This is what we played:
You can find most of the tracks on this Spotify Playlist.
Tom’s playlist of videos for the Prepared Piano set is here.
Prepared Piano – Tom Beesley
The initial use of the ‘prepared piano’ is generally attributed to John Cage and involves adding objects or materials to the piano in order to change the sounds that the instrument makes. Importantly, all the interventions need to be reversible without damaging the piano. Examples here include pieces by Cage, Kelly Moran, Haushka and Aphex Twin.
Sonatas n. 1, 2, 3, 5 for prepared piano – John Cage
Jynweythek – Aphex Twin
Improvisation – Hauschka
Mount Hood – Hauschka
Limonium – Kelly Moran
Entrada – The Bowed Piano Ensemble
Prepared Piano – Brian Saia
Marbles on a Piano – Saher Galt
Boards of Canada – James Tate-Smith
Evocative mournful sample-laden downtempo music often sounding as though produced on malfunctioning equipment excavated from the ruins of an early-’70s computer lab hazy sound of smeared synth-tones and analog-decayed production carried by patient sleepwalking beats aching with nostalgia and reinventing elements of psychedelia through the deliberate misuse of technology manufactured by Grundig and soundtracks of 70s wildlife documentaries.
Gemini – Boards of Canada
The Color Of The Fire – Boards of Canada
Everything You Do Is A Balloon – Boards of Canada
Dayvan Cowboy – Boards of Canada
Telephasic Workshop – Boards of Canada
Iced Cooly – Boards of Canada
Split Your Infinities – Boards of Canada
Gyroscope – Boards of Canada
Dandelion – Boards of Canada
1969 – Boards of Canada
Hi Scores – Boards of Canada
An Eagle In Your Mind – Boards of Canada
Aquarius – Version 3 – Boards of Canada
One Very Important Thought – Boards of Canada
Bad Seeds – Gary Winters
Initially assembled in 1983 from the ashes of previous groups The Boys Next Door and The Birthday Party, The Bad Seeds are a polymorphous, pan-continental grouping of musicians around Australian singer songwriter Nick Cave. Some dead, some departed, and some having temporary or fleeting associations, there have been fifteen musicians (each perhaps worthy of their own All Ears set) that can call themselves ‘bad seeds’.
Hymnen – Einsturzende Neubauten
Rising Below – Dirty Three
Still Smiling – Teho Teardo, Blixa Bargeld
Empty Eyes – Teenage Jesus & The Jerks
The Breaking Hands – The Gun Club
Son of Stand Up – The Triffids
Now’s the Time – Gallon Drunk
Der Karibische Western Die Haut
The Illusion of the 7th Hymn (Hafler Trio Re-Arrangement) – Barry Adamson, Pan Sonic, The Hafler Trio
If I Should Die – Anita Lane
Frankie T. & Frankie C. – Mick Harvey
I Trust You Had a Good Time – Suzie Higgie & Conway Savage
Celtic Connection – Jimmy McDonald
My wee set showcases indie/rock – both old and new – from the South West of Scotland. Bands from Kilmarnock feature alongside acts who have appeared at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow and a couple of old stalwarts get their place too.
The Captain – Biffy Clyro
Charm School – Fatherson
Hammer Song – The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
I Wish I Was Sober – Frightened Rabbit
Three Bulleits – The Temperance Movement
Be Good to Yourself – Frankie Miller
Ghosts – Lau
Many Of Horror – Biffy Clyro
Nick Drake – James Tate-Smith
The archetypal doomed musician, Nick Drake recorded several albums of delicate folk music in the 1970s that sold badly and played sparsely attended gigs before his death at the rock and roll age of 27 from an apparent suicide. His influence has grown steadily over the years with several musicians including Robert Smith, David Sylvian and Peter Buck acknowledging his influence and a tribute song, Life in A Northern Town. On early albums Five Leaves Left and Bryter Layter he worked with producer Joe Boyd. The final album, Pink Moon, was a much sparser solo affair.
Northern Sky – Nick Drake
Thoughts Of Mary Jane – Nick Drake
Been Smoking Too Long – Nick Drake
Time Of No Reply (Orchestrated Version) – Nick Drake
From The Morning – Nick Drake
Mayfair – Cambridge Version – Nick Drake
Cocaine Blues – Nick Drake
At The Chime Of A City Clock – Nick Drake
Hazey Jane II – Nick Drake
Saturday Sun – Nick Drake
William S. Burroughs – Gary Winters
Born in 1914 to a wealthy family, he graduated from Harvard, cut off his finger and offered it to a boyfriend, wrote alongside the beat poets of 1940s, and didn’t take a bath or change his clothes for a year. His common-in wife Joan was shot and killed in a bar in Mexico and he fled, started to shoot paint cans as works of art, thought teaching was more hassle than it’s worth, and was exorcised by a Sioux medicine man in 1992.
Twilight’s Last Gleamings – William S. Burroughs
Joujouka, Pt. 1 – The Master Musicians Of Jajouka
Origin And Theory Of The Tape Cut-Ups – William S. Burroughs
Recalling All Active Agents – Brion Gysin
The Priest” They Called Him” – William S. Burroughs & Kurt Cobain
In Mexico The Gimmick Is To Find A Local Junkie With A Government Script – William S. Burroughs
Baboon – William S. Burroughs & Bill Frisell
The Green Nun – William S. Burroughs
Dr. Benway Is Operating In An Auditorium Filled With Students – William S. Burroughs
Dr. Benway’s House – William S. Burroughs & Sonic Youth
Origin And Theory Of The Tape Cut-Ups – William S. Burroughs
Silver Smoke Of Dreams – Ian Sommerville & William S. Burroughs
Meeting Of International Conference Of Technological Psychiatry – William S. Burroughs
The Exterminator – William S. Burroughs & King Khan
When Did I Stop Wanting To Be President – William S. Burroughs
What Washington? What Orders? – William S. Burroughs
Uranian Willy – William S. Burroughs, Dub Spencer & Trance Hill
Curse Go Back – William S. Burroughs
Benway – William S. Burroughs