I’ll be participating in a one-day symposium at Bowling Green State University on March 28, 2020. I’ll be talking about Forest Listening Rooms and socially engaged art in Appalachian Ohio. This event it open to the public.
Recent Publications: Art Journal and The Bloomsbury Handbook of Sound Art
It’s lovely to see two different publications featuring both recent and older work. Art Journal just published an article by Faye Gleisser that includes a deep dive on the sonic world of a project I contributed to in 2006 called “Topsy-Turvy.” You can learn more about the project here, and the link to the article can be found here. And, in the recently published Bloomsbury Handbook of Sound Art, Jeremy Woodruff contributed a chapter called “Composing Sociality,” which has a great discussion on my Forest Listening Rooms project (2018-present). You can find the book here.
February 2020 Newsletter - Band Camp Releases & Awards
A new newsletter is out now - please consider signing up to learn more about releases and events. This month: sharing three earlier albums, now on Bandcamp, and Mojo’s “Underground Album of the Year” — you can find it here.
In addition, I’m happy to announce that I received an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Excellence award, and am grateful for their continued support!
THREE Releases on Bandcamp
I've just put up three albums on Bandcamp -- all earlier releases from my Atavistic Records days: American Winter (2007, exploring the Berea Appalachian Sound Archives), Silent City (2009, featuring three tracks with Bonnie Prince Billy), and The Star-Faced One (2013, featuring the Sun Ra Archives and literally the best album cover of ever, by the great Damon Locks).
Also, with purchase of either American Winter or The Star-Faced One, you receive a free PDF score with full transcription of both music and spoken and sung text.
I hope these recordings resonate with you--check them out here!
SPECIAL NEWSLETTER: 2019 Year-in-Review
This year has been bananas. Full of highs and lows, and yet always part of a larger and deeper kind of celebration. So, here is a 2019 year-in-review: of projects and writings, press and travel. I hope you can find some joy in it, and I also hope you find much to celebrate in the new year. My best to you, Brian
"Shawnee, Ohio" is MOJO Magazine's "Underground Album of the Year"
It is an honor to have Shawnee, Ohio be named MOJO MAgazine’s “Underground Album of the Year” — many thanks to Andrew Male and to Karl Records. You can purchase the recording here.
Image courtesy of Poynter Photo.
December 2019 Newsletter - New Video and Loghaven Artist Residency
The most recent edition of my newsletter is out today - read more about my experiences at the Loghaven Artist Residency in Knoxville, and the latest Forest Listening Rooms Video - “Wildcat Hollow” - you can read it here and sign up to receive future newsletters!
Loghaven Artist Residency
This is both home and studio for the next week — it’s the most beautiful cabin I’ve ever been in (other than hitting my head on low doorways a few times!). So excited to be an artist in residence at Loghaven Artist Residency in Knoxville!
New Forest Listening Rooms Video - Wildcat Hollow
I’m pleased to share another video in the Forest Listening Rooms series. This time, I visit a group of local children for a sound walk, listening sessions, and discussion at Wildcat Hollow in the Wayne National Forest, Ohio, adjacent to the active Buckingham Coal Mines. They take a soundwalk together, and gather at a group of fallen mossy trees. They listen in silence together (no small feat), and immediately talk of what they heard: branches and birds, wind and voices, airplanes and industry. They then listen to music and archival recordings of children of past generations talking of mining. They finally tell their own stories, of their discoveries in the forest.
Artist Talk at Bakersfield College, California
Had an excellent/inspiring time talking with students at Bakersfield College (who are mostly all from here). We talked of place, living in the middle of oil and gas extraction, and about making work that addresses the places you are from. Thanks to Josh Ottum for the invite/pic!
New "Forest Listening Rooms" Video - Perry State Forest
I’m happy to share this new video in an ongoing Socially Engaged Art project. It features a one-on-one forest listening session with Joelene Dixon, a Perry County, Ohio resident concerned about new coal strip-mining proposals in the Perry State Forest. Here, she takes me to listen to and discuss different sites of recovery slated to be mined once again, as well as poorly recovered sites that show the limitations of previous mining company mitigation efforts. This video was shot in April, 2019, in the Perry State Forest.
New Album Release - Many Hands - October 18
Many Hands, a new album of instrumental piano music, comes out this Friday on Bandcamp. Quiet, tender, searching, tactile. Very quiet, and with purpose. Up to six melodies on piano, each played by one hand, independent, coming together.
Inspiration: working in and listening to Appalachian Ohio. Landscape and labor, sense and sensuous: yes, the work is easier with many hands, but the connections are stronger, too.
2019 Creative Capital Retreat Presentation
In June, I participated in the Creative Capital Retreat at Bard College - watch here for my presentation on Shawnee, Ohio. It was such an honor to be among so many inspiring artists!
Forest Listening Rooms - This Saturday - 10/5/2019
There are still a few tickets left for the Forest Listening Rooms session this Saturday (10/5) in the Wayne National Forest. You can purchase tickets here. Plus, here is a nice map of where our hike will be, just outside of Shawnee, and along the Buckeye Trail. Hope to see you!
Two feature radio programs in Germany and Portugal
Two new radio programs are out this month, for SWR2's "Musikpassagen" in Germany, and RTP's "Geografia dos Sons" in Portugal. Both programs focus on Shawnee, Ohio. "Musikpassagen" includes interviews with me (dubbed over in German, btw). "Geografia dos Sons" is hosted by an old friend and fellow student with me in London, Luis Tinoco. I'm happy to have the music reach these audiences in Europe! Listen to “Musikpassagen” here, and listen to "Geografia dos Sons" here.
Forest Listening Rooms Event October 5
SOUNDWALK + LISTENING + MUSIC + VOICES OF THE FOREST = FOREST LISTENING ROOMS
Tickets are now on sale for the next event on October 5, from 9:30AM - Noon. Lunch included. All Proceeds go to Southern Perry Summer Youthshops. Register here.
#Listening #Meditative #Contemplative#Stories #Environment #Hiking#WayneNationalForest
September Newsletter: "Listening for the Future of Appalachia"
Check out the new newsletter for September, 2019 — and please consider signing up! You can read it here.
The Daily Yonder Premieres "Listening for the Future of Appalachia"
In May, a film crew from A Blade of Grass and Rava Films came to Ohio to document Forest Listening Rooms. I'm excited to share the film with you now. The Daily Yonder generously agreed to premiere the film on their website, updating an article I wrote for them this spring. Check it out here!
"With For About" Conference Video and Round Up
In May, I was part of “With For About: Art and Democracy” — a conference on Socially Engaged Art in St. Helens, UK. It was hosted by Heart of Glass, and I was there with representatives from A Blade of Grass. It was a wonderful experience. Above is a lovely drawing by Emmeline Pidgen of the attentive and thoughtful discussion group that I led there. Click here for more info and a nice video that I participated in.
VAN Magazine Article on Ambient Music
Author George Grella recently wrote this long-form article entitled "Imaginary Places: The Ambient Influence on Contemporary Music" for VAN Magazine. I'm happy to have a part in it, alongside many other composers that I admire, including Kate Carr, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and John Luther Adams. Grella states that, "...the places of ambient music don’t have to be tethered to the present, even though that’s when they are heard—they can be a vision of the future or an evocation of the past." It is an insightful and lovely article and I hope you get a chance to read it. You can read the article here.