Jeff beck and Imogen Heap live at Ronnie Scott’s in Soho.
Archive for the ‘Imogen Heap’ Category
Rollin and Tumblin
March 27, 2013Cheer along with Imogen
January 11, 2013Aside from being an interesting scientific experiment, I have to admit I cannot see the point.
When we are out and about do we not need all our senses to experience and appreciate our environment? Do we not also need them for safety?
Nothing more annoying than those who pollute public spaces with their bad taste in music, especially on public transport, the worse their bad taste, the more they seem to wish to impose it on others.
If I wish to listen to music, I prefer to relax and listen, to give the music the attention it deserves (if not it is not worth listening to) and not to use as background noise, audio wallpaper.
I am baffled why a phone has an accelerometer. I see the use on a laptop, to park the heads to stop them crashing into the surface on a hard drive, but what is the function on a mobile phone, other than enabling interesting experiments?
An exploration of generative and interactive music
December 20, 2012An exploration of generative and interactive music led by Imogen Heap.
A jogging app, hmm.
Never been sure of this. Music is to be listened to. I hate music as background wallpaper.
Passing through London, as though through a land of zombies. Each plugged into music, isolated from the world around them.
When walking or jogging or cycling, this is quite dangerous, you are isolated from the world, from warning signs, an approaching car, a mugger.
I have seen zombies walking along a beach, isolated from the sounds of the wind and the surf, the birds calling.
We think of Intel as developing chips, not software applications. Maybe the two go hand in hand.
You Know Where to Find Me
October 18, 2012A live broadcast by Imogen Heap of the latest Heapsong You Know Where to Find Me on Google+ using Google Hangout, which was also broadcast live on youtube on her youtube channel.
There was a delay of about 15 minutes before the broadcast started.
A long preamble by Imogen Heap on how You Know Where to Find Me came to be written.
It was about the River Thames, its different moods, how people viewed and interacted with The Thames.
There was an attempt to compose in a boat overlooking The Thames.
Imogen then shot up to Edinburgh, to record the song on various pianos in different houses.
For the last few months she has been trying to put it all together.
She played You Know Where to Find Me, but warned it would not be very good as she had not played it live before and advised to watch her video for a more polished version.
Not satisfied, she stopped, apologised, then started again from the third verse. An amazing difference.
Surprisingly the sound quality was quite good (though sound levels very low), the video ok, especially for a live streaming event.
I wondered why there was a secondary video at the bottom of the screen. This was for video conferencing, and became apparent when Imogen brought other people in for a jam session. Around half a dozen people joined in.
The jam session did not work too well. People were too loud, sound very distorted and video quality very poor.
I have not had time to listen to Imogen Heap since she was in the boat during the summer. I had forgotten how talented she is.
For someone who knows how to use social media, interacts with those who enjoy her music, I am amazed Imogen Heap does not release on bandcamp as better for her and better for those who love her music.
Heapsongs will be released as an album May 2013, with 12 maybe 13 songs. Following release, Imogen Heap will tour.
You Know Where to Find Me
The Happiest Place
September 13, 2012
I want happiness
Bhutan
The purpose of life is the expansion of happiness. It is the goal of every other goal. Ben Henretig has embarked on an ambitious project to document a country and culture that has embraced Happiness as a part of its national policy. — Deepak Chopra
It has been known for at least twenty years that once people reach a certain level of material well being their quality of life does not improve, it deteriorates.
Once this level of material wealth is reached, growing GDP becomes meaningless, we do so counter to our quality of life, counter to environmental degradation, growing gaps between rich and poor, increase in crime and mental and family and societal breakdown.
We hear a lot about wealth creation, that we must not tax the rich else they will go elsewhere. What we do not hear is creating no place for them to hide.
We do not have wealth creation, we have wealth accumulation and vulture capitalism.
Up until the 1950s, we had industrialists who created wealth, they built the railways, made cars, produced jeans. Now they create complex financial instruments that rob Peter to pay Paul, they avoid tax, they fire not hire people.
We see our towns and cities destroyed, the same High Street names in every town, soulless Clone Towns. Rapacious corporations like Costa Coffee.
A nuclear meltdown as we saw in Japan, increases GDP due to the cost of the clean up.
Four travellers travelled across the mountain Kingdom of Bhutan. They found a people, a country, that valued their culture, valued their environment, that had a high happiness Index.
They filmed what they saw. They are now wanting to turn what they saw into a documentary, The Happiest Place. They are using crowd sourcing to raise the money via Kickstarter.
Music for the film will be by Imogen Heap and Zoe Keating.
Eric Whitacre and Imogen Heap at The Proms
August 29, 2012
Eric Whitacre at The Proms
Bernstein
Warm-Up using music of Bernstein (2 mins)
Eric Whitacre
Alleluia (9 mins)
Eric Whitacre
Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine (9 mins)
Music inspired by flying machine of Leonardo da Vinci, using words of Leonardo and performed (allegedly) in the style of Victoria and Palestrina (sounded nothing like to me).
J S Bach
Bach Again (arr E London) (5 mins)
This bore no resemblance to Bach!
Eric Whitacre
Higher, Faster, Stronger (c8 mins) BBC Commission, World Premiere
Inspired by Olympics. Three choirs aranged as medal award, Gold, Silver, Bronze.
Bloody awful noise.
Imogen Heap
The Listening Chair (arr Eric Whitacre) (c5 mins) World Premiere
The Listening Chair a project of Imogen Heap. Literally a chair in which people sat and voiced their thoughts. What is the song which still needs to be written? No common theme. What am I doing with my life? The song represents her life. One minute, every seven years of her life. Who am I now?
Starts like a nursery rhyme cum folk tale cum folk music.
This is the final song of Heapsongs.
Traditional
Three Spirituals (arr Moses Hogan) (9 mins)
American sprituals. Unusal arrangements, but worked.
Eric Whitacre
Cloudburst (9 mins)
Inspired by a thunderstorm and downpour.
Eric Whitacre
Sleep (5 mins)
Originally set to words by Robert Frost until estate of Robert Frost forbade it.
Bob Dylan
Forever Young (encore)
Take words of Bob Dylan, then compose new music. Does not work!
I listened to the live broadcast by BBC Radio 3 from the Royal Albert Hall in High Definition sound (or at least I thought I was).
I was not very impressed. Came nowhere to the standard of a live concert by The Sixteen.
I wondered why, in this day of live streaming on the net, why all these concerts do not have live video feed?
Eric Whitacre I have never heard of before, and only listened because of his association with Imogen Heap. Not someone who I will be going out of my way to listen to again.
Considering how much one has to pay these days for concert tickets, the tickets were surprisingly cheap, £12 to £16 and on the night £5 for those promming. Maybe because late night.
A concert for the most part I did not enjoy. It was dire until Imogen Heap, sprituals were worth listening to.
A pity the entire concert was not Imogen Heap.
A much younger audience than usual for Proms. No doubt due to Imogen Heap!
I thought I was listening to the concert in HD. It was only towards the end of Imogen Heap I found I was not. It made amazing difference. Until then I was wondering why the sound quality was so poor.
Heap Sings Salt Shapes
July 12, 2012
Heap sings salt shapes
This is quite an impressive demonstration of standing waves on a drum induced by external sound.
It is equally impressive the way Imogen Heap is able to hold a note.
Imogen Heap shoots ‘You Know Where To Find Me’ video
July 4, 2012
A couple of weeks ago Imogen Heap was in A Room With a View composing You Know Where To Find Me (heapsong7) as a live webcast.
She then went up to Edinburgh, where as well as attending TedGlobal to demonstrate the gloves, she filmed You Know Where To Find Me in different houses, playing the piano and wearing the clothes of the person whose house she was in.
Lifeline live at Google Zeitgeist 2012
June 23, 2012
Imogen Heap – Zeitgeist 2012
Imogen Heap – Zeitgeist 2012
Google Zeitgeist, invite only, brings together some of the leading thinkers and intellectuals.
Google Zeitgeist 2012 had the emphasis on women.
Imogen Heap talks about then performs Lifeline live at Google Zeitgeist 2012.
Sounds from a Room: Imogen Heap
June 22, 2012
Thames from Hungerford Bridge
working boats on The Thames
A room for London: Thames and Hungerford Bridge
Atop the buildings on the South Bank of The Thames is a boat.
An odd place for a boat. Part of an arts project A Room for London.
This evening, Imogen Heap live streamed over the net from the boat, and was shown on a large screen at Clore Ballroom, Southbank Centre.
Three projects rolled into one: Heapsongs, the Listening Chair and Sounds From a Room.
Last week via the listening chair, Imogen Heap was collecting thoughts on The Thames, crowd sourcing for her new song You know where to find me, a perspective from The Thames.
Various themes came through which will be incorporated into the song:
- Driftwood
- Walking the Thames, Imogen has cycled the length
- Quite strong, strong tide, but in slack does not move
- Can we have a conversation with a river?
- A him, Father Thames
Piano melody came in the early hours of the morning.
Storm hit during the night. The boat was rocking. Would it be blown off into The Thames?
Beautiful haunting piano melody.
Forgot the song, so new.
People stand around, just looking, can do this by a river.
A very public area with private thoughts.
Word cloud, distils thoughts.
Very little traffic on the river cf Thames River Pageant.
From the boat a view over the Thames and of Waterloo Bridge.
Does The Thames want to be young, blue and green?
Two hours sleep.
Pulled the lyrics together late morning.
You cannot force inspiration.
Just explain, not write, then relax.
Inspiration not on tap.
Used to live in a flat in Waterloo
Cannot write under pressure. Time lapse camera click click click …
Water a vital organ.
River has its off day, like us.
Artist’s favourite friend is procrastination.
Had hoped to finish the song, instead see the process.
Do you have a piano in Edinburgh? Filming will take place in Edinburgh.
Relationships, with the river, with each other.
Part will be filmed in Clore Ballroom after the live steaming.
Top Story in The Boatshed Essex Daily (Saturday 23 June 2012).
