several cuts on the playlist. They often play this album at the Orangery, which is where I first heard it. Very nice, especially while working or something. I’m often listening with the headphones at the office these days. Fila Brazillia is also sounding good in the electronica vein.
Added the only track available on last.fm from Victor Wooten, almost had the chance to see him in Towson MD but it didn’t work out. Nevermind. Having seen the Flecktones on a number of occasions, it would have been nice. Check out his track on last.fm ‘Liz and Opie’ it is good. Percussive bass.
Nothing else is in particular high rotation at the moment. Sometimes dipping into the bebop still. I like the way most of the jazz usually fits in with most of the electronica and other stuff on the playlist, which is always evolving.
I have recently come across this prose piece attributed to surrealist poet Rrose Sélavy. I may post more excerpts from her journal later.
Look in, what do you see, a hole, a well with a slight mist of panic, adrenalin cloud barely perceptible drifting in the center of the abyss, surrounded and lifted by weaving strands, ribbons of music, rhythms of support and emptiness, purple and black and intense gold on the horizon’s edge, an updraft and a downdraft, something splitting in the region of the heart, half moves up, half moves down, moist breath released in the centre, reaching up and reaching down to connect with what? The sign of the Juggler, making a circuit, connections, a chain of links, so current can flow through, something released in the region of the heart, pink mist, there must be freedom in there somewhere, but what after? Just a blood mist and echo, dusty after-tang of things left too long before resurfacing, left too long unexcavated — revitalise, reverberate, replenish, reinvigorate, rejuvenate, restore, resurrect, reclaim, reconstitute, phoenix from the ashes.
A full-blown rose more beautiful for the edges just turning brown, three white roses cut and left on a step, retrieved in the dark and placed in a bowl of water, three roses, big as cabbages but much more delicate, much much more resilient.
Pictures of Rrose 
