this occasional society march newsletter
hello friends! Happy 303 day!
this occasional society update
on the music front, nothing much to report, however, the society is delighted to share that the t.o.s. monthly newsletter will now also be seen on the NHAM news section (more about NHAM below).
here is your exclusive ‘unvarnished, work in progress, music sketch’. NB plans are afoot to move away from Gdrive as the repository for these.
the next newsletter will be with you 4.4. as ever, if you want anything included in the ‘updates from friends of the society’ section, just let us know.
updates from friends of the society
NHAM is an online magazine-style platform aiming to help draw connections between indie musicians, fair distribution platforms and listeners, under a shared ethos. It brings together releases, videos, news, reviews, online radio & events details, from a multitude of independent sources as well as a monthly mixtape, which can be heard (amongst other places) on AudioInterface.org (see how it all interconnects…)
As a primer for the thinking and approach underpinning this type of independent but overlapping activity, Prince Lucija (DRAGX̶FUNK) penned this great, detailed explainer & toolkit for the #BeYourOwnPlatform ethos.
Speaking of which, Mirlo - the collectively owned music platform - is looking for submissions for a new fundraising compilation. Deadline is 15 March.
Related to the above, it’s ‘Bandcamp Friday’ on 7 March, so, if you can, support the artists you love, but note also that Mirlo have a function where artists decide what % revenue to share with Mirlo, so kind of like it’s Bandcamp Friday every day.
In live news, Gribbles is playing in Whitby on 21 March at Flowergate Hall, Whitby with ‘Duty’ in a gig organised by wavelength electronic music club. To whet your appetite, you can check out some rehearsal videos here.
Another society friend, Samatha Dubs has a new ep out called ‘hauntings’ - hitting that experimental electronic sweet spot again, it’s six brief meditations on eavesdropping, room notes, love, funk, magic and hidden meanings.
it has taken me until i was typing this to realise that Fast Ghost consistently releases a brilliant free/PWYW acid techno track literally every month. this, despite downloading & featuring them previously & remixing one of the tracks! Oh dear. anyway - they’ll be releasing another banger in a few days.
Long time society favourites, The Lonely Bell & Socool have a joint recent release on Moolakii Club Audio Interface. Another Kind of Earth is two slices of extended ambient beauty.
Delighted to see Warrington Runcorn Newtown Development Plan are playing Portsmouth as part of their September Tour. Tickets to that one already purchased.
Finally, it was mentioned last month, but it feels worth shouting again about the BleepThree night in Dorking, 28 March, featuring Secret Nuclear & Simon Heartfield amongst others. See you there.
a.o.b. - things that have replenished our creative wellspring recently
Had a fab weekend at Synth East in Norwich, with great music from Seefeel and Loula Yorke amongst others, an interesting & entertaining Q&A with John Foxx, lots of interesting conversations (which will hopefully find their way into future blogs) and a cool tape loop workshop.
Laibach played at our ‘local’ The 1865, recently, so it seemed rude not to go. They were really good and surprisingly moving - finishing with a stunning cover of Strange Fruit.
On the recommendation of someone I met at Synth East, I went to Bournemouth Electronic Music Open Mic (EMOM) and found a diverse and thriving range of well supported artists. Great stuff. The next one is 27 March. I’ll be back.
Finally, finally, the new Max Cooper album, ‘On Being’ is a triple and a really epic slab of work that already feels like a classic.