this occasional society august newsletter
hello friends! hoping that this newsletter finds you well.
this occasional society update
for reasons best saved for another time, there’s been a flurry of activity in t.o.s. land recently. you’re time is precious so, to keep things short, the upshot is:
an ep called ‘smplr’ will be released on 8.8 on bandcamp but, as you have signed up to the newsletter, you get it for free - a bandcamp download code will be emailed to you imminently (within the next 48 hrs). it’s intended as an evolving introduction to the society, complete with additional ‘bonus stuff’ when downloaded.
there will be a blog / diary post every week (prob at the weekend).
there’ll be an accompanying upload every week to the newly rechristened ‘music sketches’ section of the website.
there is this new monthly newsletter - welcome!
each newsletter will have an additional music sketch for you to download if you want - this month’s is here.
there’ll be more activity & updates to follow, but, in short, there’ll be less ‘hiding in the shadows, keeping quiet and keeping our head down’, type behaviour where t.o.s. is concerned.
the next newsletter will be with you 9.9
updates from friends of the society
ripe papayas #1 is the first in a two-part exhibition of outstanding work by a group of recent graduates from solent university and winchester school of art, university of southampton. it launches tomorrow (9 aug) at alfred arcade, the hidden wardrobe & alfred arms in southampton. tickets are free, but need to be booked here.
the wonderful uk based independent electronic artist gribbles is hosting a live show at the old nick theatre on 12 september as part of gainsborough voices. it’s a great lineup including the ‘g’ himself. you can find out more about the project here and get free tickets for the show here.
ordos mk.0 recently released a lovely ep of chilled ambient electronics called ‘in my watery world’ which we’d highly recommend. listen here.
james hastings / strange textures has just uploaded another podcast of beautiful, mesmerising field recordings /‘ambient guitar’ - which wraps up season 4 of the podcasts. always well worth checking out.
techno wizard, sometime t.o.s. remixee & all round good egg ‘fast ghost’ dropped another banger called ‘four track mind’ a few weeks back. check it out on bandcamp.
southampton pride is 24 & 25 august. maybe we’ll see you there.
if you want to provide an update for the next newsletter, send a message with the details, and ideally a link to more info, before 9.9
a.o.b. - things that have replenished our creative wellspring recently
quite apart from her great ‘official’ releases, loula yorke’s monthly mixtapes & liner notes have been a big inspiration (alongside roberta fidora’s and 1of100’s wonderful newsletters) for this monthly missive. they form a monthly audio diary and they are brilliant for losing yourself in. you can sample a mix tape here.
perminder kaur’s - ‘nothing is fixed’ exhibition at john hansard gallery, southampton, is beautiful, inspiring and thought provoking in equal parts. the header image for this month’s newsletter is taken from the show. it’s on until 7.9 - see it if you can.
thomas ragdale, as sulk rooms, blew our minds and won a place in our hearts at wfr-central-24 but, until recently, his involvement in pijn, a heavier, more band based, post rock act wasn’t something we knew about - they are equally great. sulk rooms are supporting kayla painter in portsmouth in october - can’t wait.
kmru seems to release a wildly eclectic mix of new material with alarming speed whilst never dipping in quality. their latest, ‘natur’ is no exception.
inside intel - o.g.’s of the southampton singer/songwriter scene, dan o’farrell & the difference engine, will have a new album out in coming months and, having been lucky enough to hear some near finished mixes, it’s chock full of earworms. if one of the tracks isn’t called ‘hurricanes’, we’ve lost a debate. more news on this as we have it. in the meantime, check out past live fav ‘rosaline wins’ here.
do you like sci-fi and a good story? if you do, this 5 part audio series -the skies are watching- might be right up your strasse. unexpected bonus - one of the voice actors is david yow of ‘the jesus lizard’ who’ve recently reformed. this link is to the bbc but it will be findable via other platforms.
and finally, look at this disco umbrella! just look at it! isn’t it beautiful!
until next time you lovely people.