Dark Equilibrium Track by Track

I often ponder hauntology, by that I mean possible futures that were possible but didn’t happen. 

It strikes me that an infinite number of different futures is possible at any given moment. 

These themes trouble me and sometimes keep me awake at night; War and it’s consequences; climate crisis and the lack of action; alternative futures, all in all some, very real, ghostly moments in between sleep and awakening.

1. Looming Deep 8:13
2. Winter Solstice Für Letze Generation 4:05
3. Sharp Symphony 01:56
4. Awakening 5:15
5. Drive out the Devil 8:13
6. Fern Unfurling 01:50
7. Slow Return to Zero 6:20
8. Aviator (album version)7:20
9. Futures 7.30 

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/polarvoidx/dark-equilibrium-2

Looming Deep

Imagine the sound of an ice shelf collapse, imagine the dark freezing, foreboding waters, the rush of a huge wave heading away to devastate a low lying island. Imagine the terror of the islanders, fleeing to unwelcome refuge in the UK, or staying to face certain death, trapped, unable to ride out the wave, or hide.

This is the stuff of nightmares that becomes inevitable with every day of carbon increase. In some places it’s already a reality.

Looming deep is a metaphor for where we will all end.

Winter Solstice Für Letze Generation

Winter Solstice always conjures up a feeling of unease, bring in the flock, batten down the hatches, one last big feast before the winter bites. In another part of the world people (Die Letze Generation)are defying winters icy tears to protest, taking to the streets, using every opportunity available to them to raise awareness and consciousness about the climate emergency. This is my tribute to them,the self titled Last Generation in Germany, and to Extinction Rebellion in the UK. What if they are the last generation? Such sadness fills my heart at this prospect I can hardly speak. I have such admiration for their bravery in the face of overwhelming public denial and government inactivity. 

I hope with all my heart they are not the last generation, but if they are at least they can say they tried, they truly did.

Sharp Symphony

An ode to identity and consciousness. I learned that every time we fall asleep, when we awake, we reinvent ourselves, our identity from scratch. This means we can completely reinvent ourselves if we wish. As an aspiring electronic artist I find this concept really exciting. I hope that the joy of waking up today as the person you want to be is felt strongly in this tune. 

Awakening

Slowly but surely the people are getting the message, positively making the right choices and turning the tide, if we get twenty five percent it’s possible we can change history. It’s a slow lumbering awakening, like a landslide, hopefully once in motion unstoppable. Whether it’s too late we cannot know. But the snowball is slowly rolling and gradually gaining pace.

Drive out the Devil

In some people’s heads, disease and pandemics are believed to be the work of satan or a conspiracy. For these people there is no hope, they are delusional and sadly if a pandemic like Ebola hits, then they will die without vaccination. Even in less lethal cases they are at great risk and, put other people, even their own loved ones at great risk. 

This is dedicated to their victims, for whom the dancing, singing, and praying to ‘drive out the devil’ sadly didn’t work.

Fern Unfurling (further explanation elsewhere in this blog)

This is the sonification of an image by Paul Giblin, Paul sketched the fern as part of a larger exhibition auctioned for a cancer charity. I used sonic scanning to turn the image into a synth patch. From that emerged this combination of chords. A short but sweet ode to nature and it’s beauty.

Slow return to Zero

After lockdown all the politicians were trying to enthuse everyone to return to whatever so called ‘normal’ was for them. Personally I believed, and still do, that there never was a normal, and I also know life will never be the same again for many people, especially those who lost a loved one to covid for whom I feel incredibly sad.

This is my sunny riposte to those politicians, it’s a slow return to zero, zero in this case is my belief in peoples will or ability to conform to populist stereotypes, they never have, they never will and I love them all the more for that.

Also Definition; Return-to-zero (RZ or RTZ) describes a line code used in telecommunications signals in which the signal drops (returns) to zero between each pulse. This takes place even if a number of consecutive 0s or 1s occur in the signal

Aviator (further details elsewhere in this blog)

Inspiration for the Aviator

I have a tattoo on my arm, part of a montage, its an aviator.  I don’t know why exactly, but the tragic story of my uncle Terry, told to me when I was a small boy, stuck in my mind. A kind of moral warning not to behave irrationally.

Sadly, just as with my grandfather who died between the wars, I never met uncle Terry. He tragically crashed his aircraft between the wars in a freak accident. Try as I might I’ve never found any details of the crash, or of his military service, or very sadly where he is buried. (Also strange is my grandfathers story from the navy, but that’s for another time).

Futures 

An infinite number of futures are possible at any moment in time. When I first began to comprehend this it blew my mind. I realised that in an instant humanity could shape the future. So many wrong turns, unrealised futures, regressive acts have led us to very negative consequences. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can, either collectively or individually, imagine positive, progressive futures and bring them into being simply with our thoughts, imagination and ingenuity. Why we choose the opposite I cannot grasp, this leads to a slightly melancholy theme, where the image is beautiful, but the music is yearning for something unreachable 

“The point of life is to find the delicate equilibrium between dream and reality” 
Lillian Smith 

"If you take people to the edge of a void in which nothing is familiar and the outcome is uncertain then they will kick and scream"
David Toop Into the maelstrom P8

"Our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness" 
Nabakov memoirs Speak memory 

Album written, performed and produced by JoeKBaker
Mastered by Antony at RedRedPaw

©️All rights reserved GH records and SAS records

Thanks to Laura Rose-Baker, Paul Giblin, Vinnie Grist, Daryl Coles, Phonic FM and the Future Sound of Exeter for your support and, of course, all those  influences and friends too many to mention 
Spine: Dark Equilibrium:PolarVoidX: GH14 SAS 16

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/polarvoidx/dark-equilibrium-2

Winter solstice for the last generation 

I’ve always been obsessed with the hours of darkness in different locations when the equator is furthest from the sun.

I decided to create a bass line around the numbers on my CMS sequencer I included a long drone as I watched the sun set.

It makes me feel connected to the past. I am affected by this season, it feels heavy and closing in.

Others around me share that feeling, it makes us want to hibernate, as winter solstice on the 21 December marks the start of winter, this is a sensible response.

The chords are minors, but they feel triumphant. I imagine massed voices chanting, maybe I’ll look for or create some of those to add in. 

 It made me think about the power of nature, and how it must have felt to people in the past who knew what was happening to the light and the dark, but not why. Finally, why the last generation? A group of climate activists in Germany named themselves Leztze Generation, I find this a really poignant and alarming recognition that they could be the last generation, and it makes me question where we will all watch the final solstice together? 

 

They could smell the crackle of the air as the sun made its low arc across the sky returning to the horizon for the final moment, never to be seen again by their eyes... 

Music Links: 
BandCamp Solstice Fur Letze generation
Apple Music solstice-fur-letze-generation 
Spotify Solstice Fur Letze Generation

Karl Magi, Synth reviewer kindly posted this review of the track 

Synth Single Review: "Solstice Für Letze Generation" by PolarvoidX

Author:

Karl Magi

PolarvoidX’s Solstice Für Letze Generation mingles misty desolation with an undercurrent of threat. Intensely shining chimes ring out above a gruff, swirling lower sound that trembles below. Chimes flicker and ring out, forming a pattern as wide, flashing sounds slice through and intertwine as broken bass throbs.

Sweeping sounds float through as the music creates a sense of hidden, misty shadows. There’s a feeling of omnipresent danger hidden just out of reach. Hissing, metallic sounds shiver and dense bass slowly shifts while reverent notes breathe. Crunching, gritty sounds vibrate hungrily as the swirling, misty background sends out seeking tendrils.

Diffuse sounds add dark undercurrents as raised notes flit past. There’s something desolate in the slowly gliding background to contrast with the animalistic, snuffling synth. Metallic notes scrape through as the reverent underpinning flows past and silence falls. The inevitability of loss is keenly present in the emotional tenor of this track.

© 2023 Karl Magi

Aviator, Ghosts, Hauntology and Music

Inspiration for 'Aviator' by PolarVoidX. 

I have a tattoo on my arm, part of a montage, its an aviator. I don’t know why exactly, but the tragic story of my uncle Terry, told to me when I was a small boy stuck in my mind. A kind of moral warning not to behave irrationally.

Sadly, just as with my grandfather who died between the wars, I never met uncle Terry. He tragically crashed his aircraft between the wars in a freak accident. Try as I might I’ve never found any details of the crash, or of his military service. Also strange is my grandfather's story from the navy, but that’s for another time

In search of the Aviator

I’ve spent many an afternoon wandering the Heavitree graveyard in the hope of finding his grave and that of my grandfather and grandmother. Searches of the local archive don’t reveal anything and no physical grave exists, despite the fact I can remember as a small child the cheery call of the bus conductor, “anyone for the boneyard” as my gran and I would get off the bus to visit his grave, she would take flowers and put them in the silver grey pot, it was very forlorn and sombre. Oddly I find a strange calm and beauty in the cemetery now.

Ghosts?

I don’t personally believe in ghosts, although I know a great many people who do. What I will say is that the pull of the past is very strong in that graveyard, the sense of collective history and personal tragedy seems very present. it doesn’t take much of a leap for a believer to assume that some souls stalk the grounds looking for loved ones or trying to find peace amongst the stones.

With that in mind I was inspired to place the aviator in that graveyard, forever lost searching, perhaps for his own resting place. Long forgotten as he indeed seems to be.

YouTube Music Video

On a windy, Sunday afternoon my long suffering friends and family wandered the graveyard looking for the grave of the lost aviator, this time with a not so subtle difference. Vinnie with the help of Phill was finely adorned in the costume of the aviator. We shot some footage of hime wandering amongst the graves. You can see the result here PolarVoidX. As it's a music video a not so subtle, fun ending was added for Halloween.

The Music and Process

I candidly decided, despite the seriousness of the topic, to make it tongue in cheek. I’ve always been a fan of Hammer Horror and Halloween tales, so not much of a leap to find a ghostly aviator stalking the cemetery.
The music began almost hilariously with an E minor take on the devils triad it also pays homage to Danse Macabre which I love. This underpins the entire thing. I love some of the classic horror music and with that in mind I created a grating sequence using a patch on the Korg I made named squeezebox. Once heard you can never quite get it out of your head. The other played elements hint at both Halloween and the exorcist in tone and timbre. the whole theme is designed to be unsettling.

To add to this I added a huge bass roll that plunges down, almost unnoticed except on a really good hifi.

the creepy effects were produced using a zoom recorder. I pinged the strings of an electric guitar above the nut, then slowed the recording down and passed it through a guitar effects pedal. Mixed with some distortion it sounds like someone is trying to tune a radio to a certain frequency but can’t get it to stick. Just as an Aviator in distress might do. 

The second unnerving effect is the vocal, heavily echoed and slowed down, this is the persistent, “Where are you? I can’t find you” it runs through the song and echoes through the cemetery too!

I added a second drier vocal to punctuate the words as they felt important to the sense of lost and loss.

Also present are footsteps, these were recorded as I recced the graveyard in the early evening with my phone. Oddly they seem to have doubled? I didn’t put any echo or reverb on them it must be the natural ambience. Its unsettling to say the least. I sat and isolated that track whilst editing and couldn’t help looking around to check there was no-one there!

The drums are understated, more of an irregular heartbeat than a drum beat.

Finally the diminished finish chords and reveal, it’s cheesy but fun, oddly I felt the need to take the edge off. The squeaky door hinge is my back kitchen door, slowed down a bit.

All the music is played on Korg synths and the effects are added in as patches so I can reproduce and play them live. I try to play everything in a way that I can replicate without a computer in a live setting. Recording often in one hit.

Listen to the music here: Spotify PolarVoidX AppleMusic BandCamp

See the Video Here: PolarVoidX

Conclusion

As I said I don’t believe in ghosts, but I do feel the resonant pull of of the past and the energy of certain places very strongly. I have a deep connection to this city, and sometimes when the sun is setting, the clocks are changing and the shadows are getting longer, I get the sense that that past isn’t as far away as I once thought it was.

The team

I couldn't have pulled off the video and the still images above without a great fun group of co-conspirators, special thanks to Vinnie for being the Aviator, I hope you can sleep at night! Thanks to Phill for the brilliant costume, I've always said you should do props for a living! Thanks to Paul for keeping us on the path, quite literally at times. And finally to Laura, my wife, for her excellent video skills.

Joe K Baker aka PolarVoidX Oct 2022

Fern Unfurling a Sonification

Fern unfurling a Sonification 

#synth #technique 

Paul Giblin my friend, Exeter promoter, DJ, radio presenter on Phonic FM community radio station, former organiser of the long running Exeter Respect Festival (for which he carried the Olympic torch) amongst many other things (see FSOE web site https://www.fsoe.co.uk/about-and-history/ )

So when it came to lock down and Paul’s usual activities were curtailed what then? Well he turned to sketching (as he calls it) the plants in his garden, producing a beautiful and prolific collection of sketches.

He then went on to exhibit them, raising over £2000 for Cancer Research at the Glorious Art House Café, in memory of his mum, who sadly died of cancer.

Vision off video process

I decided to combine Paul’s Garden Sketches photos into a sequence with some artistic ‘Ken Burns’ effects, using Final Cut Pro to make them dynamic and therefore of more interest to the viewer. The outcome made me think of the TV series Vision On, introduced by Tony Hart back in the day. Lots of sketches or other articles were displayed at the end of the program. The producers always played the gallery theme music; ‘Left Bank two’  by the Noveltones whilst they zoomed in on the art.

I decided to use this track, but sound mangle it to make it more appropriate for Paul’s art work.

To do this I used AI splitter online to split the track into five wavs. I made a midi track from. each of these and assigned a different synth to each one. At the exhibition evening event I recorded the ambient background conversation. I duplicated and mixed excerpts from it to make it anonymous. I added this track to the others and mixed them down to a single stereo wav, this track dictated the overall length of the video slide show.

Enjoy 

https://youtu.be/hWdMP9ROvhM

Fern Unfolding 

One of Paul’s images particularly struck me when we were hanging them. It was the fern, I love this because we have magnificent fern in our own garden, and he captures it superbly.

When it came to my birthday Paul went to great lengths, to my great delight, to reproduce the fern as an exclusive T-shirt (photo).

Which I’ll proudly wear. 

A few weeks after I was reading a friends MA dissertation which mentioned sonification.

Turning images into sound, a new but fascinating concept to me.

During lockdown I’ve learned to programme and play both analog and digital synthesisers, a hard road for a guitar player.

I realised I might be able to turn the fern image into sound. I did this online using and AI platform. The results were astonishing and I recorded them at several different octaves. 

I then learned how to convert them to wavetable patches and transfer them to my Korg Modwave, a brilliant wavetable synth that my amazing wife bought me for my birthday (I suspect to keep me occupied, but not quiet!).

I put the wavetable patches into the synth and used them to record an Fminor pattern in several octaves

This is the result 

https://polarvoidx.bandcamp.com/track/fern-unfurling

https://open.spotify.com/track/72kDGwzFZ1amO49I13cGrj?si=lpqdytRGSwyGycO4_zz64Q 

So Paul Giblin drew this fab fern picture, which became a lovely T-shirt for my birthday. So I fed the image into ai that creates sounds from images, converted the output to a wavetable for my Korg Modwave, this is the result a short ambient piece, I hope you like it PVx 

https://polarvoidx.bandcamp.com/track/fern-unfurling

Aka Joe K Baker

Live Recordings List 2019

I recently asked the question what live recordings should I listen to? You did me proud in your responses. I've compiled them here in alphabetical order so you can enjoy them too; 

1. 801 live, Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera
2. AC DC, If You Want Blood 
3. Alex Chilton, Electricity by Candlelight
4. Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East
5. And One, Live
6. Anti-Nowhere League, Live in Yugoslavia
7. Bad brains, Live at CBGB OMFUG 1982
8. Bauhaus, Press the eject button and pass me the tape
9. BB King, Live at the Regal
10. Be Bop Deluxe, Live In The Air Age
11. Big Big Train, Merchants of light
12. Bill Nelson, Tripping The Light Fantastic
13. Black Crowes and Jimmy Page, Live at the Greek
14. Bob Dylan and the Rolling Thunder Revue, Live 1975
15. Bob Marley and the Wailers, Babylon by Bus
16. Bob Marley and the Wailers. Live at the Rainbow
17. Brand X, Livestock, Billy Cobham & George Duke band live on tour in Europe
18. Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Live in New York City 
19. Cardiacs, All That Glitters Is A Mare's Nest
20. Cardiacs, Live
21. Cramps, Smell Of Female
22. Cream, Live 
23. Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, Where’s the money?
24. David Bowie, Cracked Actor
25. David Bowie,Welcome to the Blackout
26. David Bowie; Santa Monica '72, David Live' 74, The Thin White Duke, Nassau '76
27. Deep Purple, live in Japan
28. Depeche Mode, 101
29. Derek and the Dominos live at the Fillmore
30. DEV-O, Live The Mongoloid Years
31. Devo, Live EP
32. Doors, Absolutely Live
33. Dr. Feelgood, Stupidity 
34. Duke Ellington, Newport
35. Elvis Costello and Nieve in USA is really really good
36. Erasure’s Two Ring Circus
37. Fleetwood Mac, The Dance.
38. Frank Zappa Fillmore 
39. Frank Zappa: Does Humour Belong in Music, 
40. Frank Zappa: In New York, 
41. Frank Zappa: Make a Jazz Noise Here, 
42. Frank Zappa: Roxy & Elsewhere,
43. Frank Zappa: The Best Band You Never Heard 
44. Frank Zappa: Tinseltown Rebellion, 
45. Free, Live
46. Frightened Rabbit, Quietly Now!, Liver!Lung!Fr!
47. Gary Numan, Living Ornaments
48. Genesis,Seconds Out
49. George Harrison, Memorial Concert
50. George Lewis, Jazz Funeral at New Orleans
51. Grateful Dead, Beacon Theatre, New York June 14th, 1976 (Double CD)
52. Hanoi Rocks, All Those Wasted Years
53. Hanoi Rocks, All Those Wasted Years.
54. Hawkwind,  Space Ritual
55. Hawkwind, Live ’79
56. Heartbreakers, D.T.K. Live at the Speakeasy
57. Hendrix, Live in the West
58. Humble Pie, Rockin’ The Fillmore
59. Humble Pie, Rockin’ The Fillmore
60. Husker Du, Land Speed Record 
61. Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights
62. Iona, Heavens Bright Sun
63. James Brown, at the Apollo
64. Japan, Oil on Canvas.
65. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Live In Alabama
66. Jeff Beck, Live at the Hollywood Bowl 
67. Jerry Lee Lewis, Live at the star club
68. Jerry Lee Lewis, Live at the Star Club
69. Jethro Tull, Bursting Out
70. Jimi Hendrix live at the Fillmore East (new years eve 1969). This double album starts before midnight & continues into the 1st Jan 1970. You get to hear the last moments of the 1960's...
71. Jimi Hendrix, Band Of Gypsys
72. Joe Satriani, Live in San Francisco 
73. John Mayall, The Turning Point
74. John Mayall, The Turning Point.
75. Johnny Cash, Folsom Prison, 1968
76. Johnny Marr Live, Adrenalin Baby
77. Johnny Winter, live
78. Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, Live
79. Joni Mitchell, Shadows & Light
80. Joy Division, Les Bains Douches
81. Judas Priest, Live Priest
82. Julia Holter, In the same room 
83. Kate Bush,Before the Dawn
84. Killing Joke, Ha
85. Killing Joke, laugh at your peril
86. Killing Joke, Live at the Forum, 2008
87. King Crimson, UK, After Night and USA
88. Kiss, Alive 2 
89. Led Zeppelin, How the west was won, California 1974.
90. Little Feat, Waiting for Columbus
91. Live and Dangerous, Thin Lizzy
92. Loggins and Messina, On Stage 1974
93. Lou Reed, A perfect Night, live in London
94. Lou Reed, Rock N Roll Animal
95. Lou Reed, Rock n Roll Animal.
96. Lou Reed, Take No Prisoners
97. Luke Jackson, Solo, Duo, Trio
98. Lynyrd Skynyrd, One more from the road
99. Magazine, Play
100. Magazine, Play.
101. Magma, Live
102. Magma, Live in at the Marquee club 1974
103. Man, Live at the Padget Rooms, Penarth. 
104. Manfed Mann, Mann Alive!
105. Mano Negra,  Live in Kawasaki.
106. Manu Chao, radio bemba tour
107. MC5, Kick Out the Jams 
108. MC5, Kick Out the Jams 
109. Midnight Oil, Armistice Day, Sydney
110. Miles Davis, at the Plugged Nickel
111. Miles Davis, Live-Evil 
112. Miles Davis, We want Miles
113. Ministry, In Case You didn’t feel Like showing Up 
114. Misty in roots, Live at the counter Eurovision
115. Motörhead, No sleep TIL Hammersmith
116. Muse, Live at Main Square Festival, 2015
117. Nanci Griffith, One Fair Summer Evening
118. Neil Young, Live Rust
119. New Model Army, Raw melody men
120. New Model Army, Raw Melody Men
121. New Order, 316 Taras Shevchenko, 81
122. Nine Below Zero, Live at the Marquee
123. Nirvana, Unplugged
124. Nirvana, Unplugged
125. Nomeansno, Live and Cuddly
126. Nomeansno, Live and Cuddly
127. Opeth, Garden of the Titans 
128. Ozric Tentacles, Live at Sunrise Festival 2007
129. Pat Metheny, Travels...
130. Pendragon, Concerto Maximus
131. Penguin Cafe Orchestra, When in Rome
132. Peter Frampton, Frampton Comes Alive
133. Peter Gabriel, Plays Live
134. PIL, Paris au Printemps 
135. Portishead, Roseland New York City
136. Prince, One Night Alone, Live
137. Pssyche, Live From Larry's Hideaway/ Toronto/ Canada 9th + 10th August
138. Public Image Ltd, Paris in the spring
139. Quicksilver Messenger Service, Maiden Of The Cancer Moon
140. Rainbow, Live in Japan
141. Ramones, It's Alive
142. Ramones, It’s Alive
143. Ramones, Live At The Rainbow, December 31, 1977
144. Rezillos, Live and on Fire in Japan (Vinyl Japan, 1994)
145. Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians, Gotta Let This Hen Out
146. Rodrigo y Gabriella, Live in Japan
147. Rolling Stones, Get Your Ya Ya's Out
148. Rory Gallagher, Irish tour 1974.
149. Rory Gallagher, Live In Europe
150. Roxy Music, Viva Roxy Music 
151. Roxy Music; Viva Roxy
152. Rush, All the world's a stage 
153. Rush, All The World’s A Stage
154. Rush, Exit stage left.
155. Santana, Moonflower
156. Scorpions, Live in Japan
157. Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Live
158. Siouxsie and the Banshees, Nocturne
159. Siouxsie and the Banshees, Rockpalast 81 
160. Slayer,  Decade of Aggression
161. Status Quo, live Apollo Glasgow
162. Steve Earle, Just an American Boy
163. Stiff Little Fingers, HANX
164. Stiff, live stiffs 
165. Sting, Bring on the Night, Paris, 1979
166. Stranglers, Live X Cert
167. Super Furry Animals, Live at the BBC
168. Supertramp Paris, 
169. Swans, Omniscience
170. Talk Talk, Live in London 1986
171. Talking heads, Stop Making Sense
172. Talking Heads, The name of this band is Talking Heads
173. Taste, live at the Isle of Wight
174. The Band, Rock of Ages
175. The Birthday Party, Live 
176. The Cassandra Complex, Feel The Width
177. The Clash, From Here To Eternity
178. The Cramps,  The smell of female.
179. The Cramps, Live at the Peppermint Lounge
180. The Cure, Bestival
181. The Cure, Entreat
182. The Damned, Live Shepperton 1980
183. The Fall, Fall In A Hole
184. The Fall, Live at Reykjavik
185. The Fall, Totale’s Turns
186. The Jam, Dig the New Breed
187. The Move, at The Marquee
188. The Replacements, For Sale, Live at Maxwell's
189. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band ‘Live'
190. The Sisters of Mercy, First and Last and Always
191. The Sound,  Live instinct
192. The Stranglers, Live (X Cert) 
193. The Tansads, Drag Down the Moon
194. The Who, Live at Hull
195. The Who, Live at Hull 
196. The Who, Live at Leeds
197. Theatre of Hate, He who dares wins, live at Leeds warehouse
198. Theatre of Hate, He who dares, wins
199. Thee Hypnotics, Live’r than God
200. Thelonious Monk with Johnny Griffin, Live at the Five Spot.
201. Thomas Blug, Live in Raalte 
202. Tim Buckley, Dream Letter
203. Tindersticks, Live At The Bloomsbury Theatre
204. Tom Waits, Glitter and Doom 
205. Toyah, Toyah Toyah Toyah
206. Traffic, On The Road. 
207. U.K. Subs, Crash Course
208. U2, Under a Blood Red Sky
209. U2, Under a Blood Red Sky
210. UFO, Strangers In The Night
211. UK Subs, Crash Course
212. UK Subs, Crash Course
213. UK Subs, Gross-Out USA,1984.
214. Underworld, Everything Everything
215. Van der Graaf Generator, Vital
216. Van Morrison, Too late to stop now
217. Velvet Underground, Live 1969
218. Velvet Underground, Live 69
219. Velvet Underground, Matrix Tapes
220. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Ry Cooder, Meeting by the River
221. Warren Zevon, Stand in the fire
222. Wings Over America 
223. Woodentops, Live Hypnobeat
224. Yardbirds, Five Live 

Ownership, THE biggest issue of the 21 Century

Is ownership THE big issue?

In the UK everyone wants to own everything. Because historically that’s always been the ticket to a fast fortune. Economic reality and the consolidation of wealth into a very few hands has made the prospect of ownership of very much, very unlikely. This is reality for many young people in the UK and beyond. I hear of amazing things that solve the difficulties of ownership through subscription. Take for example the local toy library. Subscribe for a small fee and you don’t have to own all that plastic crap that destroys the planet. Not only that you don’t have to store it all either. This and other examples, Uber etc. led me to question the need to own anything. Could this completely change society?

What if everything was a subscription? Could this take millions of vehicles off the road? Imagine you could summon an autonomous vehicle whenever you needed one. If a limited number of electric vehicles were in constant circulation nearby and efficient. Imagine they had drop off points in or very near the city centres. Could this idea take millions of cars off the road and free up space for pedestrians, cyclists. Could it allow electric vehicles the space to ferry us to the outskirts of cities. Where larger electric coaches or trains wait to take us on longer journeys. Without becoming bogged down in local congestion? Do we need to own the rusty heap of depreciating scrap that sits outside our door for 90% of the time?
How about houses and Living space? Do we need to own them? What if there were large scale not for profit cooperatives that developed houses and communal living spaces. What if you could subscribe to them on a month by month basis for as long as you wanted? Imagine the potential for mobility, and the security this could offer. Imagine the amount of money wasted on ownership that we could recycle into the economy. If humanity cooperatively provided all necessary ( bottom row Maslov) services by subscription. then would a universal income to replace benefits would become a reality for the poor? Could we see what people need to subscribe to and make sure everyone gets it?
It seems bizarre that we can subscribe to a TV package that we don’t need. Whilst we struggle to meet over priced housing costs. Isn’t it time to reorganise the way society views ownership? We are at a pivotal point in the future of our world. We can either continue to destroy it. Or we can adjust our lives to live within our means and the ability of the planet to support us. I’m taken by Kate Raworth’s Donught economics. Can community based, carefully organised, benevolent subscription provide the solution for future one planet living?

Why project working will be the future of work

One of my favourite analogies when talking about projects is the orchestra. I'll explain why in a few moments. first I want to make the point that project work will be the future of work even within big organisations. Certainly in the world beyond their walls. Organisations will not survive for much longer with massive, multi-layered hierarchies. 

I've helped quite a few projects get off the ground from as a facilitator. I tend not to get involved as project manager as I get bored too quickly. After all everyone knows I can't sit still for two minutes. In my facilitator role I've noticed patterns over time that project managers should avoid if you want success. For example the initial enthusiasm for the project wanes after a while. This is often because people believe that they have to be at every meeting for its duration. This often means sitting through hours of stuff that's totally irrelevant to you before it gets to your (very short) bit. This leaves those professionals who wait to say their piece frustrated and bored. 

Well here's the thing an professional orchestra is full of very skilled individuals. But they don't all play together all of the time. A skilled conductor will bring the instruments in when required at exactly the right moment to play their part. Now clearly the orchestra generally stays put for the rest of the symphony. But for my analogy we'll imagine they can go do something else when they're not required. 

So not everyone all at once! Of course they all play from the same score. And I liken this to the project plan. A good composer will arrange things to make it  easy for the musicians to know exactly whats required. The top line melody works in my mind like the technical plan. With other parts such as the bass clef dovetailing below. This reminds me of the relationship between technical tasks and public engagement for example. The engagement timing and objectives will be different to the technical ones. Consultants and freelancers come in when required not for the whole time. I've sat through some dire meetings in my time but this doesn't have to be the case.
They all play from the same score! The other thing I've noticed over the years is a lack of commitment to see the project through. For an orchestra it is crucial that all the roles filled and they stay through rehearsals right up to performance and possibly beyond. I am staggered at how many people turn up to a project induction and seem surprised when I ask if they can commit to the project. Of course if you get the plan right people are happy because they are not asked to commit to all meetings all the time. So this makes it easier for them to spread their expertise across a range of projects.
The audience are out there eagerly awaiting your performance. Except they're not. Well not if you don't tell them. A good stakeholder engagement plan is vital. That means don't just send out stuff but engage properly (about which I may cover in another blog).
This will be the future of work. It will because people want to work less, that is they want to work in a less structured way. Most people view work negatively. Trapped in the hamster wheel of 9-5. Autonomy over when and how much to work changes lives. Project working, is the answer to this. 
People feel under utilised not stretched or challenged by their work. Project working is also the key to this. When they get involved in a range of projects they are able to use their skills and be rewarded for them. Some projects may be more challenging than others and for the players, even within organisations, this is a good thing. 
Small project teams of experts work best. A small team of 3 to 5 people is the optimum size. Of course when you need to draft in others to play their part this group can grow and contract. I worked recently on a project with a core team of 3 that were interacting with a partner group of around 35. The key decisions and actions were controlled and maintained by the core 3
Projects end. This is refreshing for the people involved. They work with new folk. They get new opportunities to flourish and they can vote with their feet if they don't fit in.
Great examples are appearing of companies and organisations who work in new ways and epitomise this approach take this feature in Stylist magazine. I love this example. Send me more if you have them.
I've also seen other good analogies for project work, making recipes or building a house. What's yours?